Alma and John revisited — a brief thought
I have posted before about the parallels between Alma1 and John the Baptist, particularly with regards to (re)introducing baptism and establishing a “church of anticipation” prior to the Savior’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Ender’s Game” (the movie): a brief review w/spoilers
I read the original “Ender’s Game” short story when it was published in Analog (August 1977). I was startled, because I knew the author, Orson Scott Card, slightly. He and I attended Brigham Young...
View ArticleThoughts while watching our ward’s Primary program
I love the barely controlled chaos. Been watching these meetings for what seems like forever (I’m 60), and I never, ever get tired of them. I can’t think of another meeting in which I alternate so...
View ArticleStewardship, accountability, and community response (repost)
[NOTE: I originally wrote this essay back in 1994 for Vigor, an LDS samizdat put out for several years in the 90s by Orson Scott Card. I first posted it here at AIM in 2008. Given the current intense...
View ArticleChrist, Gethsemene and agency
In our lesson in Sunday School today, covering Hosea, our teacher had us read from D&C 19:15-19, focusing in particular on verse 18: Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to...
View ArticleSources for the story of Amalakiah (Alma 46-52)
A close reading of the Book of Mormon shows a sophisticated restraint in its narrative approach, namely an absence of descriptions of events, conversations, and actions outside of the observation and...
View ArticleGospel Doctrine 2016: Lessons 2 and 4 (Book of Mormon)
For the past few years, I’ve been honored to participate in the Interpreter Foundation Scripture Roundtable podcasts (videocasts, actually) as they cover each year’s Gospel Doctrine lessons. These...
View ArticleDid Laban have right of ownership to the brass plates?
I just started a recent re-read of the Book of Mormon (separate from the nightly out-loud readings that my wife and I do) and noted (as usual) that Laban was given two chances to “do the right thing”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“…even in a dream…” (1 Nephi 2:1)
Book of Mormon scholars (starting with Noel Reynolds, I believe) have long pointed out that Nephi used his small plates — written 30 to 40 years after leaving Jerusalem — to make his case to be Lehi’s...
View ArticleYep, made the change
Ever since Pres. Nelson’s talk last year about re-emphasizing the proper name of the Church, I have wondered about whether to rename this blog and, if so, to what. I don’t post here terribly often,...
View Article