Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

I imagine Paul and Silas being trapped inside our modern day prisons, but fortunately for me, an article from Christian Pilgrimage Journeys gives us some background on Philippi and their prison system. The article says that the people of Philippi didn’t like Jews, so the arrest of Paul and Silas has more to do with that than anything that they actually did. It also states that the jailer was most likely a retired Roman commander, which is significant because that means that he knows exactly what rules and consequences he’s working with. The article says, “Roman prisons had three compartments. One was called ‘Communiora’ which had light and fresh air. The second was called “Interiora.” This was shut off by strong iron bars and locks. Paul and Silas were in the “Tullainiu,’ which is a dungeon where people were placed to die. This was top security. Their feet were placed in stocks which were a heavy piece of wood with holes similar to the mediaeval British stocks into which the prisoner...

Like we discussed yesterday, Paul and his group of missionaries probably stayed with Lydia in Philippi for several weeks, and while they had good success with some of the women who already ascribed to Judaism, not everyone was so supportive. For several days a woman followed the group who was “possessed with a spirit of divination… which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.” It appears that this woman was indentured in some form and was incredibly profitable to those who held her. We have to remember that this was a predominantly pagan community, so communication with spirits would have been an important spiritual position to have. There are a couple of reasons that I can think of why this woman would have latched on to the missionaries and followed them saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” The first reason that came to mind was that she wanted to maintain her position in her househol...

In a vision Paul had seen a man calling for his help in Macedonia. The next day Paul and his little party left Troas, where they had presumably met Luke, and went through Samothracia and Neapolis to end up in Philippi, “which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.” The term “colony” kind of sticks out here, so a Google article gives some background saying that the city of Philippi was the center of the largest Roman battle where “Mark Antony and Octavian gain revenge on Julius Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius.” After the battle “Philippi then became a Roman colony settled by army veterans and produced its own coinage.” These army veterans and their families would have been Roman citizens, which is important when we consider what happens to Paul and his group over the next few events. Once in Philippi, the group spent a few days “abiding” in the city, which probably meant that they rested, found a place to stay, got some food or perhaps did work somewhere to ...

It was decided that Paul and Barnabas should go on a second mission to strengthen the branches of the church that they established on their first mission. While making the arrangements however, a dispute arose over whether or not to take John Mark with them a second time, with Barnabas wanting him to go and Paul not wanting Mark’s company. The final arrangement was that Barnabas and John Mark would go back through the first route and Paul would take Silas and go wherever the Spirit took him. At this point, the rest of Acts is solely focused on Paul and his adventures without mention of any other apostles, I believe. It appears that one of their first stops was in Derbe and Lystra where they met “a certain disciple… named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek.” It was decided that Timotheus would go with Paul and Silas as they continued their mission, but something interesting happened first, Paul ...

I’ve been kind of lost on the “Come, Follow Me” lessons because we are skipping a lot of them, and mostly I just lecture and the kids roll their eyes until it’s over. It’s not the fun and engaging experience that I hoped that it would be. I think that I’ve tried to cover everything and to give them my own personal insight so that they could, I don’t know, maybe so they could see how smart I am. No, I think that it’s so that I can help them see the humanity of it, that our lives are similar to the lives of those in the scriptures and the power that can come with them. This week’s lesson is Matthew 5 and Luke 6, which are the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. There are four videos about the Sermon on the Mount so we will probably just do one of each night and then discuss what Jesus talked about. There are 4 other topics in the manual that I would like to cover. The first topic can be tied in to the videos probably at random, whi...

The letters instructing the saints in the matters decided about circumcision and the law of Moses are written and sent out, carried to them by the Apostles. Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch “teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.” After staying there a while, Paul tells Barnabas, “Let us go against and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.” It sounds to me like he wants to revisit the first mission route to make sure that all the converts are doing ok. Considering that he was whipped and almost bludgeoned to death on the last trip, it seems like a very brave move to want to go back, knowing what waits for him on that journey. Barnabas agrees to go, but “determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.” Now if we remember, Mark went with them on their last mission, but left to go back when they left the island of Cyprus. We aren’t told why he le...

