The Gospel According to Jeffrey

“Nephi’s brethren rebel against him. He confoundeth them, and buildeth a ship. They call the name of the place Bountiful. They cross the large waters into the promised land, and so forth.” So now we get to the next big conflict: the ship. So why is this significant enough to merit inclusion in the headnote? I believe the significance is twofold. First, we have the contrast that Nephi is working so hard to show us: that between himself and his brothers; and secondly, the necessary backstory for how they “cross[ed] the large waters.” But why in such proximity? I believe that, too, has a dual significance. The first significance of this arguable conjugate is the obvious one, that of temporal proximity. The “rebellion” Nephi here cites occurs in 1 Nephi 17 , immediately following the Lord’s commandment that he build a ship ( v.8 ). So of course, these two things go together. However, these is a greater significance of these two items, especially when coupled with the seemingly out of pla...

I’m finally getting around to starting to read the Book of Mormon again, which is ironic, because I hadn’t even gotten to 1 Nephi 1 before getting sidetracked and having a month or so of downtime. I suppose that’s to be expected, really; the easiest time to break a habit (be it for good or for bad) is when the habit is relatively new. In fact, I’ve heard it said that it takes three weeks to ingrain a good habit, but only three days to undo that ingraining. Hopefully this will be day one of those first 21 days. :-) Before I begin my study of the Book of Mormon, I’d like to introduce my readers to a book I recently purchased:  Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide , by Grant Hardy. I’ve been reading this book for about a week now, and I must say it is absolutely amazing: as I follow Hardy into the minds of the three most significant authors of the Book of Mormon, my understanding of their lives and their writings is being enhanced like I never imagined. What mak...