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	<title>LDS Blogs &#187; Book of Mormon, D &amp; C, Pearl of Great Price</title>
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		<title>Should Mormons Offer Physical Proof of the Book of Mormon?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Many people outside of Mormonism demand proof of the Book of Mormon's origins. Does a true Christian need proof of God's existance and work?]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/4517/should-mormons-offer-physical-proof-of-the-book-of-mormon</link>
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		<title>Abish and Spiritual Strength</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Abish was a woman who worked in the palace where Ammon, a popular Book of Mormon missionary, was temporarily serving the king as a shepherd. She had been converted but no one else in her community believed in the church and she had to keep her own testimony private. Despite having no friends who were members of the church, despite not having scriptures to read or a congregation to attend, she held on to her testimony and grew it. One day, after Ammon had saved the king’s flocks, the king called Ammon to him, and after being taught the gospel he was so overcome by the spirit he lost consciousness for several days. It was believed by everyone but his wife that he was dead and must be buried. The queen called Ammon to her and told him she believed her husband was still alive.
Ammon went to see the king and then told the wife her husband would rise the next day. He asked her if she believed him. Despite the fact that she’d not been a member of the church, she did believe, gaining an instant testimony. Ammon praised her great faith. The spirit was so strong, the queen and Ammon also lost consciousness. This was Abish’s great moment in history. She knew what was happening. She knew the Holy Ghost was present and that miracles were about to happen. Having so much faith, she wanted others to witness the miracle, so they would also be converted, so she ran to spread the word.
Things [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1347/abish-and-spiritual-strength</link>
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		<title>What Reading Enos Can Teach About Scripture Study</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Book of Enos, found in the Book of Mormon, is very brief—only 27 verses contained in one chapter. I was once challenged to read it every day for a full month. It seemed an odd challenge to me. How much could I learn from a mere 27 verses, so short it’s often covered in lessons with several other books? I went to work though, and after a few days, my mind and heart were suddenly opened. While the first few days, I saw nothing new, after a few days, I found myself noticing things that had escaped me before. Enos became real to me and I began to think about him as an actual person. He was real, but after a full month, I knew his reality in a new way. Questions arose in my mind about the things I read. I began to ponder the small mentions that had previously not seemed worth my thought. I began to apply his life to my own.
From this experience, I learned to read scriptures in a new way. I was accustomed to setting a daily reading schedule—so many chapters a day. On busy days, I raced through the reading in order to meet my deadline. Who had time, with an ambitious reading schedule and a checklist of chapters and verses to cross off, to stop and ponder, wonder, or read the same 27 verses thirty-one times in a row?
I now discovered the value of slowing down, of making my goal to be one of reading daily, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1254/what-reading-enos-can-teach-about-script</link>
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		<title>The Book of Mormon and the Art of Translation</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you’ve been reading the Book of Mormon along with me, you’ve reached the end of the Book of Jacob. You may have been startled by the last word in the chapter.
And I, Jacob, saw that I must soon go down to my grave; wherefore, I said unto my son Enos: Take these plates. And I told him the things which my brother Nephi had commanded me, and he promised obedience unto the commands. And I make an end of my writing upon these plates, which writing has been small; and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieu.(Jacob 7:27)
Readers who pounce on the unexpected discovery of a French word that didn’t exist at the time the Book of Mormon took place often neglect to remember an important detail of the Book of Mormon. It was not written in English. It is a translated document.
I learned American sign language in my younger days and am learning Brazilian Portuguese now. I quickly learned there aren’t exact word-for-word translations for most words. Often, as I struggle to read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese, I’ll look up a word and find the translation dictionary’s choice makes no sense. Using the Internet, I’ll seek out other translations and often each dictionary will translate the word differently. Eventually, I’ll find a word that suits the meaning of the sentence I’m translating.
When I was learning sign language, I briefly had an opportunity to study with an LDS teacher who had [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1264/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-art-of-transl</link>
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		<title>The Story of Sherem</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Nephites were a group of people who left Jerusalem in 600 BC. Most were members of the family of Lehi, and the family of a friend whose children married into Lehi’s family. After Lehi died, the people, now settled in the Americas, split into two opposing groups, those who wished to follow God and were known as Nephites, after Lehi’s fourth son, and those who did not. This latter group was known as the Lamanites, followers of Lehi’s oldest son.
By the time Nephi had died and his younger brother Jacob had taken on leadership of the church, the Nephites were losing their way. Many of them were ignoring the teachings of their childhood and were filled with pride, which led to a variety of other sins.
At this time, when their faith was weakened, a man named Sherem came to the city. We don’t know where he came from, whether he was a Lamanite, or whether he was one of the many people already on the American continent, today known often as Native Americans. He spoke and understood their language fluently, however, which gave him greater access to the people, and made it easier to win them over.
Sherem turned on the charm, using flattery to win people over to his message—that there was no Christ. Christ had not yet been born, but the prophets of the Book of Mormon taught of His coming regularly. Anyone who knew the Nephite language most certainly had heard these teachings.
He was particularly anxious to meet Jacob. I’m sure he [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1346/title-9</link>
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		<title>The Lord and Servant in Zenos&#8217; Allegory</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In a previous article I summarized the allegory of the Olive Tree, which the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob retold. It was first told by a prophet named Zenos, whose writings we no longer have. In another article, I explained the meaning of the tree. Today, I’d like to help you understand who the Lord and Servant are in the story.
