Just like AWANA .....NOT!
Posted on 10/18/2010 10:45:49 AM PDT by T Minus Four
When the Lord told the Jaredites he would lead them to a new land (Ether 2:7), he also instructed them to build eight barges to traverse the waters to their new destination (v. 16).
According to Ether, these barges, which were patterned after Noah's Ark (6:7), were "tight like unto a dish," peaked at both ends and had holes that could be unplugged to allow ventilation (2:17, 20).
The story of Noah, or some equivalent figure, is found in a wide array of ancient non-biblical literature and could easily have been known to the ancient Jaredites. Some of these traditions about the Ark — or "deluge boat" — contain details and oddities not found in the Bible.
Dr. Hugh Nibley has shown that several of these non-biblical details and oddities are also found in the Jaredite account.
Some of these ancient sources, for example, claim that the shape of the deluge boat resembled a crescent moon when viewed from the profile. Like the Jaredite barges, it would have been peaked on both ends. Artwork of actual sea-going vessels from the Tyrians and Sidonians show that some boats really had such a shape.
Although the book of Ether never says that the Jaredite barges had sails, we are told (as noted in a last week's installment) that the barges were driven by furious winds (Ether 6:5-9). While the Bible never mentions that wind was a factor in propelling the Ark, the deluge boat was supposedly sail-less but driven by ferocious winds.
Just as the Jaredite barges were "tight like unto a dish," the deluge boat had a portal that could be shut during the storm flood. The word "ark," in fact, originally meant a "box" — such as a chest or coffin — that was covered with a lid. And just as the barges had ventilation holes, the Ark had not only a door that could be shut but at least one nappashu, which is translated as "air-hole" or "window" but means "breather" or "ventilator" and was not an ordinary window. The Jaredite barges and the deluge boat both took on almost submarine-like natures, often being submerged in violent waves during their voyage.
Concerned about the lack of light in the barges, the brother of Jared asked the Lord for some means of illumination. Glass would break, the Lord replied, and they couldn't light fires, so the Lord turned the problem back over to the brother of Jared. Having complete faith in the Lord's abilities, the brother of Jared climbed a mountain, "did molten out of rock" 16 small transparent stones and asked the Lord to touch the stones so they would shine in their vessels.
While the tale of "shining stones" has elicited the laughs of critics, we find that the story is perfectly at home in ancient lore. According to the ancient Palestine Talmud, for example, the Ark was illuminated with a miraculous light-giving stone. This precious stone supposedly glowed for 12 months inside the Ark and would dim during the day so that Noah knew if it was day or night outside.
Such information was likely unavailable to Joseph Smith. As Dr. Nibley explains, of the four copies of the Palestine Talmud that mention the Ark's shining stones, two appeared 30 years after Joseph had already translated the Book of Mormon. When the Book of Mormon was published, there was not a single translation of the Palestine Talmud available in any modern language.
As noted above, it was the brother of Jared, not the Lord, who suggested the idea of the shining stones. It seems reasonable to surmise that the brother of Jared was familiar with an ancient tradition of Noah and his illuminated stones. One of those ancient sources (unknown in 1830) relates the tradition of a gem that could be produced by subjecting certain stones to intense heat. The resulting gem would be a perfectly transparent crystal which shined as brightly as the sun (see the same elements in Ether 3:2, 4).
The common name for this gem was "Moonfriend," or Jalakanta, which interprets, "that which causes the waters to part." Thus the peculiar power of this shining gem enabled its possessor to pass through the depths of water unharmed.
The Ark was also called a "bright house" or moon-boat, not only "because it was crescent-shaped and wandered through space for 12 months, but also because it was illuminated by a miraculous light." While ancient Babylonian texts tell us that the deluge-boat had a "window" or nappashu, the "window" in Genesis comes from the Hebrew tsohar, which also translates as "shiner" or "illuminator."
The Book of Mormon version, which is a fuller account than any other, contains both ideas — that the barges had a ventilator as well as an illuminator.