The first question about circumcision among the converted gentiles is answered by Peter pointing out that gentiles that had been baptized had been given the gift of the Holy Ghost from God just like the converted Jews had. The other members of the quorum pondered on that and then agreed, and moved on to the second question, just how much, if any, of the law of Moses should be carried forward by the new Christian church. James seems to be the main speaker to this issue, but I thought that James was martyred several years ago. The IM says, “James played an important role at the Jerusalem   conference. He was the son of Joseph and Mary and the half-brother of Jesus Christ. At this time he was the leader of the branch of the Church in  Jerusalem . Because of Jerusalem ’s importance, James’s position in the Church was highly regarded. Paul called him an Apostle. He is the same James mentioned in Acts 12:17; 21:18; and 1 Corinthians 15:7. He is also the probably au...

Backtracking just a little bit, it seems that before Paul and Barnabas left Antioch for Jerusalem, “certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Let’s take a minute to remember that circumcision had been practiced among the Jews for centuries and that this single act represented a divine identity to them as a people. I don’t know why people are so obsessed with other people’s stuff, but apparently it is one of those things that everyone thinks is their business. Because the teaching that circumcision should be continued by these men coming up from Judaea goes against what Paul and Barnabas had been teachings, and after some disputing with these men, Paul and Barnabas decided to “go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” They were going to set the matter straight once and for all with the church leadership. It was probabl...

Satan doesn’t just let go when someone he does like leaves, he follows them, and in this case, “certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium” followed Paul and Barnabas to Lystra, and despite having just healed a man crippled form birth, “persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.” That is a pretty significant escalation in such a short period of time. What probably happened was that these Jews came into to town and found the few others in the town who were against Paul and Barnabas as well and then were louder than everyone else. I think that the verse implies that it was these visiting Jewish leadership who stoned Paul and thought he was dead and carried him out of the city. The citizens of Lystra were so diverse that the standard operating procedure was probably that people didn’t mess with each other’s cultures and religions. Like if one religious group considered cows sacred, they probably...

After being persecuted to the point of expulsion, Paul and Barnabas leave Antioch and travel to Iconium. Again, they start at the local synagogue and teach with great results because “a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.” Unfortunately, they still have the same problem as everywhere else, in that those who don’t accept the gospel view these new teachings as a threat to their power and control over the people. While there “they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” But they were eventually thrown out of Iconium, “and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia.” It is at this point that Paul and Barnabas are referred to as Apostles. I imagine that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles anciently runs the way that ours does now, in that when one of the members dies or is removed for some reason, then another is called in...

The “God-fearing” gentiles, meaning those who believed in Judaism but hadn’t been circumcised, asked Paul and Barnabas to come back the next Sunday to teach them the word of God. Between the two Sabbaths though, Paul and Barnabas gained quite the following “and the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” Many people were interested in the message of Jesus Christ, and needless to say, this did not go over well for the established religious leaders of the city, and “when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.” At this point, they were fighting for territory, not for truth. The established Jewish leaders did not want to give up their power or position or influence and were going to fight to the death to keep what they had. Paul and Barnabas could have been teaching about bird migration patterns and if it ...

Come, Follow Me – Feb 4 th  to Feb 10 th Monday – Temptation #1 - Matthew 4:1-4; Luke 4:1-4 Matthew 4:1-4 – “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” After being baptized, Jesus was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness.” This was a time for him to fast and pray and prepare spiritually for his mission While he was fasting, Satan came to him and tempted him to eat even though he was fasting, he said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” The most important word here is “if.” Satan wouldn’t benefi...

Paul again gives a call to “men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.” It’s almost like he’s saying, “this isn’t just for Jews anymore, but all those who believe, regardless of circumstances. I wonder how well this went over with the Jewish leadership listening to all this. Even though he had already called for Jews and “God-fearers” in the beginning, calling to them again puts emphasis on what he is about to say. It’s like when you’re speaking to someone about something, and just to draw their full attention to what you are about to say, you say their name again. I personally really hate that, I don’t know why, but I really don’t like it, so I can see that it serves its purpose. There also might be a “well if the Messiah came to Jerusalem, why didn’t anyone tell us about it?” which is a fair point, if the S...