READING FOR FEBRUARY 4
3 Nephi 8-11
SAMUEL’S PROPHECY
“Here, too, the connection between present and future is starkly clear:“the sword of justice” hangs over the Nephites in the present, and it will fall on them in the future. But what is surprising is the amount of time Samuel says it will take for the present to lead to the future: four centuries!
This is not the only time Samuel places destruction so distantly in the future.A few verses later he says,“and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction” (13:10). Samuel is consistent, then, but one wonders whether it might be a bit excessive for Samuel to be criticizing his generation for their sinfulness if he goes on to predict not their inevitable destruction or the inevitable destruction even of their children but the inevitable destruction of a generation to come in the relatively distant future—in fact at the end of Nephite history.”
Joseph Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
LAMANITE SKIN COLOR
“I have elsewhere argued that this skin of blackness was a metaphor for a spiritual state rather than a change in pigmentation.While there are arguments to be made for or against that proposition, the decision as to whether a “skin of blackness” is a description of a physical or spiritual change should be decided upon something stronger than personal preference for one reading or the other.The text is the final arbiter of such questions.What might the text tell us to help us decide?
What would be ideal is to find a place in the text where some Nephite said something like ‘Oh, I see by your black skin that you are a Lamanite.’ That doesn’t happen.What we do get are some situations in which a difference in pigmentation should make a difference in an event.We do have a couple of those, but what we find is that what should make a difference, doesn’t.”
“Moroni’s plan requires a Lamanite. He finds one.What could a Lamanite do that a non-Lamanite could not? For most readers, conditioned by years of assumptions, the expectation is that he is darker skinned, while Nephites were “white.” However, this reason is unlikely, given the actual working-out of the plan (v.8): First, Laman is not alone. Moroni has selected other men to go with him. Moroni had searched for a Lamanite and found one. His companions were, therefore, not Lamanites. However, they approach with the one “true” Lamanite. If skin color identified the one Lamanite, then his companions would obviously be recognized on sight as Nephites. Furthermore, the Lamanite armies are being led by a Nephite dissenter, and many of those in the city of Nephi who had ejected the people of Ammon were also Nephite dissenters. According to the record, Laman does all of the talking, and the guards immediately accept his announcement that he is a Lamanite.Thus, there is a language difference between the two groups. Clearly, this difference is not great, because Nephite dissenters easily assimilate into the Lamanite ranks. However, there must be some differences, either in dialect or accent, so that the target Lamanites identified Laman’s voice as soon as they heard it as truly “Lamanite.” As long as his companions remained silent, this ruse would be sufficient.That reading fits the evidence, and the evidence does not allow for a pigmentation difference that is sufficient that it would be noticed.”
“These verses are consistent.They speak of the same mingling and the same curse. Interestingly, however, the Amlicite mark was red on the forehead, which the Nephites linked to the scriptural mark.Thus the Amlicites are marked, but it is not only a voluntary marking, but one that required red on the forehead. If the Amlicites were to be marked, why wasn’t it with the skin of blackness?
More importantly, if they really did have an immediate pigmentation change, the mark was unnecessary.Why was the mark necessary from the Amlicite perspective?”
“The Amlicite battle plan required that they flee from the Nephites towards a Lamanite army.That Lamanite army needed to know that the fully armed warriors running full speed at them were friends.They had to know the difference between the Amlicite friends who were springing a trap and the Nephites who were falling into it. If there were a pigmentation difference, it would have been obvious. It wasn’t visually obvious, so a red mark was required to mark the ones that the Lamanites should allow to pass.
Nevertheless, Mormon sees this marking in the context of the curse. If Mormon were familiar with the changeable skin pigmentation, he had no reason to case the Amlicite actions in the connection with that curse and mark.This even further clarifies that there was no available obvious difference that would allow someone to see that someone was Lamanite or Nephite.The “skin of darkness” is only textually consistent if read as a metaphor. It cannot be supported as a pigmentation change.”
Brandt Gardner, If Lamanites Were Black,Why Didn’t Anyone Notice,
https://www.fairmormon.org/blog/2012/05/21/if-lamanites- were-black-why-didnt-anyone-notice
NEPHI
“Information is unusually scarce about a prophet and leader who served as long and faithfully as this man. Much can be deduced, however, from historical events themselves and from what Mormon mentions in his record.
Nephi was a man of immense spiritual power and extraordinary personal courage. He fearlessly taught the gospel of Jesus Christ through many years of great wickedness among this people when prophets were hated and killed and the Church was sorely persecuted.The enemies of the Church ‘were angry with him,’ Mormon wrote,‘even because he had greater power than they.’They were angry, too, because his righteous power made it impossible for them to ‘disbelieve his words.’
It was this Nephi who prayed ceaselessly for an entire day, grieving over the persecutions suffered by those who watched faithfully for the prophesied signs of the Savior’s birth.And it was he who received the glorious message that on that very ‘night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world.’ It was this Nephi who guided the Church for the next three decades and more, this Nephi who survived the destruction and darkness following the crucifixion, this Nephi whom the Savior called to serve at his side and establish the Church in the fulness of the gospel, this Nephi who was chosen to take the Church from the law of Moses to the higher law.”
Marilyn Arnold, English Professor, BYU, Book of Mormon Reference Companion
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Helaman 13-16
READING FOR JANUARY 28
3 Nephi 1-7
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“Scholars in recent decades have shown that in the biblical world the word love often represented a covenantal devotion to one’s superior, while its opposite, namely hate, at times signifies the status of an individual outside of this affiliation.While the connotation of these words for Westerners usually signifies an intense emotional charge, in the ancient Near East, love and hate often carried the aforementioned unique covenantal connotation.Thus, the words love and hate in the biblical world often carried a deliberate connotation of political alliance (or lack thereof).”