Undecided readers,
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There’s an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the “quotation” the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.
Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no delemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn’t been addressed a hundred times before.
Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever “issue” they seem to be “revealing” or “exposing”. I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the “ahah” moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there’s nothing new here. It’s all been addressed many times before.
Here’s a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the “issues” brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here’s more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Undecided readers,
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There’s an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the “quotation” the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.
Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no delemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn’t been addressed a hundred times before.
Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever “issue” they seem to be “revealing” or “exposing”. I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the “ahah” moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there’s nothing new here. It’s all been addressed many times before.
Here’s a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the “issues” brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here’s more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Yep, I guess posting these links again and again and again is a “misguided obsession”.
Links for people to find the truth of particular matters.
http://www.irr.org/mit/default.html
http://www.exmormonsforjesus.org/
http://4mormon.org/ex-mormon.php
haha beam me up scotty
Thanks PD. I was expecting you :-)
I think they spelled “moonbat” wrong too :-)
As rescued folks, had you ever heard this stuff before?
Here is a lesson plan for the very smallest children's Sunday School. It is STRAIGHT off of the official mormon website, www.lds.org.
Oh yes, it is pretty common knowledge. Mormons can and do believe in all sorts of fantasy.
In fact, people should start right at the beginning when investigating mormonism.
Here is a lesson plan for the very smallest children’s Sunday School. It is STRAIGHT off of the official mormon website, www.lds.org.
Cool thanks! Sometimes you are so nice. =-)
Oh yeah, I heard about it and discussed it even as LDS.
Wow, those are some disturbing lesson titles...
I thought those were people that ate at Subway to lose weight?....
They even have finger puppets the primary teacher can print out so the little ones can act out the vision.
LOL!
Just like AWANA .....NOT!
As an adult convert, I had heard some of it after I became a member. Didn’t have much time to really learn or study about it though as I was constantly busy doing my “callings”.
Now that I peruse it in more detail, it’s so fantastic that I seriously doubt I would have converted had I heard this story before or during the lessons.
I have lived here in Utah for 15 years and never even suspected this stuff. They sure don’t advertise it.
Lesson 1: I Am a Child of God
Lesson 2: Heavenly Father Has a Plan for Me
Lesson 3: I Can Pray to Heavenly Father
Lesson 4: Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Love Me
Lesson 5: Jesus Christ Showed Us How to Love Others
Lesson 6: The Holy Ghost Helps Me
Lesson 7: Jesus Christ Created the World for Me
Lesson 8: Sunday Is a Day to Remember Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
Lesson 9: I Have a Body like Heavenly Father's
Lesson 10: I Will Take Care of My Body
Lesson 11: I Love My Family
Lesson 12: I Can Pray with My Family
Lesson 13: My Family Can Be Together Forever
Lesson 14: I Will Obey
Lesson 15: I Will Be Thankful
Lesson 16: I Will Say "I'm Sorry"
Lesson 17: I Will Share
Lesson 18: I Will Love Others
Lesson 19: I Can Be Happy
Lesson 20: I Will Be Reverent
Lesson 21: Joseph Smith Saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
Lesson 22: The Book of Mormon Teaches Me about Jesus Christ
Lesson 23: I Love the Scriptures
Lesson 24: I Will Follow the Prophet
Lesson 25: I Belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Lesson 26: I Will Be Baptized and Confirmed
Lesson 27: The Sacrament Helps Me Think about Jesus Christ
Lesson 28: Heavenly Father Blesses Me through the Priesthood
Lesson 29: Jesus Christ Was Resurrected (Easter)
Lesson 30: Jesus Christ Is the Son of Heavenly Father (Christmas)
Admitedly, #9 and #13 are unique Mormon teachings (at least in today's world), as are #21, 22, and 24. Disturbing? I guess there is a scale of "disturbing" that I don't understand.
Or maybe I am looking at the wrong ones. #17 is kind of disturbing, I guess. Or maybe it was #11. #5?
http://packham.n4m.org/ships.htm
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