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Alma 12:26 Alma 42:5 Sounds bitter to me. IMO, it was the circumstances which made it bitter or sweet.

Perhaps if you gave up on the idea of explaining it and rather embraced the idea that God was giving you a gift for which most are not prepared, then He would let you remember it. (Just a thought - not everything the Lord tells us should be shared.)

That's my boy - blur and void, all in one!

1 Nephi 6 This chapter, once you know, is evidence of the missing 116 pages (I assume). Is the "fulness of mine intent" to persuade people to come to Christ and be saved? Do I write (and speak) things that are pleasing to God or things that are pleasing to people? Do I waste my "space" with things of no worth? Chapter 7 I wonder if while Nephi and Sam were talking to Ishmael, Laman and Lemuel were out back conspiring with the rebellious among Ishmael's children to recruit help in getting out of this lark their father had started them on. (I mean, you just have to wonder, you know?) Clearly the families already knew each other... v7: Zil's hyper-independent response: Grow up, you big babies. Go back to Jerusalem or shut up and cooperate. (v15 - Nephi was more polite.) v10+: Never forget the witnesses and blessings God has given you! v21: Zil might not be as quick to forgive... v22: Proper gratitude again. Chapter 8 v1: Emergency preparedness. v5-9: What happened to the man in the white robe? Who was he? Was he a good person and Lehi let himself get distracted, as we so often do? Or was he a false angel - a follower of Satan - deceiving Lehi, leading him into waste? v8: Don't wait until after you've been in the darkness for many hours before calling on the Lord - call sooner! v12: Coming to Christ fills you with joy. If that's not what you're feeling, you're not there yet. It also fills you with a desire to share with those you love... v15: Don't leave the Lord to go find others - stay with him and invite them to join you! v20: strait is the gate and narrow the way... v23: Expect occasional darkness. Hold to the rod. Stay on the path. v25+: The world will mock you for following Christ - ignore them! Don't be ashamed! (PS: They have no foundation - their fall is gonna be unpleasant.) v30: Fall down at the Savior's feet and stay. v35: How sad Lehi must have been. v37: Don't give up on the wayward.

Another thought on this - in 7:14 it talks about Jeremiah having been cast into prison. While the OT may have the book of Jeremiah, keep in mind that the winners write history. By the time the Lord came, the Jews were more than a little rebellious and unwilling to recognize him, so why wouldn't those with the power have altered records to obscure or even remove prophecies about him? Alternately, perhaps the OT was given like parables - so those who would see, could, and those who wouldn't see could delude themselves.

Something to keep in mind is that we Latter-day Saints believe that all the prophets, from Adam on down, knew about the coming of Jesus Christ and his role as our Savior. So while others may think this language is unusual for OT-era people, we think it's perfectly normal and that the only reason it's not found more clearly in the Bible is that the knowledge was lost or obscured over time. Christ is the iron rod. Christ's words are the iron rod. Hold to the rod. (Variation that is how we sing it in church meetings, as opposed to how the Choir sing it - which isn't always the same.)

In continued hijacking of this thread, here's my boy practicing his goalie skills:

Gladly!

PS: I forget that a lot of people use mobile phones and it can be more of a nuisance to navigate those (especially since TH's mobile version doesn't have all the features of the desktop version - like the "notification" and messaging icons). On my Android phone in Chrome, I would get there like this: Tap the Activity button at upper left Tap the Home icon that's now in the same place Scroll down to Gospel Boards and the rest is the same as previously stated

No problem - there are enough BofM subs that it can be confusing: From the forum home page go to Gospel Boards > Study Boards > Scripture Study Forum > Book of Mormon and that's where our threads will be listed. (I know, deep dive, so to speak, but it was the most logical sub-forum for it.)

'Twas done:

Wishing you all the best and as good a resolution as possible.

