Alma 1

Alma 1:15-16

Even after Nehor acknowledged that the ideas he was spreading “were contrary to the word of God” there were still “many who… went forth preaching false doctrines”. It is no longer Nehor who causes trouble for the Nephites, he is already dead and he even took back what he once preached. He no longer causes trouble but it is his legacy that survived after him which still caused trouble for the Nephites. This shows that his ideas no longer depend on the originator, but there comes a time in the development of a movement in which the legacy grows beyond the control of its creator. Nehor and also Korihor (Alma 30) got themselves in such predicament, in which they had begun something which grew too big for them to clean up.

            This is no longer a wonder when one considers how easy it is to screw certain things up. It is a lot easier to spill milk then it is to recover it. Creating things that grow beyond the creators power to manage is certainly not an improbable phenomenon.

Verse 26:

The Book of Mormon does a lot of reference towards a certain behavior for priests to take advantage of people’s admiration and of their position as priests to have believers sustain them financially; this they call “priestcraft.” Priestcraft is thus defined as the craft that priests use to con people for their money. Such position held by the church of Latter-Day Saints puts down all other denominations and religions who follow the traditional custom of having the offering of the people maintain the economic welfare of priests, by degrading this custom to a scam.

Regarding this matter, Paul also follows the admirable example of the Nephites by supporting himself by his own labor and by his own means while he also does the work of God (1 Thessalonians 2:5-9). Indeed, Paul does mention the custom of “charging” for the preaching of the Gospel, but he does not deem the custom as a scam but as a right, moreover as a right commanded by God (1 Corinthians 9:13-14). This custom even goes back before the tradition of the Nephites. God indeed commands the early nation of Israel that the priests of the nation should get pay for their priestly services (Leviticus 18:21).

Although the perspective of getting pay for priestly and spiritual services is backed by the traditions and the words of the Bible, this verse (Alma 1:26) does give me another perspective about this “right” that the priests are set to have. According to Alma 1:26, the priest also labors as everyone else, specifically because they do not deem themselves above everyone else. Does this mean that the only reason why a priest would get pay for their priestly work is if they consider themselves above everyone else? Is pride the only reason why priests accept pay? The answer is not necessarily an obvious “no”. This verse assures that spiritual work of a priest is not necessarily above others, indeed it is not necessarily a one-way service. The traditional perspective of the teacher dispensing knowledge into the student is being replaced by a more modern perspective of both parties doing learning. In this perspective, both the priest and the congregation both benefit and receive strengthening from the interaction. The teacher is not above the student, all individuals are only part of a community of learners.

The act of being financially independent as one preaches the gospel is definitely admirable. But should those who do not follow the example of Paul and the Latter-Day Saints be ashamed of themselves and consider themselves scammers? Definitely not. Yet, one must be careful that this right to be supported by the offering of the people should not be abused, just as any other right. It is understandable how this right may lead to insensitivity and ungratefulness of priests; it may even lead to the natural insensitivity and ungratefulness of the general humanness of the priest to being more noticeable. Thus, the general insensitivity of the humanness of the priest can be interpreted or may even manifest as a susceptibility to scam.

Finally, even though the Mormon tradition insists on the admirable custom of the priests being financially independent and although they condemn the model of “priestcraft,” they do not necessarily belittle the custom of the other religions and denominations. What they do explicitly disparage is straight-out scamming which they refer to as priestcraft. Yes, they do disparage the opportunity that priests have to scam believers but this thin line between right and abuse can be displaced by opinion or outright ignored so that it is possible to become judgmental and condemn anyone who receives pay for their priestly services.

Written 11-27-14

Omni

There is a lot of time in between the Nephites’ settling in America and the visitation by Jesus, and there is a lot of history to keep track of in between. What better way to keep the reader anchored to the story than by fast-forwarding trans-generational events into one book? The book of Omni does this.

So far in the story,

Nephi passed the plates on to his brother Jacob (Jacob 1:1-2),

Jacob passed them to his son Enos (Jacob 7:27),

Enos passed them to his son Jarom (Jarom 1:1),

Jarom passed them to his son Omni (Jarom 1:15-Omni 1:1),

Omni will pass them to his son Amaron (Omni 1:3-4),

Amaron will pass them to his brother Chemish (Omni 1:8-9),

Chemish will pass them on to his son Abinadom Omni 1:10,

Abinadom will pass them to his son Amaleki (Omni 1:12),

Amaleki will leave them in the hands of King Benjamin (Omni 1:25),

and from King Benjamin they will somehow end up in the hands of Mormon (The Words of Mormon 1:3). 

