Episode 13: Alma 53 – 63
Shiloh and Ben discuss the last half of the War Chapters in the Book of Mormon and question some possibilities that the War Chapters may have been the first thing that Mormon compiled in the Book of Mormon as a young military general. Why and in what way are the Anti Nephi Lehis talked about differently in Alma 53 and 56 than in Alma 26? Captain Moroni is a complicated character that is often quick-to-anger and condemnation, but he consistently expresses a strength of heart and mind to cease bloodshed and fighting mid-battle to let the enemy go free with an oath. After Captain Moroni breaths many threatenings and admonitions against Pahoran that turn out to be unsubstantiated, as Pahoran’s humble response to Captain Moroni also has some very interesting parallels worthy to juxtapose from the Beatitudes in Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. While we have the Nephite record of what happened, what new insights would we have into the every day lives of perhaps the majority of Lamanites who didn’t want to fight (read Alma 47:2). We don’t get their story, but if we did would it soften our hearts towards them?
