< ALMA 13 >
v.1 And again, my brethren, I would cite you minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests...
Back to the future
When I was a linguistics student, we talked about how the Aymara language (a Native American language) uses a concept where the past is in front (visible/known) and the future is behind (unseen/unkown), which is the opposite of English, and while not using the future tense for past, it reflects a visual understanding of time where you can "see" the past but not the future.
Aymara and Quechua (Andean languages) speakers often gesture forward when talking about the past and backward for the future, as the past is known and in front of our eyes. The Aymara word for past, nayra, means in front of their eyes.
I always thought that was interesting. In this case, I think the verbage is just asking us to look at past events and principles to understand the present and future hope of salvation. In essence, to bring past, foundational truths into current focus for futre application.
It's just a complex figure of speech to bring to mind or prioritize past divine acts rather than literally moving one's mind forward in time.
Back to the future
When I was a linguistics student, we talked about how the Aymara language (a Native American language) uses a concept where the past is in front (visible/known) and the future is behind (unseen/unkown), which is the opposite of English, and while not using the future tense for past, it reflects a visual understanding of time where you can "see" the past but not the future.
Aymara and Quechua (Andean languages) speakers often gesture forward when talking about the past and backward for the future, as the past is known and in front of our eyes. The Aymara word for past, nayra, means in front of their eyes.
I always thought that was interesting. In this case, I think the verbage is just asking us to look at past events and principles to understand the present and future hope of salvation. In essence, to bring past, foundational truths into current focus for futre application.
It's just a complex figure of speech to bring to mind or prioritize past divine acts rather than literally moving one's mind forward in time.