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The Nephi Project Newsletter February 2021
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This month's featured article presents yet another compelling reason why the Book of Mormon is a true history. The chiasms found in the Book of Mormon are no coincidence. They serve as hard evidence that Joseph Smith did not write the book
During the pandemic, George Potter has made live presentations over the internet via Zoom. If your ward, elders quorum, relief society, or home evening group would like a presentation - anywhere in the world -, George is available through your Zoom meeting format. His presentations include Lehi's Trail, Peru the Land of the Book of Mormon, The Real Mount Sinai, and Discovering The Jaredites.
As the covid-19 vaccine becomes widely distributed, plan on having George or Timothy present a free presentation on our discoveries in your home or ward.
Keep Exploring, George Potter & Timothy Sedor
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| Featured Article:
Jaredite Chiasm Proves the Book of Mormon Is a True History, by George Potter
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"Jaredite Chiasm Proves the Book of Mormon Is a True History"
Book of Mormon scholars have shown how Nephi's record is a complex work containing numerous parallels and chiasms. A chiasm is a literary form which was often used by the ancients, but today it is almost nonexistent in the English language. A simple example in English will help to illustrate. We will use a quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth: Fair is foul, and foul is fair." It can be seen how the two elements, "Fair" and "Foul," change order. This structure is simple.
The Hebrews took this literary form to great lengths, creating chiasms of many lines. The Book of Mormon contains large and extremely complex chiasms of many elements and layers, a feature which points to the ancient origins of the book since Joseph Smith would not have known about chiasms, as they were not rediscovered until the mid-nineteenth century. It was not until 1854 twenty-four years after the first publishing of the Book of Mormon, with the publications of John Forbes The Symmetrical Structures of Scriptures, that the complicated and sophisticated nature of the biblical chiasmus was fully appreciated.
Numerous chiasms have been found in Nephi's record, and Noel Reynolds has shown that Nephi's record is made up of two accounts which run parallel to each other, which at the same time each individual account is a chiasm. According to Reynolds, the central point around which the first chiasm in Nephi's account turns is the obtaining of the brass plates. The central point of the second is the building of the boat. In our book, Lehi in the Wilderness, Richard Wellington discovered two more chiasms in Nephi's writing, the journey itself and the occurrences at Nahom (Lehi in the Wilderness, 164-165.)
Amazingly, it appears that the Jaredites also used chiasms. Gatis Senkāns is a member of the Church in Latvia. He is a dear friend who has accompanied me on explorations. He has discovered a clear chiasm in the Book of Ether. The central point of the chiasm is "Nations possessing the land of promise shall serve God or they will be swept off. " (Ether 2:5-14). His discovery is important for two reasons. One, it shows that the literary form of chiasms existed well before Hebrew was even a spoken language - indeed, it dates to the pure language of the Jaredites. Two, it proves again, that Joseph Smith could not have written the Book of Mormon. Here is the chiasm that Brother Senkāns discovered.
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Timothy's Photo of the Month
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  The photograph is of a traditional Arab dhow (wooden ship) under construction.
In Part Six, "Discovering Nephi's Harbor," you are taken to a shipyard in Bahrain.
The activity in the shipyard today is still much like the Omani harbor where Nephi constructed his ship.
Little has changed in the way Arab dhows are built from Nephi's time to today.
Southern Oman was a center for ship construction well before Lehi and his family arrived in Bountiful.
Shipbuilding takes many years to master.
It is important to remember that when on the mountain, Nephi did not ask the Lord how to build a ship, but only where to find the ore to make the tools he needed to construct a vessel.
Asking only for ore would imply that Nephi already knew what tools shipwrights used in constructing their ships, that he had already observed shipbuilding in Bountiful, and that he could compare the way the Lord had commanded him to build his vessel to shipbuilding "after the order of man."
In a setting like this, Nephi could have observed ships under construction and consult with master shipwrights of the ancient world.
We believe that the reason the Lord directed Lehi to Bountiful (Khor Rori in Oman) was because it had a long tradition in shipbuilding.
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Upcoming Presentations
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George Potter will be leading a group of LDS to Nephi's Harbor in Oman from September 20-23.
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The Research Discoveries of the Nephi Project
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The Nephi Project has been exploring Book of Mormon sites for over two decades. As a result, we have discovered many Book of Mormon sites and have documented over two hundred evidences that the Book of Mormon is a true history.
The Research Discovery page is located in the list of web pages in the upper left hand side of the Nephi Project website.
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| UP to 50% OFF "Discovering Lehi's Trail" for Book of Mormon Study Year
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Since we want to have as many people as possible to enjoy our 6-part film DVD Discovering Lehi's Trail , we are keeping the price of the DVD at its lowest ever price of $12.50. The DVD is perfect for firesides or for personal study, providing the viewer with dozens of amazing evidences of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and giving an accurate geographic context for understanding the book of 1 Nephi. See actual film footage of the Valley of Lemuel, the River of Laman, Shazer, the Most Fertile Parts, the wood that Nephi used to fabricate his bow, the Land Bountiful and the harbor where Nephi built his ship. To film this two-disc DVD set, we drove approximately 75,000 miles in the Arabian Desert during a five-year period. Discovering Lehi's Trail is the perfect gift for someone who loves the Book of Mormon. Sale Price: $12.50
List Price: $49.95
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| Current Nephi Project Specials
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George's novel of the Arabian context of the last days, The White Bedouin is now only $16.99.
A unique children's Christmas story based on the Book of Mormon and the New Testament.
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