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Alma 50 v1+: Don't neglect your defenses. Build them up as best you know how. v18±: Construction work, spreading out, working together to a common end all bring prosperity. The Lord blesses us through our own efforts. v21, 25+: We should work hard to avoid in-fighting! (also, much of chapter 51) v35: Select your leaders carefully. Alma 51 v2, 5: "a few particular points" - we want a king, that's all. No more freedom, just a king. One minor little change... v8: Interesting that there were people considered "of high birth" - I guess these were direct descendants of the former kings. How sad that Nephi's descendants would act so shamefully. v9: No doubt Satan timed his influence accordingly. v10: Guess "But behold, we shall see..." is Mormon's version of "SPOILER ALERT!" In-fighting leads to destruction. Personally, I think Teancum is a hero.

Has anyone heard of the Church developing a home schooling program? (Have a friend who's interested.) Thanks!

Ah, yes, these make sense.

Alma 48 v7+: President Nelson used Moroni's preparations as a template to encourage us to prepare spiritually. "Embrace the Future with Faith" from the October 2020 General Conference. I won't bother to repeat the parallels - better to just go read the talk. It is enough to say that one should constantly prepare to defend oneself and one's family (spiritually and temporally), from whatever variety of onslaughts might come, with redundancy, always strengthening and improving defenses and abilities. v9: I don't remember P. Nelson referencing this idea specifically, so I'll comment - where one thing is weak, you place another strengthening thing - if your testimony of X is weak, you don't go seeking out threats to X, instead, you focus on Y, or you seek things that will strengthen X, not further weaken it. If polygamy is a concern, put it on a shelf and work on strengthening your testimony of the Book of Mormon (for example). If you're an addict, place barriers between you and all the things that trigger your addiction / tempt / allow you to indulge... Preparation requires time just sitting and thinking, identifying threats, thinking of protections, planning implementation. It's easy to let our busy day-to-day lives prevent this. v10: Know what's important to you! v11+: How to be like Captain Moroni: Seek understanding. You don't have to delight in destroying your enemies in order to love those things you're willing to defend. Give thanks to God always! Work hard. Have faith in Christ. Be willing to sacrifice. Never start the fight (give offense). Trust the promises of God. Keep the commandments. Resist iniquity. Don't let Satan have a place in your heart. v19: (and lessons from others:) Serve where you are called. Be humble. Don't have contentions among "yourselves" - within the Church, within a nation, within a family, we should not be fighting each other. v24: Just because the Lord prospers you, it doesn't mean your enemy's agency is revoked. So use your prosperity to prepare yourself and to be peacemakers, as much as possible. I really think these are the reasons for President Nelson's talk about being peacemakers and not contending with each other - internal contention destroys quickly. Failing to reach out in peace to our enemies only speeds their attacks. Destruction will come soon enough, we shouldn't invite it. Alma 49 Lessons in reverse... v5: Expect the enemy to be brilliant. v6: Don't assume that just because there are many of us we're safe and don't personally have to do much to prepare for attack. v8: Expect your enemy to be prepared. v13, 17: Don't make decisions in ignorance. v18-19: Let gravity help you. v27: Rage makes you do stupid things. Don't become enraged. Non-reverse lessons: v27: Moroni was keeping the commandments of God in preparing for the safety of his people. Keep the commandments of God, whatever they are. v28: Be grateful to God. (How easy it would have been for Moroni or others to brag about how smart or strong or wise they were. Don't give in to temptation - give the glory to God.) v30: Diligently heed the word of God. Note the presence of Corianton - the Lord forgives, so should you; whatever sins you've committed, you can repent and the Lord can use you to do his work.

I just made next week's thread:

Please see the Book of Mormon Reading Group thread for details (and discussion of 1 Nephi 1 - 5). Our goal is to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I'll make a new post before each Monday so that it's ready to go - weeks go from Monday to Sunday for our purposes. This week's schedule: Nov 20 Alma 52 Monday Nov 21 Alma 55 Tuesday Nov 22 Alma 56 Wednesday Nov 23 Alma 58 Thursday Nov 24 Alma 60 Friday Nov 25 Alma 62 Saturday Nov 26 Helaman 1 Sunday Last Week: Book of Mormon Reading Group: 13 Nov - 19 Nov 2023 (Alma 38 - Alma 51) Thread Index