Please see the Book of Mormon Reading Group thread for details (and discussion of 1 Nephi 1 - 5). This is the thread for the first full week. 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. Each thread will be discussions on that week's readings. Just to make it easier on everyone, I'm going to ping all those who have expressed a desire to participate. This is the only thread where I'll do that. @Jamie123, @Vort, @laronius, @askandanswer, @JohnsonJones, @pam, @Carborendum, @Just_A_Guy Index to all threads: Book of Mormon Reading Group: 11 Sep - 17 Sep 2023 (1 Nephi 6 - 1 Nephi 18) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 18 Sep - 24 Sep 2023 (1 Nephi 19 - 2 Nephi 9) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 25 Sep - 01 Oct 2023 (2 Nephi 10 - 2 Nephi 28) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 02 Oct - 08 Oct 2023 (2 Nephi 29 - Omni 1) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 09 Oct - 15 Oct 2023 (Words of Mormon 1 - Mosiah 13) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 16 Oct - 22 Oct 2023 (Mosiah 14 - Mosiah 29) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 23 Oct - 29 Oct 2023 (Alma 1 - Alma 12) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 30 Oct - 05 Nov 2023 (Alma 13 - Alma 25) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 06 Nov - 12 Nov 2023 (Alma 26 - Alma 37) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 13 Nov - 19 Nov 2023 (Alma 38 - Alma 51) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 20 Nov - 26 Nov 2023 (Alma 52 - Helaman 1) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 27 Nov - 03 Dec 2023 (Helaman 2 - Helaman14) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 04 Dec - 10 Dec 2023 (Helaman 15 - 3 Nephi 13) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 11 Dec - 17 Dec 2023 (3 Nephi 14 - 4 Nephi 1) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 18 Dec - 24 Dec 2023 (Mormon 1 - Ether 7) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 25 Dec - 31 Dec 2023 (Ether 8 - Moroni 10) Repeat of the full schedule: X Date Read Through Sep 9 1 Nephi 3 Sep 10 1 Nephi 5 Sep 11 1 Nephi 8 Sep 12 1 Nephi 11 Sep 13 1 Nephi 13 Sep 14 1 Nephi 14 Sep 15 1 Nephi 16 Sep 16 1 Nephi 17 Sep 17 1 Nephi 18 Sep 18 1 Nephi 20 Sep 19 1 Nephi 22 Sep 20 2 Nephi 2 Sep 21 2 Nephi 3 Sep 22 2 Nephi 5 Sep 23 2 Nephi 8 Sep 24 2 Nephi 9 Sep 25 2 Nephi 11 Sep 26 2 Nephi 15 Sep 27 2 Nephi 19 Sep 28 2 Nephi 23 Sep 29 2 Nephi 25 Sep 30 2 Nephi 26 Oct 1 2 Nephi 28 Oct 2 2 Nephi 31 Oct 3 Jacob 1 Oct 4 Jacob 3 Oct 5 Jacob 5 Oct 6 Jacob 5 Oct 7 Enos 1 Oct 8 Omni 1 Oct 9 Mosiah 1 Oct 10 Mosiah 2 Oct 11 Mosiah 4 Oct 12 Mosiah 7 Oct 13 Mosiah 9 Oct 14 Mosiah 11 Oct 15 Mosiah 13 Oct 16 Mosiah 15 Oct 17 Mosiah 18 Oct 18 Mosiah 21 Oct 19 Mosiah 23 Oct 20 Mosiah 26 Oct 21 Mosiah 27 Oct 22 Mosiah 29 Oct 23 Alma 2 Oct 24 Alma 4 Oct 25 Alma 5 Oct 26 Alma 7 Oct 27 Alma 9 Oct 28 Alma 10 Oct 29 Alma 12 Oct 30 Alma 14 Oct 31 Alma 15 Nov 1 Alma 17 Nov 2 Alma 19 Nov 3 Alma 21 Nov 4 Alma 23 Nov 5 Alma 25 Nov 6 Alma 27 Nov 7 Alma 30 Nov 8 Alma 31 Nov 9 Alma 32 Nov 10 Alma 34 Nov 11 Alma 36 Nov 12 Alma 37 Nov 13 Alma 40 Nov 14 Alma 43 Nov 15 Alma 43 Nov 16 Alma 46 Nov 17 Alma 47 Nov 18 Alma 49 Nov 19 Alma 51 Nov 20 Alma 52 Nov 21 Alma 55 Nov 22 Alma 56 Nov 23 Alma 58 Nov 24 Alma 60 Nov 25 Alma 62 Nov 26 Helaman 1 Nov 27 Helaman 3 Nov 28 Helaman 5 Nov 29 Helaman 6 Nov 30 Helaman 8 Dec 1 Helaman 11 Dec 2 Helaman 12 Dec 3 Helaman 14 Dec 4 3 Nephi 1 Dec 5 3 Nephi 3 Dec 6 3 Nephi 4 Dec 7 3 Nephi 7 Dec 8 3 Nephi 9 Dec 9 3 Nephi 11 Dec 10 3 Nephi 13 Dec 11 3 Nephi 16 Dec 12 3 Nephi 18 Dec 13 3 Nephi 20 Dec 14 3 Nephi 22 Dec 15 3 Nephi 26 Dec 16 3 Nephi 28 Dec 17 4 Nephi 1 Dec 18 Mormon 2 Dec 19 Mormon 5 Dec 20 Mormon 7 Dec 21 Mormon 9 Dec 22 Ether 2 Dec 23 Ether 4 Dec 24 Ether 7 Dec 25 Ether 10 Dec 26 Ether 12 Dec 27 Ether 13 Dec 28 Moroni 2 Dec 29 Moroni 7 Dec 30 Moroni 9 Dec 31 Moroni 10 Enjoy!

Off I go to make the first!

Klaw appears to be dreaming of eating. Finally I can relate to parents complaining about how their children don't pay attention during family scripture study!

