Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

23:4-5 - The next two verses deal with what to do if you find an animal lost but you know who the owner is, and of course, it says that you would help that animal if it was stuck and also return the animal to it’s rightful owner. Interestingly though, It’s not if you know the owner, it’s if it’s an enemy or “him that hateth thee.” I wonder if this means that it was obvious what the right thing to do was if the animal belonged to a friend or relative, but it had to be spelled out if it was someone that you didn’t like. It’s interesting to think about, if you would let an animal suffer just because you didn’t want to help the person that you didn’t like. The IM notes that these verses decry “where many people refuse to get involved in the problems or misfortunes of their neighbors.” I think that boundaries are important but that people should help too. It can be a fine line. 23:6-9 – I’m not exactly sure what these next two verses are saying, but from what I can deduce from context, it...

23:1-3 – the first 3 verses of chapter 23 are all judicial code about court proceedings. TB comments, “Generally speaking these verses are referring to judicial integrity; that is, they are about the proper behavior for witnesses, judges, and the litigating parties… Many of the rules we have encountered so far have been very bound up in ancient Hebrew culture but these laws are plain, contemporary, and timeless.” He then goes on a tangent decrying “political correctness” and “secular humanism” that I disagree with, so take that with a grain of salt if you look up the lecture. I think that perhaps TB might be a bit more “Old Testament” than I am, and I would be interested to know what he thinks the ideal societal set up would be. These lectures are from 2016 I think but it looks like TB still uploads some lectures so he seems to be alive a kicking. Some of the stuff he says, I have to ask myself who he votes for in this upcoming election, just an interesting thought that I have. I lov...

22:28-31 - TB’s commentary on verse 28 gives an insight into the validity of the King James’ version of the Bible. The KJV says “you shall not revile the gods,” and TB notes, “the word here for ‘gods’ is Elohim. And, it CAN mean gods, little ‘g’ gods, in the plural. But that is so far out of context I’m surprised the excellent translators of the KJV chose to translate it this way.” My mom always said when I was a kid that we use the KJV and everything else was blasphemy, so now that I’m coming out of the brainwashing for so long, I’ve naturally rejected a lot of what she taught me just out of self-preservation and because so much has been wrong and harmful. So I always wondered how good or important the KJV of the Bible was, so it was nice to hear TB say that the translators are excellent. The way that verse 28 is read from the KJV makes it sound like the Israelite’s were being commanded to respect the gods of other nations which goes against everything that we’ve learned already abo...

22:25-27 - Here we get into money lending, but because this is ancient times money wasn’t really a thing as much as trade/barter. If someone who is better off lends money to someone who is poor, they are not to be charged interest. This is an interesting concept because by definition, if you have enough of something, money or otherwise, to lend it out, then you are better off than those to whom you are lending, unless of course it’s for a business thing, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now. It goes back to what King Benjamin said about how everything we have is a gift from God and so if we have more abundantly than someone else, it’s not because we earned it or because we deserve it, but because God has gifted it to us. Therefore the inverse of this has to also be true, that someone who has less abundantly or is poor isn’t that way because they deserve it but because that’s just the lot in life that God has seen that they live in right then. And I contest that most peop...

22:21-24 - I’ve been sick for the last like 2 weeks and it’s been incredibly painful. It’s not the sickest I’ve ever been but it’s really knocked me on my butt. Maybe I’m just getting old but man it really took me out and I’m still not entirely better yet. Like all my hopes and dreams just died while laying in bed coughing up a lung, it’s actually been quite depressing. Anyway, the Law of Moses continues, that strangers should not be vexed or “oppressed” “for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” TB notes that this next section of laws were to protect “some particularly vulnerable social groups,” which is another example of the God of Israel being concerned about the welfare of those who don’t have a lot of power within the societies where they live. It’s actually a very interesting commentary on God’s priorities as a whole and something that is worthy of our consideration when deciding what exactly it means to be Christ-like in our own lives. Strangers could easily be taken advan...