You're remembering wrong. From the beginning of their story, the Lamanites have out-numbered the Nephites (at least, I can't remember any other instance). I think you're recalling that the descendants of Amulon alone were almost as numerous as the Nephites (the way it's worded, it can easily be misread as saying that the combined Lamanites and Nephite dissenters are almost as numerous, but a careful reading suggests it's only referring to the descendates of Amulon). IMO, not that puzzling. The Lord is often "slow to hear" those who have only recently begun to repent after a period of prolonged wickedness. Alma (the elder) and those converted by him had previously been engaged in significant sin. And the Lord didn't leave them in bondage long. I disagree. The political leader (Pahoran) was overwhelmed by traitors seeking to overthrow the government and establish a kingdom - and what better time to try such a tactic than when the military are away fighting a war? (Though I guess the leaders of those traitors were judges, so we could call them part of the political leadership.) You mean before Satan purchased our military? Yeah.

Alma 47 Obviously, we're not getting the subtle (v4) details of this story. I don't know whether Mormon included this simply because it's significant to the overall coverage of this series of wars between the Lamanites and Nephites or if he wanted to demonstrate this sort of treachery, the dangers of treason (the modern word for Amalickiah's behavior), or ...? Whatever else it may teach us, the last verse is clear - act in harmony with the knowledge of God that you have, and always remember our Savior.

From this comment.

Read Lectures on Faith - these make it clear that God does indeed work by faith, but as described in said lectures, it is a different level of faith than how we often talk of faith (often we use faith, belief, and religion interchangeably and even when faith is treated differently, it's not always the principle of power described in Lectures on Faith.) From the first lecture:

Alma 44 v1-8: Maybe I'm just a cynic, but in the modern world, first, no one would have stood there and listened to Moroni's speech - they would have started ranting and raving at him; and second, no one would trust a simple oath - today Zerahemnah would have made the "oath" while plotting his next attack. v12-15: I suspect removing Zerahemnah's scalp was an accidental blow - just the way things came out, and not an intentional scalping, but I've often wondered if this event isn't the one that led to the Native American tradition of scalping. (And just as a side note, I think it was very generous at the end of verse 12 to leave off the "...screaming in pain." part. ) v19-20: I suppose a more personal lesson to take from this is that when you are caught in the wrong and offered reconciliation, accept the offer - don't let your pride cause you to make matters worse. v24: It might be easy to note that this is the end of what Alma the younger wrote. Alma 45 This is Helaman the son of Alma the younger. The book of Helaman (which follows Alma) is named for this Helaman's son, Helaman (we could say Helaman II or the second, or the younger, but we don't). v1: Fasting, prayer, and worship of God are good companions to rejoicing. If those can't be part of your rejoicing, it may be that you shouldn't be rejoicing in whatever it is you're rejoicing in... v9: It's not always appropriate to share spiritual knowledge publicly. Learn when to keep sacred things to yourself so that God will trust you with more. v10+: Don't dwindle! Alma's story should encourage anyone who feels like they cannot be forgiven of their sins. If Alma can, so can you. (For that matter, the same could be said of the people of Ammon / Anti-Nephi-Lehies.) v23-24: Don't let your wealth / success / education / whatever cause you to think you know better than your Church leaders. None of that equates to being guided by the Spirit. Alma 46 v4: When you decide you want to be the supreme ruler of a people, there's something wrong with you. (Of course, by then, you're not going to believe that, so there's little point in telling you. But if you're not there yet, don't go there... ) v4: Be aware of the addictive influence of power and do all you can to counter the addiction before it takes hold. (You don't have to be a judge or a president or a king for this phenomenon to happen - it can happen to a Bishop, or a police officer, or a sys admin.) v8: This is why we are commanded to always remember Christ - because if we go one day without thinking of him, pretty soon we're going two days, and so on... v9-10: It doesn't take a majority, it just takes a small number of wicked folk to lead people away from what's right. Don't dismiss the enemy just because their numbers seem small. v12: Righteous motives. v13: @askandanswer commented on the use of the word "Christians" - I would note two things: first, the -ites were descendants of the person whose name preceded the -ite, so "Christite" doesn't make sense; second, Joseph Smith translated this into English. Whatever the original word, the most appropriate 1800s English word to convey the meaning was "Christian". We can assume that the original word also meant followers or disciples of Christ. v15: We should be glad to bear the name of Christ. v18: Trust that God will preserve the faithful followers of Jesus Christ (and be one of them). v20-21: When called to defend the right, come running! v21: Do you suppose the women folk were a bit upset by this "rending their garments" tradition? I mean, it must have been hard work to make clothes and then have to mend them... v29: Catch dissent and wickedness early, before the followers have lost their sense of reason. v39, 41: Have faith in Christ until the end. Go out happy.

