It appears that Mormon, the abridger of Nephite history, intentionally framed the story of Alma the elder and his people onto Nephi’s vision of the tree of life using word links and other imagery.

“For us, divine inspiration does not mean God possesses a man, and simply dictates the inspired text to him. But rather God implants into a man’s mind a general concept. And when God does that, he allows the man to…

“The Latter-day Saints are in many respects like other people who are not Latter-day Saints. We are apt to entertain views which are not very correct, and which may be the result of our traditions and preconceived ideas. This is…