BoM: title page 2, paragrah 1

I sit at my computer, do I really want to be doing this? I'm working Tabula rasa, zen mind/beginners mind. Still I indulge my past memory of the text ever so slightly. Starting from a complete blank is impossible, I know English after all, and the Book of Mormon is written in English after a fashion. Often, this will not be fun, this will be a wrestle. Me as Jacob, the BoM as the angel,  God as Vince McMahon. O.K. deep breath, "Oh God, if there is a God, and if thou are God wilt thou make thyeslf known unto me." The exegesis begins.

This is the Nephites abbreviated love (lets say Philos or maybe even Agape love) letter to the Lamanites. Both 'ites' are a portion of left overs from possibly the Diaspora, but definitely the house of Israel. The Nephites generosity doesn't stop with the Lamanites though, they cc in the Jews and Gentiles as well, covering just about everyone. I'm concerned with the scalability of distribution. The authors' intent when writing was for everyone to have a copy, every author who's ever lived has probably desired the same thing for their work, the question is how? Moroni exhibited a mansized portion of faith by hiding the record away and leaving the rest in God's hands. The purpose for writing aside from the above is that to do so was a commandment (that is, God-delivered-instructions that were taken seriously in ancient times),  the actual act of writing was directed by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. It's contents then were constructed with future consumption in mind, prophecy lends itself to future prediction I suppose. The target audience was but a distant imagining, within the logic bubble that Moroni was operating in trust in the end game of the Lord was paramount. He left the plates in their hiding place assured that one day a Gentile, led by the same spirit which guided Moroni, would be directed to the record and interpret them on behalf of all those that they were intended for. 

At a Glance

• Written by Nephites
• For Lamanites, Jews and Gentiles (everyone)
• Writing was a commandment
• Writing was influenced by the spirit of prophecy and revelation
• Hidden by Moroni
• With the hope that one day the Gentiles would find them and interpret them by God's power

If I was reading this for the first time I would ask who/what are the Nephites and Lamanites and Jews and Gentiles and any of the bullet point subjects above? But that's enough for today.

noble in defeat, solemn in victory

I like Nephi. Nephi is a stand-up bloke. You can learn a great deal about the world just by contrasting Nephi's approach to life, to that of his enemies. Take Laban for instance, after duping four young gentlemen out of their inheritance, a great abundance of gold and silver and precious things, he did what any red blooded male would do in his place, he painted the town red by getting absolutely off-his-face drunk.

This is instructive of course, don't go on a drinking binge after scoring it rich, it's not worth it. Guard yourself against ostentatious displays of arrogance in victory and all of that, every American football player alive would do well to learn from this, someone makes and tackle and celebrates like they just won the Superbowl, it's all just a little sickening. But I digress... With sobriety as a top priority we can't even conceive of Nephi doing anything that would come close to getting him tipsy, sure he'd chop a guys head off, impersonate his own uncle and misappropriate ancient records carved in precious metal, but we can't really begrudge him any of this can we? Laban had it coming, and besides when it comes to the fruits of the Spirit (the entity that gave our hero a little nudge) against such there is no law.

When Nephi got his prize - the plates - he didn't hoot and holler or get on the grog, he simply walked for three days back to his dad's tent, where the group said their thank yous and made their sacrifices to the God of Israel and then got on with their lives. I like that even keeled approach, don't get too high when the gettings good, don't get too low when you hit a road bump. Whatever happens, you just keep on trucking. Sure there's a time to laugh and cry and dance, there is a season turn, turn, turn, you just gotta pick your spots and know when to say when. Therefore, let us be cautious in the ways we celebrate our perceived victories, be like Nephi, be wise O what can I say more.

Plan(s) of Salvation

Before the foundations of this world a plan was proposed and each of us who is born to the earth "shouted for joy". After the ancillary celebrations (and the notable expulsion of a farely large group of dissident party poopers), we left heaven with the promise that one day we could return if we were obedient to God's law. Sometimes I wonder what we were thinking.

In life we have many different challenges, this I suppose is built into our purpose for being here. Sometimes we even share the same challenges as others around us. Case in point: One day the Lamanites decided that they were going to wipe out the Nephites (again) and also the recently established People of Ammon, both of the non-aggressive groups had a different way of responding to the threat. The Nephites fought "for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church." The People of Ammon on the other hand buried their swords "deep in the earth" and refused to retaliate.

Which reaction was correct? They both were. "If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever;" Captain Moroni lead the Nephites in the defence of their nation. Consider the other side: "And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away." "And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace."

One problem, two very different solutions, now what's the point of all this? The Plan of Salvation is an all encompassing thing that effects each of us. In saying this, the Lord understands each of our unique situations; so there is the Plan of Salvation and then there are my acts of salvation (the actual salvation part being made possible through Jesus of course). We each come from different backgrounds and contexts just as the People of Ammon were different from Captain Moroni, so we will be schooled according what best serves our needs. The path is straight and narrow, but even on a finite straight line there are an infinite number of points. There are common points we all need to pass through (baptism's probably a good place to start), but in the end we need to choose our own way back to heaven. When we make peace with this fact, that's when the fun begins and maybe that's what we got so excited about in the first place.