Laban's death defies logic and reality

[_Dr. Shades]

I think I hate Tannerisms more than even atheist BS.

What is a "Tannerism," and how can I identify it when I see one?

Nephi wanted to spare Laban's clothes and could have facilitated that quite easily curbing Laban's neck. He even might have killed him before taking his head and reduced the blood pressure first with a throat cut.

??? If Nephi had already killed him, then what would be the point of taking Laban's head?

And Laban would have pursued Nephi to the ends of the earth had he lived.

How do you know?

So you can expect a prophet to stand up in the last days with the Brass Plates in hand to show them and not keep them secret but allow them to be hands on evidence that the Book of Mormon is true and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that the Lord has set his hand a second time to gather in his people.

If they are hands-on evidence that the Book of Mormon is true and the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, then what's the point of continuing to keep them a secret?

[_Drifting]

Okay, so to summarise.

1. The brass plates were needed to prevent a nation dwindling in unbelief.
2. Despite having the brass plates the nation dwindled in unbelief.
3. God was able to reveal the Book of Moses to Joseph without any physical plates or scrolls being needed. But in the instance of the brass plates God decided not to reveal the contents to Lehi in the manner Joseph received the Book of Moses but instead thought it better to coerce Nephi into committing murder and theft, thereby making Nephi and his family criminal fugitives and depriving the people Jerusalem of the records that were rightfully theirs.
4. There is nothing to suggest that illegal ownership of brass plates had any beneficial purpose for Nephi and his family.

And that's a spiritually uplifting story...?

What if Nephi made the whole thing up?
What if Laban was drunk and Nephi just waltzed on into his house and took the plates but wanted a dramatic story to make people be in awe of him?

If God had wanted the Nephite nation to not dwindle in unbelief a better solution would have been to have Laman 'fall' overboard during a storm on the journey to America.

It's a nuts tale that has no credibility.

[_krose]

It would be interesting if Gordon would explain how to differentiate between the "spirit" that told Nephi to behead Laban, and the "spirit" that told Dan Lafferty to kill his brother's wife and baby.

Both of them did the deed reluctantly, and both said they were commanded by God to do it, that it was a test of their faith, and that it had to be done to facilitate the Lord's higher purposes.

[_Molok]

You do realize any of those "skinny guys" are much bigger in stature than anyone would have been a thousand years ago, right? As far as dull knives go, I assure you that they were much sharper than anything anyone in the bronze age would have been using.

CFR

Haha, are you serious? You really don't believe that humans today are bigger on average than a thousand years ago? You're a silly man, Gordon.

http://www.care2.com/causes/getting-big ... -ever.html

Before I answer the second part, please tell me what metal you think Laban's sword was made out of.

[_Cicero]

It would be interesting if Gordon would explain how to differentiate between the "spirit" that told Nephi to behead Laban, and the "spirit" that told Dan Lafferty to kill his brother's wife and baby.

Both of them did the deed reluctantly, and both said they were commanded by God to do it, that it was a test of their faith, and that it had to be done to facilitate the Lord's higher purposes.

Precisely . . . his response to me was to cite John 14:26, which I like many of you cited pretty much every day as a missionary. It says that the Holy Ghost can teach us "all things." It sure would be nice if the Holy Ghost would teach everybody the same thing, but for some strange reason most people tend to stick with the religion they were raised in.

Joseph Smith himself quickly realized in dealing with folks like the Whitmers and Hiram Page that telling everyone that they could also receive personal revelation would lead to chaos, which is why we have D&C 43.

[_SteelHead]

This is easy enough. Any personal manifestation of the hg that agrees with Gordon's take on Mormonism is the true hg. All others are fakes and impostors.



Duh.

[_Themis]

It does make it difficult, just as it is difficult if not impossible to know your body is not creating the experience. It's a major issue I find many don't want to think about. You would think if one has the truth as important to them they would want to think about it just a little.

Oh, I've thought about it. However, if I can't be sure of such experiences, and all that entailed regarding those events, then I can't be sure about anything. I might as well just lie in a ditch, and wait for whatever's going to actually happen, happen.

That doesn't really say anything about the experience, and to be clear, I am not saying the experience didn't happen, but talking about how you get and know your interpretation of it is accurate. I noticed krose has brought it up as well.

If what appears to be an angel or God comes before me like many have described in religious texts and so forth, and the he/she/they speak to me in English telling me Scientology is God's one true religion it is easy to get what mean. People thinking God or angel have shown up is certainly not knew, and people getting all kinds of different messages is not new either. At this point I can either accept he/she/they are who they say they are or I could consider other possibilities. I think most agree that we can hallucination as a possibility, or maybe aliens stopping by to have some fun.

Now some experiences may have some still small voice in which I may have to consider the HG, or maybe just a voice in my head, or maybe aliens again having some fun. Now a voice is probably speaking your language so unless it is rambling, it might be easy to get what it means as well.

The more common ones involve thoughts, feelings, emotions of all kinds. These would be very difficult to get a meaning from, and would probably just be from what we want.

This is why I ask this question of people in how they think they know something is accurate. How they get their interpretation of their spiritual experiences.

[_Drifting]

As I understand the official doctrine, if you don't or can't shake the hand of the supernatural visitor then, chances are, they're not from God.

Now if you receive the message from God via a feeling in your tummy or voices in your head, go for a little lie down before you end up cutting an innocent mans head off...

[_Tchild]

As I understand the official doctrine, if you don't or can't shake the hand of the supernatural visitor then, chances are, they're not from God.

Which has happened to no one in the history of the human race, yet was included in Mormon doctrinal canon. Of all the pressing questions mankind has, at least this vexing problem has been answered.

Maybe someday in the future, "deceiving angels" will start to visit humans by the thousands and this sage knowledge will come in quite handy?

[_Drifting]

As I understand the official doctrine, if you don't or can't shake the hand of the supernatural visitor then, chances are, they're not from God.

Which has happened to no one in the history of the human race, yet was included in Mormon doctrinal canon. Of all the pressing questions mankind has, at least this vexing problem has been answered.

Maybe someday in the future, "deceiving angels" will start to visit humans by the thousands and this sage knowledge will come in quite handy?

I don't recall God, Jesus or Moroni shaking hands with Joseph when they materialised in front of him....