Each one of these writers contributes a short account of what happened during their time. In this way, the reader is not lost as to what happened in between certain important events, but is reported to (even if it is just everyday events) so that they are familiar with the back story of everything.
Written 9-9-14
The next mention of the plates being passed down can be found in Mosiah 28:20. The list goes as follows:
King Benjamin passes them down to his son Mosiah (Mosiah 1:16)
Mosiah passes them on to Alma "son of Alma" (Mosiah 28:20)
Alma passes them on to his son Helaman (Alma 37:1-2)
Helaman passes them on to his younger brother Shiblon (Alma 63:1)
Shiblon skips his younger brother Corianton and passes them to Helaman "son of Helaman" (Alma 63:10-13)
Written 11-26-14  
I could not find a text that says that Helaman "son of Helaman" passes the records down to his son Nephi. The closest clue I found of this was that Helaman filled in the judgment seat and became chief judge (Helaman 2:2) and then his son Nephi took over the judgment seat when Helaman died (Helaman 3:37)
Then Nephi "son of Helaman" passes them on to his son Nephi (3 Nephi 1:2-3)
Nephi "son of Nephi" passes them on to his son Amos (4 Nephi 1:19)
Amos passes them on to his son Amos (4 Nephi 1:21)
Amos passes them on to his brother Ammaron (4 Nephi 1:47)
Ammaron hides them in hill Shim(4: Nephi 1:48-49)
Remaining hidden, Ammaron tells Mormon "son of Mormon" their location (Book of Mormon 1:2-5)
Mormon keeps access to the hidden plates (Book of Mormon 2:18)
Mormon retrieves the plates from their hiding in the hill Shim (Book of Mormon 4:23)
Mormon passes them on to his son Moroni and hides others in hill Cumorah (Book of Mormon 6:6/Words of Mormon 1:1-2) 
Moroni plays around with the records and plans to hide them once he is done playing with them (Book of Mormon 8:1+4) (Moroni 10:2)
Moroni hides the "interpreting stones" (Urim and Thummim) with the records (Ether 4:5) because "Reformed Egyptian" will be a dead language with no related languages (Book of Mormon 9:32-34)
Moroni hides them for Joseph Smith to find (Book of Mormon 8:14)
Written 4-5-15

                In the book of Omni:

Omni is someone who faught for the Nephites but was not too much of a saint (Omni 1:2).

Amaron gives an account of how the Nephites began to fall into transgression and thus most of the Nephites were destroyed (this possibility was alluded to in Enos 1:13 and Jarom 1:10).

Chemish only writes that Amaron had written his contribution only the same day in which he got the plates from Amaron. It could be that he is insinuating that Amaron procrastinated in his contribution and therefore did not write much. This is all that Chemish writes so I am not sure that Chemish was told to write anything, but only wished to clarify why Amaron wrote so little (Omni 1:9).

Abinadom only says that there were wars and stuff. He says that he had no visions or anything but just read stuff that his predecessors had written and he thought it was cool (Omni 1:10-11).

Finally, Amaleki contributes the largest account in the book of Omni:

In Amaleki’s account, a certain Nephite named Mosiah is told by God to lead the people out of the land of Nephi into the wilderness. In the wilderness they find and join the people of Zarahemla. Who are another set of Jews that traveled from Jerusalem a few years after the Lehi (the Nephites and the Lamanites) left with his family (This responds to the loneliness verse I wrote about in Jacob 7:26). Interestingly, the people of Zarahemla have a stone that traces their descendants all the way back to an event that sounds like the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:9. Amaleki continues to write how the Lamanites invaded the land of Nephi, how Mosiah’s kingship got taken over by Benjamin, and how Benjamin protected the Nephites and the people of Zarahemla from the Lamanites. There were people who tried to take back the Land of Nephi but only failed.

Written 9-9-14

Omni 1:30

“And I, Amaleki, had a brother, who also went with them; and I have not since known concerning them. And I am about to lie down in my grave; and these plates are full. And I make an end of my speaking.”

            This verse talks about a group of people who went out of Zarahemla and left the Nephites to return to the land of Nephi and take back their land. This is one of the many times in which the book of Mormon begins a story split. After the intercession with the Words of Mormon the book of Mosiah continues to tell the story of the Nephites who stayed in Zarahemla and how eventually they went to search for the people that were mentioned in Omni 1:30 that have not been seen since (Mosiah 7:1). After the homebound Nephites are found, Mosiah goes back to the event in Omni 1:30 (Omni 1:27 to be more exact) to recount the story from the homebound Nephites’ point of view. The book of Mosiah does this multiple times; in fact it happens other times in the book of Mormon. One can even say that the book of Mormon begins with already-split groups of people, each with their own separate stories that eventually come together in Omni 1:14-15.