David E. Bokovoy, “Love vs. Hate: An Analysis of Helaman 15:1–4,” Insights: A Window on the Ancient World 22, no. 2 (2002): 2
THE PRESENT NOW
“The only time you ever have in which to learn anything or see anything or feel anything, or express any feeling or emotion, or respond to an event, or grow, or heal, is this moment, because this is the only moment any of us ever gets. You're only here now; you're only alive in this moment.”
Jon Kabbit-Zinn
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“In a well-known passage in the Book of Mormon, the visiting Christ reprimands his New World disciples for having omitted an important detail from their historical record: the fulfillment of a prophecy uttered by Samuel the Lamanite (see 3 Nephi 23:7–13). It might be worth asking exactly why the Nephite record-keepers were less than fully diligent on this score, less than fully attentive to Samuel’s prophetic pronouncements.Whatever their (unjustified) reasons—and one suspects, frankly, that it unfortunately had something to do simply with the fact that he was a Lamanite— there is a sense in which we, today’s readers of the Book of Mormon, replicate the ancient Nephites’ relative lack of interest in Samuel’s prophecies. Of the many sermons in the Book of Mormon, Samuel’s is perhaps still the least studied.This may be because Samuel has relatively little to say in a direct fashion about “doctrine,” and it is generally doctrine that draws Latter-day Saints to the Book of Mormon’s major sermons. Or it may be because Samuel’s sermon is at the end of a somewhat undeveloped and remarkably depressing book made up mostly of rough sketches of war, apostasy, and wickedness.Whatever our (unjustified) reasons, we would do well to rectify this situation, revising our own accounts, written and unwritten, of what the Book of Mormon teaches by ensuring that Samuel has a place in them.”
“My reading is guided at every moment by what seems to me to be Samuel’s interest in time.This interest is in evidence throughout the sermon (as well, in interesting ways, as in the chapter that precedes the sermon), but the focus on time is most intense—and most instructive—in Helaman 13, where Samuel’s theme is repentance. My own focus here, consequently, is limited to what Samuel has to say in that chapter.What I mean to develop from Samuel’s discussion is a basic theological exposition of what might be called the time of sin.What that means will have to become clearer as my reading progresses.What follows comes in four parts: (1) an analysis of Samuel’s opening words concerning the disastrous future and how it follows from the sinful present (see Helaman 13:5–23); (2) a study of Samuel’s subsequent brief analysis of how the sinful present misremembers the past (see Helaman 13:24–28); (3) a look at how Samuel then returns to focus on the disastrous future, richly complicating his original account (see Helaman 13:29–37); and (4) a few concluding words concerning Samuel’s final call to repentance (see Helaman 13:37– 39).”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 5-16
Think about:
What does Samuel mean to convey by using the word “awaiteth” •in vs. 6?
What does he say was his original message, but they would not •receive him?
Why would Samuel focus here on the destruction that would come much later and without an obvious connection to the sinfulness of his actual listeners?
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“The predicted disaster is actually postponed, Samuel explains, and it is apparently “because of those who are righteous” who remain in Zarahemla (13:12).Thus “it is for the righteous’ sake that [the city] is spared” (13:14), despite the fact that “there are many, yea, even the more part of this great city, that will harden their hearts” (13:12). Most startlingly put:“if it were not for the righteous who are in this great city, behold, [the Lord] would cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy
it” (13:13).All these statements concern the present and serve to explain why the present does not entail a disaster in the immediate future. But Samuel goes on to say something about why that disastrous future would eventually come:“the time cometh, saith the Lord, that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction” (13:14). Here the unfortunate future, postponed but inevitable, will come precisely when the righteous are ejected from among the people.”
“This theme—that of destruction being postponed because of the presence (or, sometimes, the prayers) of the righteous—deserves reflection, even if it is relatively familiar. Samuel has already made clear that the future of disaster replaces the future of promise for the Nephites because they give the present to rejecting God’s messengers rather than to trusting in the coming glory. But the realization of the future of disaster, it now becomes clear, depends on more than just the Nephites’ lack of trust in the promise. If the future to which their faithless present leads is to come about, they must reject not only the message concerning Christ but also every person who would receive that message happily.The sinfulness of the present lies in unbelief, but the disaster of the future lies in anti-belief.The road that leads from the sinful present to the disastrous future is the road along which develops a real suspicion concerning believers, the road of growing intolerance for those who profess to open themselves to a future of promise.The future of the faithless is an always-more-intense distrust of those who hope—a distrust that leads them to seal their own disavowed fate.The fixed fate of the faithless—if they do not repent—is deeply opposed to the open possibilities that lie in the messianic future of the faithful.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 17-23
Think about:
What is the curse that Samuel predicts?
Why would the Nephites hide their treasures?
What have the Nephites done to bring this curse upon themselves?
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“Samuel introduces the next part of the chapter, in which the focus turns emphatically from the way the present entails the future to the way the present is constituted by a problematic relationship to the past. Here already, in addition to making clear that the love of wealth is what lies behind the Nephites’ rejection of the messianic message, Samuel points to that problematic relationship to the past by distinguishing between remembering the Lord in all blessings and remembering one’s
riches, pure and simple. If the sinful present is what organizes the disastrous future, it is helpful to determine what exactly the sinful present consists of —and Samuel finally begins to clarify that point by explaining that the sinful present is first and foremost a wrong relationship to the past.”
“Samuel portrays the present as bearing a certain relationship to the past. But what is surprising is the way that relationship works. One might expect that, just as the sinful present leads to a disastrous future, the problematic past led to the sinful present. In other words, one might expect Samuel to continue emphasizing the way that choices at one time determine what happens thereafter.This, however, is not what Samuel does. His focus in verses 24–28 is not on how the past led to or determined the present; rather his focus is on how the present retroactively shapes or organizes the past.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 24-28
Think about:
What is the problem with the past?
Why does Samuel say,“ye are worse than they?” What is wrong with “mere talk?”
