The BoM: Title page, paragraph 2

"An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven—Which is to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ." -- Moroni or Mormon


Hold the phone there's a third group that make an appearance, the people of Jared, an off-shoot of the famed tower of Babel debacle. We get a light sprinkling of their dealings with God and each other. Take a look at the table of contents, and unless my math is wrong which is often the case, of the 531 pages in the BoM, 31 are dedicated to the Book of Ether (which is an abridged record of said peoples' history). That's roughly 5 percent, not the largest morsel on offer, but still important enough to garner a special mention on the title page and hopefully tasty all the same.

The account of the people of Jared then, no matter how sparse, requires special consideration, then again so does the entirety of the BoM as the final sentences of this paragraph goes on to explain. You've got to love the vagaries of the English language "which is to show" (highlighted above) functions as an indexical here and like all bad indexicals it's not immediately obvious what it is referring to (or maybe I'm just being obtuse). It could mean that the record of the people of Jared, or the confusion of languages at the tower of babel, but most likely that the record which constitutes the Book of Mormon is or was written to illustrate that Jesus is God (an interesting idea that will be explored in another post) and the anointed of God and that He will manifest this fact to the world.

I am therefore left to use the discernible intent of the author as the lens by which I go about my (for lack of a better word) deconstruction/commentary/annotation of the BoM. Moroni's purpose was to show the divinity of Jesus and His interactions with the people in the BoM. Lets see where that takes us.

BoM title page 1.1 dead prophets complex

There was a time when giants walked the earth and men lived close to a thousand years. Those days are gone. Literalists may see this as a natural consequence of a fallen world. There are alternative scientific explanations, of course, for why the aforesaid may or may not have occurred, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. The supernatural displays of power in the bible are legion, take for instance the Hebrews who were delivered out of Egypt by Moses on the back end of a series of miracles sponsored by God. Was the record that made it down to us documented in "real time" or was it simply the product of Mythic Imagination? In other words was the parting of the Red Sea a current event (something that could be recorded for the local news if they had cameras back then) or was it more of a dream time story. The answer is left to the faith and disposition of the reader.

To keep things interesting let's say you opt for: it's true. A bold move. In my heart of hearts I like to think so too. The difficulty is that nobody sees, as far as we are aware, the frequent violations of the laws of nature in our modern/post-modern world on the grand scale that they did in ancient times. Why the disparity in Acts of God between then and now? A number of factors could account for this (remembering that we're assuming the miracles reported happened):

• This is a sign seeking and/or adulterous generation
• The collective level of faith today is insufficient to draw upon the powers of heaven
• Our faith is so strong that we don't need miracles as often anymore (it always seems like a cop out when people tell me this)

Lets explore each...

next: in 1.2 the contextual faith of groups, myth: a game of bait and switch (sacred then crazy now), no faith=no miracles.

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.

BoM: The title page 1

"I wish to mention here that the title-page of the Book of Mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates, which contained the record which has been translated; …and that said title-page is not…a modern composition, either of mine or of any other man who has lived or does live in this generation" -- Joseph Smith (HC 1:71.). 

The Book of Mormon has been a source of controversy since before it was even made available for sale back in 1830. There are numerous theories which attempt to explain its origin. Did Sydney Rigdon help Joseph write it? Did Joseph fabricate the entire thing, pulling it figuratively out of a hat while literally doing the same? Did he just plain plagiarize its content, borrowing heavily from the Old Testament, the contemporary text, The View of the Hebrews, and/or others? Ask the man himself and he would have told you that he was lead to a collection of plates, buried in the side of hill near his home in Palmyra New York, by an angel named Moroni, and that those plates were translated into what we know as the Book of Mormon today (with a thousand or so minor changes). 

As origin stories go it is certainly fantastical, and skepticism is understandable. For those who believe in the bible, dismissing the BoM because of the miraculous circumstances surrounding its  translation/creation are probably less warranted. There were plenty of angels floating around during biblical times, why can't they do the same now? Before I expertly eviscerate any further arguments against the truth claims of the Book of Mormon I will move on to the text itself which is the whole point of this study anyway, leaving the apologetics to more qualified organisations and individuals, the attacks are too vast and varied to address in this post. Suffice it to say, wow, an angel and gold plates, you just don't see that kind of thing everyday. 

The angel in question is the resurrected version of the final contributor and assistant compiler of the Book of Mormon: Moroni himself, who was the son of the book's name sake, one Mormon of ancient America. Let's get into what Mormon says the Book of Mormon is about, examining the title page: The Book of Mormon's mission statement, if you will...

blogging the BoM

Here's how it is. Every general conference or so we are encouraged to do three basic things everyday: Study, pray, and serve. Sure we could tie everything up neatly in the large unwieldy bow that is KTC (Keep The Commandments), but if we ever want to get anywhere we need to rip that parcel open and start unpacking what we mean; take one step out from KTC toward specificity and we have what those Commandments are: Love God, Love others, and Love ourselves. Love is not the easiest thing to qualify on earth, it can get irrational and complicated, so it's nice that we're given simple practices to keep us in the right state day-to-day (hopefully) to start spreading the love like purple dinosaurs. 

Can it really be that simple? Do those three basics and everything starts falling into place? I don't know. I've rarely sustained all three together for prolonged periods of time. Service: Does self-serving count? Prayer: do it most days, but I allow myself to get too mechanical too often.

I'll hold off discussing these two for now (and dream of tomorrows that may never come), lets talk sticks. The scriptures are meant to give us direction not just by what they say, but by opening us up to the promptings of the spirit. It's some obedience thing right. IF you study the scrips, THEN you get the spirit. Sounds like a fair trade.

