{"id":35393,"date":"2016-07-26T20:47:07","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T02:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=35393"},"modified":"2016-07-26T20:48:02","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T02:48:02","slug":"bom-alma-53","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/07\/bom-alma-53.html","title":{"rendered":"BOM Alma 53"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_35394\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35394\" style=\"width: 314px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/samuel-the-lamanite-39661-gallery.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35394\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-35394\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/samuel-the-lamanite-39661-gallery.jpg\" alt=\"Friberg's cyclopean wall\" width=\"314\" height=\"447\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-35394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Samuel the Lamanite upon a Nephite wall, as depicted by Arnold Friberg (LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Four\u00a0quick observations on today\u2019s reading in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lds.org\/scriptures\/bofm\/alma\/53?lang=eng\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Alma 53<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The people of Ammon had already shown how seriously they took their oath not to fight, and probably how seriously oaths were taken in their culture (compare <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lds.org\/scriptures\/bofm\/1-ne\/4.37?lang=eng\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">1 Nephi 4:37<\/a>), by their willingness to die rather than to break it. \u00a0In this chapter, the Nephites too demonstrate\u00a0their seriousness about the oath; they choose\u00a0to forego help that would have been militarily very useful to their defense against Lamanite aggression rather than permit the people of Ammon to go back on their word. \u00a0But this isn\u2019t a commitment to pacifism; the Nephites themselves are willing to fight, and they\u2019re willing to accept military assistance from the <em>sons<\/em> of the covenanting Ammonites because those sons had not been of age to take the oath.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The defensive walls constructed by the Nephites are very simple affairs. \u00a0They\u2019re nothing like the wall painted by Arnold Friberg, shown above.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Once again, it\u2019s internal dissension that weakens the Nephites and makes them vulnerable to Lamanite attacks. \u00a0This is often the case. \u00a0And it\u2019s the case with us individually, too. \u00a0If we\u2019re internally divided, halfway committed to keeping the commandments and our covenants but also halfway tempted to abandon them, the chances of spiritual disaster are much increased. \u00a0\u201cIf a kingdom be divided against itself,\u201d says the Savior in Mark 3:24, \u201cthat kingdom cannot stand.\u201d \u00a0And, adds James 1:8, \u201cA double minded man is unstable in all his ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The choice, by the young Ammonites, of Helaman as their leader \u2014 a prophet and record-keeper rather than a professional military man \u2014 speaks eloquently of their spiritual orientation, their idealism, and their faith.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Posted from Newport Beach, California<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 Four\u00a0quick observations on today\u2019s reading in Alma 53: \u00a0 1. \u00a0 The people of Ammon had already shown how seriously they took their oath not to fight, and probably how seriously oaths were taken in their culture (compare 1 Nephi 4:37), by their willingness to die rather than to break it. \u00a0In this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BOM Alma 53<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; 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