Category: Gospel Doctrine

Come Follow Me: Mormon 1-9

November 1, 2020 /

 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

October 25, 2020 /

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

October 11, 2020 /

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: Helaman 13-16

September 6, 2020 /

(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.?

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Corianton, rebel

Come Follow Me: Alma 40-42, Three Generations of Rebels and Repentance

August 2, 2020 /

These chapters (beginning in 39) are all focused on Corianton, who gets quite the paternal talk. Assuming that these chapters aren’t using Corianton merely as a framework to talk doctrine (i.e. why would this all be recorded, or is Mormon expanding it?), we can guess that Corianton hadn’t understood some things, such as the resurrection, justice, mercy, atonement. And granted, it’s not as if these are basic arithmetic, easily graspable.

What do we know about Corianton? Continue reading

Henry and Mary Crawford, seductive siblings in Austen's Mansfield Park

Come Follow Me: Alma 36-39 Notes and Suggestions

August 1, 2020 /

The Book of Mormon has a variable pace. Occasionally, we skip through decades or even hundreds of years on a single page. Other times, like today, Mormon’s editing moves us into super slow motion, relatively speaking. What is probably only a few hours in real time for Alma to speak to his sons occupies six full chapters, which we slow down further by breaking it up into two weeks of study. (This will be significant for understanding Alma 43 onwards, and I’ll comment further there.)

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