There are two possible interpretations for this. One is that the Lord of the Vineyard is the Savior, and the servant is his prophets. The other, less commonly offered, is that the Lord of the Vineyard is God, and the servant is Jesus Christ, due to the Savior’s role as the Intercessory. The servant, you may recall, was always the one pleading for just a little more time. This role could suit either interpretation.
However, you view it, the Lord of the Vineyard is a member of the Godhead (the Godhead consists of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost) and the story is one of love. We see, as we study the story carefully, how very much the Lord loves his vineyard, and particularly the tree at the center of the story. He has enjoyed it for many years, loving it and caring for it. When He sees He is about to lose His tree, He devotes great time and effort to save it. 
If we view the servant as the prophets, we can look back through the history of the world, whenever prophets were on the earth, and see how they often pleaded for their [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1262/the-lord-and-servant-in-zenos-allegory</link>
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		<title>The Tree in Zenos&#8217; Allegory</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In the previous article, I summarized for you the allegory of the Olive Tree, found in Jacob 5. Since the entire story revolves around this tree, it’s important to understand what it represents. In allegories, many things represent something else, and we must learn the meaning of the symbolism before we can learn the meaning of the story.
There are actually a number of olive trees in the story. The representations are taken from the Institute of Religion Manual for the Book of Mormon. 
The tame tree represents Israel, the chosen people. The wild trees represent those who are not of Israel in the early story, and later the branches that are wild represent apostate Israel. The branches are various groups of people.
Olive trees can grow wild, but pruning and care gives the most reliable results. We see in the allegory how hard the Lord worked to care for his trees. We saw in one part of the allegory that the top of the tree was dying. This is due to the tree outgrowing its roots (Research and Perspectives: Recent Studies on the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Jul 1989, 62) According to the article I’ve linked to here, the servant had to remove branches before grafting new ones to prevent this particular problem.
The Book of Mormon student manual explains that the olive tree is a very appropriate symbol for a story that represents God’s love for His children. The trees require extensive care and nurturing, as we’ve seen in the story. If left alone, the trees [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1261/the-tree-in-zenos-allegory</link>
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		<title>The Parable of the Olive Tree</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Jacob, the third prophet of the Book of Mormon, related an allegory first told by an ancient prophet named Zenos. We no longer have his writings and we know only that he was a great prophet much loved by the Nephites, who quoted him frequently, and that he was killed for his powerful teachings. We know the Bible was not written as a single unit, that it was written as separate pieces later gathered, and that there were many writings lost or not canonized. The Book of Mormon gives us a glimpse into some of these lost writings, including the work of Zenos.
This allegory was considered by Joseph Fielding Smith, an early church prophet, one of the greatest parables of the Book of Mormon, one that could only have come through prophecy, and not through the imagination of any mortal man, much less one with as little education as the young Joseph Smith had received when he translated the Book of Mormon. Many consider it powerful evidence, if evidence were required, that the Book of Mormon is true.
You can read the allegory yourself in the Book of Jacob, in chapter five.
Following is the basic story contained in the parable. In my next articles, I’ll help guide you through an understanding of this parable.
This is the story of a master who is upset because his prize olive tree is growing old and decaying. He doesn’t want to lose it, but hopes to preserve it so he can preserve the fruit for the future. He and his [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1260/the-parable-of-the-olive-tree</link>
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		<title>Plain and Simple Gospel Truths</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Jacob was the third prophet of the Book of Mormon. He called his people together in the temple to chastise them for their wickedness, and their failure to live the gospel that had once defined them. To help them see the risks they faced, he also prophesied of the future challenges faced by the Jews in Jerusalem, which is where his people had come from themselves. He warned them some of the Jewish people would reject the Savior when He came because they were looking for someone different from the person they saw and for a gospel more complex than what He was offering.
Instead, the Savior would offer a gospel that was filled with plain and simple truths. The complexities of the Law of Moses would be removed. The intellectualism some craved would not be a part of the gospel. Those who wanted a gospel too hard to understand would be disappointed, because the truth is not complex. However, we can see from Jacob’s warning that God would give them what they wanted, if they insisted on it, but to their own detriment. 
“14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1339/plain-and-simple-gospel-truths</link>
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		<title>The True Church Must Teach Truth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ve seen many articles lately suggesting that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Mormon Church, needs to “get with the times.”
When people tell a church to cave to popular opinion, fads, or styles, they are really seeking to counsel God. They want God to change, and even to alter unalterable truths.
Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old. (Jacob 4:13)
As are so many other sins, this is a matter of pride, feeling we know better than God what is true and right. It is not the job of a Christian to be popular. It is his job to be right. When we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, we have an obligation to speak the truth when speaking of spiritual truths. These days, so many of God&#8217;s truths are &#8220;unpopular&#8221; and those who try to hold to them are labeled bigots, out of touch, old-fashioned&#8230;any name that might intimidate people into giving in to prove they&#8217;re part of the popular crowd.
Boyd K. Packer, a modern apostle of God, said, in response to those who feel the church must keep up with [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://bofm.ldsblogs.com/1253/the-true-church-must-teach-truth</link>
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