At church today, our teacher in Sunday School was sure to tell us (in the middle of lecturing about missionary work), that when talking about more than one copy of The Book of Mormon, that it's "Book of Mormons," not "Books of Mormon" because that is the right grammar stuff. As is always the case when someone presents something as fact, I thought on it for awhile to see if I agreed. After some wordplay, I decided that if we're going to be grammatically correct, then it is neither "Book of Mormons" nor "Books of Mormon," but "copies of The Book of Mormon."
How did I arrive at this conclusion? It's quite simple, really. Think about another title of a book. Perhaps Inkheart or The Book of Virtues. Any title will do. Now try pluralizing it in the first instance, and see how it sounds. So instead of "We gave out Book of Mormons," we'll try this: "We gave out Inkhearts." It sounds a little strange. It can work, but it doesn't seem exactly right. So then we try the second instance. "We gave out Books of Virtues." Again, it can work, but it is still only second-rate, at best.
This leads us to my own contribution. "We gave out copies of Inkheart" and "We gave out copies of The Book of Virtues." In the end, it is the only thing that truly makes sense. In the other cases, the meaning is understood, but it isn't really correct. A similar case would be if I were to say "That car don't work" or "I be a girl." You would understand what I was trying to say, but it wouldn't be the correct way to say it.
Labels: God, grammar, intelligence, The Book of Mormon
...into Existence and Men Are Created in Gods' Image and likeness, Why is it that Women Are The Ones With The Power to Birth New Life and Not Men if Men really are modeled After the Force which Creates All?
I found that interesting question here. And so I am posting my personal take on the answer in this blog.
I agree with most of what Bright said with a few exceptions. Yes, I think mankind being created in God's image means the whole human race; that is, God is humanoid in appearance. As are we. And, depending on your belief system, He probably looks exactly like a man of our species or She looks like a woman of our species...depends on your religious take on it all.
I don't believe it always hurts every woman to give birth. Some women can give birth with only physical exhaustion at most (Before anyone slams me because of that verse in the Bible, "I will multiply thy sorrow and conception," let me say that the Original Hebrew term that in the KJV is translated as "sorrow" can also mean "compassion" or the ability to empathize with others. "Conception" can alternately be translated as "the tightening and loosening of the joints and sinews").
I don't believe in "original sin." Adam and Eve are responsible for their choices. We are responsible for ours. We do not, as their progeny, carry the blame for their decision to leave Eden.
I believe that Jesus was conceived the same as the rest of us, with the exception that his Father was a God. (Yes, my dear, that means with sex. And it also means Mary was no longer a virgin after Jesus' conception.)
To answer the original question, I think that God and Jesus and the rest of us in our pre-physical forms created the earth together. Then each gender was given the job that they were best equipped for. Men get to protect and provide for the physical needs of those they are responsible for (which may or may not include various family members and friends, depending on their unique familial situation). Women get to nurture and care for the spiritual, mental, and emotional needs of those they are responsible for (which may or may not include various family members and friends, depending on their unique familial situation).
