One of my favorite scriptures is in James 1: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” And what that means is if we need anything, we can ask, and the Lord will answer us. He won’t […]
What was the Brother of Jared’s name? Does it ever say? Well, it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them Alma 8:7 And the Jaredites called the name of […]
Ether 1:6-32 is Ether’s genealogy. Why do we need to know all that? There is a similar time in 1 Chronicles 5-9, which are pretty much all just the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and ectara of Joseph. That proves to be important later, when it came to pass that my father, Lehi, also found […]
and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts Mormon 3:12 Mormon didn’t have faith in the Nephites. But James said But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is […]
And these Gadianton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again. Mormon 1:18 I don’t think that Mormon […]
I want to learn so I can be able to live a good life. That means: I want to be able to have a good job that supports a family. If I didn’t learn, I couldn’t get a good job. I want to, when I have a question, be able to answer it. I will […]
I went sledding with friends!
But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. 3 Nephi 21:10 Who is Jesus talking about? […]
We need to care about other people because they are also people. They also have feelings. They matter! And as long as we’re sharing this earth with them, we might as well be nice to them. If we weren’t sharing the earth with anybody else, we would have no purpose, and life would be really […]
Data science turns data into knowledge. Many people think that data science is about making complex models, writing code, or parsing large amounts of data, but it is not. It is making predictions and very educated guesses. It is finding trends and patterns. That is when people need to make complex models and write code […]
And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one. 3 Nephi 11:27 But I thought we didn’t believe […]
Said Giddianhi: And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this the secret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us. 3 Nephi 3:9 But the Gadiantons are only about 40 years old! […]
Starting in 3 Nephi 2, the people begin to be very wicked, even after they see the sign of Christ’s birth! A few chapters later, they repent, but soon, most of the people go wicked again. There are lots and lots of wars, contentions, robbing, murders, etcetera, and etcetera. But maybe there’s a point to […]
As the Deacons’ Quorum President, I was invited to speak in the “Priesthood and Temple Preparation” meeting for the primary children in the ward turning 12 in 2021. My topic was “the purpose and blessings of the priesthood”. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared this story a few years ago: [Our branch president] invited me into […]
In Helaman 3, it says there were an exceedingly great many who departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and went forth unto the land northward to inherit the land. And they did travel to an exceedingly great distance, insomuch that they came to large bodies of water and many rivers. Helaman 3:3-4 It then […]
Yea, had it not been for the war which broke out among ourselves; yea, were it not for these king-men, who caused so much bloodshed among ourselves; … yea, if we had gone forth against them in the strength of the Lord, we should have dispersed our enemies. Alma 60:16 Why is he talking about […]
Verses 13-15 Helaman and his army gather outside of Manti. They are spotted by the Lamanites. Verses 16-17 Two portions of Helaman’s army, lead by Gid and Teomner hide in two different places. Verses 18-19 The Lamanites chace Helaman without noticing Gid and Teomner. Verses 20-23 Gid and Teomner capture Manti easily anfter the Lamanite […]
Verses 21-23 Jacob the Zoramite and his army do not know that anything is happening yet. Moroni hides on the west of Mulek and Teancum on the east, with their armies. Lehi waits in Bountiful with his army, guarding it. Verses 24.25 Teancum lets the Lamanite guards see them. Jacob chases them towards the seashore. […]
And it came to pass that Moroni commanded that his army should go against those king-men, to pull down their pride and their nobility and level them with the earth, or they should take up arms and support the cause of liberty. Alma 51:17 What does “to pull down their pride and their nobility and […]
Alma 49 follows what the Lamanites were doing. But how would the Nephites, who wrote this all down, know what the Lamanites were doing? Did the Nephites invent remote mind-reading? That seems pretty unlikely, but I have a few, more probable, ideas. Maybe the Lamanites kept their own record which eventually fell into Nephite hands. […]
And behold, the city had been rebuilt, and Moroni had stationed an army by the borders of the city, and they had cast up dirt round about to shield them from the arrows and the stones of the Lamanites; for behold, they fought with stones and with arrows. Alma 49:2 Why did the city have […]
Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies. Alma 43:46 What does the Lord mean here? “Inasmuch as” means “As long as” “ye are not guilty” means “you were not the cause” “of the first offense” […]
Behold, I say unto you, that there is no resurrection—or, I would say, in other words, that this mortal does not put on immortality, this corruption does not put on incorruption—until after the coming of Christ. Alma 40:2 What does that mean? Well, it means that we are corrupted, and until we resurrect, we will […]
Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you. Alma 39:14 What does Alma mean when he says that? I think that there are a few meanings. First, they probably just can’t carry them with them. They might not have room to bring treasure. When […]
Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness. Alma 38:9 How is Jesus Christ all that? Well, here are some ways he can be those things. He is the life of the world: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the […]
