For behold, after the Lord God sent our first parents forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground, from whence they were taken—yea, he drew out the man, and he placed at the east end of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the tree of life

-thus Alma 42:2

Drawing out is an interesting phrase.  It suggests getting someone who is shy or inert to participate in an activity.    For a tool, like a sword, it means getting it out to use.  In the sense that ‘drawing out’ means unsheathing the Lovely One thinks there may be a sexual metaphor or at least a reference to Adam and Even discovering their ‘nakedness.’

In the sense of ‘unsheathing a sword,’ there may be a small chiasmus

• he drew out
  • the man
  • he placed cherubim
• and a flaming sword.

I would love to know more.

By Frshanadu – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112091294

When Adam and Eve were driven out, an angel in all his angelic ferocity was put to guard the tree of life so Adam and  Eve would not be cursed with undying mortality.  There is no record that the tree of life was barred to them before them.  So if they had already eaten the fruit of the tree of life, why would barring them after make any difference?  Why would shutting the barn door help when the horse is already out?

There are a variety of answers, but one answer is that the fruit of the tree isn’t just a one time thing.  You have to keep eating it.  So Adam and Eve were deathless only so long as they had continued access to the three.  Once the angel cut them off, their mortality became mortal.

We broke some new ground in our understanding of Lehi’s Dream this year.  Instead of the normal static interpretation we discovered that it was possible to view the dream as a series of vignettes all of which have the same point–you have to keep coming back to the source.  We discovered that the key difference between those who fall away from the tree in Lehi’s Dream and those who don’t is not whether they endure to the end but whether they enjoy to the end–in other words, whether they keep eating of the fruit after their first one.

Hmm.  Now isn’t that odd?  The tree of life in Lehi’s Dream and the tree of life in the Garden of Eden may both have as key features that to continue benefiting from them you have to continue partaking.  Since these are at least symbolically these same tree, it seems we may be on the right track.  These interpretations are mutally confirming.

From ‘The Inklings,’ by Humphrey Carpenter
H/t. https://twitter.com/tillwehvfaces/status/1798006137842962729

For an upcoming ward youth summer activity, a permission and medical release form created by the church needed to be signed. This form, copyrighted by Intellectual Reserve, Inc., includes a second page regarding “conduct at church activities.” No pornography, no vaping, no shoplifting, no threats to harm self or others, etc. If a youth participate in any of the prohibited activities, “leaders at the event or activity will speak with you, your parents, and your bishop or stake president. These leaders may decide to send you home immediately.” Stuff that sometimes needs to be spelled out explicitly now and then.

But I found the form’s first admonition disheartening:
“Please note that Church activities are not the time or place for romantic behavior or for conversations and actions that distract from the purpose of the event or activity.”

President Oaks needs to have a conversation with some form writers and those who direct them if he is really concerned about young adults not marrying. Habits of mind leading to lots of unmarried 26-year-olds have taken hold. Learning to engage in initial stages of romantic behavior should be listed somewhere as one of the purposes of bringing youth together for activities. Chewing tobacco and carrying guns at a youth conference should be discouraged. Flirting should be encouraged. We who believe in chastity should be the ones teaching romance as something good and distinct from unchaste actions that we teach people not to mire themselves in. We should exercise faith that those we call young men and young women can learn to talk to one another and experience attraction in the Lord’s uplifting way instead of Satan’s degrading way. If we don’t believe we can teach that . . . prepare for tiny Primaries, consolidated wards, and fewer stakes of Zion.

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I recently went through the new temple recommend interview.  Pretty much  just like the old temple recommend interview, except there’s more about wearing the temple garment.

One bit made me realize something that I am probably the last Latter-day Saint to figure out.

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Two interesting things about Mosiah 25

First, Alma is I believe the first high priest who is not the king.  Until then the kingship was also the high priestly office.  So the king later stepping down to create the judgeship isn’t just an ideological change, its because for the first time the Nephites don’t need a king to keep their religion going.

Second, on demographics, there’s an interesting verse here:

And it came to pass that king Mosiah granted unto Alma that he might establish churches throughout all the land of Zarahemla; and gave him power to ordain priests and teachers over every church.

