Reading the Book of Mormon with Vee


Vort
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Anyone want to read the Book of Mormon along with @VeeRogers? No big production or anything of the sort. I'm thinking just a low-key reading club where we read along with Vee and perhaps share some insights appropriate to Vee's experience as a novice. We could go two or three pages a day, or whatever speed Vee feels comfortable with. Ideas? Vee, do you have any interest in this?

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2 minutes ago, VeeRogers said:

Ps:  there are so many names to remember in Nephi I feel like I spend 10 minutes trying to remember who is who lol

I was having the same problem with Ether, so I made a very basic descendancy chart - very helpful in remembering / keeping track of names.  I recommend either using some app, or better, 11 x 17 paper.  (Or multiple sheets of regular paper.)

(And it's OK to stop when you're unable to focus any longer. :) )

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I would like to try this! I found a timeline bought from amazon to be very helpful especially when people have the same names! Also in following those journeys back and forth between the land of Nephi and Zarahemla. For years, I would start at the beginning of the Book of Mormon get all the way to Mosiah, get hopelessly lost, give up and start again at the beginning of Nephi 1!

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3 hours ago, VeeRogers said:

Ps:  there are so many names to remember in Nephi I feel like I spend 10 minutes trying to remember who is who lol

That's actually a very good idea. Maybe draw yourself out a chart, like zil suggested. Or just make a list of names. You could even attach a little note to each name, e.g.:

  • Lehi - father, prophet
  • Sariah - mother
  • Nephi - son, prophet, wrote the books of Nephi
  • Laman and Lemuel - Nephi's older brothers; wicked
  • Laban (with a 'b') - some military guy in Jerusalem who stole Nephi's stuff and tried to kill him; Nephi killed Laban and got some plates (scriptures) from him
  • Sam - Nephi's good older brother
  • Jacob - Nephi's younger brother; great prophet, wrote the book of Jacob
  • Joseph - Nephi's other younger brother
  • Nephites - people who followed Nephi; righteous
  • Lamanites - people who followed Laman and Lemuel and tried to kill Nephites
  • etc.

You get the idea.

One thing that most of us do when reading is that we sort of glide over names without paying much attention to them. It's a lazy reading habit that most people have. Just forcing yourself to read the names when you come to them and pay attention mostly solves the problem of not remembering who's who.

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That's where I'm currently reading.  Well, I just finished and am starting on Jacob.  But I found an interesting attraction to the Isaiah chapters that I'm having trouble shaking.

1) What is the deal with his son's name? Maher Shaleel Hashbaz (sp?) I think there is some significance to it.  But I haven't had enough time to research it to determine what that's about.

2) I read the verse about the cockatrice's den just as someone on this board also brought up that same scripture.  I'm wondering what the original word really meant.

3) I wonder about the applicability of some of the prophecies in this day.  Much of what he wrote was supposed to be for his day, Christ's day, and today.  But some of them simply don't make sense given the social order of today.  I wonder if that means the social order of today will have to be dismantled to a state where we have a social order that reflects ideas from ancient times.

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5 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

1) What is the deal with his son's name? Maher Shaleel Hashbaz (sp?) I think there is some significance to it.  But I haven't had enough time to research it to determine what that's about.

The footnotes point out the meaning of the name: Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoils. I suppose the KJV translators thought the translation of the name would sound less "namey" than a transliteration of the original ancient Hebrew.

7 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

2) I read the verse about the cockatrice's den just as someone on this board also brought up that same scripture.  I'm wondering what the original word really meant

I believe the answer is that no one is sure, though it appears to have been a reference to some sort of venomous snake.

8 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

3) I wonder about the applicability of some of the prophecies in this day.  Much of what he wrote was supposed to be for his day, Christ's day, and today.  But some of them simply don't make sense given the social order of today.  I wonder if that means the social order of today will have to be dismantled to a state where we have a social order that reflects ideas from ancient times.

I understand the general idea among Latter-day Saints that Isaiah was writing both for his time and for ours. I expect that is true. But I also expect that this was less a matter of Isaiah seeing our day and weaving a great poem about it, using imagery from his own day, and more about the Spirit working on him to speak prophetically of his day in a way that also fits the patterns we're seeing.

I'd be interested to know exactly what you're talking about, e.g. "seven women will take hold of one man". In general, societal structures endure for a long, long, long time, and don't change as much as we think they do.

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1 minute ago, Vort said:

I'd be interested to know exactly what you're talking about, e.g. "seven women will take hold of one man". In general, societal structures endure for a long, long, long time, and don't change as much as we think they do.

Actually that was the very verse I was wondering about, but not that phrase.  I was wondering about "to take away our reproach."  In today's world, do most women really find it "reproachful" if they are not connected to any man or called by his name?

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