Sorry. My words were too short. I apologize.

I submit that God can do whatever he wants to do, including, in theory, cease to be God. But he doesn't want to. It's as if you're saying, "unless God chooses to sin, he technically has no agency" or "...he appears to have no agency". That's absurd. God is demonstrating mastery of absolutely everything in the greatest demonstration of agency ever presented to us and you say: You don't understand agency.

IMO, you are better off for having figured it out for yourself than for having it told to you. IMO, learning to receive directly from the Holy Ghost, rather than have someone else tell it to you, is the whole point of the Come, Follow Me program.

How in the world can that even appear to rob God of agency? Look at it this way: A bunch of engineers learn the relevant natural laws required to build an aircraft that will reliably fly. A pilot learns the rules that allow him to fly the aircraft well. By acting in harmony with natural law and the design of the machine, they have attained flight. The scientists and the pilot have first learned and then mastered the laws and rules and then accomplished something they desired. Meanwhile, across town, some guy who wants to be able to fly rants and raves to everyone who will listen about how badly he wants to fly and how unfair it is that he should have to learn stupid natural laws or engineering or even how to operate an aircraft. He should just be able to fly and curse God for not giving people feathers. And people slowly stop listening and then stop associating with him because all he ever does is rant and rave - he won't put that effort into learning or acting in harmony with what's required. Having lost all his family and friends, and doing nothing but ranting and raving, he goes crazy, jumps off a tall building, flaps his arms like mad, and eventually goes splat. In the first instance, they accepted truth, mastered it, and soared. In the other, they rejected truth and died. God has mastered all truth and soars. He invites us to come and soar with him. To do that, we must submit to truth and then master it.

Because of a lost password to a specific software? That's absurd.

Thank you, @mordorbund! So much thought and work went into that post - it's perfect. I'll study it. I've already suggested we should take two fifth Sundays, realizing there are many ways to study scripture and we can't just present one for everyone as we're in different stages of life and spiritual growth. Your method could be an entire 5th Sunday. Fortunately, you've written it out so well that I can use it as a hand-out as well. I'm truly grateful.

First, the tech support people's job is to help you do your job. It doesn't matter how difficult or tedious their job is, it's their job. (There's a reason they call it "work" and there's a reason they pay you to do it.) So don't worry about calling tech support - they're getting paid. Next, if the tech support person doesn't know how to reset a password without those security questions, something's wrong. Does this tech support person work for the software manufacturer or your employer (assuming they are different entities)? If for your employer, they should have some other way of verifying your identity and userID and should be able to then do a password change on the account (and either trigger the software to email you the new password or just tell you what it is and wait on the phone while you log in and then change it yourself). If for the software manufacturer, the hoops for verifying your identity may be more difficult, but there has to be a way. I guarantee you're not the first person to forget the answers to those idiotic "security questions". (Of course, finding the person who knows the above can be a challenge - some tech support people can't do more than read the flip cards, others actually know the software. And it may take a system admin rather than tech support to resolve the problem. Finally, some people design really, really lousy software.) Sorry I can't tell you more. If you want to PM me to discuss specifics, I'll see if I can help any further - seems unlikely, but I'm willing to read whatever free / public info is available on the software and that might let me give you more pointers.

This is clearly not an ordinary member of the congregation. The ward set up a camera and connected it into the audio system to broadcast meetings during COVID (this is a logical conclusion - the audio and video are too good, and the angle such that, it couldn't be someone in the congregation with a cell phone). It may be that this ward decided to post or leave their videos on YouTube rather than just stream and then delete (after some length of time). Or it could be that the person responsible for streaming didn't realize that YouTube keeps streamed videos on the channel for anyone who wishes to view thereafter. And they could be relying on security by obscurity - assuming no one would find their videos (having few views, few likes, and few subscribers drastically reduces the ranking one gets in search results). Whatever the case, hopefully the two wards on this channel know they're being recorded. My stake record the stake conference sessions, but then delete them after some time. (I love this fact as I can learn better from the talks this way - pausing, noting, starting again.)