Here is a list of the split stories:

Lehi’s posse (1 Nephi-Omni :15) &

People of Zarahemla (Omni 1:15-22) – Reencounter in Omni 1:15.

Split begins in Omni 1:12 – Wandering Nephites (Omni 1:12 – Mosiah 8:21 + Mosiah 25-29) &

Home-settled Lamanites – Reencounter (only partial reencounters with Homebound Nephites).

Split begins in Omni 1:27 – Wandering Nephites (Omni 1:27 – Mosiah 8:21) &

Homebound Nephites (Mosiah 9-22) – Reencounter in Mosiah 7:7 + Mosiah 21:23.

Split begins in Mosiah 18:1 – Homebound Nephites (Mosiah 9-22) &

Alma’s wanderers (Mosiah 23-24) – Reencounter with the Homebound Nephites at Zarahemla in Mosiah 24:25.

Split begins in Mosiah 19:21 – Homebound Nephites (Mosiah 19:21) &

Noah’s priests (Mosiah 23:31-33) – Reencounter with Lamanite Army at Amulon (Mosiah 23:31).

Split begins in Mosiah 22:15 – Lamanites &

Lamanite Army (Mosiah 23:25-38) – Reencounter (Mosiah 23:38).

(Written 9-22-14)

Split begins Mosiah 28:8-9 – Reunited Nephites (Mosiah 25 – Alma 17:1) &

Mosiah's sons "Alma's buddies" (Alma 17:6 - 27:15) – 
Split in between Mosiah's sons begins Alma 17:13-17 + Alma 21:1 - Ammon "eldest son" (Alma 17:19 - 20:30) & Aaron (Alma 21:1-15) & Muloki and Ammah - Reencounter Aaron with Muloki and Ammah (Alma 21:11) & Reencounter Ammon with Aaron, Muloki, and Ammah (Alma 21:14) Split again between Mosiah's sons begins Alma 21:16 Ammon (Alma 21:18-23) & Aaron and his brothers (Alma 22 - 24:5) - Reencounter Ammon with his brothers (Alma 24:5) 
Reencounter Reunited Nephites (with Alma) with Mosiah's sons (Alma 17:1 + 27:16)

Split begins in Alma 51:22; 52:11 – Moroni (52:11 – 55 + 59-61) & Pahoran and Zaramhela (Alma 61) – Report in Alma 61:1/62:1; Reencounter with Pahoran in Gideon (Alma 62:6), then with Zarahemla (Alma 62:7)

Split begins in Alma 52:11-18 – Moroni (Alma 52:19 – 55) &  Helaman and the west (Alma 56:2 – 58) – Report in Alma 56:1; Reencounter (Alma 62:14-18)

Split begins in Alma 63:7-8 – Northbound ships from Zarahemla & Nephite territory – Reencounter (none)

 (Written 11-26-14)

Split begins in 3 Nephi 1:3 - Nephi son of Helaman leaves everyone - Reencounter (none)
Split begins in Book of Mormon 6:15 - Nephites escape southward leaving Mormon and his army to die at the hands of the Lamanites - Reencounter Lamanites go to the land southward and kill the escaped Nephites as well (Book of Mormon 8:2)

(Written 4-5-15)

 

 The sequence:

Split – The people of Zarahemla leave Jerusalem and go to America and find the land of Zarahemla and help Coriantumr. (Omni 1:15-22)

Split (1 Nephi 16 – 18) – Lehi’s posse leave Jerusalem and go to America and settle in the Land of Lehi-Nephi (1 Nephi – Omni 1:12)

1)      Lehi’s posse includes: Lehi, his wife Sariah, his children (Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi), Zoram (Laban’s servant), and Ishmael’s household.

a)      Lehi has two more children in America, Jacob and Joseph.

2)      Jacob begets Enos, Enos begets Jarom, Jarom begets Omni, Omni begets Amaron and Chemish, Chemish begets Abinadom, Abinadom begets Amaleki.

a)      Amaleki lives in the reign of Mosiah

Split Omni 1:12 – Lehi’s people split at Omni 1:12; the Nephites (under the reign of Mosiah) leave the land of Lehi-Nephi, leaving the Lamanites behind.

Join Omni 1:15 – The Nephites (Under the reign of Mosiah) join the people of Zarahemla.

