![\"Friberg's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/02\/captain-moroni-title-liberty-39658-gallery.jpg\")
<\/a>(Arnold Friberg, LDS Media Library).\u00a0 Friberg\u2019s Moroni is probably not the kind of guy that you really want to mess with.\u00a0 Of course, that was probably true of the real historical one, as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Two new articles appeared today at noon in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u201cCan You Suppose That the Lord Will Spare You?\u201d: Moroni\u2019s Charged Rhetoric in Alma 60:30\u201332,\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Matthew L. Bowen<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>Under the duress of a\u00a0lengthy war, and prompted by recent Lamanite military successes, as well as incensed at the government\u2019s failure to resupply Helaman\u2019s armies with provisions and to send men to reinforce the city Nephihah, Moroni sent a\u00a0second scathing letter to the leaders of the Nephite nation in the Nephite capital city Zarahemla. As other scholars have noted, the name\u00a0<\/em>Zarahemla\u00a0likely denotes \u201cseed of compassion\u201d or \u201cseed of sparing.\u201d In this article, I\u00a0propose that Moroni\u2019s rhetoric in the letter includes an acerbic word-irony involving the meaning of Zarahemla perhaps achieved in terms of the Hebrew verb\u00a0<\/em>ya\u1e25m\u014dl\u00a0(\u201c[he] will spare,\u201d from\u00a0<\/em>\u1e25ml, \u201cspare,\u201d \u201chave compassion.\u201d This word-irony points out that although the Lord had spared the people of Zarahemla and the Nephites in the past, the uncompassionate behavior of the nation\u2019s leaders in Zarahemla was creating conditions under which the Lord would not spare the leadership in Zarahemla. Moroni wrote, \u201cBehold, I\u00a0come unto you, even in the land of\u00a0Zarahemla<\/strong>, and smite you with the sword \u2026 For behold, the Lord will not suffer that ye shall live and wax strong in your iniquities to destroy his righteous people. Behold, can you suppose that the Lord will\u00a0spare you<\/strong>\u2026?\u201d (Alma\u00a060:30\u201332). The covenant background of this threat will also be explored.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInterpreting\u00a0Interpreter<\/em>: Captain Moroni\u2019s Spiteful Spare,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201c\u2018Can You Suppose That the Lord Will Spare You?\u2019: Moroni\u2019s Charged Rhetoric in Alma 60:30\u201332<\/a>\u201d by Matthew L. Bowen in Volume 51 of\u00a0Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n An introduction to the Interpreting\u00a0Interpreter<\/em>\u00a0series is available at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Bowen explores the use of the word \u201cspare\u201d (\u1e25eml\u00e2<\/em>) in Captain Moroni\u2019s letter to Pahoran as wordplay on the name Zarahemla (\u201cseed of compassion\/sparing\u201d), potentially emphasizing Moroni\u2019s condemnation toward the Nephite government for failing to live up to their covenant responsibilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And this item went up a couple of days ago:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow Available! The Softbound, Second Edition of The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Happy weekend from the Interpreter Foundation!\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Truman Madsen<\/a>, who died in 2009 \u2014 astoundingly, it\u2019s been thirteen years now \u2014 and whom I greatly miss, changed the direction of my life at a crucial stage, when I was a high school student in California. \u00a0I probably would not have attended Brigham Young University absent a particular encounter with him. \u00a0Eventually, he became a faculty colleague, and then a friend.\u00a0 Recently, I was back in Jerusalem again \u2014 where, among other things, I taught for nearly six months on the faculty of BYU\u2019s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies during a period when Truman was serving there as the Center\u2019s director.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are two passages from a devotional address titled \u201cFoundations of Temple Worship\u201d that Truman Madsen delivered at the Idaho campus of Brigham Young University in October 2004:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n President McKay asked for a million dollars from the local saints [toward construction of the Los Angeles California Temple], and had pledge cards before the meeting was over for that amount, plus. Then he spoke about the temple. I\u2019ll spare you the details except for the core statement that I have cherished, and which bent, as it were, the twig in me, which has grown and grown ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n He said, \u201cBrothers and sisters, I believe there are few, even temple workers, who comprehend the full meaning and power of the temple endowment. Seen for what it is, it is the step-by-step ascent into the eternal presence. If our young people could only glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives.\u201d I resolved that day, because of what happened in my heart, always to raise my voice in testifying of the temple and never of criticizing it, to carry out as best I could my dream of finding a queen who would share in me the total conviction that the temple is ours, made for us and prepared for us, and that out of that could come a family who would love the Lord Jesus Christ as nothing else in the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The fulness of truth, and the fulness of the Holy Ghost, and the fulness of the priesthood, and the fulness of the glory of the Father are all phrases that are ocurrent in connection with the temple, and cannot be received anywhere else, nowhere else on the planet. You cannot receive the fulness that the Lord has for you without coming through the temple and having the temple come through you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n On a rather different note, I\u2019m trying to decide on a new nickname for myself.\u00a0 Under the influence of the great 1986 film Three Amigos!<\/em> and for a plethora of obvious reasons, I\u2019ve long gone under the name of El Guapo<\/em>.\u00a0 I mean, it seemed pretty much unavoidable.\u00a0 Now, though, having lately been reading some astronomical news, I\u2019m leaning toward adoption of The Great Attractor<\/em> as my new nickname.\u00a0 (I just don\u2019t think that I\u2019m quite ready yet for The Shapley Supercluster<\/em>.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, speaking of astronomical news, this is really fun:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAstronomers photograph Milky Way\u2019s supermassive black hole for the first time: Light and matter cannot escape a black hole\u2019s center, making the image extremely hard for scientists to capture\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve called your attention to anything on the invaluable Neville-Neville Land blog.\u00a0 So here\u2019s something:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnother of Jonathan Neville\u2019s specious comparisons\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m very far behind, too, with regard to the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u00a9, and I apologize for that.\u00a0 I know that some out there rely upon what I share from the Hitchens File for their urgently necessary bouts of anti-religious indignation.\u00a0 However, I must say that this first item offers rich materials for recovery from any sense of withdrawal or deprivation that addicts of the Hitchens File may have been feeling.\u00a0 There\u2019s lots of good stuff here, lots of opportunities for outrage, mockery, resentment, anger, and acting out:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe 2021 Annual Report: How the Church of Jesus Christ Cared for God\u2019s Children: The Church gave $906 million, and everyday Latter-day Saints spent 6.8 million hours in service\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But I really want to try to make up for my recent neglect of the Hitchens File.\u00a0 So here are a couple of additional items that should bring a delicious contentment to the souls of those who crave evidence of the evils done by religion and religious believers:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Latest on How the Church Is Helping Refugees in Europe\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n