Hey, I'm back, finally finished with the Book of Mormon! This is going to be a quick intro--this post is about the books of Alma, Helaman, 3 Nephi, 4 Nephi, Mormon, Ether, and Moroni. There! Done!
My first few notes on Alma are quotes: "The law could have no power on any man for his belief" Alma 1:17.
"Now there was a strict law among the people of the church, that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves" Alma 1:21. From what I understand, Mormons are pretty calm towards everybody.
There are a lot of timing problems and things I don't understand. Now, this was originally recording in the mid eighteen-sixties--so of course the author knows about Jesus Christ. Of course, the Old Testament didn't know who Jesus was, so it basically says "someone will come". Now, there's a possibility that when this was or was not dictated, that's what it was given as, and Joseph Smith just replaced it with Jesus... But it's a weak argument and this is, what I consider to be a fatal flaw in giving the religion credibility. I know that seems cruel, but when folks born one hundred years before Jesus are saying you have to wash your lineaments in Jesus's blood... Well, you know. Can't cleanse it through his blood if he hasn't shed it yet! Even if it's a metaphor, it's still incredibly bothersome.
There's also the implication that, at eighty-three BC (the Mormons date big events in their books, which is very nice), it was known that Jesus would be born of Mary. It's probably because of my own upbringing, but I find the fact that this was known by anyone (and so early!) to be ridiculous. Mary didn't even know what was going to happen. Nobody else did. It seems unfair to spread the specific word to some and not all...
"He cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round" Alma 7:20. I think that the word choice is interesting--he literally cannot walk in crooked paths, cannot leave his words, or go to the left (left was considered to be evil for--actually, in some Catholic schools children are still taught to write with their rights if they're a lefty)... Knowing me, you should not be surprised that I thought of A Clockwork Orange--the point of the novel and movie is really the question of what makes a man good (or evil). Alex's choice to act evilly is eliminated--but does that really make him good? His free will has been eliminated so he can't choose... Well, I think you know what I'm getting at. (And in that case, saying his path is eternally round is appropriate!) A few chapters later we are told that he cannot deny his word--unfortunately, since Mormons, when referring to God, don't capitalize he or him, this may just be pronoun trouble--Jesus may not be able to deny God's word, not his own. (I suppose that that's most likely.)
"Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt" Alma 11:42-43. I thought the bit about the body being brought back perfectly and all of that was the most interesting bit. I also think it's a little cruel to make a person remember everything... I hope you get to forget a lot of it afterwards. It would be pretty unbearable.
"This mortal life is a probationary state" Alma 12.
Later the garden of Eden is discussed, and it says that the redemption plan was "laid from the foundation of the world" Alma 12:25. This is not a new idea, but it is a disappointing and curious one. I mean, why write that fall into the very fabric of existence? At that, it's kind of like, "What's the point at all then, if you're just dooming them from the start?", you know? That always really bothers me.
"And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouths of angels" Alma 13:25.
Alma was also apparently in possession of the same healing powers as Christ, 81 years before. Again, this bothers me, most likely only because of my upbringing. One example of Alma healing is Alma helping a lame man to walk again. But that's kind of one of the things that made Jesus so special, right? I mean obviously there's the whole son of God thing, but I figured that's where his ability came from so, despite my unsure feelings towards Jesus/what he was/might have been, it just bothers me that Alma is doing the same thing like it's nothing.
And here's another one! At seventy-three BC: "And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come" Alma 46:15. Maybe I'm being close-minded, stupid, or skeptical--but come on! Christianity was started after Jesus. It was named after him. This is literally gibberish to me.
"And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe--that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power" Alma 57:26. I just thought that to use taught as the word was interesting.
I also think the use of the word should is interesting.
Here starts the notes on the next book, Helaman--Lucifer is referred to as the "author of sin" (Helaman 6) and used interchangeably with Satan and presumably the devil in chapter six on...
Those who are fooled by him begin to form their own secret groups and gangs: "And it came to pass that they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words" Helaman 6:22. As my bro Ken Kesey would say: "You're either on the bus or you're off the bus!"