1 Nephi 4 Perhaps it's a mistake that we lose the optimism and confidence of youth (or most of us seem to, anyway). Perhaps simple faith ("Hey, Moses managed to part the Red Sea, so we can do this!") is a good thing. v4 & 6 - How often to I grumble about an assignment? How often do I want to know the details before being willing to start. "Easy to be entreated" comes to mind again. v13 (and v36) suggests to me that Laban would have gone looking, had he lived. Maybe he would have awoken too soon and staggered home running into Nephi on the way. Or maybe when the brass plates were gone, he would have known who took them and sent his men in search... v25 - why ask Zoram to follow? Perhaps Laban wouldn't have deigned to carry the plates himself and Nephi had to remain in character. Perhaps the Spirit prompted him and Nephi just didn't mention that (or realize it). Chapter 5 v5 Lehi also has that complete confidence in the Lord - so much so that he uses the past tense for something yet to happen. Do I have such confidence in the Lord's promises? We should be grateful that we can just download our own copy of the scriptures and log on to FamilySearch for our genealogy - no brass or swords required.

These would be the thread titles, if we follow my proposed plan - I can change these, but thought including the date and chapters would help - and it would let me create them ahead of time for anyone who wanted to jump ahead... Book of Mormon Reading Group: 11 Sep - 17 Sep 2023 (1 Nephi 6 - 1 Nephi 18) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 18 Sep - 24 Sep 2023 (1 Nephi 19 - 2 Nephi 9) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 25 Sep - 01 Oct 2023 (2 Nephi 10 - 2 Nephi 28) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 02 Oct - 08 Oct 2023 (2 Nephi 29 - Omni 1) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 09 Oct - 15 Oct 2023 (Words of Mormon 1 - Mosiah 13) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 16 Oct - 22 Oct 2023 (Mosiah 14 - Mosiah 29) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 23 Oct - 29 Oct 2023 (Alma 1 - Alma 12) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 30 Oct - 05 Nov 2023 (Alma 13 - Alma 25) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 06 Nov - 12 Nov 2023 (Alma 26 - Alma 37) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 13 Nov - 19 Nov 2023 (Alma 38 - Alma 51) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 20 Nov - 26 Nov 2023 (Alma 52 - Helaman 1) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 27 Nov - 03 Dec 2023 (Helaman 2 - Helaman14) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 04 Dec - 10 Dec 2023 (Helaman 15 - 3 Nephi 13) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 11 Dec - 17 Dec 2023 (3 Nephi 14 - 4 Nephi 1) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 18 Dec - 24 Dec 2023 (Mormon 1 - Ether 7) Book of Mormon Reading Group: 25 Dec - 31 Dec 2023 (Ether 8 - Moroni 10) (Yes, I wrote a script to generate that list - hooray for LDS programmers with nothing better to do! )

I has perused the Scripture Study Forum and its sub-fora (it has to sub-flora or sub-fauna). Between the "Book of Mormon" (originally for the 2012 Gospel Doctrine lessons) and the "Reading the Book of Mormon" (described as for a group reading one chapter per day), I think we should go with "Book of Mormon" (in part because I don't want to use the other's sub-sub-fora (one per book)). Further, I like the idea of one post per week covering whatever we read that week. Unless someone shows up with objections, I'll start one in the morning and the week will go Monday through Sunday (which works well since we end on a Sunday, it's also what folks outside the US are likely used to, and it's what we use for the Come, Follow Me lessons). Which means I'll be posting my thoughts on 1 Nephi 4 and 5 here. Klaw has just come to join me, so apparently we're having family scripture study again today. Wish us luck!

I was gonna get one of these, but the shelter said it's at least a 3-year waiting list, so I got Klaw instead.

I might wait to see how many chime in - e.g., for today's reading, only three of us actually commented on the reading. Perhaps it will make sense to make a thread per book or per week or something. Let's leave this one at least for the first several chapters of 1 Nephi, and go from there. @Jamie123 - please chime in on whether / how you'd like it broken out. Pam is right that one thread will likely get unwieldy. I'm thinking one per week or so would work out better. E.g. this one can hold up through the 15th (1 Nephi 1-16) or we can start a new one tomorrow and go Sunday through Saturday. Whatever works for you. (One per book probably isn't a good idea as some books are a single chapter and Alma has a zillion chapters.) And one per day seems like too many - also, some discussions will likely carry over...

Hack Laban's server and steal the file. Oh, wait. Nevermind. My understanding of the latter situation is that the way was prepared, but too few were willing to do the work and the Lord held guiltless those who tried their best (but presumably will still hold accountable those who did not). (But I could be wrong in that - my memory of these history things isn't great.) I have always believed that had Adam and Eve resisted Satan and then asked God about what they had been told, God would have revealed more information to them until they were able to make a more informed choice. That would have been the way. But, we don't know what would have happened had they followed a different course. This is the only example I can think of that comes close to countering Nephi's assertion.

@NeuroTypical did a much better job of explaining what this has to do with donuts. (I was not in the least bit confused as to the political situation here or in Hungary.)

Yeah, they've been doing some overhaul, and don't get me started about the development team for the Gospel Library app.

Every cat-owner will tell you, the law is that once the cat takes up residence on any part of you, you are not allowed to move until the cat does.

It is presumed that Laban was a relative of Lehi (hence the fact that the brass plates had Lehi's genealogy on them). Otherwise, as we learn at the end of chapter 3 and in chapter 4, he was a powerful man in a position of some authority. This power and authority is probably why he had a copy of scripture on brass plates. Yes. I think anything else is (educated) speculation - the scriptures say very little about the man.