Nephi slays Laban at the Lord’s command and then secures the plates of brass by stratagem—Zoram chooses to join Lehi’s family in the wilderness. About 600–592 B.C.

And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

This chapter is good and bad for me.  On the one hand, I am glad for Nephi, who trusts in the Lord and ceases his planning and scheming long enough to be inspired.  On the other hand, I’m not a fan of homicide, even if it is justifiable.  I hope to never be in a situation where an angel is commanding me to kill a man.

But in any case, it seems it was necessary to get the plates, and Nephi was right to follow the commandments of God.  And it certainly was very good that they got the plates themselves, as Nephi explains in this chapter.

This ends the adventures in Jerusalem and the start of the journey proper.  I have to go to my stepfather’s graduation ceremony this weekend, so I may miss a few days, but chapter 5 will be along as soon as I can do it.

If you want to listen to the Book of Mormon while or instead of reading it (which I’m doing right now because my concentration makes it more or less impossible to read more than a verse at a time) this is where you can get the files.  Also, if you have iTunes, check out the Church’s iTunes site.

This is the explanation of the Book of Mormon and the testimony of twelve people (Joseph Smith, plus one group of three and one group of eight) about its existence.

In some ways this is the most extraordinary of all the things in the Book of Mormon.  Certainly it’s the easiest for modern critics to attack.  Most critics of Mormonism have to accept something like Moses being handed slabs of rock with commandments written by God Himself, or Noah being given rather detailed instructions on how and why to build a boat, or Christ being taken up to a pinnacle and tempted by Satan.  So it’s tougher to argue against the Brother of Jared’s stones of light, or Nephi’s boat, and so on.

But modern men, being shown such extraordinary things?  Joseph Smith comes from the same era as Queen Victoria and Abraham Lincoln; it’s absurd to say God spoke to him, right?

Well, not to me.  The bottom line of Mormonism comes back to this story.  The idea that modern people have the exact same relationship with God as ancient peoples did.  The idea that revelations and miracles did not cease with the death of the original apostles; the idea that God does not prefer mankind to make decisions via committee instead of relying upon revelation and strict lines of authority.

I have no evidence that Joseph and the others were lying, and I have a lot of circumstantial evidence that they weren’t.  Moreover, I have asked God to tell me if it weren’t true, and I haven’t gotten a “heck yes, get out of there now!” message.  That’s enough for me to believe even if it’s a little challenging at times.  It’s absolutely a test of my faith, but one I am glad to keep trying myself upon.

(I am trying to read/listen to a different section of the Book of Mormon and testify about it each day.  I’ll probably miss days a lot due to my own weaknesses; please remind me if I get off track.)