Kindle Scripture Study Blog

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Book of Mormon Daily Scripture Study

Hello Jake,
We are pleased to provide your Book of Mormon reading for 12/29/2010
Alma:55:1 - Alma:55:35 / Day 150 of 239

Read Online & Notes

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THE BOOK OF ALMA

THE SON OF ALMA

CHAPTER 55
Audio

1 NOW it came to pass that when Moroni had received this epistle he was more angry, because he knew that Ammoron had a perfect knowledge of his fraud; yea, he knew that Ammoron knew that it was not a just cause that had caused him to wage a war against the people of Nephi.

2 And he said: Behold, I will not exchange prisoners with Ammoron save he will withdraw his purpose, as I have stated in my epistle; for I will not grant unto him that he shall have any more power than what he hath got.

3 Behold, I know the place where the Lamanites do guard my people whom they have taken prisoners; and as Ammoron would not grant unto me mine epistle, behold, I will give unto him according to my words; yea, I will seek death among them until they shall sue for peace.

4 And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said these words, he caused that a search should be made among his men, that perhaps he might find a man who was a descendant of Laman among them.

5 And it came to pass that they found one, whose name was Laman; and he was one of the servants of the king who was murdered by Amalickiah.

6 Now Moroni caused that Laman and a small number of his men should go forth unto the guards who were over the Nephites.

7 Now the Nephites were guarded in the city of Gid; therefore Moroni appointed Laman and caused that a small number of men should go with him.

8 And when it was evening Laman went to the guards who were over the Nephites, and behold, they saw him coming and they hailed him; but he saith unto them: Fear not; behold, I am a Lamanite. Behold, we have escaped from the Nephites, and they sleep; and behold we have taken of their wine and brought with us.

9 Now when the Lamanites heard these words they received him with joy; and they said unto him: Give us of your wine, that we may drink; we are glad that ye have thus taken wine with you for we are weary.

10 But Laman said unto them: Let us keep of our wine till we go against the Nephites to battle. But this saying only made them more desirous to drink of the wine;

11 For, said they: We are weary, therefore let us take of the wine, and by and by we shall receive wine for our rations, which will strengthen us to go against the Nephites.

12 And Laman said unto them: You may do according to your desires.

13 And it came to pass that they did take of the wine freely; and it was pleasant to their taste, therefore they took of it more freely; and it was strong, having been prepared in its strength.

14 And it came to pass they did drink and were merry, and by and by they were all drunken.

15 And now when Laman and his men saw that they were all drunken, and were in a deep sleep, they returned to Moroni and told him all the things that had happened.

16 And now this was according to the design of Moroni. And Moroni had prepared his men with weapons of war; and he went to the city Gid, while the Lamanites were in a deep sleep and drunken, and cast in weapons of war unto the prisoners, insomuch that they were all armed;

17 Yea, even to their women, and all those of their children, as many as were able to use a weapon of war, when Moroni had armed all those prisoners; and all those things were done in a profound silence.

18 But had they awakened the Lamanites, behold they were drunken and the Nephites could have slain them.

19 But behold, this was not the desire of Moroni; he did not delight in murder or bloodshed, but he delighted in the saving of his people from destruction; and for this cause he might not bring upon him injustice, he would not fall upon the Lamanites and destroy them in their drunkenness.

20 But he had obtained his desires; for he had armed those prisoners of the Nephites who were within the wall of the city, and had given them power to gain possession of those parts which were within the walls.

21 And then he caused the men who were with him to withdraw a pace from them, and surround the armies of the Lamanites.

22 Now behold this was done in the night-time, so that when the Lamanites awoke in the morning they beheld that they were surrounded by the Nephites without, and that their prisoners were armed within.

23 And thus they saw that the Nephites had power over them; and in these circumstances they found that it was not expedient that they should fight with the Nephites; therefore their chief captains demanded their weapons of war, and they brought them forth and cast them at the feet of the Nephites, pleading for mercy.

24 Now behold, this was the desire of Moroni. He took them prisoners of war, and took possession of the city, and caused that all the prisoners should be liberated, who were Nephites; and they did join the army of Moroni, and were a great strength to his army.

25 And it came to pass that he did cause the Lamanites, whom he had taken prisoners, that they should commence a labor in strengthening the fortifications round about the city Gid.

26 And it came to pass that when he had fortified the city Gid, according to his desires, he caused that his prisoners should be taken to the city Bountiful; and he also guarded that city with an exceedingly strong force.

27 And it came to pass that they did, notwithstanding all the intrigues of the Lamanites, keep and protect all the prisoners whom they had taken, and also maintain all the ground and the advantage which they had retaken.

28 And it came to pass that the Nephites began again to be victorious, and to reclaim their rights and their privileges.

29 Many times did the Lamanites attempt to encircle them about by night, but in these attempts they did lose many prisoners.

30 And many times did they attempt to administer of their wine to the Nephites, that they might destroy them with poison or with drunkenness.

31 But behold, the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God in this their time of affliction. They could not be taken in their snares; yea, they would not partake of their wine, save they had first given to some of the Lamanite prisoners.

32 And they were thus cautious that no poison should be administered among them; for if their wine would poison a Lamanite it would also poison a Nephite; and thus they did try all their liquors.

33 And now it came to pass that it was expedient for Moroni to make preparations to attack the city Morianton; for behold, the Lamanites had, by their labors, fortified the city Morianton until it had become an exceeding stronghold.

34 And they were continually bringing new forces into that city, and also new supplies of provisions.

35 And thus ended the twenty and ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Myth 2: Mormon's practice polygamy

Given the HBO hit show called "Big Love," some not familiar with of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continue to hold the opinion that Mormon's practice polygamy - or, in other words, Mormon men have more than one wife.