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“Strikingly, Samuel seems to indicate that the only real difference between the Nephites and their predecessors, when it comes to killing the prophets, is precisely this business of ideological “talk.” If, in other words, there is a difference between Samuel’s hearers and those in the past they constantly condemn, it is just that those in the past went about their abominable murders more authentically! This seems to be the meaning of Samuel’s next statement, anyway: “Behold ye are worse than they” (13:26).The sinful relationship to the past that constitutes the Nephites’ present (the denial or disavowal of the real identity or repetition that links present with past) makes the present actually worse than the past. Ironically then, the failure to recognize that the present is identical with the past makes the present in an important respect non-identical with the past—different just in that the present turns out to be worse than the past.The Nephite present repeats the past except that it fails to recognize that it repeats the past.Apparently in this way the Nephites of Samuel’s day trumped their predecessors in wickedness.”
“Sin inhabits—perhaps better: occupies—the present by organizing both an imaginary future and an imaginary past. Setting up borders so as to sustain the fantasy of a prolonged enjoyment of wealth, sin closes its eyes to the devastating consequences of its self-imposed blindness. Ironically, precisely to the extent that sin refuses to regard the past it repeats and insists that its future remains indeterminate, it traps itself within a fully deterministic history, positioning itself on a timeline that leads from sin to bondage to utter destruction.The fantasy of consequenceless freedom is precisely what compromises the freedom that should characterize the present, what compromises the freedom the present would support were sin to be rejected through repentance.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 30-39
Think about:
What does Samuel hope to achieve by showing the Nephites how the present will look from the perspective of the future?
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“In this last part of the chapter. he speaks of how the present will look retrospectively from the perspective of the future. It is not difficult to see why Samuel makes this move. In light of verse 30’s “already,” it is plain that the sinful present is on the verge of giving way to the kind of disastrous future Samuel has already predicted. Understanding how the present will soon be remembered might help those trapped in that present to escape it before it is too late.There is, moreover, an apparent rhetorical purpose in Samuel’s shift in perspective as well. Samuel’s Nephite audience is skeptical that what they are doing in the present will lead directly to disaster, but by addressing how the present will look from the perspective of the future, Samuel rhetorically eliminates the openness of the future.The future of disaster is the only future the Nephites have at this point, and it is a future in which they will realize how their present actions led inexorably to destruction. Samuel is effectively saying that in the future they will recognize the truth of his present message.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
3 Nephi 1-7
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“Scholars in recent decades have shown that in the biblical world the word love often represented a covenantal devotion to one’s superior, while its opposite, namely hate, at times signifies the status of an individual outside of this affiliation.While the connotation of these words for Westerners usually signifies an intense emotional charge, in the ancient Near East, love and hate often carried the aforementioned unique covenantal connotation.Thus, the words love and hate in the biblical world often carried a deliberate connotation of political alliance (or lack thereof).”
David E. Bokovoy, “Love vs. Hate: An Analysis of Helaman 15:1–4,” Insights: A Window on the Ancient World 22, no. 2 (2002): 2
THE PRESENT NOW
“The only time you ever have in which to learn anything or see anything or feel anything, or express any feeling or emotion, or respond to an event, or grow, or heal, is this moment, because this is the only moment any of us ever gets. You're only here now; you're only alive in this moment.”
Jon Kabbit-Zinn
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“In a well-known passage in the Book of Mormon, the visiting Christ reprimands his New World disciples for having omitted an important detail from their historical record: the fulfillment of a prophecy uttered by Samuel the Lamanite (see 3 Nephi 23:7–13). It might be worth asking exactly why the Nephite record-keepers were less than fully diligent on this score, less than fully attentive to Samuel’s prophetic pronouncements.Whatever their (unjustified) reasons—and one suspects, frankly, that it unfortunately had something to do simply with the fact that he was a Lamanite— there is a sense in which we, today’s readers of the Book of Mormon, replicate the ancient Nephites’ relative lack of interest in Samuel’s prophecies. Of the many sermons in the Book of Mormon, Samuel’s is perhaps still the least studied.This may be because Samuel has relatively little to say in a direct fashion about “doctrine,” and it is generally doctrine that draws Latter-day Saints to the Book of Mormon’s major sermons. Or it may be because Samuel’s sermon is at the end of a somewhat undeveloped and remarkably depressing book made up mostly of rough sketches of war, apostasy, and wickedness.Whatever our (unjustified) reasons, we would do well to rectify this situation, revising our own accounts, written and unwritten, of what the Book of Mormon teaches by ensuring that Samuel has a place in them.”
“My reading is guided at every moment by what seems to me to be Samuel’s interest in time.This interest is in evidence throughout the sermon (as well, in interesting ways, as in the chapter that precedes the sermon), but the focus on time is most intense—and most instructive—in Helaman 13, where Samuel’s theme is repentance. My own focus here, consequently, is limited to what Samuel has to say in that chapter.What I mean to develop from Samuel’s discussion is a basic theological exposition of what might be called the time of sin.What that means will have to become clearer as my reading progresses.What follows comes in four parts: (1) an analysis of Samuel’s opening words concerning the disastrous future and how it follows from the sinful present (see Helaman 13:5–23); (2) a study of Samuel’s subsequent brief analysis of how the sinful present misremembers the past (see Helaman 13:24–28); (3) a look at how Samuel then returns to focus on the disastrous future, richly complicating his original account (see Helaman 13:29–37); and (4) a few concluding words concerning Samuel’s final call to repentance (see Helaman 13:37– 39).”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 5-16
Think about:
What does Samuel mean to convey by using the word “awaiteth” •in vs. 6?
What does he say was his original message, but they would not •receive him?
Why would Samuel focus here on the destruction that would come much later and without an obvious connection to the sinfulness of his actual listeners?
