Why do we think Nephites use swords?

I know this is not new, but here is my reason for bringing this up.  I was looking at the latest version of the kid reader Book of Mormon.  In it the Lamanites generally depicted as using a club embedded with obsidian.  Meanwhile, the Nephites are portrayed as swinging objects not unfamiliar to mideval knights.

One Iota of difference

A phrase I had not really thought about much.  Like so many other phrases in English they usually revolve around something, whether historical or utilitarian in everyday life. For example, the phrase, back to square one refers to an old BBC radio convention for covering soccer games.  In the paper they would print a card showing the soccer field with each part of the field sectioned in blocks with numbers.

Square one meant you were in your own half with the ball.

So with that in mind lets talk about Iota.

Iota is, according to wikipedia and other sources it was the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet.  However, what is significant with this letter is how Christianity changed because of it.

The addition of Iota to the word homoousios makes homoiousios.  So what does that mean, and how does that change a religious movement.  In 316 AD at Nicae in Turkey the battle of the Bishops of the early church revolved around understanding the nature of Christ.

For Aryans Christ was of the same substance, homoousios, but rather of a similar substance of God, homoiousios.   For the “Orthodox” bishops, such as Nicholas (modern Santa Claus), homoousios was the only way to understand the trinity.  The idea of the father, and the son being anything other than of one substance was tandemount to heresy.

So the Christian world, with its creeds, spun in the next few years of the 4th century on one letter, iota.  So in English this phrase points to how even one letter can cause wars, exterminations, and persecution.  Thus, if you have not one iota of difference it means you have a meaningless separation or distinction, your positions are the same.

O My Father

Ardis Parshall over at Keepapitchin has a great article on the most beautiful missionary tract ever produced.  Which I would tend to agree with.

Rather than get into a big threadjack over there I thought I would put my own two cents in on a side note.

Christmas Traditions: LDS Style

One thing I have noticed over the years, is that we LDS have our own set of traditions which seem to follow, sometimes other faiths, sometimes they are our own special additives to the Holiday season.

So I am going to run down a few:

Midieval English carols

When one looks at Christmas much of our understanding of the hymns of Christmas come from the enlightenment period and onward when great musicians created some of the best known worship of the nativity.

However, if on examines some of the oldest English hymns one can get a feeling for the thoughts of people 1000 years ago and the songs they held as important to the Christmas season.  Keeping in mind that much of our understanding of these hymns has been coloured by the reformation and the English Civil War when Christmas was outlawed and much of the older traditional English worship was destroyed.

Christmas Traditions: From SinterKlaas to Santa Claus the poem that started it all

No not the more famous one by Clement Clarke Moore, there is an earlier, shorter version by William Gilley.

“Old Santeclaus with much delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night.
O’er chimney tops, and tracks of snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you…..
Each Christmas eve he joys to come
Where love and peace have made their home”
William B. Gilley, The Children’s Friend, 1821.

This poem, published 2 years prior to A Visit From St. Nicholas, would be ignored for the most part by many.  Even finding information on the poem is difficult.  This version  introduced many of the images of the modern Santa Claus, sleigh, flying over roofs, and reindeer . 2 years later a fat old Dutchman became Santa Claus, and the rest as they say is history.

Christmas Traditions: Christmas Crackers

In the United Kingdom, and most of the Commonwealth countries these little wrapped bits of toilet roll are pretty popular.  My family since living in Britain like to buy them to bring back some of the nostalgia of living over there.

At Christmas these “crackers” are used to decorate the tree.  On Christmas day a they are pulled down and pulled open.  They have small cap like pieces of cardboard which pop when you open it.  Or they are supposed to.

The crackers generally contain little plastic crap toys, a joke or motto, and a little paper crown.  Basically they are as good as the money you put into them.

The cracker was invented in 1847 by Tom Smith who thought the sound of crackling from his fire would make a great sound to incorporate in his candies.   His invention sells like hot cakes in the Christmas period in many wide varieties.

Edit: to add a pic of the tree with the crackers in the branches,  and a cracker crown for Ardis.  Btw this tree is our first on return from Britain.