Noah's Demise

After Alma and the other members of the church fled into the wilderness, the rest of the Nephites began to chafe under Noah's reign.  He was wasteful, cruel, and a drunk to boot.  People wanted him gone, and eventually, someone took the initiative.  A man named Gideon attacked Noah, and actually chased him all the way up the tower he'd built.  I don't know if Noah's guards all abandoned him or what, but Gideon was on the verge of killing Noah when the king looked out the window and realized an army of Lamanites was coming to attack them.  He convinced Gideon to let him live so he could "protect" his people: and by protect, he meant lead everyone in fleeing the city.  Of course, with women and children and old folks trying to keep up, people were falling behind, and Noah ordered the men to leave their families.
O.O  Yeah.  I really hate Noah (for clarification, this Noah has no affiliation with the one from the Old Testament, because that Noah was awesome!).
Naturally, because they were proper fathers and husbands, there were plenty of men who flat-out refused, including Noah's own son, Limhi (remember him?).  There were, of course, some men that did leave with Noah, but the majority stayed behind to protect their families.  These men who stayed had the idea to have their (very attractive) daughters beg the Lamanites to spare their families, and it worked like a dream.  They were taken back to the city and forced into slavery, but at least they were alive.  Limhi was crowned as a subordinate king, and the people paid half of everything they gained to the Lamanites.
However unfortunate their circumstances were, they were infinitely better than what happened to Noah.  The Lamanites told Limhi to deliver King Noah to them, and so Gideon lead an expedition to find him.  What he found instead was the group of men who had left with Noah and his priests.  They told Gideon that not long after they left, they felt really guilty about leaving their families behind, and they wanted to go back.  Noah forbid it, but there's this funny little thing about ruling: you've got to keep the people liking the way you rule.  Obviously, everyone was fed up with Noah, and they fulfilled Abinadi's prophecy by burning Noah at the stake.  They tried to do the same to his priests, but they fled into the wilderness.
Noah's death was good enough for the Lamanites, and everyone returned home happily.  Or at least, most did.  I'm pretty sure all those men who ditched their families had some pretty ticked off wives to deal with.  Honestly, I'm not sure I would be able to forgive something like that.  Of course, I doubt I would marry the kind of man that would ditch me like that in the first place, so there you go.  Unfortunately, their (relative) bliss couldn't last, because Noah's priests were still out there, and they were about to make life... difficult, to say the least.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Comforting

I've discovered something odd about myself: I hate when people touch me, but physical touch seems to be my form of comfort.
See, I have four brothers and three sisters.  With that many siblings, you don't generally want people touching you, because it tends to end up being something unpleasant (ie, tickling).  You get jumpy when people get close.  During high school, however, I had a couple really good friends who were very much touchy sort of people.  Not in an awkward way at all, they just liked giving hugs, and personal space bubbles seemed to evaporate when they were around each other.  It was amazing how much it helped me during high school when I was dealing with a rather nasty bout of depression.  There's this transfer of love and compassion for each other when you touch, and it really helped pull me through.
Of course, lately I haven't been extremely touchy.  I tend to pull into my shell a little when I start a new experience, which college definitely falls into.  I keep to myself, don't really talk to too many people.  And I certainly don't let too many people touch me.  That is awkward, and if you're touching me without my consent, it means you're a creeper and I want you as far away from me as possible. ;)  However, I have also been more than usually stressed out lately (last semester was full of ups and downs and loop-de-loops that left my emotions all knotted and ugly), and I haven't really been able to deal with it as easily as I would like to.
I was pondering all of this stress during church today and wondering just how I was ever going to move on, when Kay asked if she could braid my hair.
O.O  That doesn't happen often, people braiding my hair.  My two older sisters were in high school by the time I started kindergarten, my mother didn't have much time to do my hair with so many other kids she had to take care of, and my little sister knew as much about hair as I did: squat.  Which means having someone play with my hair is a huge treat.  Not only did the gesture mean a lot to me, but while she was braiding, I was able to let go of some of my stress and put a little bit of order back into my life.
So yeah.  Physical touch is paradoxically extremely comforting.  Just don't try it unless I'm comfortable with you. ;)

