Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

One tool that I’ve found to be helpful when dissecting the scriptures is to go back and re-read the last part of the previous chapter before moving on to the next one so that I can have some continuity when moving on. The scriptures are divided into chapters and verses for our benefit now, but when they were originally written, I would imagine that they would have been more like a block of text. So when I start a new chapter, looking back at the previous topic helps me a lot. In the case of chapter 11, it helps to consider that Paul was counseling the saints in Corinth to make their decisions based on how it would help or hinder God’s work. Paul tells them, “give none offense” and that he seeks to “please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” I don’t think that this means that Paul does whatever it takes to make people like him, but like we discussed when he said that he tries to “be all things to all people,” he adapts hi...

The insights that I had into the concept of “temptation” last week were really helpful to me as I thought about it over the weekend. One thought that I had was that one of the reason that Jesus was able to overcome all his temptations and why he is able to overcome ours is because he is secure in his spirituality. Temptation appeals to us in the places that we are spiritually weak, and as we work to strengthen those areas, the temptations fade away as enticements. One particular temptation that Paul knew the Corinthians dealt with, and one that I deal with as well, is addresses in his statement, “flee from idolatry.” The two definitions that I can come up with are worshipping idols, which is more subtle today than it probably was previously, and laziness. I think in this sense, as it is used here, what Paul means is “flee from distraction.” A few verses down from here Paul says, “whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” The article from...

 Comparing ancient Israel to the saints in Corinth in his day, Paul was able to demonstrate to them that all people have struggled between the natural human instinct and God’s laws. But Paul assures them, and us, “there hath no temptation taken you but such as in common to man.” This means that any temptation that we face has been faced by people before, and that really makes you think because there are some crazy people out there into some crazy stuff. The  gospeldoctrine.com  article explains, “one of Satan’s great lies is to tell an individual that his tribulations are greater than any other- that his particular trials are more trying, that his temptations are more tempting, and that his situation is different than anyone else.” I have felt this way, when I was a teenager, I thought that I was so special that I didn’t have to keep the commandments, and it wasn’t until years later than I learned that it was precisely because I was so special that I had to keep them. ...

I’m back almost two weeks later than I had planned because while on vacation I got thrown off a horse and was injured significantly enough that I had to miss a week of work. I feel a little bit better, but I’m still pretty sore and it’s been a very interesting experience where I learned a lot about myself and who I really am deep down. Interestingly, my situation and reaction to being injured helped me gain some insight into what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. Just like Jesus, Paul uses the scriptures to teach lessons to the people. Paul reminds the people “that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea.” Here Paul references when the ancient Israelites left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground after it had been separated by Moses. This miracle is prominent in the minds of believers, but the article from  gospeldoctrine.com  says, “some may have forgotten that God very literally led the children of Israel along every step of their journ...

There were several aspects that Paul was criticized for, one of which was “that he traveled at times with a sister missionary in his group.” We have to remember that anciently, women didn’t enjoy an autonomous identity, meaning that they weren’t usually considered an authority on anything. We also can remember that there were several reasons that women were considered “unclean” as well, so going through different cultures with their varying views of women’s place in society would have drawn criticism from much of the ancient world.  In addition to traveling with sister missionaries, Paul points out that many apostles and missionaries, including “the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas” traveled to preach the gospel with their wives. In this instance, the “brethren of the Lord” is a reference to Jesus’ half-brothers who were raised with him in the household of Mary and Joseph. Don’t get me wrong, I think that there are certain boundaries that are appropriate in these types of situat...

Reading Paul’s letter to Corinthians in response to an earlier letter that he received is like reading the transcript to phone call made in another country about important business but you have no idea what the business is, and it’s 2,000 years old. It’s very difficult to understand, but with help I can kind of make out what’s going on here. The article from  gospeldoctrince.com  explains, “Again, Paul is responding to criticism received from the Corinthians in a previous communication. It would seem that Paul was criticized for the manner in which he traveled and performed missionary work (v. 5-6), for the manner in which he dined with investigators and members, (v. 7-14), and some even questioned his authority (v. 1-3).” Paul poses some interesting questions, “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” I feel like this is one of those times when one has to ask, “do you believe that I’m called of God or not?” I don’t know if that’s specific...

Even though I can deduce that in chapter 8 Paul is answering a question asked to him specifically about eating the meat form pagan sacrificial animals, I can’t for the life of me figure out what his position on the subject is. Paul introduces the subject, “now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we have knowledge.” And then for several verses he talks about being “puffed up” in our knowledge, or “if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing.” This is true and excellent commentary on the human condition, but I don’t really understand why he’s bringing it up here. Maybe Paul is letting them know that anyone who has ruled on this topic yet has been incorrect, or perhaps there had been some individuals who had given advice but done so to feed their ego instead of being thoughtful about the topic at hand. I tried to think about what ego driven advice about this subject would look like, and what I came up with is something like “I would never be seen asso...