Click to Listen: Episode 29: Mosiah 26-27
In this episode, we first learn about the very bizzare Zarahemla justice system. And then the smooth talking Alma Jr threatens to destroy his Dad’s church. Will he succeed, or will god swoop down to save the day?
“Drink” Count – 26
A little over 4 beers
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My Book of Mormon 
August 7, 2014 at 10:39 pm
Bishop Dave here… Mosiah, unfortunately is not the longest book… that honor belongs to the Book of Alma. You have two guesses who that book is about 🙂 Also, FYI, TBM’s refer to Alma Jun. as “Alma the Younger”… a character completely riffed from Saul/Paul of the New Testament. Cheers!
August 7, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Ahhh, David thanked me 🙂 This feels good. Guess I’ll keep commenting.
The separation of church and state in Zarahemla doesn’t make much sense. A few decades ago, we had Benjamin acting as a prophet/king, and Limhi had much the same setup.
But now we see King Mosiah passing judgement back to Alma. Why in the world did Alma take these religious sinners to Mosiah in the first place if there wasn’t some close connection between political and religious power? He even says they committed “crimes,” not sins or transgressions, “crimes.”
Evidently, Mosiah is trying to distance the office of King from the largest religious sect, event though he himself is a member. Good on him, but this really doesn’t work in the context of Mosaic law, which these people say they follow. (Remember Nephi and, more recently, Abinadi? Yup, they both made the Jewish status clear.)
Actually, we see almost no evidence of Jewish worship, temple ceremonies, legal systems, etc. in the Book of Mormon. Once again, it’s a lot more like early American frontier Christianity than anything resembling Old Testament.
Four small points:
For Mormons, eternal life only happens AFTER you die and are resurrected.
Also in Mormonism, God (in the BoM and Old Testament) is actually Jesus. So when it says God is talking, that’s really Jesus, so that explains God’s sermon to Alma Sr..
Ignore the second trump stuff. This is reference to the trumpets/seals in The Book of Revelation.
Himni is pronounced Him-Nye, like Bill Nye.
Great episode! Thanks again.
October 21, 2014 at 12:47 am
I know this episode is from a few months ago but I just found your podcast about 2 weeks ago and have been listening voraciously ever since.
I wanted to just point out the signifigance of a verse you read during this episode that I haven’t seen anyone point out. I would say that Mosiah Chapter 26: verse 31 did more damage to me than any other scripture in the Mormon scriptural lexicon.
It reads: “And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor’s trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation.”
I remember having a Primary lesson on this chapter as a child (I was probably about 7 or 8) and when we got to that verse, my whole world stopped. I realized that if the young man who molested me just a few years ealier ever came to me and asked for my forgiveness, if I didn’t give it to him right then and there, then god would condemn me and not him. I was absolutely horrified. I decided then and there that I could never tell my parents about what had happened to me. I knew they would be absolutely furious with this young man and would probably hate him. I didn’t want to risk them being condemned by god if he ever asked their forgiveness and they weren’t able to give it to him. I spent the next 15 or so years trying to supress any negative emotions and any anger about my molestation, terrified that I wouldn’t be ready to forgive him when the moment came.
This scripture is so messed up for anyone who has had a serious violation against them. For little things like Sammy stealing Susie’s crayon, sure it’s not too bad, but to be told that god will condemn you if you don’t immediately forgive someone who has done serious harm to you…that is just monstrous and creates a mindset where it is impossible to process trauma and heal.
After I left Mormonism it took me a matter of months to heal from that childhood trauma. Once I realized that it was perfetly fine to get angry and to stop suppressing that anger, it quickly ran it’s course and I was able to heal completely.
Yet one more example of Mormon God’s complete lack of understanding on basic moral concepts.
Staci