(Rough Draft)
Book of Mormon Lesson 28
“The Word Is in Christ unto Salvation”
Alma 32-35
I. Introduction.
A. Today we will be going through Alma chapter 32. I believe this chapter may be the best discourse on faith ever given. I was very excited to teach this lesson because it is from reading Alma 32 that I first understood how to gain faith myself.
B. I think Alma 32 is a good example of how the Book of Mormon complements the Bible.
1. Look at the Topical Guide in the Bible under Faith - LDS edition p 132.
a. Notice that in all of the Old Testament there are only 2 scriptures listed under faith. Why do you think this is? I found this interesting, but honestly don't have an explanation for it. The ancient Israelites obviously had faith - they had to have faith that God would protect them when they placed lambs blood over their doors on the first Passover. David had to have had faith to write "the Lord is my shepherd" ext. Possible reasons for the paucity of scriptures on faith in the OT:
i. Perhaps it is a difference in language. Most of the OT was written in Hebrew and the NT was written entirely in Greek. The two languages may have had different words for describing faith and the word is "lost in translation" from Hebrew, but not in Greek.
ii. Perhaps in OT times they took belief (faith) for granted. In the ancient world everyone believed that gods existed - I doubt there were many atheists. In ancient Israel the problem was not belief in God, but belief in the "One God." The OT up to the time of the Babylonian exile is God trying to convince His people not to worship other gods.
b. Notice that in the New Testament the bulk of the scriptures on faith are in the Epistles of Paul. It is Paul who first emphasized that faith in Jesus Christ was necessary for salvation. It is from the writings of Paul that much of Christianity has come to believe that salvation comes through faith and faith alone. (Ignoring all the scriptures that also emphasize works - James 2:17.)
2. While the New Testament tells us how important faith is, it does not give us details about how one goes about obtaining faith. It does not explain how one should chose what to have faith in. Why is this important? Alma 32 answers these questions eloquently.
a. I have an old friend from high school I recently found on Facebook. I think she is technically a Catholic, but I have a feeling she isn’t very religious. She told me that a few years back she took a test on-line that claimed to be able to tell you the religion with which you would be most compatible. She took the test and it said she was more in line with the Mormons than the Catholics, but that her best match was the Quakers. I don't think she took the test seriously, but could this possibly be a good way to choose a faith? Sadly, it may be the best resource some people have. (Incidentally, I told her she needn't have bothered taking the test because the correct answer is, and always has been "the Mormons," and I sent her the clip from South Park Judgement Day. I hope she knows I was kidding.)
b. In chapter 32 Alma explains in detail how we can “experiment upon (his) words” to know if they are true. He is not asking them to just take his word for it.
II. Humility required to obtain faith.
A. Remember that Alma went on a mission to try to convert the apostate Zoramites. He took with him Amulek, Zeezrom and 3 of the sons of Mosiah (Himni stayed and watched house in Zarahemla). He also took his 3 sons Helaman, Shiblon and Corianton.
1. In what state did they find the Zoramites? In Error. They took turns going up on a stand called the Rameumptom and they all said the same prayer, thanking God that they were better than their brethren.
B. Read Alma 32:1-5.
1. How did these people contrast with the other Zoramites?
2. Why does the Church seem to have more success in poorer countries than in wealthy countries?
C. Read Alma 32:6-8
1. How do afflictions sometimes help prepare us to hear the word? Examples.
a. Joseph Smith, no stranger to affliction, said, “I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force...all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty...”
2. In what way were these people “blessed.”
D. Read 32:13-16. In one way or another we have to be humbled before we can truly receive God’s truth. It’s better to humble yourself without having to be compelled to be humble.
1. Neal A Maxwell said, “Meek individuals know they are set apart to serve, not merely set apart to observe. It is the proud, not the meek, who keep score. The meek are not playing games for those in the grandstand. The meek are slow to judge, whereas the proud are quick, even eager to judge. The meek will not withhold compassion or help, saying that ‘the man brought upon himself his misery.’ Even though the individual may have done just that, they are nevertheless slow to judge. Being more open to the truth, the meek are more free, while the proud are compassed about with the glitzed self-sufficiency that keeps them from grasping the hand of fellowship extended to all the Lord’s prophets.”
E. The first thing we need in order to obtain faith is: HUMILITY.
III. What is Faith?
A. Read Alma 32:17-18.
1. Here Alma tells us what faith is not. It is not knowing things because we see them. I don’t have faith that you are standing here in front of me (although, some philosophers would argue even that requires an element of faith).
2. We return to the example of Laman and Lemuel. They saw an angel. It stood right in front of them and told them to follow Nephi. They knew that the angel existed. They knew what the angel told them. But did they have faith?
B. Read Alma 32:21.
1. The second thing one needs to have in order to obtain faith: HOPE.
2. As members of the Church, I hope we live our lives and present the Gospel message in a way that people hope that it is true. I think we have a very hopeful message.
IV. The process of obtaining faith.
A. Read Alma 32:26.
1. Joseph Fielding McConkie said, “ Ye cannot know of their surety at first. There are no shortcuts to a testimony of the gospel. We cannot fully understand principles that we have not lived. "If any man will do his will," the Savior declared, "he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17). An understanding of the principles of salvation does not come, in an instant. The idea is demeaning to the principles involved. Joseph Smith did not come out of the Sacred Grove knowing all that was necessary for his salvation. He, like Christ, found it necessary to advance from grace to grace. To suppose that at some sort of a religious revival we can obtain all the knowledge necessary to be saved vulgarizes true religion. The divine injunction, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught, is that we seek learning "even by study, and also by faith." This that we might "grow up" in the knowledge of God and that we might "receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost." (D&C 109:14-15.) Similarly, Paul admonished us to "grow up into [Christ] in all things" (Ephesians 4:15). "The things of God," said the Prophet, "are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out."
B. Read Alma 32:27.
1. In a way we are being scientific in our search for faith. The search for spiritual truth is not, however, true science and it never will be. This is because science only deals in things that can be objectively observed and measured. We can not measure the “swelling in our breast” we receive from the gospel.
