“Before the Altar”

According to John Sorenson, the Mesoamerican use of an altar together with a stela apparently originated on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, p. 236]

They Began to Worship God Before the Altar

Alma and Amulek established the church at Sidom, and as it says in Alma 15:17, the believers "began to assemble themselves together at their sanctuaries to worship God before the altar . . . " According to Hugh Nibley, in the law of Moses the altar is not necessary for sacrifice, but it is necessary. It's very interesting. Exodus 30, for example, tells us that the primary purpose of that altar isn't for sacrifice. But, as we use it in the temple, it is a centering for activities. In the temple an altar is where you bring things and receive things. It is a table; a table is where you share things--a table to which you bring things and from which you take things. It's around the table, and that's what an altar is. They "began to assemble themselves together at their sanctuaries to worship God before the altar, watching and praying continually, that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction." [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, pp. 353-354]