Why is the vision of the Tree of Life in the Book of Mormon? How will Nephi use this vision throughout the rest of his writings? What are the 5 major images of 1 Nephi 8 and what role do they play in the text? For another way to viewContinue Reading

The Book of Mormon Translation Process -By Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig Ostler I wanted to include this excerpt from McConkie and Ostler’s book Revelations of the Restoration in order to provide one analysis of the process of the Book of Mormon translation. My understanding from the historical accounts isContinue Reading

Historical Background – Martin Harris By 1827, Martin Harris had built a comfortable life for himself in Palmyra, New York. He married his cousin Lucy in 1808, fought in the war of 1812, and by 1827 Martin had had acquired 320 acres of farmland, made them profitable through his industry andContinue Reading

Doctrine and Covenants 3: The Lost Manuscript July 1828 – Joseph travels from Harmony, Pennsylvania to Palmyra, New York (about 200 kilometers away, a four day trip each way in 1828) because he has not heard back from Martin Harris. What were the events that led up to Section 3Continue Reading

Joseph Describes Spiritual Sight How could Joseph have had this vision of Moroni as he was in a room with his siblings at the time? Perhaps we are looking at this from a Western mindset and need to ask a different question. What kind of vision was this? What doContinue Reading

Moroni 10.4 – Ask if these things are not true – An Example of a Negative Question Why does Moroni ask us to ask Heavenly Father if these things are not true? This is an example of a negative question where the questioner is certain of the answer. Many negativeContinue Reading

The Peaceable Followers of Christ Entering into Rest – Several Ideas in Code If we read Moroni 7.3 looking for clues, we can start to see some things coming together. When we look at Matthew 5.48, we see that the Savior is telling his followers that if they hearken untoContinue Reading

Moroni chapter 8 is Mormon’s epistle to his son Moroni on the salvation of little children. For more on this doctrine, see Robert L. Millet’s paper entitled Alive in Christ: The Salvations of Little Children.”[1]Robert Millet, Alive in Christ: The Salvation of Little Children, Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction, eds. MonteContinue Reading

Moroni 1.1 The background story to Moroni 1 has been put together by the late Sidney Sperry, and I wanted to share some of his words regarding Moroni’s life leading up to this final book in the Book of Mormon. “What was Moroni doing those 16 years alone? What adventuresContinue Reading