My final lesson for the year on the Book of Mormon is now on my blog. I discuss Moroni 7-10 on faith, hope, charity; the gifts of the Spirit, and inviting all to come unto Christ.
http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2012/12/lesson-48-come-unto-christ-moroni-78.html

Read there/comment here.

Read all of Rameumptom’s posts here

In high school back in the 1970s, I remember two good friends who were terrific performers.  She soloed “Silent Night” in the annual high school Christmas program.  He played Jesus in “Godspell.”  They both loved the Christmas story and happy to join in on the celebration, even though they are both atheists. 

I suppose their reasoning is the same as Professor Bart Ehrman gives for loving the Christmas/Jesus story, even though he is now an agnostic.

 

One of the things I haven’t lost, oddly enough, is my love of Christmas.  I no longer believe the Christmas story told every year.  I now know that the story of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Matthew is very different from the story in the Gospel of Luke, that their accounts are not simply differently nuanced, but factually at odds.  And I know that we don’t have their original accounts, but only the accounts as handed down by scribes who often changed the accounts, making it sometimes impossible to know what the originals said.  In one sense, I’ve lost something of the wonder of Jesus coming into the world, for I now realize that the biblical narratives are not history, but are in fact, stories.

But they are beautiful stories.  Angelic visitors, heavenly inspired dreams, miraculous works: a virgin conceives and bears a son!  There are shepherds and wise men and wicked kings and murdering soldiers and near escapes; tragedy and salvation.

The stories live on, with or without my faith in them as history.  And the meaning of the stories continues to touch me. 

http://ehrmanblog.org/an-agnostic-reflects-on-christmas/

Wouldn’t it be awesome if more non-believers would join in on the joy and magic of the season?

chapter 19, Man versus Man

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=60&chapid=601

In this chapter, Nibley notes the challenges in the Arabian wilderness between men.  Robbers are all over the place, and are a challenge.  He notes that it is considered a legal and honorable trade for Bedouins to raid caravans.  It reminds me of something I’ve come to learn about in the modern US prison system.  There is a difference between stealing and taking.  To steal is a bad and dishonorable thing. However, if an offender takes something from another while he is present to see the taking occur, then it is honorable. Why? Because the rightful owner has the chance to defend and claim his property, if he’s brave and strong enough to do so.

We see this same concept occurring among the ancient robbers. They tended to raid the caravans, an honorable thing to do. Thieves, as we can read in Ali Baba’s account in 1001 Arabian Nights, was not considered honorable for stealing treasure that was not his.

So, when Laban took the treasures from Nephi and his brethren, it was not viewed as a bad thing for him to do.  He gave them the chance to defend their property, and so rightfully claimed it.

Nibley also speaks about Lehi’s tent as being the center of the caravan. He’s correct in this. However, it goes beyond this Arabic conception.  Lehi’s tent and rough altars of stone were his portable Tabernacle. In Moses’ Tabernacle and in the Temple, the altar was in the outer court.  Lehi’s altar would also be outside of his tent.  But the great vision of the Tree of Life occurred within Lehi’s tent.  The Liahona was found right outside his tent door. Lehi’s tent was the place where God communicated with his people, just as the Tabernacle was where God spoke through Moses and others.

Lehi’s tent was a portable  temple.  Wherever he stopped, he created a sacred space, which included altars, but with his tent as the center of the universe.

I’ve long been a fan of Ralph Nader, seeing his activism as generally positive over the years.  Since fighting for seat belts 50 years ago, he’s now fighting for America to be a peaceful nation.  He has roundly condemned both George W Bush and now Barack Obama for their international warfare. He stated that Obama is even worse than Bush, using drones to go into any nation he wishes to do something.  National sovereignty does not seem to mean as much to the USA as it once did.

George Washington’s desire that we have no entangling alliances, and to be friends to all is still a very good policy.  It is time we stop being the world’s invasive police force, return to being a good neighbor in the world, and allow our freedom to inspire freedom elsewhere.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/12/02/Nader-War-Criminal-Obama-Worse-Than-Bush

Read all of Rameumptom’s posts here.

Book of Mormon Lesson 47 on Moroni 1-6 is now on my blog.

http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2012/11/book-of-mormon-lesson-47-to-keep-them.html

Read there / Comment here.

Read all of Rameumptom’s posts here