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“The predicted disaster is actually postponed, Samuel explains, and it is apparently “because of those who are righteous” who remain in Zarahemla (13:12).Thus “it is for the righteous’ sake that [the city] is spared” (13:14), despite the fact that “there are many, yea, even the more part of this great city, that will harden their hearts” (13:12). Most startlingly put:“if it were not for the righteous who are in this great city, behold, [the Lord] would cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy
it” (13:13).All these statements concern the present and serve to explain why the present does not entail a disaster in the immediate future. But Samuel goes on to say something about why that disastrous future would eventually come:“the time cometh, saith the Lord, that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction” (13:14). Here the unfortunate future, postponed but inevitable, will come precisely when the righteous are ejected from among the people.”
“This theme—that of destruction being postponed because of the presence (or, sometimes, the prayers) of the righteous—deserves reflection, even if it is relatively familiar. Samuel has already made clear that the future of disaster replaces the future of promise for the Nephites because they give the present to rejecting God’s messengers rather than to trusting in the coming glory. But the realization of the future of disaster, it now becomes clear, depends on more than just the Nephites’ lack of trust in the promise. If the future to which their faithless present leads is to come about, they must reject not only the message concerning Christ but also every person who would receive that message happily.The sinfulness of the present lies in unbelief, but the disaster of the future lies in anti-belief.The road that leads from the sinful present to the disastrous future is the road along which develops a real suspicion concerning believers, the road of growing intolerance for those who profess to open themselves to a future of promise.The future of the faithless is an always-more-intense distrust of those who hope—a distrust that leads them to seal their own disavowed fate.The fixed fate of the faithless—if they do not repent—is deeply opposed to the open possibilities that lie in the messianic future of the faithful.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 17-23
Think about:
What is the curse that Samuel predicts?
Why would the Nephites hide their treasures?
What have the Nephites done to bring this curse upon themselves?
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“Samuel introduces the next part of the chapter, in which the focus turns emphatically from the way the present entails the future to the way the present is constituted by a problematic relationship to the past. Here already, in addition to making clear that the love of wealth is what lies behind the Nephites’ rejection of the messianic message, Samuel points to that problematic relationship to the past by distinguishing between remembering the Lord in all blessings and remembering one’s
riches, pure and simple. If the sinful present is what organizes the disastrous future, it is helpful to determine what exactly the sinful present consists of —and Samuel finally begins to clarify that point by explaining that the sinful present is first and foremost a wrong relationship to the past.”
“Samuel portrays the present as bearing a certain relationship to the past. But what is surprising is the way that relationship works. One might expect that, just as the sinful present leads to a disastrous future, the problematic past led to the sinful present. In other words, one might expect Samuel to continue emphasizing the way that choices at one time determine what happens thereafter.This, however, is not what Samuel does. His focus in verses 24–28 is not on how the past led to or determined the present; rather his focus is on how the present retroactively shapes or organizes the past.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 24-28
Think about:
What is the problem with the past?
Why does Samuel say,“ye are worse than they?” What is wrong with “mere talk?”
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“Strikingly, Samuel seems to indicate that the only real difference between the Nephites and their predecessors, when it comes to killing the prophets, is precisely this business of ideological “talk.” If, in other words, there is a difference between Samuel’s hearers and those in the past they constantly condemn, it is just that those in the past went about their abominable murders more authentically! This seems to be the meaning of Samuel’s next statement, anyway: “Behold ye are worse than they” (13:26).The sinful relationship to the past that constitutes the Nephites’ present (the denial or disavowal of the real identity or repetition that links present with past) makes the present actually worse than the past. Ironically then, the failure to recognize that the present is identical with the past makes the present in an important respect non-identical with the past—different just in that the present turns out to be worse than the past.The Nephite present repeats the past except that it fails to recognize that it repeats the past.Apparently in this way the Nephites of Samuel’s day trumped their predecessors in wickedness.”
“Sin inhabits—perhaps better: occupies—the present by organizing both an imaginary future and an imaginary past. Setting up borders so as to sustain the fantasy of a prolonged enjoyment of wealth, sin closes its eyes to the devastating consequences of its self-imposed blindness. Ironically, precisely to the extent that sin refuses to regard the past it repeats and insists that its future remains indeterminate, it traps itself within a fully deterministic history, positioning itself on a timeline that leads from sin to bondage to utter destruction.The fantasy of consequenceless freedom is precisely what compromises the freedom that should characterize the present, what compromises the freedom the present would support were sin to be rejected through repentance.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
Read Helaman 13: 30-39
Think about:
What does Samuel hope to achieve by showing the Nephites how the present will look from the perspective of the future?
SAMUEL’S SPEECH
“In this last part of the chapter. he speaks of how the present will look retrospectively from the perspective of the future. It is not difficult to see why Samuel makes this move. In light of verse 30’s “already,” it is plain that the sinful present is on the verge of giving way to the kind of disastrous future Samuel has already predicted. Understanding how the present will soon be remembered might help those trapped in that present to escape it before it is too late.There is, moreover, an apparent rhetorical purpose in Samuel’s shift in perspective as well. Samuel’s Nephite audience is skeptical that what they are doing in the present will lead directly to disaster, but by addressing how the present will look from the perspective of the future, Samuel rhetorically eliminates the openness of the future.The future of disaster is the only future the Nephites have at this point, and it is a future in which they will realize how their present actions led inexorably to destruction. Samuel is effectively saying that in the future they will recognize the truth of his present message.”
Joseph M. Spencer, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/the-time-of-sin/
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Helaman 6-12
READING FOR JANUARY 21
Helaman 13-16
“THE TERRIFYING BOOK OF HELAMAN”
“[The book of Helaman] should not be read primarily as a history as it sometimes is. Even though we learn about the ministries of Helaman, Nephi, and Samuel the Lamanite, and of the Gadianton robbers, as well as the reaction of the Nephites to all of those in the book of Helaman, to read it primarily as a history is to miss the point.”