Because I was observing their behavior. Nothing they were saying or doing was in the least bit interesting, let alone fun. (Some of what they were saying and doing was incoherent.)

Alma 43 The beginning of the war chapters and the introduction of Captain Moroni (not to be confused with Moroni1). Lots of violence ahead. In these chapters, it can be a lot harder to pick out lessons for how to be a disciple of Christ, though they're there. There are patterns and themes to be found and turned into lessons, though. v1: You know you're dedicated to the Lord when you cannot rest, but must go out and teach the gospel. v2: IMO, "holy order of God" tells me they had the Melchizedek Priesthood. v4: Political lesson - dissenters, traitors, are a grave threat. Right now, I see this less in conventional warfare and more in ideology - we are fighting a different sort of "cold war" right now. v5: Just gonna note the name Zerahemnah to help me remember it (we go through names quickly in the war chapters). v7-8: When your goal is to preserve hatred and enslave, you can be pretty sure you're far gone in wickedness. v11: Another sign of pure evil: you despise those who won't fight you, but will lie down and die at your hand. v13-14: The way I read this, just the descendants of the priests of Noah ("those descendants") were almost as numerous than the Nephites - never mind the Lamanites and dissenters (cuz everywhere else, the Lamanites always outnumber the Nephites by far). I think Mormon intentionally wants to point our minds to the story in the footnotes (though obviously he had nothing to do with the footnotes): 2 Kings 6:8-18. At the very least, he wants to remind us of the power of God and the blessings God pours out on the faithful. v18-19: If you have to go to battle (and sooner or later, all of us have to go to some sort of battle), prepare yourself. (This is a common theme throughout the war chapters - the importance of preparing yourself and maintaining your preparations.) v23: Do all you can, counsel with the Lord, and follow the prophet. v26: You should join in the defense of your own land (or freedom or faith or family or whatever). v35: @Jamie123, this Lehi will be a major player in the war chapters - the main Nephite military leaders are Moroni, Lehi, Teancum, and later Helaman (eldest son of Alma, to whom Alma turned over the records back in chapter 36). v38: An example of an engrave-o (type-o, write-o). I suspect Mormon was often exhausted when working on his abridgement. v49: Never underestimate the power of God, especially when his people are one. v54: Cliffhanger! 1 son of Mormon (who compiled the Book of Mormon). This Moroni finished his father's work by adding to the book of Mormon (third to the last book in the Book of Mormon), abridging the 24 Jaredite plates mentioned in earlier chapters into the book of Ether, and writing the book of Moroni (last in the Book of Mormon). I suspect Mormon named his son after Captain Moroni. Remember Mormon lived in a time of constant warfare, when the Nephites were destroyed, and that may impact how he abridges this section.

The bishop holds keys which can help you. If you were not forthcoming with the first bishop, he may not have understood the seriousness of the situation or the depth of your need for help. Yes. How do you repent without coming "down to the dust in humility"? Serious question. Repenting is an admission of sin and pleading for the Savior to take away that sin. How does one consider the suffering our Savior endured in the garden and again on the cross - for that very sin - without being humbled? The fact that you are asking, and the rest of the discomfort you express in your post answers the question - you have not yet fully repented and you are suffering for it. I predict that if you are honest and open - hiding nothing (remember, it's Satan's idea to hide sin) - you will then feel like a burden has been lifted and make some real progress toward forgiveness. And who knows, your new bishop may be better able to help you than the first (even if only through your courage to confess all). Even if he's not, please be humble and brave - go see they priesthood key-holder who can help you. My final bit of advice is to study what the Book of Mormon (it specifically) has to say about repenting, forgiveness, and the Savior - there is power in the Book of Mormon - study it daily - regardless of the cost.

Thanks, again, @Carborendum! Appreciate the answers and will now ponder how I might explain it as a technique one can implement. I'm beginning to think that very few people consciously use techniques to analyze scripture. I certainly didn't, not for a long, long time, but I'm finding it much better to have a technique and to do the analysis rather than relying only on manuals, GC talks, and my feeble ability to feel the Spirit. I've also felt impressed that scripture study is only becoming more important - that we'll all need a sound understanding of the scriptures more and more.