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

War

There I was, playing music from Wicked on my flute ("Wonderful" is so much fun!), when the notes were interrupted.  By screams.
Of course, those screams were then followed by laughs and the sound of my two younger siblings' voices, so I didn't panic too much.  Turns out they have apparently stockpiled a collection of nerf guns and decided they wanted a war.
So.  Much.  Fun!  We decided to use our floor and the one above us, to give us a little more room to run around in without actually hurting anyone coming in the building.  We did teams for a little bit, and then we had all-out war.  I nearly won, but unfortunately, my impatient side got in the way (though that may have been because I had fifteen minutes before I was supposed to be volunteering at the library).  I think the best moment was when Jake, my little brother, were on a team.  I heard noise behind the door to the third floor, so I jumped behind it to wait for my prey.  The door opened slowly... then slammed up against me.  Panicking, I took a wild shot, and my assailant withdrew, only to try it again five seconds later.  And of course it turned out to be Jake, who thought I was Kay, who neither of us could find forEVER! 
Yep.  Looking forward to doing this again. :)

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Alma the Elder

Sadly, that title will have to be explained in a later post, but it will make sense.  I promise. ;)
After Abinadi's death, Alma (the one priest who stood up for him), was in the wilderness, writing down what Abinadi had preached.  After a while, he snuck back into the city and began preaching in secret.  Eventually, the group listening got large enough they couldn't keep meeting in the city, and they started meeting in a place called Mormon.  They started a church, they were baptized, they were happy.
Unfortunately, there were so many people sneaking out to meet that King Noah began to notice.  He sent spies to find out what was going on, and when he heard that Alma was preaching to the people, he tried to have the people killed.  They were warned, and they fled deeper into the wilderness.  Noah couldn't find them anywhere, but he did have what he wanted.  The church could no longer have any influence in his kingdom.
However, as we see so often in the scriptures, once a society destroys all righteous influences, they no longer have anyone to protect them.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Son of Man

Guess who's got internet back?  Finally! 
And now that I have internet again, I wanted to put in a word about this trailer I saw when watching Saving Mr. Banks with Sarnic:

I am actually pretty excited about this.  For one thing, God has been absent from the media for so long, and frankly,  I find it incredibly refreshing that people are finally talking about their religion again.  For another thing, I think that their script is a nice reminder that Jesus does actually have a personality.  I know some people might be offended by the idea, but I think it's a great idea!  I can't wait to see it!

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Abinadi

Many many many apologies for the tardy post, our Internet conked out just as I was trying to publish this last night.  So sorry, but here it is:



At the height of King Noah's debauchery, a prophet named Abinadi was sent among the Nephites in Shilom.  The first time he preached he was forced to flee for his life, but two years later he came back in disguise.  He stayed disguised long enough to enter the city, but it wasn't his mission to preach to the people.  He had been sent to preach to the king.  He revealed himself almost as soon as he was inside the city, and was arrested and taken before King Noah and his priests to be tried.  He gave a powerful sermon, one of the most powerful in The Book of Mormon (thus I won't try to paraphrase it here.  I couldn't hope to do it justice.  You can, however, find it in the Book of Mosiah). However, being powerful, it offended many of Noah's priests.  They tried to have him taken out and killed, but he suddenly glowed with the light of heaven, and the guards were afraid to touch him.  He hadn't finished his sermon, and God would not allow him to be touched until his mission was complete. 
He very nearly convinced Noah.  He was nearly set free.  Unfortunately, Noah had spent his entire life surrounding himself with the wrong people, and they convinced him that Abinadi should be executed for his insolence.  One man, however, did stand up for Abinadi: his name was Alma, and he was one of Noah's priests.  He understood that much of what Noah's priests were doing was wrong, and some part of Abinadi's sermon had touched him.  He tried to convince Noah to let him go in peace, but Noah turned on Alma instead and had him thrown out of court.  Afterwards Noah sent his servants to murder him, and Alma had to flee for his life.  As for Abinadi, he was burned at the stake.  As the flames were started, he prophesied that Noah would be killed in the same way he killed Abinadi, and that his priests and their descendants would be scattered and outcast through history.
The death of Abinadi has to be one of the worst tragedies of The Book of Mormon.  He gave himself up to King Noah, probably knowing full well what the consequences would be, and it's very likely he died without knowing just what good it had done.  Noah certainly hadn't been converted, and the people were just as hardened as before.  The thing was, Abinadi hadn't necessarily been sent to save Noah.  Of course, it would have been a great benefit to everybody, but I think (remember that is isn't church doctrine) that Noah was too proud and too far gone to ever be willing to listen to someone who told him he was doing wrong.  No, Abinadi hadn't been sent for Noah, because somewhere out in the wilderness, Alma was writing down everything Abinadi had spoken in King Noah's courtroom, and he was about to begin something that would change the world.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