2. Also, science has to be reliably reproducible. Although I believe that anyone who is truely humble can experiment with the Word of God and know it is true, individual’s experiences are often different.
a. It took Brigham Young several years after he first read the Book of Mormon before he had enough faith to be baptized.
b. As missionaries part of our job was trying to help people feel and recognize the spirit. During my mission there was an elder who told his investigators that experiencing the spirit was getting "the chills." I was his zone leader at the time and we had to let him know that although some people may get goose flesh when they feel the spirit, it is not the only way it is experienced. It is an individual experience and varies.
C. Read Alma 32:28.
1. What is the “Word” Alma compares to a seed?
a. Maurine Jensen Proctor said, “What is the word? In one sense, of course, it is the gospel, its teachings and scriptures. Live the gospel, he said, and begin to see if the fruit of it does not swell "within your breasts" (Alma 32:28). In a larger sense, however, the word refers to Jesus Christ. John tells us: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). Amulek tells us that the word is in the Son of God (Alma 34:5). That the word is the Son of God is further emphasized in the idea that if it is nourished with great care, it grows up to be what? Not just any old bush or tree, but the tree of life, whose fruit "is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white"”
b. So the word is the gospel, but more specifically it is Jesus Christ, and even more specifically - His atonement.
D. Read Alma 32:29-30.
1. After the seed has grown in our hearts we know it is a good seed. We now have: FAITH.
E. Read Alma 32:33-34.
1. After faith comes: KNOWLEDGE
F. Read Alma 32:37-41.
1. What do we have to do to nourish our faith? Works.
2. Spencer W. Kimball said, “The exercising of faith is a willingness to accept without total regular proof and to go forward and perform works. ‘Faith without works is dead’ (James 2:26), and a dead faith will not lead one to move forward to adjust a life or to serve valiantly. A real faith pushes one forward to contructive and beneficial acts as though he know in absoluteness.”
3. After we have obtained faith and knowledge we need to nourish our faith through: WORKS.
G. Read Alma 32:41-42.
1. What is the fruit of faith? He describes the fruit of the Tree of Life here. The fruit of faith is salvation.
V. Here is an example of someone who went through this process. From Don L. Searle, “The Book Convinced Him,” Ensign, Mar 1990, 50
An Italian scientist set out to investigate the Church. The Book of Mormon passed his tests—and changed his life.
For Mario Ottaviano, the answer was simple: No, his children would not take the religion classes at their school in Rome. An atheist, and a son and grandson of atheists, he believed in no religion.
But soon his children were coming home from school crying. They were the only ones in their school not taking the classes—the only ones who claimed no religion at all. Other pupils taunted them about their lack of belief. They wanted him at least to list some religion for them, even if they didn’t take the religion classes.
And so began Doctor Ottaviano’s search for the right church for his children. He had no intention of being involved with any religion himself. But his search would soon awaken a faith he had not thought possible in himself.
The doctor, a noted researcher in biophysical genetic engineering, approached the matter scientifically. He began by reviewing information about all the churches listed in a large catalog produced by the Vatican. In the entire catalog, he found no church whose beliefs seemed to stand the test of logic. They were “empty,” he recalls—basically churches of men.
His methodical search occupied months of his spare time. Finally, in a small book in his own library, he found a reference to the Book of Mormon and to a Mormon church. He checked his encyclopedia “to find out what Mormonism was, and who was this Mister Joseph Smith.” Information in his encyclopedia was sketchy. A friend, a professor of religious history, assured him that it was a Marxist church. But Doctor Ottaviano was a leading Italian Marxist himself; he held educational positions in communist-affiliated organizations and was the founder of an Italian-Soviet educational and cultural exchange organization. He did not see how any religion could coexist with Marxism.
It was another friend, a teacher at the University of Naples, who gave the doctor some literature that explained basic beliefs of the Latter-day Saints. This material told him that God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate beings and both have corporeal bodies. “I felt it was true,” he recalls. “No one had ever told me you should kneel down to pray, but I did it spontaneously.” He felt he should learn more. “So then I began to search for this church. Where was the Mormon church?”
He found an address for a local LDS chapel, and he and his youngest child, Marco, visited there one Sunday morning. After making inquiries, he was introduced to two missionaries. He asked them to come teach their religion to his children—“only for my children, not for me and my wife.” His wife, Stefania, also did not believe in any religion. As a researcher in a cancer ward for infants and children, she had been horrified by many of the things she had seen. Without understanding of the purposes of life (the church of her childhood had no answers for her), she refused to exercise faith in a god who would let such things happen to little children.
Doctor Ottaviano made it clear to his son and daughters that if they understood and believed what the missionaries taught, they could choose to be baptized in this church. But he intended to maintain his tradition of noninvolvement in matters of faith.
At first, the doctor stayed out of the missionary discussions at his home. He listened a bit at the missionaries’ invitation, but when he was invited to participate, he declined, telling them that “it would be like a cat playing with a mouse.” He found them “full of faith, but they lacked knowledge on many things.” He made it plain that they were not on his level intellectually and educationally. Was there anyone in their church prepared to answer his questions? Yes, they replied, he should meet their mission president.
That meeting did not take place for some time, but Doctor Ottaviano and his wife listened to more of the discussions. She was initially more receptive than he because of her early religious training, but within a short time he found himself reading the Book of Mormon.
In the course of his study, he subjected the Book of Mormon to various tests he considered scientific. In one twelve-hour period, for example, he read it from cover to cover, beginning at the back and making detailed notes designed to show him whether the book maintained its internal consistency. It did.
On occasion he would take small sections of the Book of Mormon to learned friends—theologians, or scientists familiar with ancient texts—and ask them what they thought. They assured him the texts were authentic; from what ancient source did they come? The doctor did not tell his friends the source, since they would probably scoff at a book connected with one particular church. But he assured them that one day he would show them the book from which these passages came, and they could come to recognize the truth in it as he had.
On 4 December 1986, the day of his two daughters’ baptism (Sahara and Ljoya had reached baptismal age, but son Marco had not), Doctor Ottaviano first met Dwight B. Williams, then president of the Italy Rome Mission. Three days later they had the first of what would be many doctrinal discussions. President Williams had no problem handling questions at Doctor Ottaviano’s own intellectual level, and sometimes the discussions would go on for hours.
