Why Are There So Many War Stories in the Book of Mormon?

While preparing a lesson for Church today, I came upon this excellent video of a talk given by John Bytheway (yes, that's his real name...by the way), who was earlier known for his brand of "squeaky clean comedy", but later became a Church Educational System instructor.  The linked talk was given during BYU Education Week, August 18, 2003.

John states that because the principal compiler and abridger of the Book of Mormon was Mormon, who was a military man at the end of the days of the Nephite people, naturally many things he included from the Nephite record were from his perspective as a warrior.  Moroni, who was Mormon's son and the final writer on the plates, saw our day and reinforced what he saw by confirming what his father said about our potential destruction should we choose to follow in the same, wicked path as the Nephites of his day.

In the war-torn world of today, it is entirely and absolutely relevant and fair for the Book of Mormon to focus on one of the most desperate conditions of humanity, including what leads to it and how it can be resolved.  Perhaps the righteous Captain Moroni, who lived centuries before Mormon, was Moroni's namesake because Mormon recognized in Captain Moroni the qualities of a man of God who also knew that God abhored war and only allowed it as a last resort when the life, liberties, and happiness of righteous people was threatened by an external show of force upon the righteously obtained territories of God's people.

I've always felt that world peace would come if people in power would just read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon together and hopefully choose to become sincere and submissive to God.  It is incumbent upon all of us to spread the message of the Book of Mormon as far and as wide as possible so that eventually the world's leaders can't help but be influenced by its teachings.

Online Gospel Art Picture Kit Statistics - LDSMediaTalk.com

I usually try to keep my posts about the Book of Mormon, because that is, after all, the title of this blog.  However, given my recent encounters with individuals who believe that Mormons worship Joseph Smith or that we treat the Book of Mormon with more weight than we do the New Testament, I had to share something telling from LDSMediaTalk.com.

The Gospel Art Picture Kit is a collection of paintings and photographs used by Primary (children's Sunday school) teachers to illustrate concepts of the lessons they teach.  It contains themed illustrations and photos from all the Standard Works (Old/New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price), plus some Church history and ancient Middle-Eastern items.

You can tell a lot about what a church truly believes by what it teaches its children.  With the many, many images available in the Gospel Art Picture Kit, and with the assumption by many that we "aren't really Christians" or that we teach more about Joseph Smith and the restoration than we do about Christ, one would think that the most popular of the online versions of these pictures would be about Joseph Smith and the restoration.

Instead, we see these numbers.

Most Popular Items in the Gospel Art Picture Kit in 2008
Picture Name	Page Views
208 John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus	23,670
240 Jesus the Christ	22,638
239 The Resurrected Jesus Christ	18,753
201 The Nativity	16,543
227 Jesus Praying in Gethsemane	16,323
403 The First Vision	15,916
216 Christ and the Children	13,502
238 The Second Coming	12,973
608 Christ and Children from around the World	12,192
212 Sermon on the Mount	11,144

Even "The First Vision", which is arguably a restoration theme, is Christ-centered because, of course, it was God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith.

So, with the idea gone that Mormons don't teach their children about Christ, it appears that, ultimately, the only theological difference "mainstream" Christians (as they're called today) should have with Mormons is whether we worship the "right" Jesus.  And that is proof of the necessity for a restoration if ever I saw one.

Simile Oaths/Curses in the Book of Mormon

In these videos, I discuss the significance of Simile Oaths/Curses in the Book of Mormon and other ancient Near Eastern documents. 

Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Ancient Texts in Support of the Book of Mormon

In this new series, I discuss an article written by John A. Tvedtnes and published in 2002 that gives an overview of some of the ancient texts in support of the Book of Mormon. 

**Note: I apologize that there is no video for this series. I am having problems with my audio/video syncing on my editing software. I am working hard trying to fix this problem, and hopefully by next time I will have it working.** 

Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

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Part 4

Linguistic Evidence for the Book of Mormon

Brian Stubbs (PhD in Near Eastern Languages, University of Utah) is a linguist who working on the development of the Uto-Aztecan and other languages. He had this to offer at the 2006 FAIR Conference. He discussed the evidence for a Semitic influence on the Uto-Aztecan language and his findings regarding his research in this field. An excellent supplement to this presentation can be found in Mike Ash's two books Shaken Faith Syndrome[1] and Of Faith and Reason[2].

Enjoy!

Part 1

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Part 5

[1]: Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One's Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, 2008) pages 185-187

[2]: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith (Cedar Fort, Inc. 2008) page 122

New Year Festival in the Book of Mormon

Just in time for 2009, I have a video discussion on an interesting aspect of King Benjamin's speech and the ancient Israelite New Year festival Rosh ha-Shanah.

Enjoy!

Part 1

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Reformed Egyptian Part Deux

In a previous post, I discussed "reformed Egyptian" in the Book of Mormon and explored this intriguing aspect of the Book of Mormon. In this follow up post, I have posted a series of videos exploring reformed Egyptian and explain how, contrary to the critics, this is evidence and not a blunder for Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

A Chisel in One Hand and a Sword in the Other (2 Nephi 5)

In attempting to continue my chapter-by-chapter commentary of the Book of Mormon, I will continue with 2 Nephi 5 as the next chapter. The main themes of 2 Nephi 1-4 were covered in a previous commentary post.