“Mormon uses the history of the Nephites to warn us to avoid wickedness that could lead to our destruction. He shows in the book of Helaman that the Nephites condemned themselves to destruction through choosing wickedness and refusing to allow God to prepare them to meet Christ. He shows that when God sent signs, miracles, and prophets, the Nephites rejected them. As they sought the “things of this world and . . . the honors of men” (D&C 121:35), they began to persecute the righteous and reward the wicked, creating in the process a society of crime, intolerance, injustice, immorality, and hypocrisy.As Mormon unfolds this history, he shows how the destruction of the wicked Nephites that occurs in 3 Nephi is just.”
Gerald Hansen Jr., https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/terrifying-book-helaman
STAY IN THE BOAT
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/topics/hope?lang=eng
“...we will seek you, find you, minister to you, and pull you safely back onto the Old Ship Zion”
Elder M. Russell Ballard, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/10/stay-in- the-boat-and-hold-on?lang=eng
NEPHI’S DIVINE COUNCIL
“In Helaman 10, after revealing the murderer of the chief judge, Nephi began to walk back to his house, pondering upon the wickedness of the people.As he was thinking about all that had just transpired, God reassured Nephi that his diligence did not go unnoticed (v. 3–5). Suddenly, God stated that His words to Nephi were being given “in the presence of [God’s] angels” (v. 6), and then it appears that God’s declaration to Nephi was being given in a temple (“if ye shall say unto this temple,” v. 8).These somewhat unexpected and often overlooked details suggest that Nephi was being shown a vision of the divine council inside a holy temple.
In ancient Israel, some prophets received visions in which they saw God’s “divine council,” a group composed of God and His “royal court” in heaven.Accounts of these experiences have similar elements: the prophet has a pressing need for help, often related to knowing how to help a wicked group of people.The prophet is in a temple or mountain setting. He sees the divine council, or a messenger from the council.The Lord reassures him and gives him knowledge. He is then empowered and called to speak and act on God’s behalf.
Over the years, several LDS biblical scholars have noted continuities between these Israelite throne manifestations and the revelatory experiences of Book of Mormon prophets. Recently, David Bokovoy, one such LDS biblical scholar, explained that elements like these “provide a type of template for depicting an official encounter between witness and worshipper in preparation for the introduction to advanced revelatory truths.”
“Seeing Nephi the son of Helaman as being admitted into the presence of the divine council explains the presence of angels, temples, mountains, and sealing in Helaman 10.As the leading Nephite prophet and high priest Nephi would have been familiar with the Israelite temple traditions, having officiated over the main temple in Zarahemla, the temple King Benjamin, Mosiah, Alma, and Helaman used.
Moreover, Nephi was “much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites” (Helaman 10:3). Considering that he had narrowly escaped being put to death and that the Gadianton robbers had killed the chief judge, his great concern and need for divine guidance and reassurance was certainly a reasonable response.
Yet it was during this difficult time of personal obedience and sacrifice that
Nephi not only heard God’s voice (Helaman 10:3) but had an expansive
prophetic experience with the Lord and His heavenly host.”
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/why-is-there-temple-imagery-in-helaman-10
SEALING POWER
“In Helaman 10, Nephi received great power from the Lord, when He told him, “whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven” (Helaman 10:7). It is not clear, at first, how Nephi used this power. However, a careful look at the chapter shows one way in which he may have used this gift.
In his encounter with the Divine, the Lord told Nephi he would be able to “smite the earth with
famine,” (Helaman 10:6) and then, in the very next verse, gave him the power to “seal” and “loose” “on earth” and “in heaven” (v. 7). Because “seal” and “loose” can also mean “close” and “open,” it is possible that Nephi assumed that his power to cause famine, when necessary, was related to this ability to “close” things up “in heaven.”1 Nephi may have realized that he was literally able to close the heavens themselves to keep it from raining.
Nephi would not be the first prophet to use the priesthood to cause drought.The first recorded words from Elijah in the Old Testament are his testament to the wicked king Ahab, that “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah, just like Nephi, used the priesthood to “seal” the heavens to keep it from raining.Thus, it is likely that Nephi received power to “seal” in Helaman 10, and then used it to “seal” the heavens in Helaman 11.
This idea becomes more likely when one looks carefully at chapter 11. In Helaman 11:2–4 Nephi asked the Lord to stop a terrible war by replacing this war with a famine. It is clear that this famine was caused by drought, because when Nephi asked the Lord to stop the famine, he specifically asked him to “send forth rain” (v. 13).This may indicate that Nephi had used his recently-acquired power to “seal” the heavens, just like Elijah. “
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/how-did-nephi-use-the-power-to-seal-on-earth-and-in-heaven
SPIRITUAL TREASURES
“How I yearn for you to understand that the restoration of the priesthood is just as relevant to you as a woman as it is to any man. Because the Melchizedek Priesthood has been restored, both covenant-keeping women and men have access to “all the spiritual blessings of the church” or, we might say, to all the spiritual treasures the Lord has for His children. Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God.Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power.
The heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God’s power flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the priesthood. I pray that truth will register upon each of your hearts because I believe it will change your life. Sisters, you have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior’s power to help your family and others you love.”
President Russell M. Nelson, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/36nelson?lang=eng
CHIASM HELAMAN 6:7-13
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ content/why-was-chiasmus-used-in- nephite-record-keeping
GRATITUDE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WumYqNE9OF4
Helaman 13-16
“THE TERRIFYING BOOK OF HELAMAN”
“[The book of Helaman] should not be read primarily as a history as it sometimes is. Even though we learn about the ministries of Helaman, Nephi, and Samuel the Lamanite, and of the Gadianton robbers, as well as the reaction of the Nephites to all of those in the book of Helaman, to read it primarily as a history is to miss the point.”