All told that gives us well over 2000 pages to chose from. That's a lot of light reading. Where to start? Talk to most modern Apostles and they'd recommend the Book of Mormon. If called upon to rank the canon in order of most interesting to least interesting to read, my list would look something like this:

1. The Old Testament
2. The Doctrine and Covenants
3. The New Testament
4. The Pearl of Great Price
5. The Book of Mormon

For some reason I've never been super excited to read the BoM (well I don't really get excited about scripture study in general, but I have my moments, the OT gets me going sometimes  and tops the list because some of it is just so bizarre). Recently I came across an interview on NPR with David Plotz, semi-practicing Jew, who'd lost touch with the Good Book. After incidentally encountering the tale of Dinah's rape and her Brothers reaction at his cousins bat mitzvah, he decided that there was a lot he didn't know about the Bible and subsequently went on to blog about his adventure of reading every word (which is now a book). 

What a brilliant idea. After years of going through the motions in my scripture study, I think I'll follow David Plotz's lead and blog my study of the Book of Mormon (and maybe even the Old Testament). Heaven help us.  Making religion real for me, that's what it's all about, not just empty ceremony, not that ceremony is necessarily empty, it's just how I respond to it often.

Check out A. J. Jacobs in the video above, he's taken things to the next level by actually doing what the Bible says. I'm not quite ready to leap into an entire year or even an entire month yet of complete dedication by strict obedience. I'll start reading consistently, then I'll worry about living the stuff. Still I can't help but be inspired by these men, it's amazing what a little internet surfing can do for you spiritually. 

creation phase 2

In phase 1 (see below) I decided that creativity is beyond neccesity. It is a contingency. It is a choice.

Do you want to live forever? -- Valeria (from Conan the Barbarian)

In this post I decide that I will devote my life to something utterly unnecessary. I will become the first cause in a microcosm of the universe: my own little world. Taking things that are happy to continue along there own deterministic path and delicately negotiating with them, facilitating their change from one thing to another. Matter cannot be created or destroyed it can only be transformed. Alan Moore (of Watchman fame -- He wrote the comic, which is way better than the movie -- for fun check out this article comparing Dr. Manhattan to the Mormon conception of God) once said: attempt only the impossible. How does becoming a God sound? I'll start small and work my way up: write, draw, program, be amazing. It's all optional including Eternal life. Do I want to live forever? Yes please. The hero's journey begins now.

Jesus spotted in home made cookie

"A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. Do you think when Jesus comes back he's gonna want to see a [censored] cross ever again? " --Bill Hicks 

Just in time for Easter: crucified Jesus cookie cutters. This may be taking transubstantiation just a little too far.

creation phase 1

We are a contingent part of reality, there is nothing that necessitates our being here. Looking from a materialist perspective the universe is as it is purely by chance. The conditions happen to be balanced in a way that allows for the possibility of life, so we shouldn't be overly astounded at the fact that life exists. Here's were the contingent part comes in, there are an infinite number of ways that the universe could have organized itself after the big bang, and theoretically speaking these variations on the theme likely exist in the quantum foam somewhere. We lucked out, and popped up in one where the Anthropic principle is in operation, it's good to be alive.

Similarly, in the spiritual sphere, we are not here out of strict necessity - for starters we could have chosen not to come. God by definition is perfect, in other words whole, which means in some sense that he didn't need to create us, because he doesn't need anything. He doesn't want for anything, he just is. Creation (and this is a big call, I know) consequently is a choice, not an obligation.

I used to look at the arts and wonder what they're for. Examined through a harsh lens they don't seem to serve any practical purpose (in the Darwinian sense). Sure, musicians and artists in the right context seem to pull a lot of girls, but I'm not sure this is a result of evolutionary fitness, more a by-product of certain cultural expectations and values (and sometimes a contrarian interaction with them). But where does culture come from and where is it going? It creates order, it creates meaning, and art, when it comes down to it is a huge contributor to culture creation. So all though it seems at first blush to be self-indulgent fluff perhaps (and little more), while not vital to our physical survival it still serves a human or consciousness affirming purpose: Art often prompts us to contemplate life the universe and everything, no small task. It is the result of creativity courtesy of our initial creation and I like it.

Try some at your own risk.

TBC soon

the curious case of 'reliance' in LDS theology

From the marriam webster online dictionary>>
re·ly
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈlī\
Function: intransitive verb

1 : to be dependent
2 : to have confidence based on experience

I rely on the merits of him who is mighty save. And when I say "rely" I mean so in a highly specialized way. After a number of pioneers had been rescued from the harsh winter conditions of the unforgiving American plains, Brigham young told the already established saints that all the prayers and faith in the world wouldn't help the suffering (much), they didn't need prayers they needed potatoes and other temporal necessities, or something to that effect. As the saying goes God helps those who help themselves and in select cases others intervene on God's behalf in the lives of those who try to live right by him. In this world most stuff is up to humans.

When we say we rely on God, it's not the same as saying that I'm relying on Joe Blogs to pay me today that 20 bucks he owes me from last week, I think what we're saying, when we're on top of our game anyway, is that I'm going to do what I think is right, and God gave me this sense of distinguishing between right and wrong, so hopefully this decision and action will help me on my way back to him. In other words reliance on God doesn't place the responsibility for our destiny on his shoulders, we're not the US Congress handing our powers all over to the Executive branch, in crisis we need to take responsibility for our own bailout. I have a feeling that God interferes in human affairs as little as possible, partly because so little has been seen of him lately or even ever. It is safe to say that we can expect few Deus Ex Machina moments. He put the wheels in motion, and now he's watching them turn making minor adjustments as needed, any major adjustments need to be handled by us. In the gospel rely=DIY.

note: this post is talking about life in a temporal sense, reliance obviously extends into the eternities with the effects of the atonement etc.