Category: Book of Mormon

Come Follow Me: Mormon 1-9

 I’ll be posting the  final Book of Mormon lessons soon, along with some pre-D&C posts and my “What to Read for D&C.”

With Mormon, we finally arrive in “the present,” that is,  Mormon’s present. He’s no longer working from records that were ancient to him. Remember, the time difference between Mormon and the visit of Jesus is roughly the same time difference between us and Columbus; but in Mormon he’s now working from his own life’s experience, his own memories and thoughts. This is now a primary source, unfiltered through anyone else (well, except translation through Joseph Smith, however that worked.)

You can’t read the beginning of the end of the Book of Mormon without thinking of President Kimball’s stark call against modern idolatry which included this observation— “We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord.” Continue reading

Rough notes on 3Ne 16, 20-30

I updated this from an isolated cabin in Wisconsin, while working on my final dissertation proposal draft (post-defense), our upcoming BYU Studies special issue, and some other projects. And then, working on that other stuff, I forgot to actually hit “update.” Re: these other projects, I’ll post some updates on all this soon. Continue reading

Come Follow Me:3 Nephi 11-15

Today we enter into a very interesting section of the Book of Mormon. Like the Isaiah chapters, it closely parallels a section of the Bible. Like the Isaiah chapters, there are some subtle differences. 3Ne 12-15 parallels the Sermon on the Mount, from Matthew 5-7. It’s been lined up so that if you want to compare verses (and you should!), take the Book of Mormon chapter number and subtract 7 to get the right verse in Matthew, e.g. 3 Nephi 12:48  ≈ Matthew 5:48.

Let’s compare those. Continue reading

Come Follow Me: 3 Nephi 1-7

First, it’s that time of year wherein I start thinking about January, which means D&C/Church History… but mostly D&C. I always get excited when we hit D&C, because it means we’re almost to the Old Testament again. In the meantime, I have to figure out how to handle D&C here. This is the book I have read and taught the least, and I have virtually no notes to build from. Yes, I’m a historian of American religious history, but D&C focuses almost entirely on the 1830-1845 period… but my specialization is elsewhere. As for today, I want to focus almost entirely on 3Ne 6:12 today. Continue reading

Come Follow Me: Helaman 13-16

(I’m under a number of serious deadlines right now, and haven’t had time to update this much.) Today we get to meet Samuel, who prophecies of, well, 3 Nephi, basically.

Thought question: What does it mean that the Lamanite prophet Samuel has a name from the Hebrew scriptures? What does it say, potentially, about his parents, upbringing, etc.?

Continue reading