The doctor became so earnest in his investigation of the Church that he quit his job and suspended his connections with Marxist institutes and associations, telling them that he would be indefinitely occupied and would not have time to be involved. His family lived on his savings and income from investments, in addition to his wife’s salary, for months while he devoted hours each day to studying of the gospel.
There came a day when President Williams told him that he had studied long enough; it was time to seek the help of the Holy Spirit in knowing the truth. But the doctor had already reached this conclusion on his own. “By now, all of my theological questions had been answered, and I was studying a bit of the structure of the Church.” He realized that his intellectual reaction to the young missionaries who had taught his children had not shown the humility required when one is weighing eternal truths. He knew it was time to stop seeking scientific proofs of the gospel and to begin examining it with the heart.
Doctor Ottaviano recalls clearly the instant when he realized that he had a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He had been bedeviling a young sister missionary with questions during an intense discussion, and she slammed the book down on the table in disgust at his hard-headedness. It pained him to see her treat the book that way, because he knew it was the word of God. The next day, he went to his friend, President Williams, and set a baptismal date. He was baptized on 18 March 1987. Stefania was baptized two months later.
At times she had marveled at the intensity of her husband’s scrutiny of the gospel. How strange that it should take him away from the scientific studies he enjoyed so much! And he wondered, after his baptism, how his fellow Marxists would accept his decision. But when another Church member asked him if he planned to continue in his communist affiliations, Brother Ottaviano replied that of course he could not, because, after all, Marxism had previously been his religion.
Looking back on the beginning of his search for a religion for his children, he believes it was appropriate that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not listed in that catalog of religions he studied at first.
“We are not a religion” in the same sense as those churches founded by men, he testifies. “We are the true faith.” As such, he says, the Church does not need to be classified with religions of the world. It stands alone.
VI. Conclusion - I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that by doing what Alma said - planting the hope of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our hearts, and nourishing this hope, we can develop faith in Jesus Christ and eventually knowledge and salvation.
References:
Beardall, Bill
McConkie, Joseph Fielding and Millet, Robert L.
Proctor, Maurine Jensen - Meridian Magazine
Serle, Don L. - Ensign, March 1990 50
Friday, July 25, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Ocean Side Pictures
We spent last week with my family in Ocean Side, California. We rented some condos right on the beach. The weather was perfect the whole time. We had a great time sitting around on the beach and spending time with all the cousins. It was good to celebrate my 38th birthday with my family too.
Whitney
Talan Moody
Book of Mormon Lesson 26
Book of Mormon Lesson 26
“Converted unto the Lord”
I. Introduction
A. Summary of what has happened so far.
1. The sons of Mosiah went to preach to gospel to the Lamanites. Ammon had success with the people of King Lamoni.
2. Aaron taught King Lamoni’s father and converted him.
3. Read Alma 23:1-3. How much influence can one leader have on the gospel spreading?
4. Read Alma 23:5-6. Why do you think these people were so converted that none of them fell away? Is this true with all converts? How does this compare to our retention rates today.
B. They call themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Read Alma 23:16-17. I always thought this was a weird name. It is long. It sounds like the are in opposition to Nephi and Lehi.
1. Daniel H. Ludlow said: “The Lamanites converted by the four sons of Mosiah and their missionary companions took upon themselves the name of ‘Anti-Nephi-Lehies.’ The ‘Nephi-Lehi’ part of the title probably had reference to the lands of Nephi and Lehi (or the people then living in those lands) rather than to the descendants of Nephi or Lehi. However, Dr. Hugh Nibley has found a Semitic and common Indo-European root corresponding to anti that means ‘in the face of’ or ‘facing,’ as of one facing a mirror, and by extension either ‘one who opposes’ or ‘one who imitates.’ Thus the term “Anti-Nephi-Lehies’ might refer to those who imitate the teachings of the descendants of Nephi and Lehi.”
II. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies refuse to take up arms against their enemies.
B. Read Alma 24:1-2. We see that is the Amalekites and Amulonites - apostates from the Nephites, who stirred the people up in anger against the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.
C. Read Alma 24:6.
1. There are many people in the world who criticize the Book of Mormon. I can understand people having trouble accepting the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. After all, this involves believing an angel came down to Joseph Smith and gave him some golden plates and that he miraculously was able to translate them from an unknown language to English. But what I have never been able to understand is how people can say that there is something inherently evil about the Book of Mormon. I have read the Book of Mormon probably a dozen times and can’t think of anywhere where it encourages us to do anything that any logical person would think was wicked. It teaches honesty, charity, faith, and chastity. The only thing I can see that some people might interpret as wrong is its apparent justification of violence. At the beginning of the BoM we see Nephi killing Laban. We see the Nephites continually going to war with the Lamanites to defend themselves. We see Captain Moroni make the Title of Liberty and justify going to war to defend their family and their faith. We even see Mormon leading his people in war even when he knows his people are wicked. If you were a strict pacifist like a Jehovah’s Witness, an Amish, or just a hippy, you might find a problem with this. But then right in the middle of all of this justification of war we have the example of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They were practicing passive resistance thousands of years before Ghandi. What made their case different? This always seemed strange to me. It almost seemed immoral not to not stand up and defend your friends and family when they are being attacked. Should we have just laid down and taken it when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor or on September 11th? What lesson should we learn from the Anti-Nephi-Lehies?
D. The king of the Lamanites spoke to his people - Read Alma 24:7-11.
1. This is the only place in the scriptures that I can think of where it says that people were forgiven for murder.
2. Read Alma 24:12-15.
3. How hard do you think it is to be forgiven for taking an innocent life?
a. My uncle met a man on his mission who desperately wanted to join the church, but when he was interviewed for baptism they said, "nope." It went to the stake president and eventually all the way to the First Presidency and he still could not be baptized. It turned out he had once been an assasin for the mafia. He continued to go to church and hoped and prayed that someday he would be allowed to join the church.
4. The Anti Nephi Lehies had in some way been guilty of murder and they looked back on this sin with abhorrence. They understood that Christ must have made a huge intervention to allow them to be forgiven of this great sin. They would rather lay their lives down then take the chance of being guily of murder again. It is not wrong in general to defend yourself against violence, but the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were a special case.