“Mormon uses the history of the Nephites to warn us to avoid wickedness that could lead to our destruction. He shows in the book of Helaman that the Nephites condemned themselves to destruction through choosing wickedness and refusing to allow God to prepare them to meet Christ. He shows that when God sent signs, miracles, and prophets, the Nephites rejected them. As they sought the “things of this world and . . . the honors of men” (D&C 121:35), they began to persecute the righteous and reward the wicked, creating in the process a society of crime, intolerance, injustice, immorality, and hypocrisy.As Mormon unfolds this history, he shows how the destruction of the wicked Nephites that occurs in 3 Nephi is just.”
Gerald Hansen Jr., https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/terrifying-book-helaman
STAY IN THE BOAT
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/topics/hope?lang=eng
“...we will seek you, find you, minister to you, and pull you safely back onto the Old Ship Zion”
Elder M. Russell Ballard, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/10/stay-in- the-boat-and-hold-on?lang=eng
NEPHI’S DIVINE COUNCIL
“In Helaman 10, after revealing the murderer of the chief judge, Nephi began to walk back to his house, pondering upon the wickedness of the people.As he was thinking about all that had just transpired, God reassured Nephi that his diligence did not go unnoticed (v. 3–5). Suddenly, God stated that His words to Nephi were being given “in the presence of [God’s] angels” (v. 6), and then it appears that God’s declaration to Nephi was being given in a temple (“if ye shall say unto this temple,” v. 8).These somewhat unexpected and often overlooked details suggest that Nephi was being shown a vision of the divine council inside a holy temple.
In ancient Israel, some prophets received visions in which they saw God’s “divine council,” a group composed of God and His “royal court” in heaven.Accounts of these experiences have similar elements: the prophet has a pressing need for help, often related to knowing how to help a wicked group of people.The prophet is in a temple or mountain setting. He sees the divine council, or a messenger from the council.The Lord reassures him and gives him knowledge. He is then empowered and called to speak and act on God’s behalf.
Over the years, several LDS biblical scholars have noted continuities between these Israelite throne manifestations and the revelatory experiences of Book of Mormon prophets. Recently, David Bokovoy, one such LDS biblical scholar, explained that elements like these “provide a type of template for depicting an official encounter between witness and worshipper in preparation for the introduction to advanced revelatory truths.”
“Seeing Nephi the son of Helaman as being admitted into the presence of the divine council explains the presence of angels, temples, mountains, and sealing in Helaman 10.As the leading Nephite prophet and high priest Nephi would have been familiar with the Israelite temple traditions, having officiated over the main temple in Zarahemla, the temple King Benjamin, Mosiah, Alma, and Helaman used.
Moreover, Nephi was “much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites” (Helaman 10:3). Considering that he had narrowly escaped being put to death and that the Gadianton robbers had killed the chief judge, his great concern and need for divine guidance and reassurance was certainly a reasonable response.
Yet it was during this difficult time of personal obedience and sacrifice that
Nephi not only heard God’s voice (Helaman 10:3) but had an expansive
prophetic experience with the Lord and His heavenly host.”
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/why-is-there-temple-imagery-in-helaman-10
SEALING POWER
“In Helaman 10, Nephi received great power from the Lord, when He told him, “whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven” (Helaman 10:7). It is not clear, at first, how Nephi used this power. However, a careful look at the chapter shows one way in which he may have used this gift.
In his encounter with the Divine, the Lord told Nephi he would be able to “smite the earth with
famine,” (Helaman 10:6) and then, in the very next verse, gave him the power to “seal” and “loose” “on earth” and “in heaven” (v. 7). Because “seal” and “loose” can also mean “close” and “open,” it is possible that Nephi assumed that his power to cause famine, when necessary, was related to this ability to “close” things up “in heaven.”1 Nephi may have realized that he was literally able to close the heavens themselves to keep it from raining.
Nephi would not be the first prophet to use the priesthood to cause drought.The first recorded words from Elijah in the Old Testament are his testament to the wicked king Ahab, that “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah, just like Nephi, used the priesthood to “seal” the heavens to keep it from raining.Thus, it is likely that Nephi received power to “seal” in Helaman 10, and then used it to “seal” the heavens in Helaman 11.
This idea becomes more likely when one looks carefully at chapter 11. In Helaman 11:2–4 Nephi asked the Lord to stop a terrible war by replacing this war with a famine. It is clear that this famine was caused by drought, because when Nephi asked the Lord to stop the famine, he specifically asked him to “send forth rain” (v. 13).This may indicate that Nephi had used his recently-acquired power to “seal” the heavens, just like Elijah. “
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/how-did-nephi-use-the-power-to-seal-on-earth-and-in-heaven
SPIRITUAL TREASURES
“How I yearn for you to understand that the restoration of the priesthood is just as relevant to you as a woman as it is to any man. Because the Melchizedek Priesthood has been restored, both covenant-keeping women and men have access to “all the spiritual blessings of the church” or, we might say, to all the spiritual treasures the Lord has for His children. Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God.Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power.
The heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God’s power flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the priesthood. I pray that truth will register upon each of your hearts because I believe it will change your life. Sisters, you have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior’s power to help your family and others you love.”
President Russell M. Nelson, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/36nelson?lang=eng
CHIASM HELAMAN 6:7-13
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ content/why-was-chiasmus-used-in- nephite-record-keeping
GRATITUDE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WumYqNE9OF4
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Helaman 1-5
READING FOR JANUARY 14
Helaman 6-12
THE BOOK OF HELAMAN
GADIANTON ROBBERS
“The authors of the Book of Mormon themselves repeatedly declare that they are deliberately withholding information about the Gadiantons, presumably because of the seductive nature of Gadiantonism. It was, plainly, an alternate religious and political vision, a revolutionary ideology, that many Nephites and Lamanites found attractive. It had its own canonical texts, which, the Book of Mormon insists, were revealed by the devil.
But the Gadiantons viewed them differently. In a notable letter written [later in 3 Nephi] by Giddianhi, the Gadianton leader declares his ‘society and the works thereof ’ to be ‘good.’ ‘They are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us.’ His followers, he says, ‘have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government,’ and he vows to ‘avenge their wrongs.’”
