Hope though the Atonement of Jesus Christ as an Antidote to the Denethor Syndrome

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings (LotR), the character Denethor is an inheritor of a powerful, but dangerous magical artifact, a palantir. The palantir were a set of crystal balls that allowed the user to browse images from anywhere around the world and to chat with other people who also had palantir. Unfortunately, Sauron, the supreme representative of evil in the LotR, had a palantir and used it to feed Denethor fearful images. Denethor’s fears and anxieties, constantly fed and updated by Sauron, “overthrew [Denethor’s] mind.” (1) Denethor not only decides to accept the false futures on his magic feed, but also attempts to kill his own son to bring one of these fears to life.

This story, although only fantasy, is tragically moving to read. This misery of avoidable despair becomes even more poignant as we observe the exact thing happening to so many of us today. Like Denethor, many of us have access to a seemingly magic artifact that feeds us information through a glass surface. As humans, we are often drawn to sensation and tragedy; accordingly, our social media and news feeds increasingly feed us more sensation and tragedy slowly educating our choices. Soon we willingly search out doom and gloom. The internet has dubbed this condition, “doomscrolling.” (2) Like the situation in the LotR, Satan has access to our magical devices too and as taught by Lehi, “[the devil] seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2: 27). He wants us to be afraid; he wants us to be depressed.

Like Denethor, our increased access to information can convince us that we are wise and far-knowing. We may believe that we are preparing for a current or future threat, but when we are confronted with fears that we are unable or unwilling to do anything about, our fears won’t only not help us, but will surely hurt us. Fear leads to failure, is a principle culled from a prophecy by the prophet Joseph Smith: “men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people” (D&C 88:91). Fear is a tool of the adversary, not the Lord. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Power, love, and a sound mind are gifts we should seek from the Lord.

We have to use the word to check the information from the world, the internet, or our social media feeds. Our prophet counseled us, “I plead with you today to counter the lure of the world by making time for the Lord in your life—each and every day. If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the Spirit will be diminished. If you are not also seeking the Lord through daily prayer and gospel study, you leave yourself vulnerable to philosophies that may be intriguing but are not true. ” (3)

Unfortunately, the feeling of despair is so thick today you can feel it. Everyone is talking about how terrible the world is, and almost no one is talking about how great it is. Is our situation really as bad as the internet depicts, or as Satan wants you to think it is? No. It is not. Yet, regrettably, even our youth, the ones who have the most to be excited about for the future, are afraid; they are depressed. A recent study from BYU highlights this growing fear in our youth, “anxiety and depression is becoming increasingly prevalent among young adults in the US. with both disorders increasing by 63% from 2005 to 2017.”

Sadly, social media platforms, the very tools used to connect us, also isolate us, which leads us to anxiety and depression. This same study finds that “young adults who use 7 or more social media platforms are statistically 3 times more likely to experience increased levels of depression and anxiety than young adults who use 2 or less. Although more research needs to be done. individuals may be up to 46% more likely to have depression if they are using social media more than 60 minutes per day.” (4) Our prophet is aware of this phenomenon and has taught: “The Lord has declared that despite today’s unprecedented challenges, those who build their foundations upon Jesus Christ, and have learned how to draw upon His power, need not succumb to the unique anxieties of this era.” (5) It is beneficial to realize that people are unique with unique problems that require individually-tailored solutions.

For example, my father and I dealt with fear and anxiety differently. Fear motivates him to action and I admire his courage. In contrast, fear demotivates me; it paralyzed me. I have unknowingly struggled with anxiety my whole life. What I have to do is rid myself of fear first. I have found that humbling myself before the Lord and surrendering to him helps me conquer fear. After Christ’s atoning power helps me dispel my fear, I can move. And so, in the words of Moroni, I say “I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written” (Ether 12:41). Faith in Jesus Christ will give us hope.