1)      Mosiah reigns over the Nephites and over the people of Zarahemla.

Split Omni 1:27/Mosiah 9:1 – Zeniff is sent to go back to the land of Lehi-Nephi

Join Omni 1:28/Mosiah 9:2 – Zeniff comes back after a skirmish

Split Omni 1:29-30/Mosiah 9:3-4 – Zeniff and his people attempt to return to the land of Lehi-Nephi again

Join Mosiah 9:6 – Zeniff joins in the proximity of the Lamanites.

1)      In the Land of Zarahemla: King Mosiah is replaced by King Benjamin. (Omni 1:12 – Omni 1:17)

2)      Meanwhile in the Land of Lehi-Nephi: Zeniff becomes king. Zeniff is replaced by King Noah. (Mosiah 9-11)

Split Mosiah 18:1 – Alma leaves land of Lehi-Nephi during the reign of King Noah and arrives at Helam (Mosiah 23)

Split Mosiah 19:21 – Noah’s priest leave the Land of Lehi-Nephi under the leadership of Amulon and arrive at Amulon. (Mosiah 23:31-32)

1)      King Benjamin dies at this time and is replaced by King Mosiah (Mosiah 1-6:4)

2)      Meanwhile Noah dies at this time and is replaced by Limhi (Mosiah 11:1)

Split Mosiah 7:6 – King Mosiah (son of Benjamin) sends Ammon and his brothers (Amaleki, Helem, and Hem) out of Zarahemla to find the land of Nephi.

Join Mosiah 7:7 – Ammon and his group find the land of Nephi and join with King Limhi

Split Mosiah 22:11 – Ammon and King Limhi leave the land of Nephi

Split Mosiah 22: 15-16 – Lamanite Army leave land of Nephi and gets lost in the wilderness as they pursue Limhi and Ammon

Join Mosiah 22:13 – Ammon leads King Limhi back to Zarahemla and is adopted under the rule of Mosiah.

Join Mosiah 23:31-33 – Lamanite Army finds Noah’s priests and join Amulon, king of the priests.

Join Mosiah 23:35 – Lamanite Army and Noah’s priests find Alma in the land of Helam.

Join Mosiah 23:36-37 – Alma leads the Lamanite Army and Noah’s priests back to the Land of Nephi.

1)      Alma stays in Helam under the rule of Amulon.

Split Mosiah 24:20 – Alma and his people escape the Lamanites and king Amulon.

Join Mosiah 24:24-25 Alma and his people reach Zarahemla and join King Mosiah and King Limhi.

1)      King Mosiah rules over all, Alma becomes the high priest of all.

(Written 9-22-14)

Split  Mosiah 28:8-9 – Mosiah's sons "Alma's buddies" leave to preach the gospel to the Lamanites

Split Alma 17:13-17/Alma 21:1 - The Mosiah brothers (Ammon, Aaron, Muloki, and Ammah) decide its best to "separate and conquer"
Join Alma 21:11 - Aaron finds Muloki and Ammah at Ani-Anti
Join Alma 21:14 - Ammon gets his brothers out of Prison with the help of King Limoni
Split Alma 21:16 - Once Ammon's brothers are out of prison they again go their separate ways
Join Alma 24:5 - Ammon joins his brothers at Midian as the Lamanites decide to make war with them and the converted Lamanites (Anti-Nephi-Lehies/Ammonites)
Join Alma 17:1/Alma 27:16 - Mosiah's sons "Ammon and his brothers" being chased by the Lamanites finally go back home and find Alma

Split Alma 51:22; 52:11/61:3 – Moroni leaves the city of Zarahemla and goes to defend the western Nephite territory.

Split Alma 52:11-18/56:2 – Moroni leaves Helaman in the western Nephite territory to help Lehi and Teancum in the eastern Nephite territory.

Report Alma 56:1 – Helaman sends a letter to Moroni to report the events in the western territory

Report Alma 61:1 – Pahoran sends a letter to Moroni to report the events in Zarahemla

Join Alma 62:6-7 – Moroni finds Pahoran and then march together to Zarahemla

Join Alma 62:14 - 18 – Moroni reaches the western Nephite territory and defends it

Split Alma 63:7-8 – Northbound ships leave Zarahemla

  Written 11-26-14

 

Split 3 Nephi 1:3 - Nephi son of Helaman leaves everyone

Split Book of Mormon 6:15 - Nephites escape southward  
Join Book of Mormon 8:2 - Escaped Nephites are killed by Lamanites

(Written 4-5-15)