Click to Listen: Episode 76: Ether 8-10
This one is full of good life lessons. First, a father pimps out his daughter (don’t worry, she actually asks him to). Then we learn to never, under any circumstances, belong to an organzation that has any secrets (God HATES that). Next we get more great parenting advice, namely how to starve a troublesome child to death. And we wrap it up by hearing all about the most violent family in history.
“Drink” Count – 58
Almost ten beers!
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My Book of Mormon 
April 20, 2015 at 2:36 pm
The secret combinations thing was always the single biggest point of cognitive dissonance for me when I was a TBM. I would read these passages that talked about secret combinations and secret handshakes, which God absolutely abhors, yet our Mormon temples has these aplenty!!
It was always explained away that these aren’t “secret”, they are “sacred”! That anybody is free to learn what’s in the temple as long as they are worthy to enter. And that they are so sacred that we are forbidden from sharing them outside the temple.
My counter was, no, no, any time you have something that you are obligated not to tell someone, that is by definition a secret. Now, you may be keeping that secret because it is sacred, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you aren’t keeping a secret.
Also, I’m sure the Gadiantian Robbers would share their secret combinations to anyone as well, just so long as you were willing to join their band of robbers. Therefore, they weren’t REALLY secret…
April 20, 2015 at 3:05 pm
The Jaredites are apparently long-lived, and their kings seem to have a tradition of choosing a time to step down and pass on the throne before they die. They are also renowned shipbuilders. That clinches it! I think the Jaredites are Numenoreans! If only the Book of Ether would end with Sauron coming to the Promised Land, and seducing the king into trying to violently wrest immortality from God, resulting in the Jaredites’ utter destruction. Alas no, our story won’t be quite that interesting. But we may yet get a fun little treat at the end of Ether.
April 21, 2015 at 4:51 am
You were kind of right about the secret combinations thing, its defined as a secret society or secret plot: In this case, a plot to kill the king. (spoooky) Ether is really just a cliffnotes history huh.
April 22, 2015 at 5:21 pm
It’s official, David Michael has said he’ll read “all our dumb books”.
Bring on Miracle of Forgiveness!
April 30, 2015 at 11:34 am
Oh man, miracle of forgiveness would be incredible to hear! Do it! Doooooo it!!
April 22, 2015 at 9:12 pm
yeah you’re right on about the “secret combinations” commentary – this is a reference to Freemasonry, with its secret handshakes and death oaths etc. There was a lot of anti-Masonic sentiment floating around when Joseph the BoM. The ironic thing, which you hit on the head in the episode unwittingly, is that by the time the temple ceremony was revealed old Joe had JOINED the Masons, and lo and behold our secret temple endowment was plagiarized directly from masonry. So yes, the BoM is even far more condemning of our secret temple rites than you realized.