E. Read Alma 24:16-18. What does it show that they were willing to bury their weapons rather than just say they wouldn’t take them up again? When we repent do we sometimes leave a back door open for possibly going back someday, or do we cut all ties with our sins?
1. If someone has a problem with internet pornography they may not be able to even have a computor in their house.
2. Alcoholics often need to stay away from all alcohol and even people they used to drink with.
3. What ever our previous sins or weaknesses, we need to do everything we can to avoid returning to them - we need to bury them.
F. The Lamanites come and fall upon the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and kill 1005 of them. It then says that the Lamanites hearts were “swollen” and they repented and stopped killing them. And because of this more people joined the church than were killed.
G. Read Alma 24:29-30. Why is it that people who have once had the gospel and fallen away because the most hardened enemies of the church? Contrast this with the people of Ammon.
1. When a member of the Church in Illinois promised to never cause the Church any harm if he were to leave it, the Prophet Joseph Smith replied: “You don’t know what you would do...Before you joined the Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached good and evil were set before you inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant.
2. Thus, it is rare for people to be able to leave the church and leave it alone.
III. Ammon rejoices in his missionary success.
A. Read Alma 26:1-9. Can you think of any greater joy than to be an instrument in the hand of the Lord in bringing people to the knowledge of the gospel and seeing their lives completely change? That is why people say their missions were the best 2 years of their lives. If this brings such great joy, why do we avoid sharing the gospel so much? Fear?
B. Read Alma 26:10-12.
C. The Sons of Mosiah suggest that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies come back to Zarahemla with them to avoid being slaughtered by the Lamanites lead by the Amalekites. On their way back they meet up with Alma and they share missionary stories. Ammon was so happy that he fell to the earth again. (He had the worst case of cataplexy.) The Anti-Nephi-Lehies were given the land of Jershon and the Nephites swore to defend them.
IV. Alma’s psalm
A. Read Alma 29:1-3.
1. Was Alma’s desire a righteous one? If so, why does he say he sinned in his wish? We should be content with what God has given us. Also, many of us would say “Oh that I were and angel,” but don’t do our home teaching. We would say, “Oh that I were and angel” but don’t even go next door to share the gospel with our neighbor. We would say, “Oh that I were and angel” but we don’t have family home evening or read the scriptures with our own family.
B. Read Alma 29:4-7.
C. Read Alma 29:14-16. Are we happy when we see others have success? We should be.
1. My first area on my mission was a town called Rio Grande City, right on the border of Mexico and Texas. I spent 4 months in Rio Grande City and I knocked on every single door in that whole town and did not have one baptism. My last month there a greeny came and was being trained by our district leader. He had been there 2 weeks and they found a golden family and he had his first baptism. I was happy that they found these people, but I can’t say that my joy was so great that “my soul was carried away, even to the separation from my body.” I had to repent of that. We always have to be careful not to feel envious of others when it comes to our work in the church.
V. Summary - Today we have learned.
A. How a truly converted person acts - like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies - willing to die rather than risk returning to their sins.
B. We admire the Anti-Nephi-Lehies for their commitment and their passivism, but it might not be something we should generalize for everyone.
C. People who have once had the gospel but then reject it are worse off than if they had never received it.
D. Ammon and Alma agree that sharing the gospel with others brings great joy.
“Converted unto the Lord”
I. Introduction
A. Summary of what has happened so far.
1. The sons of Mosiah went to preach to gospel to the Lamanites. Ammon had success with the people of King Lamoni.
2. Aaron taught King Lamoni’s father and converted him.
3. Read Alma 23:1-3. How much influence can one leader have on the gospel spreading?
4. Read Alma 23:5-6. Why do you think these people were so converted that none of them fell away? Is this true with all converts? How does this compare to our retention rates today.
B. They call themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Read Alma 23:16-17. I always thought this was a weird name. It is long. It sounds like the are in opposition to Nephi and Lehi.
1. Daniel H. Ludlow said: “The Lamanites converted by the four sons of Mosiah and their missionary companions took upon themselves the name of ‘Anti-Nephi-Lehies.’ The ‘Nephi-Lehi’ part of the title probably had reference to the lands of Nephi and Lehi (or the people then living in those lands) rather than to the descendants of Nephi or Lehi. However, Dr. Hugh Nibley has found a Semitic and common Indo-European root corresponding to anti that means ‘in the face of’ or ‘facing,’ as of one facing a mirror, and by extension either ‘one who opposes’ or ‘one who imitates.’ Thus the term “Anti-Nephi-Lehies’ might refer to those who imitate the teachings of the descendants of Nephi and Lehi.”
II. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies refuse to take up arms against their enemies.
B. Read Alma 24:1-2. We see that is the Amalekites and Amulonites - apostates from the Nephites, who stirred the people up in anger against the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.
C. Read Alma 24:6.
1. There are many people in the world who criticize the Book of Mormon. I can understand people having trouble accepting the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. After all, this involves believing an angel came down to Joseph Smith and gave him some golden plates and that he miraculously was able to translate them from an unknown language to English. But what I have never been able to understand is how people can say that there is something inherently evil about the Book of Mormon. I have read the Book of Mormon probably a dozen times and can’t think of anywhere where it encourages us to do anything that any logical person would think was wicked. It teaches honesty, charity, faith, and chastity. The only thing I can see that some people might interpret as wrong is its apparent justification of violence. At the beginning of the BoM we see Nephi killing Laban. We see the Nephites continually going to war with the Lamanites to defend themselves. We see Captain Moroni make the Title of Liberty and justify going to war to defend their family and their faith. We even see Mormon leading his people in war even when he knows his people are wicked. If you were a strict pacifist like a Jehovah’s Witness, an Amish, or just a hippy, you might find a problem with this. But then right in the middle of all of this justification of war we have the example of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They were practicing passive resistance thousands of years before Ghandi. What made their case different? This always seemed strange to me. It almost seemed immoral not to not stand up and defend your friends and family when they are being attacked. Should we have just laid down and taken it when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor or on September 11th? What lesson should we learn from the Anti-Nephi-Lehies?