I don't understand this passage at all--obviously it's God talking to the people, Nephi to be specific, but... "Behold, I give unto you power, that whosoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus ye shall have power among the people" Helaman 10:7.
"Behold [God] hath put it into my heart to say unto this people that the sword of justice hangeth over this people" Helaman 12:5.
"He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you" Helaman 14:31. My note on this was that this was very Karmic.
My last note is about the Nephites and the Lamanites. Jesus has, presumably, just been born (the date is one BC) and they get mad that the saviour isn't being born among them. At first I was like, he hasn't even done anything yet! Jeez! But then again, these people apparently knew all about Jesus one hundred, two hundred years prior, so yeah. I guess I'd be pretty annoyed too. "Thanks for sending the saviour among them and not us--no, I don't even want him to visit. I don't even care. I didn't even want to be saved anyways!" Yeaaaah.
Next note starts in on Nephi: "And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned" 3 Nephi 9:4. First of all, it should be absolutely no surprise that I wrote "ATLANTIS?" next to this line. Secondly, the 'I' speaking--yeah, that's Jesus. Actually, this seems like it would be another huge problem for Mormons, as they use the regular Bible too--and Jesus is basically a hippie in the Bible. He's probably the last guy in the Bible you'd say would take down a city, even if it's 34 BC (so, probably only a few months at most before he was crucified) and is a little stressed because he knows what's coming. That was kind of weird; it felt more like the crazy storytelling in the book of Revelations than anything else. And if we are to assume that there was a regular Jesus even if he was not the son of God--he couldn't sink a whole city. This is definitely some over-the-top storytelling here.
Jesus also says, after he is the son of God, that he created the heaven and earth. I'm going to say whatever to this because I have no idea how the Trinity actually works.
"Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them" 3 Nephi 14:17-20.
Later Jesus says this to the people: "Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you" 3 Nephi 17:6. I don't even...
Jesus again: "And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel" 3 Nephi 27:8. Makes sense, and it would explain Christianity's differences in the actual names themselves except for the reasons I've been complaining about for several paragraphs.
No notes on the fourth book of Nephi.
The next book is the actual book of Mormon. My first note (my only note, actually) is on this passage: And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives" Mormon 2:14. My first note is on how this parallels the story of Job--Job's wife suggests to him that he curse God and die. And--a comparison to Isherwood's A Single Man: "Then to the mirror. What it sees there isn't so much a face as the expression of a predicament. Here's what it has done to itself, here's the mess it has somehow managed to get itself into during its fifty-eight years; expressed in terms of a dull, harassed stare, a coarsened nose, a mouth dragged down by the corners into a grimace as if at the sourness of its own toxins, cheeks sagging from their anchors of muscle, a throat hanging limp in tiny wrinkled folds. The harassed look is that of a desperately tired swimmer or runner; yet there is no question of stopping. The creature we are watching will struggle on and on until it drops. Not because it is heroic. It can imagine no alternative" (10). George in the book isn't necessarily suicidal, of course--he can "imagine no alternative", but he isn't particularly interested in life either.
The book of Moroni describes elders naming priests and the purpose of baptism... Apparently baptizing children is considered bad as well, not because they haven't chosen, but because they're already "alive in Christ" Moroni 8. I'm not sure if I quite understand that; I'm just going to go ahead and say that it's because it's believed that little kids aren't really responsible for themselves, or don't understand baptism or atonement or any of that yet. I think that's what is being said... (Moroni 8:10-15.)
The book of Moroni--the whole Book of Mormon, remember--ends with a bid of farewell, and the promise that when he meets the reader it will be before "the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead" Moroni 10:34. What does that even mean? Wasn't that a cowboy movie?
That's my last comment on Moroni. I have to admit that by this point I was losing interest badly, so close to the end. Although... At least it didn't end like the New Testament. As fun as the book of Revelations is...
Well! That's it. I finally completed this. (My poor wrists...) I should also mention that there's a handy little index in the back of the book, though I won't be going through it. Sorry.
The Book of Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: United States of America, 2010.
Isherwood, Christopher. A Single Man. University of Minnesota Press: Minnesota, 2001.
Okay... Yep. Next post will be on Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, which will probably occur in about a week or so, most likely.
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