20 Now this was done because there were so many people that they could not all be governed by one teacher; neither could they all hear the word of God in one assembly;

The Book of Mormon tells us there were a lot of Nephites, plus there are things like Sherem trying to meet Jacob for the first time.  But then there are these two verses.  Remember, most of the narrative of the Book of Mormon was written by Mormon and Moroni, who were the heirs of a large, complex civilization.  It is unknowable the extent to which they read into the record their own assumptions about how it must have been based on the civilization they were familiar with, but it is possible that they did.

I just finished a fantastic lecture by Eric Cline, author of 1177BC, The Year Civilization Collapsed and After 1177BC. What really struck me, listening to this, was how successfully different cultures transitioned from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. There was a range of success. The Phoenicians innovated and reinvented themselves, and did very well. Egypt merely survived. Others were only able to cope and return in diminished form, if at all. Some, like the Hittites, disappear from history completely.

I remember going white water canoeing on the River of No Return (Salmon River) when I was younger. I remember being on a placid calm waveless stretch of water just watching the point ahead where the river dropped off into frothing white water. I remember the terrifying and unyielding approach of those rapids. Also remember having a great and invigorating time getting through it. I feel similarly at the moment, because I can feel great change on the horizon. That and I can read the news.

We are now approaching a hinge point in history, a New Axial Age, if you will. Things are going to change, faster and more differently than any of us expect. Will we merely cope, or will we innovate and reinvent ourselves, and become new creatures in Christ?  I don’t think Christ wants us to merely cope. He has greater and much grander plans than that.

Last year this time we tried doing a fast from big corporations for a month.  Some of you joined us.

This year we are going to try again.  Complete separation probably isn’t possible.  Do what makes sense for you.  The goal is to be conscious of how much you are a trapped consumer and to try to exert some control, if only for a few weeks.

In the gospel, the good news is the bad news. They are the same news.

The good news: you weren’t meant to live like this, you are far from reaching your potential! There’s so much more to come.
The bad news: You weren’t meant to live like this.  You are far from reaching your potential. There’s so much more to come.

And  more!
(The Book of Mormon version, not the Arizona ruin.)

When I was young, the war chapters in Alma were my favorite.  I read them over and over of a Sunday.  Today I would say its the story of Zeniff and his people.  There is something about being surrounded and hanging on that hits me.  You can see it it in my favorite talk.  You can see it in my enthusiasm for Hodgson’s The Night Lands and John C. Wright’s superb Awake in the Night Land.

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There once was a wealthy man with a crippled child.  He asked two friends for help.

The first friend said that with sufficient funding he could build an exosuit for the child that would move his body around as if he were not crippled.  With the proper programming, the exosuit could even cause the boy’s body to move through complicated motions like a dance.

The other friend said he would prefer to try a difficult course of surgeries and especially of physical therapy.  It might not work, but if it did the boy’s body would be healed.  The boy would be able to move of himself.  He would dance instead of being danced.

The first friend scoffed at the pain and risk involved, but the wealthy man chose the second friend anyway.

“But we need to let them have agency!”

Yes, we do.

Agency is primarily a question of choosing your identity.  I.E., your relationships.  Specific moral choices are usually downstream from that.  Are you a progressing, repentant son or daughter of God, or are you something else?  From that choice, everything else follows.

Children and teenagers in particular are primed for wanting to choose an identity.

Among humans, where there is no boundary there is no identity, and where there is no boundary enforcement there is no boundary.  An identity that does not demand anything is not an identity.  Similarly, a relationship that does not demand anything is not a relationship.  There is nothing there to choose.

Boundaries, rules, and standards with teeth make agency possible.

Yes, we need to let them have their agency.

The dead of the graves, the graves of the dead,

the crosses white spread overhead

Too young to die, too old to live–

today we them memorial give.

If I were not working on Isaiah, I would be working on the books of Abraham and Joseph.

There is a possibility that the church *might* have some of the Book of Joseph, and that part of what inspired the Temple Rituals.

Also, we effectively have a facsimile from the Book of Joseph.