Eric Poulin

Posts Tagged ‘book of mormon’

1 Nephi 1:2

“Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.”

Education is an investment that appreciates with time. It is one of the only thing that makes sense to buy on credit, since an education always appreciates more than the loan to get it. Learning enables us to create things of great worth. Had Nephi not been taught the learning of the Jews he would not have been able to write his contribution to the BOM, including creating the gold plates on which the record was written. (see also 1N1:17) Read the rest of this entry »

1 Nephi 1:1

“I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father;”

“This passage has evoked many discourses on the value of good parents, though it is not that to which Nephi was making reference. The use of this text for that purpose is nevertheless most appropriate. Few of life’s treasures are of greater value than righteous parents. What Nephi was explaining, however, was his ability to write, something not common in his day. Read the rest of this entry »

Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith

“When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.”

Remember how poor Joseph’s family was. Now that the record was translated, wouldn’t it make more sense to deliver up the record for archaeology or at least for the gold? No, the Lord had other plans and Joseph was humble enough to not question this arrangement despite the obvious gain it would have brought his family. Read the rest of this entry »

Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith

“the messenger…informed [me] that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates.”

Sometimes the Lord has plans for us receiving our reward, but according to His timetable. Read the rest of this entry »

Testimony of Prophet Joseph Smith

“The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.”

The plates, Urim and Thummim and breastplate were protected from the elements by being covered from wind, rain, snow and erosion. They were also raised from the ground to avoid water damage. They were sealed to be protected from animal interference, and hidden such that they could be identified by those who need to know, but hidden from the rest of the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Testimony of Prophet Joseph Smith

“Satan would try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father’s family), to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building His kingdom; otherwise I could not get them.”

More than the value of the volume of gold to the world, was the value of the record (even to the world), which likely could have been sold to scholarship for a large sum. Read the rest of this entry »

Testimony of Prophet Joseph Smith

“I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed”

How would Joseph be destroyed… by Gods power? Maybe, but unlikely that God would use such a vulgar display of power. More likely this had reference to the people who sought the plates for monetary gain. If the plates were gotten for gain by someone, Joseph’s credibility would be destroyed and any important message no matter how true or impactful would be lost because the money would supersede anything else in peoples minds. Read the rest of this entry »

Introduction to Book of Mormon

“The record is now published in many languages”

This reminds me of an old Economics thought exercise. Imagine you and a small group of 30 people have been stranded on an island. People have needs to be taken care of and quickly learn if everyone tries to do everything, nothing gets done. So… people specialize. There are coconut pickers, and water gatherers and hut builders. Soon, we need to trade products and services so we quickly learn after bartering for a while that a currency is needed to exchange goods. Read the rest of this entry »

Introduction to Book of Mormon

“Their words, written on gold plates,”

From the very inception of the Book of Mormon, we read of gold plates. Gold has always been a precious metal, valued for its intrinsic beauty and used as currency for many generations before and since the Book of Mormon. Perhaps gold was an ideal metal to inscribe on because it is malleable and therefore relatively easy of use. Or, perhaps more importantly, the precious words that were to be written thereon were of such value that only plates made of the most precious ore would be used to contain this important record of God’s dealing with the ancient Americans. Read the rest of this entry »