Blogging by nature is a fragmentary way of writing, which reflects the line-upon-line way that we learn, here a little, there a little. But there is also something to be said for arranging one’s accumulated knowledge into order in some way. That makes it possible to find the holes in one’s knowledge and then learn even better things. That is why I’ve decided to set my Book of Mormon blog posts into order as they would fall in the Book of Mormon. I figure it will be useful not just for me, but for you as well. It is comfortable to go in chronological order. It makes a nice little online book of commentary. For you dear readers who are late-comers to this blog, this will help catch you up some. (And if anyone is interested in me publishing this as an ebook—and I mean “interested” in the sense that you would buy it—then I will do it.) (I have already collected some of my blog posts focused on the four gospels of the New Testament, polished them up and published them as an ebook at Lulu.com titled Why Did Jesus Do That?: Probing the Puzzling Incidents and His Oddest Sayings in the Gospels, which is available for sale for $2.99.)(Yeees, this is self-promotion, but if I didn't tell you it exists, how would you know?)(Okay, I declare this post has far too many consecutive sets of parentheses and the grammar police will be kicking down my door any minute now..) So without further ado--drum roll please--we begin!
1 Nephi, 2 Nephi
Some Musing on the Availability and Prevalence of Records and Other Sacred Things
Motivation to keep sacred records: external versus internal
Varying reactions to angelic reassurance
Success from failure
Fresh Lessons from Nephi Getting the Brass Plates
Complaining in 1 Nephi
Revisiting the story of Nephi bursting his bands
When Nephi is tied up on the ship
From the Greatest Sorrow to the Arms of God’s Love: the Valleys and Peaks of Lehi’s Experience
The fundamental purpose of 1 Nephi 20 (Isaiah 48)
1 Nephi 21 (Isaiah 49) The Lord can gather Israel with both hands tied behind His back
Isaiah and Nephi testify of the future redemptive work for the dead (1 Nephi 21)
Jacob on Being Subject to Christ
What Monster Need We Fear?
Nephi Elaborates on Isaiah’s Words about the Precepts of Men
Persecution: what goes around, comes around
Remembering the ancients’ travails
Nephi’s vision of Christ’s baptism
Jacob
Have you been planted in good or bad ground?
What we can learn from Jacob’s account of Sherem the anti-Christ
Mosiah
When you haven’t heard from someone for a while
House Hunting and Zeniff’s Over-zealousness
In which I notice the dangers of Zeniff's over-zealousness and how different it is from actual zeal
King Noah’s priorities
Focus on family leads to the overthrow of King Noah
A story about escape from slavery
The four sons of Mosiah and their long tail symptoms of escaping apostasy
King Mosiah let them go
Alma
Alma 1 Comparison between fruits of priestcraft and fruits of true faithfulness; also the church’s defense against persecution
Lessons from the Amlici Threat
From Humble Poverty to Proud Prosperity: Lessons from Alma 4
Birth and Rebirth
Observations on Alma 14 and the results of Alma and Amulek’s preaching in Ammonihah
The function of the gold limnah and the silver onti in the Nephite currency system
Alma as a type of Christ in the healing of Zeerom
Ammon’s Wait
What shall I do?
Alma 19: Spiritual gifts manifested in Lamanite conversion
Ammon, Lamoni, and Lamoni’s Father: Unexpected Obstacles Can Further Missionary Work
What Natural Man Is There That Knoweth These Things?
“O That I Were an Angel!”: A Look at the Wish of Alma’s Heart
For those times when the world's wickedness pains your soul
Alma’s advice to his son Helaman reveals his own character
There has to be backstory to Captain Moroni’s meteoric rise
Beware of Anger
Lessons from the battle in Alma 43
Fine Point on Surrender, Lehonti (and Co.) and Their Aversion to War?
The covenant of peace realigned Lamanite loyalties
Captain Moroni's Title of Liberty Priorities
Why were wives and children at the bottom of Captain Moroni's Title of Liberty?
Captain Moroni's perfect understanding
Lessons from the Morianton-Lehi land war
What sacred gifts might we be refusing?
Hard Things First
Battle Strategy – Distraction & Fatigue
Captain Moroni’s righteous army
Captain Moroni’s Psychological Warfare in Alma 54
Lessons from Alma 55: changed loyalties, impulse control, causes of carelessness, and winey Lamanites
A type of Christ: Captain Moroni freeing the prisoners of the city of Gid
Helaman’s insight into helping others keep covenants
What must we do to become like the stripling warriors?
Importance of frequent provisioning
Follow the Brethren and Never Fall
Helaman on Maintaining Possessions
Book of Mormon war chapters help us defend against pornography
Helaman
Remembering and building a foundation on Christ: the message behind Nephi and Lehi's mission to the Lamanites
Lessons from the determination of Samuel the Lamanite and the range of response he received
3 Nephi
Destruction as massive object lesson, witness of change as prelude to Christ’s visitation
Care for the One
3 Nephi 18, 20: Jesus teaches different lessons through the sacrament
Pray IN your families
Unspeakable words
How be it that ye have not written this thing?
Why Christ wanted Malachi 3 in the Book of Mormon
Three Types of Scattering and the Scatter-Gather Cycle
Mormon
Forbidden to Preach
Ether
Ether 3 and the Eye of Faith
When the storms push you to your goal
Spiritual lessons from stories of poisonous serpents
Ether’s prophecies in Ether 13
Topical
Examples of Good Fatherhood in the Book of Mormon
How are we to understand the word “astonished” in the scriptures?
There’s more to covenants than meets the eye
One of the Best Scriptural Phrases for the Little Life Challenges
2 comments:
I could sit and read you all day...parenthesis included!
Jocelyn, you are so kind. My goal is to edify and benefit my readers. I can't ever take credit for the things I learn, but I'm always the one responsible for any errors.
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