For behold, there is a curse upon all this land, that destruction shall come upon all those workers of darkness, according to the power of God, when they are fully ripe; therefore I desire that this people might not be destroyed. Alma 37:28 What curse is Alma talking about? This one: Behold, this is a […]
Yea, and I had murdered many of his children Alma 36:14 Wait, what? Alma was a murderer before he repented? No, see what he says next? or rather led them away unto destruction Alma 36:14 So no, he did not kill their bodies. But he did lead them away from the truth. He led them […]
My brother has called upon the words of Zenos, that redemption cometh through the Son of God, and also upon the words of Zenock; and also he has appealed unto Moses, to prove that these things are true. Alma 34:7 That’s what Amulek says after Alma talks about Zenos and Zenock. But Alma and Amulek […]
And this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be no Christ. Alma 30:12 Why couldn’t the law do anything about him? Well, their law is God’s law, aka the commandments and scriptures. And the commandments say And if […]
O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Alma 29:1 What’s the trump of God? Trump is an old word for trumpet. Trumpets are […]
And this is the account of the wars and contentions among the Nephites, and also the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites; and the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges is ended. Alma 28:9 But… And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I […]
Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted. Yea, they shall not be […]
therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels Alma 24:14 When did King Lamoni see angels? I think he’s referring to when Ammon converted Limhi’s family. After Lamoni fell into a trance, he woke up, then fell into a trance again with the Queen this time as well. Once they woke up, […]
Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord: The people of the Lamanites who were in the land of Ishmael; And also of the people of the Lamanites who were in the land of Middoni; And also of the people of the Lamanites who were in the city of Nephi; And also of […]
Compare: And now the astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands; therefore he was taken by those that were with him, and carried helpless, even until he was laid before his father. […]
Therefore, if this is the case, I would that ye should go in and see my husband, for he has been laid upon his bed for the space of two days and two nights; and some say that he is not dead, but others say that he is dead and that he stinketh, and that […]
And Ammon said unto him: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die. And it came to pass that king Lamoni was much pleased with Ammon, and caused that his bands should be loosed; and he would that Ammon should take one of his […]
And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla. Alma 17:1 Who’s that again? Well, do you remember Mosiah 28? Now it came to […]
Nevertheless, after many days their dead bodies were heaped up upon the face of the earth, and they were covered with a shallow covering. And now so great was the scent thereof that the people did not go in to possess the land of Ammonihah for many years. And it was called Desolation of Nehors; […]
Lately, I have been learning the programming languages PHP (server-side scripting) and JavaScript (client-side scripting). I’ve already learned HTML5 (web pages) and CSS (web formatting). Soon, I’ll start learning MySQL (databases) and jQuery (compressed JavaScript). I’m going to put all my work on a new subdirectory to my photo gallery site. I already have some […]
If you are making a tower out of blocks, you need, well, blocks! If you are making a human, you need cells. And those cells need instruction: they need DNA. DNA makes us unique, its replication is very accurate, but mistakes happen and can be very dangerous. In short, DNA is essential for life.
And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. Alma 13:15 Why did Abraham pay his thing to Melchizedek instead of God? Well, Genesis 14:18 says And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine so maybe […]
And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to […]
Caroline, Dad, and I went to the Michigan Upper Peninsula on a photography trip! This was Caroline’s first overnight trip focusing on pictures and without Mom. We were away from home for 4 days. See my post on Paul S. Reid Photos about this trip if you just want to see my pictures.
The first 19 verses of Alma 11 explain the monetary system of the Nephites. Why do we need to know that, though? I’m not sure. Maybe it is so we can know, that when Zeezrom said unto [Amuek]: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these will I give thee if thou […]
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. We see the words in Deuteronomy 17:6 come true in Alma 9-14. When Alma comes, the people say: Who art thou? […]
And again I say unto you, the Spirit saith: Behold, the ax is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire, yea, a fire which cannot be consumed, even an unquenchable fire. Behold, and remember, the Holy One […]
Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. In Judges 2:16, a system of judges was started. In Mosiah, the same thing happened among the Nephites. I think that the Nephites might have got the idea from the Israelites. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/4?lang=eng&verse=#p
Therefore the people of the Nephites were aware of the intent of the Amlicites, and therefore they did prepare to meet them; yea, they did arm themselves with swords, and with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and with slings, and with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind. […]
And it came to pass that the people assembled themselves together throughout all the land, every man according to his mind, whether it were for or against Amlici, in separate bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one with another. Contention is not of God: For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath […]
