Click to Listen: Episode 10: 2 Nephi 16-19
Isaiah is still babbling on in this episode, but it gets pretty fun. We start out with Isaiah seeing mormon god in a wedding dress, at least I think that’s what he’s wearing, and then Isaiah getting hot coals dropped on his face. And we get introduced to my new favorite name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Oh, Isaiah, will you ever stop being hilarious?
“Drink” Count – 2
Not even half a beer
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My Book of Mormon 
May 21, 2014 at 7:19 am
Here’s a little Mormon joke for you.
Two missionaries are walking through a dangerous neighborhood. They get caught in the middle of a gunfight, and one of the missionaries is shot right in the chest. After the danger has passed, his companion rushes to his side, ready to show his faith and use his priesthood power to resurrect his fallen friend. However, the injured missionary jumps to his feet and pulls out the small Book of Mormon that he keeps in his shirt pocket (so it will be near his heart). He opens it up and the bullet falls out of the middle of it. The missionary turns to his companion and says, “See Elder, nothing gets through Second Nephi.”
May 21, 2014 at 5:49 pm
Good old Joseph is full on plagerizing the bible. I recognized them as chapters 6 through 9 of Isaiah. Pretty much word for word. The passages seem to talk about the savior for the Jews but it is more of a political hero then Jesus. Looks like the King James version. Anywho awesome job! Gonna share this again on the Secular Café on G+. Take care sir!
July 9, 2014 at 3:00 am
Hey! Secular Cafe is what brought me here! I’ve been listening non stop since then. I wonder if it was your post? Thanks if it was!
May 23, 2014 at 5:06 pm
I loved the ensign joke at the beginning!
And my kids love Dr who!
May 23, 2014 at 5:45 pm
I love how you can keep the context of the BoM when you critique it- you stay with its assumptions as you look at it critically. that’s very impressive and I think very fair minded. its all ridiculous and you could rip it to shreds, and you do make it very interesting to listen to with jokes, but you do a great job of showing the internal problems by taking it with its assumptions.
You’re doing really good with Isaiah and all those names~ so in chapter 18 God is saying not to join forces or make alliances to other countries, but to rely on God, because God is going to destroy the the strong countries and if you join with them he’ll destroy you too.
the peeping and muttering is witchcraft channeling the spirits of dead people, as you see in the old testament. isn’t it interesting that it criticizes sorcery and witch craft when Joseph smith practiced magic?
its also really important in Mormonism that the idea of Jesus coming was taught from the days of Adam. So these chapters are really important to show that Old Testament prophets prophecies of Jesus. These chapters are great for that because they are so weird and confusing you get can interpret them lots of ways.
another idea that is really important: these chapters are so important because they are like a triple prophecy- they talk about the present time they were written, Christ’s time and then the latter days- which is our day. so if you can understand them, you will know what’s going to happen in the near future- but only if you’re spiritual enough!
Ephraim and Manasseh are the tribe of Joseph (from the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph was so awesome his descendants were split into 2 tribes.)
May 27, 2014 at 2:02 pm
The chapters after Isaiah 40 are the anachronistic ones. The Book of Mormon pulls from the anachronistic chapters in 1 Nephi 20, 1 Nephi 21, 2 Nephi 7, 2 Nephi 8, and two other chapters, which I will not post to avoid spoilers.
The mispronunciations actually don’t bother me, and sometimes even are amusing. I linked the pronunciation guide to be helpful on that first podcast.
June 3, 2014 at 3:54 pm
Love the reading and commentary. I appreciate that you’re up front about your purpose and beliefs (you know exorcise religion from the world). I’m not offended. Everyone needs a hobby. How strong would my faith be if it can be destroyed by some clueless yahoo reading and commenting on the BofM? Everyone needs to believe in something. You get to choose what that is for yourself. I’ll choose something with some type of payoff in the end (and a good ethical way of living life during that journey). Others can take stock and comfort in life being random and pointless (you know, life is great and when you’re dead, you’re dead) if that suits them (sort of depressing philosophy from my point of view… but hey, it if works for you…).
I agree things should be pretty simple to understand in the scriptures…but all the religious scriptures (pick your favorite religion) are written in this convoluted fashion. You know, sort of like “the mysteries of God.” I think it is a way to keep people coming back and looking deeper for meaning. Personally I have a lot of questions for God about why he let so much seemingly pointless and contradictory stuff slip into the scriptures and why it is so hard to sort out the truth. I mean there are entire chapters and some books in the Bible that might as well not exist because everyone skips over them and they seem to be more historical and irrelevant in the 21st century (Like the well known Old Testament Book of Obadiah…anyone?)
If scriptures were more like a straight up “How to Get to Heaven Manual” by God, well I’m sure we would screw this up too. Actually mankind did get a very, very basic group of commandments in the Old Testament (the 10 commandments—or couple basic humanistic interactions if the word commandments bothers you), and well, people screw up those very basic rules pretty frequently. Perhaps your the next project should be to draft up this manual. Perhaps the title can be “Complete Rules for Good People” or “The Humanist Manifesto.” It would be great to have a definitive, complete, easy to read, non-religious book on around the rules to be a good human. It should inspire adoption of those rules so people can live in harmony. It should be relate, resonate and be inspirational. There should be little disagreement with the rules too since the rules should be obvious and universal (it is about humans after all). Of course the manual should mention what happens if the rules are not followed. I’m sure the book would be a big hit and really usher in world peace… I personally look forward to reading and living it.
June 5, 2014 at 7:30 pm
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here… as you seem to end on a sarcastic note but it’s not obvious when the sarcasm starts. Are you suggesting that the 10 commandments are actually good laws? Are you suggesting that people people genuinely thrive in environments under threat of extreme capitol punishment for what are truly insignificant offenses? Because that’s what the 10 commandments are… a list of bad reasons to kill your neighbor.
January 24, 2015 at 5:42 am
You seem to have forgotten, since you last read the Bible, that Israel split into two kingdoms after the death of David. The northern one retained the name Israel, and included 10 of the original 12 tribes, the most dominant of which were Ephraim and Manasseh (named after the two sons of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt). It was also sometimes called Ephraim, as it was the more dominant of its two major tribes. Its capital city was Samaria.
The southern one consisting mostly of the tribes of Judah (King David’s tribe) and Benjamin (King Saul’s tribe) kept Jerusalem as its capital, and was called Judah, after its most dominant tribe.
This should clear up your apparent confusion about how Israel could attack Jerusalem. The two kingdoms did not always get along with each other and sometimes warred with each other.
BTW, I am enjoying your podcasts since I recently learned about them from the Dr. Shade’s Mormon Discussions board, and have, so far, listened to the first 11. Sorry to be so late in commenting on your tenth podcast.