This has been a good week for scripture study! Alex covered everyone’s favorite Book of Mormon story — Korihor! And after pointing out that Korihor made what is probably one of the most insightful prophecies in the book, he hit the key point of the parallel between Korihor and the guy who rebuked him:
Why doesn’t Korihor get that same chance? He gets no heavenly visitation. He admits that he was wrong and professes the truth, but instead of being in a coma for a while so he can battle his inner demons, repent, and wake up refreshed and righteous, he gets kicked to the curb and trampled. Not only does this seem incredibly unfair on God’s part, but it also seems horribly insensitive on Alma’s. Wouldn’t Alma have seen a little of himself in Korihor and had compassion for him? Wouldn’t he have wanted to help Korihor find his way back to the church the same way he had?
Nope. Let him fend for himself and then feel smug when he gets killed, that’s the spirit.
The Old Testament lesson came from some of the most insightful books of the Bible (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), yet even these contain some horrible advice! Maybe even worse than the list of monetary values of people.
Also, regarding the Noah’s flood story, the Adult Onset Atheist came up with a great insight regarding the apologetic claim that the flood was simply local:
However, it does little good for god to promise not to destroy the earth again if he never really did so in the first place. And if god was promising not to have any big local flooding like the localized version of Noah’s flood then… well there are some folks who will be returning to their cars in low lying long-term parking lots at Baltimore Washington International airport that may have some questions for god.
Meanwhile, it looks like the CoJCoL-dS has stopped even pretending to have specific doctrines, and instead has outsourced church policies/teachings to PR firms with surveys. So why not listen to some reasonable recommendations on how to overhaul the missionary program? Some Mormons also think that the short list of books LDS missionaries are allowed to read should be expanded — others say having a list at all makes the CoJCoL-dS look like a cult.
Other examples of the CoJCoL-dS making itself look creepy? Tracking down former members. Not to mention he weird fixation on teen sex while teaching kids that the gays are the perverts. And check out this really interesting piece on men confusing decreased testosterone levels with increased righteousness!
Plus some fun insights posted this week: You can perform your own key-finding miracle — no God required! Kind of like modern medicine. Then there was an analysis of discussion-moderation techniques and an analysis of the use of “so-called” in LDS dialog.
Mithryn posted some responses to apologetics. Shouldn’t it be about questions and evidence? Grandael posted a really elaborate analysis of whether Wilford Wodruff lied (and it’s only part 1!).
In personal life stories, Uomo Nuovo experienced Utah as a foreign land. And Leia had a fun experience in motherhood:
But something on this mundane, average assignment stood out to my daughter. One of the bubbles had the phrase, “I believe in…”
While it didn’t strike her as odd at first, when the class gathered to share their answers, it was clear that she was in a room full of theists. Almost every single child in her classroom had followed the above prompt with ‘god’ or ‘Jesus’ or ‘god’s love’ or other various religious type things.
This struck her as odd. She herself had written down the word ‘myself’. But the first thing that her classmates thought of was ‘god’.
I am not saying that third grade theists don’t believe in themselves, or that the third graders didn’t honestly feel like that would be the best thing to write down. I just found it wonderful that my child believes in herself over a pseudo-higher power.
Not directly LDS-related, but the death of Robin Williams inspired much reflection in our community especially thoughts on depression.
In fun stuff, we have the reasons why you comment on posts you hate! And a really amusing set of hypothetical scenarios that are now open questions thanks to the “Hobby Lobby” court decision.
Happy reading!
Enjoyed the link to the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.
Just read a book on it.
Can’t help noticing that even if the battlefield was never found, there still were Germanic tribes, as well as the Forum, along with aqueducts and lots of roads.