Blogging the Book of Mormn 1 Ne 4

Nephi persuaded his reluctant older brothers to accompany him as far as the wall of Jerusalem and went into the city, alone at night. He said that he was "led by the Spirit", not knowing in advance what he would do. As he approached Laban's house, he found Laban himself, armed and armored, passed out drunken in the street. He drew Laban's magnificent steel sword, and as he did so, the Spirit of the Lord told Nephi to kill him. Nephi was reluctant to do so, since he had never killed anyone, but the Spirit repeated the command, informing him that the Lord had delivered Laban into his hands. Nephi considered the cause, that Laban was a wicked man and had robbed them, and a third time, the Spirit explained "Behold, the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief". The purpose was not riches, but to preserve the religious heritage of the Jews for Lehi's entire future lineage. Nephi then did as he was instructed and killed Laban with his own sword. He then dressed himself in Laban's clothing and armor, and in this disguise went to Laban's treasury. There, he encountered Laban's servant who had the keys. Posing as Laban, he ordered the brass plates containing the record he wanted to be brought to be taken to his brothers outside the walls. The servant mistook Laban for his master until they got outside the walls, when his brothers, also supposing Nephi to be Laban, started to run. When Nephi identified himself, Laban's servant also started to run, but Nephi held him long enough to offer him his freedom if he would come with them. The servant, named Zoram, agreed to do so, and he returned with the brothers to Lehi's wilderness camp.

I might reference Exodus 21:13 as well as numerous others Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 kings, as evidence of that the concept of the Lord delivering enemies into the hands of the Israelites, (or vice versa) was accepted, as were commands to kill them if that should occur. This is a view rather foreign to modern Western culture where God is viewed as distant and not actively involved in determining the outcome of battles or conflicts.
I also note that these brass plates could have been lost and destroyed along with the rest of Jerusalem had they remained there.

Average day

I didn't see much new that I wanted to take note of on the political blogs, and nothing in space or with the authors whose blogs I follow. But I did pick up a couple of tidbits from the bloggernacle.
I noted that there is a study from Vanderbilt University which backs up a suspicion that I have had, that some of the charges that Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper come from conservative evangelicals who use them as a cover, but whose basic dislike comes from their dislike of Mormonism. How big that effect is I don't know.
But the one that tickled me is the advice to Have an Average Day. There's a lot to be said for that approach. Sometimes steady, regular, average daily performance at something really does add up, over time, to extraordinary results.

Baptist missionaries

I wrote a post yesterday, and put it on the wrong blog. I moved it, which is why I have two posts today.

I really don't see much to comment on in the political arena; lots more talk, no new results; more or less the same in the reusable launch vehicle industry, and about the same in the bloggernacle (the community of Mormon bloggers).

I had a pair of Baptists come tracting at my door today, and basically told them I had my own religion and wasn't interested in theirs. They asked whether, if I died today, whether I could be sure I was going to heaven: I said I'd leave that up to God. They tried to offer me a tract, andI said no thanks, I have a Bible and read it whenever I feel like it.

There once was a time when I would have been happy to get into a religious discussion with them. But then I actually had such a discussion. There are too many Baptist ministers who claim that because I'm a Mormon, I'm not even Christian. There are too many of them who are all too convinced that Mormons are ignorant, or deluded, or dishonest, if they say they believe in Christ, and I didn't want to risk getting into that kind of argument. I also didn't feel like getting into an argument over whether I'm saved or not, or whether I ought to be sure that I am, While I'm sure it would be good for me if I felt like reading the Bible a little more often, or even if I read it when I don't much feel like it, I didn't feel like arguing about that, either.

Romney wins Michigan

So Romney took first place in the primary election in Michigan, doing slightly better than the polling suggested. Good for him. I'm pleased. I think it's going to be a long race for the Republican nomination. Most of the conservative political commentators I've been reading prefer Thompson, but I don't think his campaign has the legs for it. I'm not sure Huckabee's does, either. When this race started last year, I was afraid Hillary Clinton was going to be unstoppable, and that's definitely who I didn't wan. Now, I'm not quite so concerned. Nothing outstanding on any of the other topics I've been watching.

Another Monday

Although I'm interested in politics, I have little detailed knowledge of the subject and less influence. Rather than join the pundits trying to predict or handicap the race for the US Presidency, I'm mostly going to watch. I understand the Michigan primaries are coming up soon, so we'll see what happens.
I notice that Brandon Sanderson is having the same kind of difficulties with sleep I'm been having. At least I don't have a family to complicate matters.
Over the weekend, I posted a few entries over at Mormon Matters on What's wrong with the creeds of Christendom. And, by way of Mormon Mommy Wars, I learned that if I were a dog, I'd probably be a German Shepherd.
And, over at my other blog, Independent Learning, I have a summary of the day's work on my knowledge base: principally I've been looking at ancient history most recently.

Antiquity

In my personal studies and work on my knowledge base, from time to time I go back to the prehistoric period and wondering at how little we really know of what went on before the keeping of written records. In my recent studies, I've run across an essay on the antiquity of man that discusses, among other things, how the world-view of the archaeologist, or the historian, influences what is selected and seen as important. That sets me to wondering how much of prehistoric archaeology is influenced by modern biases. I found some particularly notable, (and contradictory) claims in a timeline of ancient history, ssome details of which appear to contradict yet another timeline. All I can tell for certain is that from the scattered clues, it's hard for anyone to say with confidence what was going on.

In my review of stuff I look at on the internet, I didn't see anything that really stood out as notworthy, although I can't say what will happen if I let it stew a while.

I did stay up a bit late trying to trach down the answer to a technical question in astronomy. I learned a lot about the subject, but didn't find the answer I was looking for.

Belated New Year

I've already broken one of my informal New Year's resolutions, which was to write regularly on this blog. Well, it's one I can always mend.

Over the past few weeks, I've been more or less following the campaign for the US Presidency, mostly on the Republican side. I have a preference for Mitt Romney, but that hasn't translated to active support. I can't stand any of the Democrat candidates.

There are about four authors (SF) who blog or write other stuff about what's going on in their lives that I follow.

I've recently picked up something I was interested a few years ago, the concept of a private-sector space industry based on reusable vehicles. It's come a bit further, but still hasn't quite materialized. Not quite like the concept of fusion reactors, which have stayed about 30 years in the future for the past 50, there are now half a dozen companies that are actually building, flying, and testing hardware, where there used to be only one or two.

Also, I've started checking out LDS (Mormon) blogs.

I seem to recall that one of my new year's resolutions was going to be keeping track of the books I've read. So, for the new year, (thanks to a Chrismas gift) I've picked up "Cyteen" by C. J. Cherryh, an old favorite. She was writing a sequel to it last year, but I don't recall the title and I haven't seen it on the to be published list yet. I also picked up "The Speed of Dark" by Elizabeth Moon, something I've been wanting to read for some time. In my self-directed study, I picked up a couple of Wiley self-teaching guides, one on Chemistry, and one on Physical geography. I also picked up "World-Building" by Stephen Gillett, one of a science fiction writing series. That one I'm actively using for yet another project: a spreadsheet that does astronomical calculations.