Alma taught: “faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). Faith and hope are connected in this definition. The apostle Elder Neal A. Maxwell expounded upon this connection, “Faith and hope are constantly interactive and are not always easily or precisely distinguished…Yet in the geometry of the restored theology, hope corresponds to faith but sometimes has a greater circumference. Faith, in turn, constitutes ‘the assurance of things hoped for’ and the proof of ‘things not seen’ (JST, Heb. 11:1; see also Ether 12:6). Thus hope sometimes reconnoiters beyond the present boundaries of faith, but it always radiates from Jesus.” (6) Jesus is the center of our faith, our faithful acts create a radius as we confidently walk the “straight and narrow” out from him towards the circumference of our hopes’ edges.

Our hopes are strengthened as our faith increases in Christ. Jacob instructed his people, “we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken” (Jacob 4:6). As we study the gospel, we find that the most important victory has already been won; Christ broke the chains of sin and death. When we meditate on Christ’s atonement, the spirit can increase our awareness of the resurrection’s reality. We will begin to hope more fully for the moment when we will meet Him. We might begin to “look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God” (Alma 5:15). We might imagine the Lord saying to us in that moment, “ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20). This moment should excite us!

As our “confidence [waxes] strong in the presence of God,” we will be more confident in our day to day lives too. Because of Christ’s resurrection, we will be able to have hope even when it is hardest to hope. Near the end of the LotR series, when darkness seemed poised to overcome the world, some found hope through one of the three types of Christ in the story. The resurrection of the wizard Gandalf in the following vignette helps two soldiers after they beheld one of the supernatural enemies flying over their head.

“‘What was that?’ Asked Beregond, ‘You also felt something?’

‘Yes,’ muttered Pippin. ‘It is the sign of our fall, and the shadow of doom, a Fell Rider of the air.’

‘Yes, the shadow of doom,’ said Beregond. ‘I fear that Minas Tirith shall fall. Night comes. The very warmth of my blood seems stolen away.’

For a time they sat together with bowed heads and did not speak. Then suddenly Pippin looked up and saw that the sun was still shining and the banners still streaming in the breeze. He shook himself. ‘It is passed,’ he said. ‘No, my heart will not yet despair. Gandalf fell and has returned and is with us. We may stand, if only on one leg, or at least be left still upon our knees.’” (7)

As it was for Pippin, so can it be with us. Our testimonies of Christ and His resurrection can sustain us in our trials and challenges. It can bring us hope. We know how our stories end. We know who wins. All our trials will end and we will enter into His rest. Because of Christ, we can also know what we are supposed to be doing right now. And having this knowledge can bring us confidence and hope. The prophet Joseph Smith taught, “such was, and always will be, the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they are pursuing is according to the will of God they will grow weary in their minds, and faint.” (8) We are entitled to know by revelation what the Lord’s will is for us specifically. This is how we “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 84:44).

This is my favorite part about the story of Ammon and the servants at the water of Sebus. Ammon is confident and full of so much hope, he can see opportunity in trials. He is this way because of revelation. He knows what God wants him to do. His father, king Mosiah, prayed and received direction from the Lord (Mosiah 28:6-7). Ammon and his brothers were sent by revelation (Alma 17:11) to the Lamanites and they were given promises (Mosiah 28:6-7). When difficulties arose, Ammon was not shaken, because he knew he was on the Lord’s errand. His confidence compared to the other servants at the waters of Sebus is so stark, it is comical.

Therefore, as Ammon and the servants of the king were driving forth their flocks to this place of water, behold, a certain number of the Lamanites, who had been with their flocks to water, stood and scattered the flocks of Ammon and the servants of the king, and they scattered them insomuch that they fled many ways. Now the servants of the king began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our brethren because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered already. Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words. And now, these were the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whom he termed to be his brethren. (Alma 17:27-30)

Our experiences living by revelation will also give us faith and hope. When we have proven how “faithful” the Lord is to His servants (1 Corinthians 10:13), us, we will also become more faithful to Him. These experiences with God can inform our hopes, so when new trials come upon us, we can see them as opportunities to manifest God’s power. We can also see this at work in the story of the young shepherd David. When he sees the giant Goliath defying the armies of the Lord, he volunteers. He knows that the Lord will deliver him. He has history with the Lord. When Saul expressed doubts about sending a youth out to battle Goliath, David rehearsed two experiences when the Lord delivered David from harm: once against a lion and once against a bear (see 1 Samuel 17:34-37).

