David Journal

Tag: Alma

  • Competing priorities

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    I never considered before how morning was forced to balance competing priorities. He had to have the Lamanite prisoners work because he needed to maximize the number of soldiers he had available for battle. Besides the battles he also had to pay attention to feeding the civilians—he couldn’t bury his head in the details of…

  • A better timeline

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    David
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    I have wanted to correlate the timing of events on the Eastern front of the war (where Teancum and later Moroni were) with those on the Western front of the war (where Helaman was after Moroni left). One thing I verified today was that Helaman began leading the stripling warriors before Moroni rejoined Teancum. Helaman…

  • An “end” to dissenters

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    David
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    Moroni put an end to the king-men “that there were not any known by the appellation of king-men.” Even knowing that there were many who were still king-men in their hearts who would cause trouble later in the war, I would love to see us reject Trump soundly enough that finally none would proudly wear…

  • Tribulation because of contention

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    David
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    Mormon makes it clear that the Nephites suffered their wars, famines, tribulations, and destructions as a result of their contention among themselves. Do long as they were more concerned with living peaceably and caring for their fellow men they were prospered but when they decided to be competitive (wealth/pride) or ideological (king-men/divisive/pride) they began to…

  • Know when to act

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    David
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    One of the things that Moroni was good at was knowing when to take action. He ended negotiations with Ammoron and simply acted unilaterally on the question of a prisoner swap. When he wrote to Pahoran he didn’t leave “wait until you guys change your mind” as an option.

  • Thoughtful preparation

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    David
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    I am always amazed at how comprehensive and strategic Moroni was in preparing for the Lamanites. He predicted the first place they would strike and the place where they would fall back if they were daunted by the first target. He prepared those two locations with greater strength than any others (so far as we…

  • Like unto Moroni

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    David
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    Let’s collect a list of attributes that make someone “like unto Moroni”:

  • Stirring up the people

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    David
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    I read about Amalickiah going among the Lamanites and stirring them up to anger against the Nephites and it makes me wonder what kind of things he said to accomplish that and who he was speaking to. He obviously gained the ear of the king but many of the people were not interested in his…

  • Beginning a rebellion

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    David
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    I never connected before that Amalickiah rose to prominence among a group of neighbors who were directly rebelling against the teachings of Helaman. These weren’t just angry people, they were angry about the message of repentance. It’s no wonder that they were set on destroying the foundation of liberty (which politically in the modern United…

  • Alma’s prophecy

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    David
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    Alma’s prophecy that he had Helaman write was to be fulfilled within 500 years (we know from hindsight). Alma and Helaman both knew that it was more than 400 years in the future but I wonder if Alma was also told that his mission was concluded after he received that prophecy. Additionally, I wonder if…