Snow... In Many Forms

He-hey, so guess what happened when we got a blizzard earlier in the week?  Yup, our internet is out.  Again.  UGH!  Luckily, Ash has made her phone a hot spot, so I can actually work online when she's here.  Hopefully things get fixed sooner than last time.
In any case.
I was recently re-watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and I realized something: this is a fun movie.  Seriously, I don't understand why so many people seem to hate it.  Snow White is actually a very realistic young woman (except for the fact that she married someone she'd only just met, but hey, that's Disney for you, right?).  I mean, think about it: if you were about to be murdered by the man supposed to be protecting you, only for him to break down and tell you that you're step-mother wants you dead, how could you not be terrified running through the woods?  And she has to be one of the most compassionate princesses I've seen.  She didn't decide to clean the dwarve's home because it was messy; it was because she assumed the reason it wasn't clean was because they were orphaned children, and she wanted to do something nice for them.  And say what you will about her innocence, she was only fourteen years old.  I only WISH half the fourteen-year-olds out there today were as innocent and kind as Snow White.
So I guess my point is, stop hating on Disney for making characters that are actually true to life.  Thanks!

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

King Noah

Zeniff's son, Noah, was probably the single worst choice anyone could have made for the next king.  Seriously, I have absolutely no idea how this man became king.  He decided he hated his father's religion and kicked out all the old priests, replacing them with lustful, greedy, ambitious creeps.  He taxed the people to near starvation to build a throne of gold, and he became a drunkard.  The one, single good thing he did for his people was to build a tower near his palace so he could see if the Lamanites were coming to attack them.  Everyone hated Noah, but unfortunately, he had quite a bit of influence on the people anyway.  They became hardened and ungrateful, forgetting all God had done in sparing them from the Lamanites during Zeniff's reign.  They were setting themselves up for destruction, but God always sends multiple warnings to his people, giving them time to repent before they destroy themselves.  His first warning to the Nephites during Noah's reign came in the form of a prophet called Abinadi.

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira

P.S. Hey, so according to Google, today is the birthday of one of my absolute favorite authors, Zora Neale Hurston!  So.  Amazing!  I love her to pieces.  So Happy Birthday, though you have long since passed.  Hope to shake your hand in the afterlife!

Closed

... It's closing.  My library is closing.
Not forever, of course (I gave some of you a heart attack, didn't I? ;) ).  But it will be closed for maitenance in a few weeks.
WHAT THE CRAP AM I GONNA DO WITH MY SATURDAY?!?!
Seriously, I LIVE off of the library on Saturdays.  How am I going to survive my weekend without the two-hour break of solitude/checking out competition/ trying to decide what books to read if I ever get the time/ listening to the musical artists that perform in the storytelling wing?  I NEED MY LIBRARY, PEOPLE!!!!!!
Okay, freak-out done.  Mostly.  *sigh* If only there was a Renaissance Faire coming up or something.  Uuuugh!

Fare thee well, friend!
Mira