Daniel C. Peterson, Deseret News
DEATH OF KISHKUMEN
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ knowhy/why-was-helamans-servant- justified-in-killing-kishkumen
“This ancient literary technique of using an early story to explain a later story reveals a higher moral justification for the servant’s actions. Mormon likely expected his readers to recognize that the servant’s motivation in killing Kishkumen was similar to Nephi’s reasons for slaying Laban: it was better for Kishkumen to die than for the Nephite nation to dwindle and perish in the unbelief brought about by having a band of robbers in a position of power.
People who want to understand the Book of Mormon better have many good resources at their disposal, one of the best resources is the book itself. If readers remember that they can use one part of the Book of Mormon to explain a more confusing part of the book, this will help readers in many ways.
As they put themselves into the real-life situations recounted in the book, and as they comprehend the writing conventions of its authors and abridgers, they will understand its message more clearly.”
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-was-helamans-servant-justified-in-killing- kishkumen
NEPHITES FLIGHT FROM ZARAHEMLA
“We can only imagine the desperate scenes in the Nephites’ flight for safety—parents looking desperately for missing children even as they try to save their own lives; family members grabbing treasured items from their homes and then being slowed in their flight from danger because of the burdens; expectant mothers running and all the while wondering whether they and their unborn babies will survive; the elderly and disabled trying unsuccessfully to find someplace to hide; and those who do not learn of the invasion until it is too late being swept down in death by their enemies.
The accommodations inside cities where people retreat are desperate. Hastily arranged, the people packed inside suffer from lack of food, water, shelter, and medicines. Even though the hosts surely make heroic efforts to make the refugees comfortable, children cry almost constantly because they are hungry and thirsty. Many women give birth away from familiar surroundings, instead aided by the skilled hands of strangers. Of the infants born in these days, we expect that many die because they are premature. People young and old try their best to bind up wounds without the necessary supply of salves and ointments. Because quantities of needed goods are stretched thin, people scrounge through the surrounding countryside for food and for anything to keep them out of the heat and rains. Sanitation is overburdened. We can imagine that, at times, the smells of death and illness and human waste are everywhere. Such conditions of squalor in the refugee cities will persist for the three years of conflict.”
S. Kent Brown, https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/eye-faith/missionaries-war-and-peace-helaman-4-5
NEPHI
“In the middle of this calamitous military defeat stands the head of the Nephite state, a man named Nephi, son of Helaman. He, of course, bears the ultimate responsibility for the unprepared state of his army. His people have looked to him for protection and, in their minds, he has failed them.To his credit, however, under his leadership and that of his commanding officer, a man named Moronihah, over a three-year period the Nephite armies take back “half of all their possessions.” But this success comes at a high human cost. Mormon, the author of the account, writes of “great slaughter” among the Nephites.
Nephi is the most prominent leader in their sight. Even though Mormon knows the real reasons for the calamity, and lists them, public pressure forces Nephi to resign, even though a large portion of the population has begun to repent and to heal. From all appearances, Nephi’s political influence, and that of his family, has been dashed.
But this is not the end of the story. Nephi shows himself to be a person of enormous resilience and brimming confidence in divine aid. Besides, despite public opinion about him, he clearly understands the real reasons for the disaster—his people’s “wickedness.” Instead of withdrawing from public life in shame, he figuratively changes his clothes, taking off the clothing of a national political and military leader and donning the garments of a missionary.Then, with his younger brother Lehi, Nephi begins to devote himself to preaching, the two of them motivated by the teachings of their father Helaman.At that point, everything begins to change.”
S. Kent Brown, https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/eye-faith/missionaries-war-and-peace-helaman-4-5
AMINADAB
“The name “Aminadab” is a Semitic/Hebrew name with a straightforward etymology.Aminadab denotes “My kinsman is willing, my people are willing/noble or my kin are willin/noble.”
“As a Nephite dissenter, Aminadab was a man of two peoples: the Nephites, whose culture and religion had been his prior to his dissention, and the Lamanites, whose culture he had adopted. Mormon recognized the fact that Aminadab, on this occasion, serendipitously bridged the two cultural/religious worlds, serving as an instrument in the Lord’s hand in converting the Lamanites and other Nephite dissenters in the prison.”
“Just as Ammon left a legacy of faithfulness as an instrument in the Lord’s hands in the conversion of thousands of Lamanites, Aminadab, too — albeit in a somewhat smaller capacity — left a legacy of having served as an indispensable instrument in the conversion of many souls and the improvement of many lives. Mormon and his sources were eager to recognize Aminadab in that role.
Matthew L. Bowen, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/my-people-are-willing-the-mention-of- aminadab-in-the-narrative-context-of-helaman-5-6/
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE FOR BOOK OF MORMON
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1996/07/i-have-a-question/how-was-the-book-of-mormon-pronouncing-guide-developed?lang=eng
Helaman 6-12
THE BOOK OF HELAMAN
- Helaman and his sons authored book, and it is kept on the large plates of Nephi
- 39 years of history covered in 16 chapters
- tumultuous 50 year period between the death of Helaman (2) and the birth of • Christ
- a people who are awaiting the coming of Christ
- society characterized by great prosperity and infiltrated by secret combinations •leading to murdering and plundering
- prosperity led to pride, which led to persecution of the humble, which led to
- oppression of the poor, which led to mocking of sacred things, which led to all • manner of iniquity (Helaman 3:34, 4:11-12)
- the wickedness of the Nephites allowed the Lamanites to gain strength •(Helaman 4:13)
- church began to dwindle (Helaman 5:2)
- ministry of Nephi and Lehi
- preaching and prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite
GADIANTON ROBBERS
“The authors of the Book of Mormon themselves repeatedly declare that they are deliberately withholding information about the Gadiantons, presumably because of the seductive nature of Gadiantonism. It was, plainly, an alternate religious and political vision, a revolutionary ideology, that many Nephites and Lamanites found attractive. It had its own canonical texts, which, the Book of Mormon insists, were revealed by the devil.