Let's see if this is true or not.

The argument: Mormon's definitely practice polygamy, I hear about it on the news all the time! (read an article here)
The response: Mormon's used to practice polygamy, but abandoned the practice over 100 years ago and now if anyone who is a member of the LDS Church is found to practice polygamy, they will be immediately excommunicated from the church.

Evidence to support the response: excerpts from the Official Church Declaration 1 (read it here) states " I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory."

It continues with:

"There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy; and when any Elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land."

Wilford Woodruff
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Salt Lake City, Utah, October 6, 1890.

So what this is saying is that the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in 1890 (which is almost 120 years ago), declared officially an end to the practice of plural marriage among Mormon's.

However, although this declaration was made, a few splinter groups arose (such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) which continued to adhere to the doctrine of plural marriage and continue to do so today, despite federal laws and the teachings of current LDS Church leadership.

Now, did the original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever practice polygamy? Certainly. Though there is some disagreement as to when LDS Church leaders started the practice, it is generally considered to have been a part of the church between 1852 and 1890 (the year the official declaration was issued).

Now the question remains, why did the church ever have this practice? The answer to that is, simply, because God commanded them to. Is this a new thing among Christian church leaders and prophets? No. In fact, the great prophet Abraham had many wives and "concubines" (a term used in ancient days for legal wives of lesser social standing). This is referred to in Genesis Chapter 25 verse 6 (read it here).

Getting back to the myth, are Mormon's polygamists? Well as we can see, the answer depends on what you mean by Mormons (which by the way is not an official title of a member of the LDS Church, it is only a nickname). If by Mormons you mean members of the LDS Church from 1890 till now, then obviously no, they are not polygamists, the practice was abandoned 118 years ago. Now if when you say Mormon's you mean any member of a church that is rooted in basic LDS theology but that had splintered off to start their own church (churches such as the FLDS church, and a few others), then yes, there may be some few groups who practice polygamy.

But for purposes of this myth, because the mainstream church, the large organization that everyone usually thinks of when they say Mormon, because they do not practice polygamy, we have to call this myth totally busted! Mormon's in general absolutely do not practice polygamy.

This is a video from the late LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley re-affirming the official stance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with regard to the practice of polygamy.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Myth 1 (are Mormon's Christian): What do most people think?

Popular belief: "Mormons do not follow or believe in the historic Jesus Christ of the Bible, but rather in a difference Jesus. This is why most Biblical Christians emphatically insist that Mormons are not Christians." (That is the exact quote, yes, they had serious grammatical errors, but you can read it here)

Basically the objection is that the Jesus Christ that Mormons believe in is not the same Jesus Christ that most other Christians believe in.

Now lets get to figuring out if we can confirm, deem plausible or bust this myth!

Example 1: Mormon leaders stating official doctrinal positions of the LDS Church with regards to being Christians.

Example 2: Former LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley's own words regarding the matter. “Are we Christians? Of course we are! No one can honestly deny that. We may be somewhat different from the traditional pattern of Christianity. But no one believes more literally in the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more fundamentally that He was the Son of God, that He died for the sins of mankind, that He rose from the grave, and that He is the living resurrected Son of the living Father.

“All of our doctrine, all of our religious practice stems from that one basic doctrinal position: ‘We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.’ This is the first article of our faith, and all else flows therefrom” (read it here)

All of this is well and good, but what does the Book of Mormon, the keystone of Mormon doctrine, say about Jesus Christ?

This passage comes from 2 Nephi chapter 25 verse 26.
"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (read it here)

This passage comes from Mosiah chapter 3 verses 8 through 11 (the passage is believed to have been written by a man named King Benjamin at about 124 b.c.)

"And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.
And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
And he shall arise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.
For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned." (read it here)

Now, do these passages of scripture correlate with the Jesus Christ of the New Testament?

This passage comes from John 3:15.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (read it here)

There are many more passages from the Bible that can show direct correlation with the Jesus Christ that Mormon's believe in and the Jesus Christ that most Christians believe in.

Now to the heart of the matter, all the evidence in the world will not convince anyone who's bent on religious bigotry against the Mormons. Mormons have professed a belief in Christ ever since the beginning with Joseph Smith's first vision and on down to the current church president. As a practicing Mormon, I know that I believe in Jesus Christ - and He is the exact same Jesus Christ that everyone else believes in. You can disagree if you like, but if you do, I would like some strong evidence backing up your claims because I can tell you that 99 percent of all those who say this ridiculous thing are saying it only out of a hateful heart, one that is rooted in religious bigotry and seeking to promote conflict.

This myth is totally BUSTED!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Myth 1: Are Mormon's Christian?

Let's get to the heart of the controversy first. Are Mormons Christian or are they not?

Jake's prediction about this myth: I bet we will be able to finally confirm this myth and put it to bed. But we must first do some research...

The Wall Street Journal has spurred me

So I read this today in the Wall Street Journal following Mitt Romney's announcement to drop out of the presidential race, "Nevertheless, Mr. Romney's campaign exposed a surprisingly virulent strain of anti-Mormonism that had been largely hidden to the general public." read it here.

The question is, WHY? Why all the negative publicity for a church that has uplifted the lives of millions?

My guess: a sea of misconceptions.

This blog is intended for you, the reader, to voice your opinion about the Mormon's, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's. It is intended to bring focus and clarity to a religion that has been bad-mouthed and bloodied ever since its inception without any substantial retaliation from its members or leaders. It is intended to be an open forum where you bring on your opinions and beliefs and open them up into the market place of ideas. The goal of this blog is to arrive at the truth about the Mormons and, like the popular show on the Discovery Channel, confirm, deem plausible or bust any and all myths about the Mormon Church and it's people.

Let the Mythbusting begin!