David Journal

Tag: Ether

  • Seekers of righteousness

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    David
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    There is a pattern regarding those who come to this nation—they are seeking things of righteousness. They may not think in those terms but the Jaredites came trying to follow the Lord, Lehi came following the Lord, the people of Mulek came seeking a place of security, the pilgrims came seeking a place of religious…

  • A missing history

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    David
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    We know that the Lord provided two seer stones for the brother of Jared and told him to seal them up with his writings to be used for their interpretation at the proper time (Ether 3:22-28). We also know that King Mosiah had something that he could look into to translate ancient records. While the…

  • Ether’s perspective

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    David
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    I can only imagine life for ether during the four years of gathering. On one hand there was no way in the land but on the other hand both arms were gathering up every last person they could find so Ether still had to keep himself hidden. I expect that it was during those four…

  • Complete division

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    David
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    I don’t foresee our nation being reduced to open warfare throughout the land but I consider it entirely plausible that we could divide more firmly into two committed “armies” who fought politically (beyond the bounds of casting votes) such that all who want any political relevance just join one of the two sides with no…

  • Every chance to repent

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    David
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    The Lord did not consign the people to destruction until he had given them every opportunity to repent. That is a consistent pattern with the Lord. People do not face spiritual or societal destruction in ignorance.

  • Weakness

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    David
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    It occurs to me that Moroni might have been wrong about where the weakness was in their writing. He says that the Nephites were mighty in speaking but that they stumbled over the placement of their words when writing. Considering that the language they spoke and the language they kept their sacred records in were…

  • Clawing back

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    David
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    I said that things were never the same for the Jaredites after the introduction of secret combinations but we see an example with Lib and the two generations before him where they sought righteousness long enough that Lib even saw the Savior as well as with Com who protected the prophets against the wickedness of…

  • No going back

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    David
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    While there was a period of righteousness after Akish introduced secret combinations among the Jaredites their society was never the same afterward. To recognize the magnitude of the change, consider how wicked a society would have to be to destroy themselves down to only two dozen people.

  • Warning against secret combinations

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    David
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    It seems to me that Ether 8 and this warning against secret combinations might be the core reason that the book of Ether needed to be included in the Book of Mormon. We are certainly at a place as a society that we are more likely to uphold secret combinations than to combat them.

  • Mortal stability

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    David
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    I wonder if it is even possible for people to maintain stability for extended periods of time without having transformative events such as Christ visiting or mass conversions to anchor them to righteousness on a wide scale.