We too can compile our past successful experiences with the Lord into a portfolio of sorts, to bring out when we need to encourage ourselves or others. In this way, we can “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us]” (1 Peter 3:15).

However, even with the memories of our previous successes, sometimes when we face Goliaths, we can still “misread” the situation. In fact, the scholar Malcolm Gladwell has argued that we may even be reading the David and Goliath conflict all wrong. (9) David with his sling actually had the advantage on that battlefield. A stone in the right person’s sling could have the equivalent “stopping power” of “a fair-size modern handgun.” Goliath has brought a sword to a metaphorical gun fight; it is actually the giant who should be terrified, not David. Gladwell reminds us that “the powerful and the strong are not always what they seem.”

The story of David teaches us repeatedly to look beyond the surface (1 Samuel 16:1-13). In this story, we can see ourselves as David, but we can also see Jesus as David. When we are up against giants in our lives, like the Israelite army, we can become scared. We may even doubt that Jesus has the power to deliver us from our challenges. But in the same way that David had the obvious and clear advantage over Goliath from the beginning, we can misread our own situations and forget that Christ is God. And “with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). He is “mighty to save” (2 Nephi 31:19). We can trust Him and have a “perfect brightness of hope” through his atonement (2 Nephi 31:20).

ENDNOTES

(1) J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (New York; Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994), 838.

(2) https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/lord-of-the-rings/22353128/denethor-lotr-movies-story-doomscrolling

(3) Russell M. Nelson, “Make Time for the Lord,” (October 2021).

(4) https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=ballardbrief

(5) Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundations,” (October 2021)

(6) Neal A. Maxwell, “Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ,” (October 1998).

(7) J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, 749.

(8) Joseph Smith Jr., Lectures on Faith, 6:4-7.

(9) Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013),6.

(10) Gladwell, David and Goliath, 11.

(11) Gladwell, David and Goliath, 14-15.

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Yet It Pleased the Lord to Bruise him (Isaiah 53:10)

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

As narrated in holy writ, Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane and death in Golgotha are traumatic to read; these are moments fraught with a perturbing welter of emotions: poignant grief, calming peace, fearful anxiety, quivering joy, suffocating guilt, and tearful gratitude. The “awful arithmetic of the atonement” is an incomprehensible calculus for humans1. Truly, “how sore,” “how exquisite,” and “how hard to bear,” “[we] know not” (D&C 19:15). As unfathomable as it is to contemplate Jesus’ atoning experience, it may also lay beyond our capacities to empathize with the Father during these moments. 

In the case of Christ, modern revelation has given us a first-person account from the Savior about his torment in D&C 19; however, there isn’t very much in scripture, modern or ancient, to describe the Father’s experience observing the death of his “only begotten Son” (John 3:16). There is at least one scripture that describes a sentiment that contradicts the natural response that a human reader may imagine for the Father. In Isaiah’s poetic prophecy of Christ’s atoning anguish, the emotion attributed to the Father during His son’s suffering was pleasure and satisfaction: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him”2 and “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied”3 (Isaiah 53:10 and 11). What Isaiah’s prophecy seems to suggest is that Heavenly Father was proud of his Son; He was pleased with Jesus’ choice to sacrifice for humanity, and satisfied with Christ’s salvific suffering. This sentiment is also shared at Christ’s baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). 

Although it is often assumed that Heavenly Father suffered4 as He witnessed Christ “[pour] out his soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12), I feel it is instructive to hypothesize this alternative view suggested by Isaiah. If the Father felt proud of Jesus during His terrifying travails, the feeling exuded by the Father was likely a confidence in his son, who was proving that he “[was] mighty to save” (Alma 7:14). Perhaps, it might be helpful at times to imagine a God who is confident in me as well, when I go through my human-sized sufferings or face my seemingly Goliath-sized temptations. I think part of understanding God’s confidence in us comes through discovering that although we don’t “know the meaning of all things,” we can know that “[God] loveth his children” (1 Nephi 11: 15). The discovery of God’s love for us can improve our confidence in him and in ourselves.