D. The king of the Lamanites spoke to his people - Read Alma 24:7-11.
1. This is the only place in the scriptures that I can think of where it says that people were forgiven for murder.
2. Read Alma 24:12-15.
3. How hard do you think it is to be forgiven for taking an innocent life?
a. My uncle met a man on his mission who desperately wanted to join the church, but when he was interviewed for baptism they said, "nope." It went to the stake president and eventually all the way to the First Presidency and he still could not be baptized. It turned out he had once been an assasin for the mafia. He continued to go to church and hoped and prayed that someday he would be allowed to join the church.
4. The Anti Nephi Lehies had in some way been guilty of murder and they looked back on this sin with abhorrence. They understood that Christ must have made a huge intervention to allow them to be forgiven of this great sin. They would rather lay their lives down then take the chance of being guily of murder again. It is not wrong in general to defend yourself against violence, but the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were a special case.
E. Read Alma 24:16-18. What does it show that they were willing to bury their weapons rather than just say they wouldn’t take them up again? When we repent do we sometimes leave a back door open for possibly going back someday, or do we cut all ties with our sins?
1. If someone has a problem with internet pornography they may not be able to even have a computor in their house.
2. Alcoholics often need to stay away from all alcohol and even people they used to drink with.
3. What ever our previous sins or weaknesses, we need to do everything we can to avoid returning to them - we need to bury them.
F. The Lamanites come and fall upon the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and kill 1005 of them. It then says that the Lamanites hearts were “swollen” and they repented and stopped killing them. And because of this more people joined the church than were killed.
G. Read Alma 24:29-30. Why is it that people who have once had the gospel and fallen away because the most hardened enemies of the church? Contrast this with the people of Ammon.
1. When a member of the Church in Illinois promised to never cause the Church any harm if he were to leave it, the Prophet Joseph Smith replied: “You don’t know what you would do...Before you joined the Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached good and evil were set before you inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant.
2. Thus, it is rare for people to be able to leave the church and leave it alone.
III. Ammon rejoices in his missionary success.
A. Read Alma 26:1-9. Can you think of any greater joy than to be an instrument in the hand of the Lord in bringing people to the knowledge of the gospel and seeing their lives completely change? That is why people say their missions were the best 2 years of their lives. If this brings such great joy, why do we avoid sharing the gospel so much? Fear?
B. Read Alma 26:10-12.
C. The Sons of Mosiah suggest that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies come back to Zarahemla with them to avoid being slaughtered by the Lamanites lead by the Amalekites. On their way back they meet up with Alma and they share missionary stories. Ammon was so happy that he fell to the earth again. (He had the worst case of cataplexy.) The Anti-Nephi-Lehies were given the land of Jershon and the Nephites swore to defend them.
IV. Alma’s psalm
A. Read Alma 29:1-3.
1. Was Alma’s desire a righteous one? If so, why does he say he sinned in his wish? We should be content with what God has given us. Also, many of us would say “Oh that I were and angel,” but don’t do our home teaching. We would say, “Oh that I were and angel” but don’t even go next door to share the gospel with our neighbor. We would say, “Oh that I were and angel” but we don’t have family home evening or read the scriptures with our own family.
B. Read Alma 29:4-7.
C. Read Alma 29:14-16. Are we happy when we see others have success? We should be.
1. My first area on my mission was a town called Rio Grande City, right on the border of Mexico and Texas. I spent 4 months in Rio Grande City and I knocked on every single door in that whole town and did not have one baptism. My last month there a greeny came and was being trained by our district leader. He had been there 2 weeks and they found a golden family and he had his first baptism. I was happy that they found these people, but I can’t say that my joy was so great that “my soul was carried away, even to the separation from my body.” I had to repent of that. We always have to be careful not to feel envious of others when it comes to our work in the church.
V. Summary - Today we have learned.
A. How a truly converted person acts - like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies - willing to die rather than risk returning to their sins.
B. We admire the Anti-Nephi-Lehies for their commitment and their passivism, but it might not be something we should generalize for everyone.
C. People who have once had the gospel but then reject it are worse off than if they had never received it.
D. Ammon and Alma agree that sharing the gospel with others brings great joy.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Books I Can Remember I've Read - update - June
I finished reading Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead this last month. I put off reading this book for years because I was mad at Normal Mailer for how he treated Mormonism in the Executioner’s Song. But Mailer died last November, so I know he didn’t get any money from me when I bought his book a few months ago.
The story follows a platoon of reconnaissance riflemen and some of their officers through a campaign on a South Pacific island during World War II. The book contrasts the different motivations of the different players in war. The officers are more concerned about the success of the campaign and how it will affect their standing and careers, while the enlisted men are just trying to survive. Individual soldiers are completely subject to the whims of their superiors. Mailer also inserts short biographies and stories of each of the characters before the war to give us a glimpse of the human face of war. (Kind of like an episode of Lost.)
The theme of the book got old. By the end I was thinking, “O.K., I get it - War is Hell and we’re all just pawns.” It still wasn't a bad read.
I’ll be surprised if I get to read any new books this month. My Family Practice recertification exam is August 9th so I have to get through a bunch of material to prepare for it. If I fail it I'll just have to find another career.
===========================================================
Books I Can Remember that I’ve Read (In no particular order)
I'm only counting text books if I read the entire thing.
I'm counting books that I read more than half of but stopped because I couldn't stomach it (Lolita) or hated (Moby Dick). I'm not counting books that are mostly pictures (The Cat in the Hat) although they are still some of my favorite books. I'm counting books twice if I read them in English and in Spanish. Also, I have not counted all the Bathroom Readers I've read, mostly because I'm ashamed of how much time I spend on the pot. I've read almost all of them however.
***** - I really liked
**** - I liked
*** - OK
** - I didn’t like
* - It sucked.
1. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald****
2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce**
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen****
4. Walden - Henry David Thoreau**
5. Claudius the God - Robert Graves*****
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez***
7. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess****
8. As I Lay Dying -William Faulkner***
9. Animal Farm - George Orwell****
10. The Book of Mormon - Written by the Hand of Mormon. Translated by Joseph Smith Jr.*****
11. The Holy Bible - King James Version*****
12. The Doctrine and Covenants - Joseph Smith, others****
13. The Pearl of Great Price - Moses, Abraham, Joseph Smith****
14. Travels with Charley (In Search of America) - John Steinbeck****
15. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket***
16. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket***
17. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket***
18. Les Liaisons Dagereuses - Pierre Choderlos de Laclos****
19. Tom Sawyer Abroad - Samuel Clemens***
20. The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey****
21. The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell***
22. The Faith of a Scientist - Henry Eyring****
23. The Power of Myth - Joseph Campbell****
24. What are People For - Wendell Berry***
25. The Miracle of Forgiveness - Spencer W. Kimball****
26. The Greatest Salesman in the World - Og Mandino***
27. 1984 - George Orwell****
28. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Samuel Clemens*****
29. On the Road - Jack Keroac****
30. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens****
31. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller****
32. Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra****
33. Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe***
34. Deliverance - James Dickey****
35. The Best of Edward Abbey***
36. Rosaura a las Diez - Marco Denevi****
37. Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow****
38. Tom Sawyer Detective - Samuel Clemens***
39. The Iliad -Homer****
40. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein*****
41. Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky***
42. The Double - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky***
43. The Trial -Franz Kafka***
44. Moby Dick - Herman Melville**
45. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison***
46. Principles of Surgery Companion Handbook - Schartz, Shires, Spencer*
47. Standing for Something - Gordon B. Hinckley***
48. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis*****
49. The Sound and the Fury -William Faulkner**
50. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck****
51. Slaughter House-Five - Kurt Vonnegut****
52. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald****
53. Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry**
54. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -Samuel Clemens*****
55. Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler*****
56. The Call of the Wild - Jack London****
57. Kim - Rudyard Kipling***
58. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens****
59. Howards End - E.M. Forster****
60. Sons and Lovers - D.H. Lawrence***
61. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad***
62. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -Robert M. Pirsig****
63. The Stranger - Albus Camus****
64. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf***
65. The Lonely Men - Louis L’Amour***
66. Sacred Clowns - Tony Hillerman***
67. The Covenant - James A. Michener****
68. Prentice Alvin - Orson Scott Card****
69. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy -Douglas Adams****
70. The Quick and the Dead - Louis L’Amour***
71. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee*****
72. The Gift of the Jews - Thomas Cahill****
73. The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis****
74. Iberia - James A Michener**
75. Ender’s Game -Orson Scott Card*****
76. People of Darkness - Tony Hillerman****
77. The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis****
78. The Silver Chair - C.S. Lewis****
79. Memory of Earth - Orson Scott Card***
80. The Odyssey - Homer****
81. The Source - James A. Michener*****
82. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger****
83. The Story of England - Christopher Hibbert****
84. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway****
85. The Changed Man - Orson Scott Card****
86. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl****
87. El Milagro del Perdon -Spencer W. Kimball****
88. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley****
89. A Marvelous Work and a Wonder - LeGrand Richards****
90. A Treasury of Classical Mythology - A.R. Hope Moncrieff****
91. The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien****
92. Pure Drivel - Steve Martin***
93. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens****
94. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens****
95. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling*****
96. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling*****
97. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -J.K. Rowling*****
98. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -J.K. Rowling*****
99. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling*****
100. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling*****
101. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling*****
102. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis*****
103. The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis*****
104. Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis****
105. Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis*****
106. The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis*****
107. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis****
108. That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis****
109. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway***
110. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov**
111. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley****
112. I Claudius - Robert Graves*****
113. Anthem - Ann Rand***
114. Lord of the Flies - William Golding****
115. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner***
116. The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad***
117. Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein****
118. A Room With a View - E.M. Forster****
119. Lord Jim - Joseph Conrad***
120. Citizen of the Galaxy - Robert Heinlein****
121. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesley****
122. Tunnel in the Sky - Robert Heinlein****
123. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum****
124. Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card****
125. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card****
126. Songmaster - Orson Scott Card**
127. Saints - Orson Scott Card****
128. Red Prophet - Orson Scott Card****
129. Cruel Shoes - Steve Martin***
130. The Great Brain - John Dennis Fitzgerald****
131. Me and My Little Brain - John Dennis Fitzgerald****
132. Jesus the Christ - James Talmage*****
133. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas****
134. Dracula - Bram Stoker****
135. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown***
136. Angels and Demons - Dan Brown****
137. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire****
138. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator - Roald Dahl**
139. How the Irish Saved Civilization - Thomas Cahill***
140. Fundamentals of Family Medicine - Robert B. Taylor***
141. Medical Physiology - Rodney A Rhoades and George A Tanner**
142. D'aulaires Book of Greek Myths - Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aurlaire****
143. El Libro De Mormon - Un Relato Escrito por la Mano de Mormon. Traducido de las Planchas por Jose Smith, Hijo*****
144. Generation X - Douglas Coupland***
145. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe****
146. Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice****
147. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde****
148. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen****
149. History of the English-Speaking Peoples - Winston Churchhill****
150. A Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking - Barbara Bates**
151. Complete History of the World - Richard Overy****
152. The American Religion - Harold Bloom***
153. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck****
154. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote****
155. A Rumor of War - Philip Caputo****
156. Religion in the New World - Richard E. Wentz***
157. The Moon Is Down - John Steinbeck****
158. The Pearl - John Steinbeck****
159. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck****
160. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carré****
161. The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter*****
162. The Chosen - Chaim Potok****
163. The Work and the Glory, Pilar of Fire - Gerald N. Lund*****
164. The Work and the Glory, Like a Fire if Burning - Gerald N. Lund*****
165. The Work and the Glory, Truth will Prevail - Gerald N. Lund*****
166. The Work and the Glory, Thy Gold Refine - Gerald N. Lund*****
167. The Work and the Glory, A Season of Joy - Gerald N. Lund*****
168. Stepen King On Writing, A memoir of the Craft - Stephen King***
169. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris****
170. Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited, The Evidence for Ancient Origins - Edited by Noel B. Reynolds. **** (March '08)
171. The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko****
172. Naked Ape : A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal - Desmond Morris****
173. Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes****
174. Mormons and Masons, Setting the Record Straight - Gilbert W. Scharffs* (March '08)
175. San Manuel Bueno, mártir - Miguel de Unamuno****
176. Critiquing the Critics of Joseph Smith - Hartt Wixom**** (March '08)
177. Mormon Country - Wallace Stegner****
178. The House of God - Samuel Shem**
179. The Way of All Flesh - Samuel Butler****(March '08)
180. The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel**** (April '08)
181. Religions of the World - A Latter-day Saint View - Spencer J. Palmer, Rober R. Keller, Dong Sull Choi, James A. Toronto****
182. Julius Caesar - William Shakespear****
183. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare****
184. Hamlet - William Shakespeare****
185. Macbeth - William Shakespeare****
186. One Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Questions - Stephen W. Gibson*** (May '08)
187. Jay's Journal - Beatrice Sparks**
188. Blueprints in Obstetrics and Gynecology - Tamara L. Callahan, Aaron B Caughey and Linda J Heffner***
189. Clinical Microbiology Made Rediculously Simple - Mark Galdwin and Bill Trattler****
190. Prescription for the Boards USMLE Step 2 - Radhika Breaden, Charyl Denenberg, Kate Feibusch, Stephen Gomperts***
191. The Instant Exam Review for the USMLE Step 3 - Joel s. Goldberg**
192. Appleton & Lang's Review of Pediatrics - Martin I. Lorin**
193. Pathology - Arthur S. Schneider and Philip A Szanto**
194. Internal Medicine - Edward D. Frohlich**
195. The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien****
196. The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien****
198. The Mountain Meadows Massacre - Juanita Brooks****
198. A Thief of Time - Tony Hillerman****
199. Naked Pictures of Famous People - Jon Stewart**
200. La Casa de Bernarda Alba - Federico García Lorca***
201. Why Things Are and Why Things Aren't - Joel Achenbach****
202. Why Things Are - Joel Achenbach****
203. Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? And Other Imponderables - David Feldman****
204. First Aid for the Family Medicine Boards - Tao Le, Christine Dehlendorf, Michael Mendoza, and Cynthria Ohata*** (May '08)
205. Why Don't Cat's Like to Swim - David Feldman****
206. The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer**** (June '08)
207. Encounters with the Archdruid - John McPhee***
208. Desert Solitaire - Edward Abby***
209. Family Medicine Board Review - Robert L. Bratton, MD*** (July '08)
The story follows a platoon of reconnaissance riflemen and some of their officers through a campaign on a South Pacific island during World War II. The book contrasts the different motivations of the different players in war. The officers are more concerned about the success of the campaign and how it will affect their standing and careers, while the enlisted men are just trying to survive. Individual soldiers are completely subject to the whims of their superiors. Mailer also inserts short biographies and stories of each of the characters before the war to give us a glimpse of the human face of war. (Kind of like an episode of Lost.)
The theme of the book got old. By the end I was thinking, “O.K., I get it - War is Hell and we’re all just pawns.” It still wasn't a bad read.
I’ll be surprised if I get to read any new books this month. My Family Practice recertification exam is August 9th so I have to get through a bunch of material to prepare for it. If I fail it I'll just have to find another career.
===========================================================
Books I Can Remember that I’ve Read (In no particular order)
I'm only counting text books if I read the entire thing.
I'm counting books that I read more than half of but stopped because I couldn't stomach it (Lolita) or hated (Moby Dick). I'm not counting books that are mostly pictures (The Cat in the Hat) although they are still some of my favorite books. I'm counting books twice if I read them in English and in Spanish. Also, I have not counted all the Bathroom Readers I've read, mostly because I'm ashamed of how much time I spend on the pot. I've read almost all of them however.
***** - I really liked
**** - I liked
*** - OK
** - I didn’t like
* - It sucked.
1. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald****
2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce**
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen****
4. Walden - Henry David Thoreau**
5. Claudius the God - Robert Graves*****
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez***
7. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess****
8. As I Lay Dying -William Faulkner***
9. Animal Farm - George Orwell****
10. The Book of Mormon - Written by the Hand of Mormon. Translated by Joseph Smith Jr.*****
11. The Holy Bible - King James Version*****
12. The Doctrine and Covenants - Joseph Smith, others****
13. The Pearl of Great Price - Moses, Abraham, Joseph Smith****
14. Travels with Charley (In Search of America) - John Steinbeck****
15. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket***
16. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket***
17. A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket***
18. Les Liaisons Dagereuses - Pierre Choderlos de Laclos****
19. Tom Sawyer Abroad - Samuel Clemens***
20. The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey****
21. The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell***
22. The Faith of a Scientist - Henry Eyring****
23. The Power of Myth - Joseph Campbell****
24. What are People For - Wendell Berry***
25. The Miracle of Forgiveness - Spencer W. Kimball****
26. The Greatest Salesman in the World - Og Mandino***
27. 1984 - George Orwell****
28. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Samuel Clemens*****
29. On the Road - Jack Keroac****
30. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens****
31. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller****
32. Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra****
33. Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe***
34. Deliverance - James Dickey****
35. The Best of Edward Abbey***
36. Rosaura a las Diez - Marco Denevi****
37. Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow****
38. Tom Sawyer Detective - Samuel Clemens***
39. The Iliad -Homer****
40. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein*****
41. Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky***
42. The Double - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky***
43. The Trial -Franz Kafka***
44. Moby Dick - Herman Melville**
45. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison***
46. Principles of Surgery Companion Handbook - Schartz, Shires, Spencer*
47. Standing for Something - Gordon B. Hinckley***
48. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis*****
49. The Sound and the Fury -William Faulkner**
50. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck****
51. Slaughter House-Five - Kurt Vonnegut****
52. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald****
53. Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry**
54. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -Samuel Clemens*****
55. Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler*****
56. The Call of the Wild - Jack London****
57. Kim - Rudyard Kipling***
58. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens****
59. Howards End - E.M. Forster****
60. Sons and Lovers - D.H. Lawrence***
61. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad***
62. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -Robert M. Pirsig****
63. The Stranger - Albus Camus****
64. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf***
65. The Lonely Men - Louis L’Amour***