But the Gadiantons viewed them differently. In a notable letter written [later in 3 Nephi] by Giddianhi, the Gadianton leader declares his ‘society and the works thereof ’ to be ‘good.’ ‘They are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us.’ His followers, he says, ‘have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government,’ and he vows to ‘avenge their wrongs.’”
Daniel C. Peterson, Deseret News
DEATH OF KISHKUMEN
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ knowhy/why-was-helamans-servant- justified-in-killing-kishkumen
“This ancient literary technique of using an early story to explain a later story reveals a higher moral justification for the servant’s actions. Mormon likely expected his readers to recognize that the servant’s motivation in killing Kishkumen was similar to Nephi’s reasons for slaying Laban: it was better for Kishkumen to die than for the Nephite nation to dwindle and perish in the unbelief brought about by having a band of robbers in a position of power.
People who want to understand the Book of Mormon better have many good resources at their disposal, one of the best resources is the book itself. If readers remember that they can use one part of the Book of Mormon to explain a more confusing part of the book, this will help readers in many ways.
As they put themselves into the real-life situations recounted in the book, and as they comprehend the writing conventions of its authors and abridgers, they will understand its message more clearly.”
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-was-helamans-servant-justified-in-killing- kishkumen
NEPHITES FLIGHT FROM ZARAHEMLA
“We can only imagine the desperate scenes in the Nephites’ flight for safety—parents looking desperately for missing children even as they try to save their own lives; family members grabbing treasured items from their homes and then being slowed in their flight from danger because of the burdens; expectant mothers running and all the while wondering whether they and their unborn babies will survive; the elderly and disabled trying unsuccessfully to find someplace to hide; and those who do not learn of the invasion until it is too late being swept down in death by their enemies.
The accommodations inside cities where people retreat are desperate. Hastily arranged, the people packed inside suffer from lack of food, water, shelter, and medicines. Even though the hosts surely make heroic efforts to make the refugees comfortable, children cry almost constantly because they are hungry and thirsty. Many women give birth away from familiar surroundings, instead aided by the skilled hands of strangers. Of the infants born in these days, we expect that many die because they are premature. People young and old try their best to bind up wounds without the necessary supply of salves and ointments. Because quantities of needed goods are stretched thin, people scrounge through the surrounding countryside for food and for anything to keep them out of the heat and rains. Sanitation is overburdened. We can imagine that, at times, the smells of death and illness and human waste are everywhere. Such conditions of squalor in the refugee cities will persist for the three years of conflict.”
S. Kent Brown, https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/eye-faith/missionaries-war-and-peace-helaman-4-5
NEPHI
“In the middle of this calamitous military defeat stands the head of the Nephite state, a man named Nephi, son of Helaman. He, of course, bears the ultimate responsibility for the unprepared state of his army. His people have looked to him for protection and, in their minds, he has failed them.To his credit, however, under his leadership and that of his commanding officer, a man named Moronihah, over a three-year period the Nephite armies take back “half of all their possessions.” But this success comes at a high human cost. Mormon, the author of the account, writes of “great slaughter” among the Nephites.
Nephi is the most prominent leader in their sight. Even though Mormon knows the real reasons for the calamity, and lists them, public pressure forces Nephi to resign, even though a large portion of the population has begun to repent and to heal. From all appearances, Nephi’s political influence, and that of his family, has been dashed.
But this is not the end of the story. Nephi shows himself to be a person of enormous resilience and brimming confidence in divine aid. Besides, despite public opinion about him, he clearly understands the real reasons for the disaster—his people’s “wickedness.” Instead of withdrawing from public life in shame, he figuratively changes his clothes, taking off the clothing of a national political and military leader and donning the garments of a missionary.Then, with his younger brother Lehi, Nephi begins to devote himself to preaching, the two of them motivated by the teachings of their father Helaman.At that point, everything begins to change.”
S. Kent Brown, https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/eye-faith/missionaries-war-and-peace-helaman-4-5
AMINADAB
“The name “Aminadab” is a Semitic/Hebrew name with a straightforward etymology.Aminadab denotes “My kinsman is willing, my people are willing/noble or my kin are willin/noble.”
“As a Nephite dissenter, Aminadab was a man of two peoples: the Nephites, whose culture and religion had been his prior to his dissention, and the Lamanites, whose culture he had adopted. Mormon recognized the fact that Aminadab, on this occasion, serendipitously bridged the two cultural/religious worlds, serving as an instrument in the Lord’s hand in converting the Lamanites and other Nephite dissenters in the prison.”
“Just as Ammon left a legacy of faithfulness as an instrument in the Lord’s hands in the conversion of thousands of Lamanites, Aminadab, too — albeit in a somewhat smaller capacity — left a legacy of having served as an indispensable instrument in the conversion of many souls and the improvement of many lives. Mormon and his sources were eager to recognize Aminadab in that role.
Matthew L. Bowen, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/my-people-are-willing-the-mention-of- aminadab-in-the-narrative-context-of-helaman-5-6/
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE FOR BOOK OF MORMON
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1996/07/i-have-a-question/how-was-the-book-of-mormon-pronouncing-guide-developed?lang=eng
Friday, January 3, 2020
Happy New Year!
Hi everyone,
I hope your holidays were spectacular! We will resume class Tuesday, January 7 at 9:30 a.m., Relief Society room, Old Gilbert building.
We will be discussing Helaman 1-5. I'm looking forward to being together again!
See you Tuesday.
I hope your holidays were spectacular! We will resume class Tuesday, January 7 at 9:30 a.m., Relief Society room, Old Gilbert building.
We will be discussing Helaman 1-5. I'm looking forward to being together again!
See you Tuesday.
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