Here I am. Where are you? I have thoughts, you want to know?

1 Nephi Chapter 2

The story of Nephi really begins here. In the last chapter Nephi has introduced himself and his family but in Chapter 2 the story begins.

Setting up the context of the Book of Mormon is important to me. It helps me to get a better understanding for the teachings when I know what it was like for these guys. First. its 600 B.C. There are no cars, no electricity, no plumbing, no “Civil rights” in the sense that today we can whine about its not fair I have the right to blah blah blah. Then these rights didn’t necessarily exist by legislation. (Capitalists and Americans believe these rights exist inherently but that is another story) I would say from an semi-educated perspective that he who has the most swords wins in Lehi’s town.

Notwithstanding the comparatively oppressive situation they lived in they still lived in a city. There was commerce there and there was population. And therefore some security, and Lehi is told to leave.

Verses 4, 11 indicates that Lehi had Gold and silver. Indeed they must have had some measure of wealth and yet in verse 15 Nephi says in a matter of fact sort of way that now we are relegated to tent dwelling.

Laman and Lemuel come off to me like whiners but in another sense I probably would feel much like they did. Laman was to inherit a measure of wealth from his father. They must have had a somewhat comfortable life with a wealthy father. For the record some wealthy fathers don’t just give their money to their kids willy nilly some of them actually expect their children to produce their own value in this world See Aaron Spelling and Warren Buffett. Other fathers support a crazy flagrant lifestyle see Paris Hilton.  EVEN having made these points at least Laman and Lemuel must have come home to a comfortable home and a warm meal everyday.

I just did a web search for life expectancy in 600 BC. So I didn’t find anything (quickly) what was authoritative but on this website a Phd. guy openly asserts that up to 60 years old was possible but 18 years old was more likely. Nephi says he was “exceedingly young” but tough. So he was 12 and his brothers were full grown men at 18? Lehi possibly in his 40’s.

18 year olds - we know how they are....

So dear old dad has a dream and everyone has to take off out of the nice comfortable place to live and everyone has to walk, and walk (forever) to some place called by Lehi the “Valley of Lemuel.” Everyone is whining, well at least the oldest boys are.

Maybe they didn’t ever go camping before. They were ticked off though, burnin’ mad I’m sure that all that “Precious” stuff is sitting in a house by the comfortable bed - or mat as the case may be - is and where the normal familiar welcome potty hole is and the normal water pump or well or what ever. Now they live in a tent with a not as familiar potty hole and they have to travel near the river to get water and the food isn’t picked up in the market but is gathered in the brush or hunted with (presumably) bows and arrows. All because of a “Vision” or “Dream” dear old dad had. And everyone knows just how popular he had been with the community lately telling everyone their homes would be destroyed soon.

I think I have painted a pretty good picture of the justification Laman and Lemuel used to be upset. See I don’t think they were truly bad kids at this point they just didn’t like what was going on and they weren’t tuned in to the same wavelength their father was on so they didn’t feel the same as he did.

Nephi was different, well at least thats the way Nephi tells it. It seems to me that exceedingly young but tough Nephi was an introspective kid. The experience of camping was maybe sort of exciting. Nephi probably didn’t have as much invested in the old place in Jerusalem so he just wanted to do was his Dad did. His motivations were pure. He was open to what ever was happing. I think its possible too that Laman and Lemuel weren’t used to the preaching he did. Lehi had to earn his wealth somehow. He must have had a trade before he went to full time preaching. Maybe Laman and Lemuel knew their father as a worker or a business owner, something other than a “Visionary man” or a prophet. What I’m saying is maybe they didn’t know this newly spiritual person as well as they knew the rich one. I also think Laman and Lemuel had some understanding of what life was going to be about. They would have to get a trade and excel at it whereas Nephi was still just in the beginning stages of this reality of life setting in thing.

So Nephi was different - he says that he had “great desires to know of the mysteries of God (v. 16)” Notwithstanding his possible naivety with regard to his knowledge of the world this quality leads him to a position of leadership (v.22) in his family. It leads him to have spiritual experiences that are awe inspiring “did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father.”

This chapter has set forth a prophetic opening to exactly what will happen in the remainder of the book.

To the detractors of Joseph Smith. Joseph had a 3rd grade education. He could not have known that it was the custom of the people of Jerusalem to name and refer to places (or geographical landscapes) like Lehi did in verse 9 & 14.

