Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

11:17-23 - After Nephi had prayed for rain "the Lord did turn away his anger from the people, and caused that rain should fall upon the earth." And just like we talked about yesterday, the food didn't spring up immediately, it took time and until the season that it was supposed to be grown in. The people were very happy and they "did rejoice and glorify God, and the whole face of the land was filled with rejoicing; and they did no more seek to destroy Nephi, but they did esteem him as a great prophet, and a man of God, having great power and authority given unto him from God." Interestingly, this is exactly what the chief judges accused him of doing when he miraculously revealed the murder of the chief judge, they accused him of conspiring with the actual murderer so that everyone could think of him as a great man and a prophet. So if they would have, at that time, believed in him and God, they could have been spared the war and the famine, but ultimately, in ...

11:1-6 - The people of Nephi are still embroiled in their contentions and there were wars and contentions "and it was this secret band of robber who did carry on this work of destruction and wickedness." The war and bloodshed didn't seem to be stirring up their people to repentance like it normal does, so Nephi prayed saying "O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn unto thee." When God was giving Nephi the sealing power in the last chapter Hugh Nibley observed that God "gives him a broad hint, a suggestion- you'll have power to smite the earth... So he planted the idea, obviously with Nephi." Makes sense, and I was thinking why famine instead of war? I guess that's because I really don't like being hungry, but I think that there is a distinct difference between war ...

10:1-10 - It seems that there can never be any event, miracle, or preaching without contention among the people, and Nephi’s inspired announcement of the murder of the chief judge by his brother caused “a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them.” Hugh Nibley commented that “this is a dramatic situation. They go in both ways and leave one hero standing alone.” So Nephi starts walking home, which makes sense because the people weren’t listening to him, so time to go home, have a snack and regroup. While he was walking he was “much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites… and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him.” The IM teaches about “pondering” saying “To ponder is to ‘meditate and think deeply, often upon the scriptures or other things of God. When combined with prayer, pondering… may bring revelati...

9:1-5 - After Nephi's announcement of the murder of the chief judge five "men who were among them ran to the judgment seat." They were going to check things out and they had an ulterior motive, they wanted to "know of a surety whether this man be a prophet and God hath commanded him to prophesy such marvelous things unto us." They were going to use this opportunity to either prove or disprove Nephi as a prophet. With the later accusations against Nephi that he was conspiring with the murderer so that he could "prophesy" the murder of the chief judge, then make himself a "great man" over the people, I wondered why this prophesy was such a big deal, but then I thought back to the communications that the ancient peoples had and I also read something in Hugh Nibley's " Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, Lecture 78 " that discusses the announcement of the murder of the chief judge he says "The only thing here that take...

8:1-13 - The people are still gathered around Nephi by his tower and listening to him preach and call them to repentance and the people have varying reactions. First, there were judges, “who also belonged to the secret band of Gadianton,” and they weren’t taking Nephi’s words very well. They were afraid to take hold of him themselves and so they were trying to get the people upset with him so that they will do it. These judges accused Nephi of breaking the law, criticizing the law, which in a free democratic society, criticism of the government is allowed. This is part of the chart from yesterday that says that secret combinations wish to retain freedom for themselves but limited it for everyone else, these judges are allowing themselves to speak freely and according to their own desire, but they are trying to stop Nephi from what he was saying. But interestingly, the people didn’t allow themselves to get stirred up, they many actually said “Let his man alone, for he is a good man, and...

7:1-9 - This chapter is very long but doesn't have any IM input so we're just going to hang on for dear life and see how it goes. The Lamanites have almost all been converted, but the Nephites have become very wicked for the most part, even though there are some that are righteous but Nephi observes "the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgement-seats - having usurped the power and authority of the land." The government has essentially been taken over by the GR and they let the guilty go free while punishing the righteous, and "when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul: Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniqu...

6:1-3 - N&L have been instrumental in the conversion of the vast majority of the Lamanite population, and they are very righteous, even more righteous then the Nephites. Personal conversion comes from the power of the Holy Ghost to the purifying of our hearts, which begs the question, I guess, how do we make room for the Holy Ghost in our lives? In an October 2009 general conference address entitled “ An Easiness and Willingness to Believe ,” Elder Michael T. Ringwood taught that “the quality of their conversion led these Lamanites to lay down their hatred for the Nephites and their weapons of war; they were firm and steadfast in their faith; they kept the commandments and walked in truth and uprightness; and they grew in their knowledge of God.” Why is the conversion of the Lamanites consistently more profound then their Nephite counterparts? Typically, it would seem that the Nephites are born into the gospel, or have some sort of previous knowledge. Those who absolutely hate th...