I taught this Gospel Doctrine lesson this week and we barely got out of the first two verses of Chapter 1! Read the rest of this entry »

First things first, a word or two about how I read Benjamin’s speech as a whole.

It seems absolutely vital to me that Benjamin reports the words of an angel (ch. 3): this signals immediately to me that there is some kind of creation/fall/atonement/veil business afoot, since atonement (in this pattern) is, in the Book of Mormon, almost always a question of angelic messengers being sent (and, of course, since this is all happening at the temple…). And indeed, the first half of the discourse quite clearly works according to this pattern:

Creation — 2:19-28 (note not only the many explicit mentions of creation, but also the talk the council in verse 28, etc.)
Fall — 2:29-41 (Benjamin goes on and on here about rebellion, obeying the evil spirit, withdrawing oneself from God, shrinking from the presence of God, etc.)
Atonement — 3:1-27 (the angelic messenger now delivers a message detailing the meaning of the atonement, and what a message!)

Two questions, then: (1) What of 2:9-18? (2) What of the veil? Well, here we go! Read the rest of this entry »

In the classic Bill Cosby sketch, after the LORD tells Noah to build an Ark, Noah responds with “Right. What’s an ark?”

Recently, University of London professor Tudor Parfitt is challenging our own perceptions of another ark by claiming to have found the Ark of the Covenant in Africa. Unlike the gold-plated weapon of mass destruction from the original Indiana Jones movie, the real ark, according to Parfitt, was and is a wooden drum and primitive gunpowder spewing tribal relic carried by temple priests from Jerusalem to Yemen and eventually to Africa.

Check out the Time magazine summary of the argument here, or for a more complete treatment you can check out Parfitt’s book The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Old Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark.

But regardless of how close Parfitt is to the truth here, he does provide an interesting challenge to our scriptural preconceptions, as well as a nice case study of how to carefully examine a cherished text.

BOM Lesson 15: Mosiah 1-3

I’m on vacation writing this, so it’s going to be more of a collection of notes than a finished piece of writing. Mainly, I’m going to be summarizing and responding to what Joe Spencer has written about Mosiah 2:23-24 on the wiki. Enjoy.

Other links

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Yesterday, one of my Gospel Doctrine teachers was released unexpectedly, and as I sat in Sacrament Meeting pondering who might best replace her, I wondered if instead of calling a new teacher, I might take D&C 50 to heart and, considering everyone a potential teacher, ask ward members to take turns leading the weekly Gospel Doctrine discussion. Read the rest of this entry »

Because I am behind, I combined #12 and 13 into one lesson (not easy!) These notes are based on the work of Mack Sterling and Ben McGuire, mostly.

Jacob
Note: the BOM dates Jacob from 544-421 B.C. This date cannot possibly be accurate on the near end. 421 BC (assuming that Lehi leaves Jerusalem about 600 BC) would make Jacob at least 171 years old (born between 600-593 B.C.).

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I am behind in posting, but will post the last 3 lessons anyway. I hope to be caught up and with everyone else in about two-three weeks.  This outline is mostly from Mack Sterling’s class of a decade or so ago. The addition of commentary on righteousness is mine.

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The material in this lesson is so good that I worked through the whole thing in two days (it usually takes me a week or so!). And, though my wife and I had a baby yesterday (our third, a little boy), I have the time this morning (while Mommy and Baby sleep, and while Grandma and Grandpa still have the other two kids) to write up my thoughts on the lesson. Good timing, and a great lesson! So, to get on with things… Read the rest of this entry »

The Gospel Doctrine lesson this week features, as usual, an embarrassment of riches. There is more text here than can be covered in one class, and more than enough commentary available online to supply any teacher looking for topics to cover. So why add more here now? Read on and see! Read the rest of this entry »

Let me apologize twice in advance. First, I’m getting this lesson up a few days later than I would have liked to, something I can blame on my recent trip to Utah for the SMPT conference. (I’m hoping that this doesn’t put me too much further behind on next week’s lesson as well. I’ll try to have it up as soon as possible after Sunday.) Second, partly because of how little time I’ve had for getting this ready, but also partly because of the layout of the lesson itself, this post will be a bit more philosophical than my others. I don’t anticipate this being the start of a trend: Joseph seems to me to wax a bit more philosophical in the most interesting teachings in this lesson, and so I’m going to respond in suit. That said… Read the rest of this entry »