1 Nephi Chapter 1

I recently purchased a video because an old friend of mine was the film editor on the project. The video is a scholarly look at the travels of Nephi and his family. They spend 90 minutes looking at the route that was likely taken as Lehi led his family out of Jerusalem.

I am a big fan of Truman G Madsen. He offers some of the opinion on the video.

Verse 1: Born of good parents, learned of his father, suffered but blessed, so I write a record.

LDS people read this verse a lot. And in so doing they can tell you a lot about it. Many of us have several comments on what it means to have goodly parents or to be taught in the learning of our father. The picture above is a motorcycle. Its not a Harley Davidson, like what my father does but it is interesting. In the tradition of Nephi I have joined with my father in the family business. By now I have largely taken over, I manage the day to day operations, purchasing, inventory, customer service and bookkeeping. I have the good fortune of letting my brother handling the order picking and shipping. Dad still does 99% of all the eBay listings.

It turns out, and I didn’t know this that Nephi was probably a Metallurgist? Who'da thought that?

The remainder of this chapter basically summarized very quickly the Jerusalem ministry of his father LEHI. He mentions that he cried repentance during the time of Zedekiah.

To me its clear that Lehi was asked to preach during a time that was very difficult in Jerusalem. His cries landed on initially deaf ears, but he must have been effective because the Lord asked him to leave partially because of the threat as is indicated by verse 20.

Finally, I really like that Moses isn’t the only one whom had a “burning bush” experience. What it must have been like to have a vision like that.

Book of Mormon: Title Page

Image belongs to Rick Grunder

Dark Side of the Moon

In my last post I talked about the fact that there are answers to the major questions that we all ask ourselves. The major way Christians get answers to questions of faith is by searching the scriptures. The Holy Bible is universally accepted as the source of Christian History and is used in one translation or another by every Christian sect. The geographical history the Bible covers is that of the Northern Hemisphere and begins in the aforementioned mesopotamian area and later in the New Testament carries in to Europe. For all the people on the planet, the bible focuses on one family and its spiritual path, this path culminates in the humble birth of Jesus of Nazareth, this birth is the apex of all the prophecy and drama and faith of this family. Jesus' teachings are amazing and are the source of so much faith and hope and comfort for Christians. Its a wonder that with all the activity and spirit and fanfare that is generated by the bible that we don't have a large Popular Christian movement that is interested in finding more of Jesus' teachings. The Book of Mormon is just as its subtitle says it is: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It starts out around the time of the Bible Prophet Jeremiah and carries through to about the year 400 of the common era.

The book of mormon too is primarily the story of one family and their journeyings in the wilderness and their experiences with faith and with God. It culminates in the Birth of Jesus and in a visit that Jesus makes to the Western Hemisphere after his resurrection. I know that the western hemisphere store isn't as widely accepted by the Christian community but that doesn't mean its not true.

Have you ever seen the dark side of the moon? Do you see a different face on the moon in June than in December? Can you recall the face? No. You can't you haven't seen it, unless you are an arduous student of lunar facts you haven't seen pictures of it. No doubt its there, no doubt that once in a while the sun shines on this side of the moon, we just don't see it. Very few actually ever even think about it. Knowing about the moon and being able to describe it is possible by almost every one on the planet. What about the astronomers who have orbited the moon? Is their opinion of it different.

The way I view the gospel of jesus christ and the bibles account of it is like the moon, The bible is widely distributed and accepted by the people of the Earth. It tells a story, a non fiction story about one family and its journeyings. But there is another side to the gospel and just because the Christian community at large hasn't accepted it or read it or ever considered it doesn't make it any less real. Moon is beautiful in all its glory, just as is the Gospel as told by the Bible, the gospel contained in is pages has offered countless millions of people hope and joy that is unspeakable. The Book of Mormon simply is like the other side of the moon, its the same moon, the same gospel, it just shines a light on the gospel that hasn't really been seen before. The other side of the moon is also glorious, it is also real and it is no less true.

The book of mormon is true. the stories and individuals outlined in its pages offer and stand to offer the world its comfort and peace unspeakable that its predecessor has done. The Christian community would be better able to focus itself on Christ and his teachings if they used both volumes to direct is path, as two points on a map offers a clear path and direction to a fixed destination rather than offer the thousands of sects and differences of opinion and contentions by so called experts resulting in the present state of affairs in the Christian faith.