66. Sacred Clowns - Tony Hillerman***
67. The Covenant - James A. Michener****
68. Prentice Alvin - Orson Scott Card****
69. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy -Douglas Adams****
70. The Quick and the Dead - Louis L’Amour***
71. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee*****
72. The Gift of the Jews - Thomas Cahill****
73. The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis****
74. Iberia - James A Michener**
75. Ender’s Game -Orson Scott Card*****
76. People of Darkness - Tony Hillerman****
77. The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis****
78. The Silver Chair - C.S. Lewis****
79. Memory of Earth - Orson Scott Card***
80. The Odyssey - Homer****
81. The Source - James A. Michener*****
82. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger****
83. The Story of England - Christopher Hibbert****
84. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway****
85. The Changed Man - Orson Scott Card****
86. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl****
87. El Milagro del Perdon -Spencer W. Kimball****
88. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley****
89. A Marvelous Work and a Wonder - LeGrand Richards****
90. A Treasury of Classical Mythology - A.R. Hope Moncrieff****
91. The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien****
92. Pure Drivel - Steve Martin***
93. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens****
94. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens****
95. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling*****
96. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling*****
97. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -J.K. Rowling*****
98. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -J.K. Rowling*****
99. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling*****
100. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling*****
101. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling*****
102. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis*****
103. The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis*****
104. Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis****
105. Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis*****
106. The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis*****
107. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis****
108. That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis****
109. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway***
110. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov**
111. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley****
112. I Claudius - Robert Graves*****
113. Anthem - Ann Rand***
114. Lord of the Flies - William Golding****
115. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner***
116. The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad***
117. Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein****
118. A Room With a View - E.M. Forster****
119. Lord Jim - Joseph Conrad***
120. Citizen of the Galaxy - Robert Heinlein****
121. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesley****
122. Tunnel in the Sky - Robert Heinlein****
123. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum****
124. Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card****
125. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card****
126. Songmaster - Orson Scott Card**
127. Saints - Orson Scott Card****
128. Red Prophet - Orson Scott Card****
129. Cruel Shoes - Steve Martin***
130. The Great Brain - John Dennis Fitzgerald****
131. Me and My Little Brain - John Dennis Fitzgerald****
132. Jesus the Christ - James Talmage*****
133. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas****
134. Dracula - Bram Stoker****
135. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown***
136. Angels and Demons - Dan Brown****
137. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire****
138. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator - Roald Dahl**
139. How the Irish Saved Civilization - Thomas Cahill***
140. Fundamentals of Family Medicine - Robert B. Taylor***
141. Medical Physiology - Rodney A Rhoades and George A Tanner**
142. D'aulaires Book of Greek Myths - Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aurlaire****
143. El Libro De Mormon - Un Relato Escrito por la Mano de Mormon. Traducido de las Planchas por Jose Smith, Hijo*****
144. Generation X - Douglas Coupland***
145. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe****
146. Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice****
147. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde****
148. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen****
149. History of the English-Speaking Peoples - Winston Churchhill****
150. A Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking - Barbara Bates**
151. Complete History of the World - Richard Overy****
152. The American Religion - Harold Bloom***
153. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck****
154. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote****
155. A Rumor of War - Philip Caputo****
156. Religion in the New World - Richard E. Wentz***
157. The Moon Is Down - John Steinbeck****
158. The Pearl - John Steinbeck****
159. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck****
160. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carré****
161. The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter*****
162. The Chosen - Chaim Potok****
163. The Work and the Glory, Pilar of Fire - Gerald N. Lund*****
164. The Work and the Glory, Like a Fire if Burning - Gerald N. Lund*****
165. The Work and the Glory, Truth will Prevail - Gerald N. Lund*****
166. The Work and the Glory, Thy Gold Refine - Gerald N. Lund*****
167. The Work and the Glory, A Season of Joy - Gerald N. Lund*****
168. Stepen King On Writing, A memoir of the Craft - Stephen King***
169. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris****
170. Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited, The Evidence for Ancient Origins - Edited by Noel B. Reynolds. **** (March '08)
171. The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko****
172. Naked Ape : A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal - Desmond Morris****
173. Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes****
174. Mormons and Masons, Setting the Record Straight - Gilbert W. Scharffs* (March '08)
175. San Manuel Bueno, mártir - Miguel de Unamuno****
176. Critiquing the Critics of Joseph Smith - Hartt Wixom**** (March '08)
177. Mormon Country - Wallace Stegner****
178. The House of God - Samuel Shem**
179. The Way of All Flesh - Samuel Butler****(March '08)
180. The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M. Auel**** (April '08)
181. Religions of the World - A Latter-day Saint View - Spencer J. Palmer, Rober R. Keller, Dong Sull Choi, James A. Toronto****
182. Julius Caesar - William Shakespear****
183. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare****
184. Hamlet - William Shakespeare****
185. Macbeth - William Shakespeare****
186. One Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Questions - Stephen W. Gibson*** (May '08)
187. Jay's Journal - Beatrice Sparks**
188. Blueprints in Obstetrics and Gynecology - Tamara L. Callahan, Aaron B Caughey and Linda J Heffner***
189. Clinical Microbiology Made Rediculously Simple - Mark Galdwin and Bill Trattler****
190. Prescription for the Boards USMLE Step 2 - Radhika Breaden, Charyl Denenberg, Kate Feibusch, Stephen Gomperts***
191. The Instant Exam Review for the USMLE Step 3 - Joel s. Goldberg**
192. Appleton & Lang's Review of Pediatrics - Martin I. Lorin**
193. Pathology - Arthur S. Schneider and Philip A Szanto**
194. Internal Medicine - Edward D. Frohlich**
195. The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien****
196. The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien****
198. The Mountain Meadows Massacre - Juanita Brooks****
198. A Thief of Time - Tony Hillerman****
199. Naked Pictures of Famous People - Jon Stewart**
200. La Casa de Bernarda Alba - Federico García Lorca***
201. Why Things Are and Why Things Aren't - Joel Achenbach****
202. Why Things Are - Joel Achenbach****
203. Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? And Other Imponderables - David Feldman****
204. First Aid for the Family Medicine Boards - Tao Le, Christine Dehlendorf, Michael Mendoza, and Cynthria Ohata*** (May '08)
205. Why Don't Cat's Like to Swim - David Feldman****
206. The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer**** (June '08)
207. Encounters with the Archdruid - John McPhee***
208. Desert Solitaire - Edward Abby***
209. Family Medicine Board Review - Robert L. Bratton, MD*** (July '08)