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1 Nephi 2

This posting covers 1 Nephi 1:20–ch. 2. (The chapter division between chapter one and chapter two, unfortunately, breaks a literary unit.) This posting does not include chapters three through five even though the somewhat forced chiasmus outline of 1 Nephi militates in favor of considering chapters two through five together. Chapter is different than chapters three through five, so there […]

1 Nephi 1

Careful study of 1 Nephi will allow the reader of the Book of Mormon to better understand what is happening in the rest of the book. Glossing over this important chapter will lead to the same treatment of the rest of the book, a superficial reading that is not so profitable. Therefore, analysis of 1 Nephi is presented alone, notwithstanding […]

Reading the Book of Mormon from the Right Perspective

Hebrew metaphysical paradigm. The word metaphysics originated with Aristotle, circa 322 BC. It is a division of philosophy that deals with ontology—the science of being. The Greeks viewed a physical object as something different than the idea of or word for the physical object. The Hebrews viewed reality and truth differently than this Greek metaphysical construct, because the Hebrew paradigm […]

The Three Witness

The Testimony of the Witnesses. There were three witnesses of the golden plates who received the ministration of the angel Moroni, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer. In addition, there were eight that viewed the plates when Joseph Smith, with permission of Moroni, showed them the ancient record. There is not space in this posting to consider the eleven […]

Introduction to Hebrews

  This is an excerpt from my Exegesis of Hebrews, a 500-page manuscript yet to be edited for publication. I publish this introduction to Hebrews in this blog because I have been asked to give a lesson on Hebrews in my ward’s Gospel Doctrine class on November 17, 2019. Of course, there is not time to cover Hebrews in less […]