After Lehi gave his posterity their prophetic blessings, he passed away. 2 Nephi 5 finds the Nephites and Lamanites separating from each other and becoming warring factions whereas the Nephites (those who followed Nephi and his teachings) were mostly defending themselves or running for their lives and the Lamanites (those who felt Laman should have been their ruler) were chasing the Nephites.

1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord my God, because of the ^aanger of my brethren.

2 But behold, their ^aanger did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life.

3 Yea, they did murmur against me, saying: Our younger brother thinks to ^arule over us; and we have had much trial because of him; wherefore, now let us slay him, that we may not be afflicted more because of his words. For behold, we will not have him to be our ruler; for it belongs unto us, who are the elder brethren, to ^brule over this people.

4 Now I do not write upon these plates all the words which they murmured against me. But it sufficeth me to say, that they did seek to take away my life.

5 And it came to pass that the Lord did ^awarn me, that I, ^bNephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness, and all those who would go with me.

6 Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also ^aZoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the ^bwarnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words.

7 And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days we did pitch our tents.

As was the custom of nomadic Israelites at that time in the world's history, the naming of a city or dwelling or geographic region after a prominent leader, the Nephites called their new home "Nephi". They prospered in the new area through agriculture, recordkeeping, and building projects.

The Lord told Nephi that the Lamanites would become "a scourge unto thy seed, to ^astir them up in remembrance of me; and inasmuch as they will not remember me, and hearken unto my words, they shall scourge them even unto destruction." Knowing from his previous visions that his descendants would eventually succumb to wickedness and thus merit this scourge, Nephi began to focus on armaments with which to defend his people and their freedom to worship and work as they were taught.

14 And I, Nephi, did take the ^asword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many ^bswords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us; for I knew their ^chatred towards me and my children and those who were called my people.

The most important building project on Nephi's agenda was a temple where his people could worship according to the Law of Moses and, therefore, hopefully avert the prophesied disasters.

16 And I, Nephi, did ^abuild a ^btemple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of ^cSolomon save it were not built of so many ^dprecious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s ^etemple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of ^fSolomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.

A temple, of course, needs priests and instructors. Nephi ordained and set apart his brothers, Jacob and Joseph, for these callings.

26 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did ^aconsecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be ^bpriests and ^cteachers over the land of my people.

27 And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of ^ahappiness.

The year was now approximately 569 B.C. All of the events of the Book of Mormon up to this point totaled 30 years since Lehi had left Jerusalem with his family between 600 and 599 B.C.

Nephi's people desired him to become their king, which he refused to be. But he recorded, "nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power." This pattern of selfless servant-leadership would later be followed by King Benjamin. King Benjamin's son, Mosiah, would inherit the "throne", as it were, only to abdicate it upon his death to a rule of law according to the will of the people. Thus, Nephi's humble attitude was setting the stage for what could be described as the first American democracy.

Nephi also continued the art of plate-making and, under command of the Lord made "other plates; and thou shalt engraven many things upon them which are good in my sight, for the profit of thy people." On these plates, he "engraved that which is pleasing unto God". That period of recordkeeping added another 10 years (569-559 B.C.), during which Nephi's people "already had wars and contentions with our brethren."

Book Review: "Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidence Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith"

Michael R. Ash has once again authored a masterpiece that is a welcomed follow up to his fantastic volume Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One's Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidence Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith is not only a delight to read but an accessible and approachable work that offers something for all readers regardless of their understanding of LDS apologetics or scholarship. From those who are just being introduced to the subject to the seasoned LDS apologist on the front lines of online message boards and chat rooms, this book is a must read for any Latter-day Saint interested in learning about the latest scholarly material supporting the claims of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Mike's book is divided into several sections, which cover topics ranging from Book of Mormon evidences from both the Old and New World, evidences for the authenticity of the Book of Abraham and evidence for unique LDS doctrines from ancient Jewish and Christian sources. From sections that are a simple paragraph to five page discourses, Mike covers topics such as the Book of Mormon witnesses, Book of Mormon geography, ancient Near Eastern parallels, Book of Abraham astronomy and evidence for ancient Jews and Christians believing in a pre-existence and a council of the gods.

Perhaps the most amiable thing about Mike's book is how simple, to the point, and matter-of-factly Mike presents his information. This makes his book an easy and enjoyable read. Coupled with ample documentation and an appendix outlining various ancient literary corpuses, Mike also stays true to scholarly catholicity. 

In short, Of Faith and Reason is a must read! A fine book that offers powerful and not so easily dismissible evidence for the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Below is a series of videos I produced discussing Mike's book and offering some other recommended reading materials.

Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Notes on Book of Mormon Names

In this new series, I discuss some of the names in the Book of Mormon and show how these authentic Hebrew, Egyptian and Greek names in the Book of Mormon are evidence for its ancient authenticity and Near Eastern background.

Enjoy!!

Part 1

Part 2

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Part 4