It is easy to become bitter during an especially long series of trials and think, “haven’t I done enough?” “Why is God still testing me?” It may be comforting at those times to avoid thinking of God as someone trying to “prove [us],” and instead imagining a Father who is watching us, confident that we can handle our current trials or temptations (Abraham 3:25). The goal of our tests, ultimately, is not for him to learn what we will do, he already “know[s] the end from the beginning” (Abraham 2:8), but for us to “prove ourselves”5 and find faith in Him. In a sense, we are actually proving God through our ordeals, to learn that “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 10:13) even when we are not faithful to Him. It is also through our trials that we can feel God’s confidence in us and therefore gain confidence in Him, His processes, His plan, and even in His “presence” (D&C 121:45). 

Our life is less about us performing perfectly in our trials and more about us relying on Christ’s atoning power to help us overcome our trials. As we humbly “apply the atoning blood of Christ” we will find “[his] grace is sufficient for [us]” (Mosiah 4:2 and Ether 12:27). Although our life may lead us into situations where the “elements combine to hedge up the way” (D&C 122:7), we can find comfort in knowing that the Lord is with us cheering us on, much like he did for Jesus. 

Endnotes

  1. Neal A. Maxwell, “Willing to Submit,” April 1985. 
  2. In Hebrew, the verb חפץ means to “delight in” or “have pleasure in.” Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: Coded with Strong’s Concordance Numbers (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2003), 342-343. 
  3. In Hebrew, the verb שבע means to “be sated, satisfied, surfeited.” The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, 959-960. 
  4. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1976/01/classic-discourses-from-the-general-authorities-the-sacramental-covenant?lang=eng “In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking upon these dying struggles until even he could not endure it any longer; and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his head, and hid in some part of his universe, his great heart almost breaking for the love that he had for his Son.” 
  5. “Now is the time to prepare and prove ourselves willing and able to do all things whatsoever the Lord our God shall command us.” (Elder David A. Bednar, “We Will Prove Them Herewith (Abraham 3:25),” October, 2020. 

Al Caminar con Dios y La Imaginación Espiritual

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José Smith enseñó que en el jardín, “[Adán] recibió instrucciones, y anduvo y conversó con [Dios], como un hombre habla y se comunica con otro…” (1) Esta imagen de andar con Dios es muy poderoso para mi!

Recientemente tuve una experiencia de caminar con Dios. Recientemente tuve la oportunidad celebró La Pascua. Por “Anastasi,” una celebración por la Resurrección de Jesus, hay una llama de Jerusalem que fue traído a Grecia y esa llama se uso para encender a todos las velas en todas las iglesias en Grecia. Recibí esa llama en una vela pasado por la congregación durante “Anastasi.” Después tenia el desafío de caminar a mi hotel con el fuego. El viento no soplaba violentamente, pero si intenté a caminar de prisa, o no cubrí bien la llama con la mano, o mantuve la vela demasiado lejos de mi cuerpo, la llama bailaba e iba a apagarse. Sentí que esta llama fue un símbolo de mi fe en Cristo. Al caminar cuidadosamente, mi atención fijado en la condición de la llama, pensé, “¿cuido yo mi testimonio con la misma nivel de atención que estoy dando a esta llama?” Y esta experiencia caminando con la llama era una oportunidad de caminar con Dios!

Habían otras veces cuando estaba a solas caminando y pensando acerca de la vida, me imaginaba que Dios estaba conmigo caminando. Este pensamiento me daba un montón de paz. Pueden imaginar el gozo que podríamos sentir, si Dios caminaba con nosotros en realidad como lo hizo con Adán y Eva. Infortunadamente, la situación por Adán y Eva cambio después de la caída. Las escrituras nos explica que “Adán y Eva, su esposa, invocaron el nombre del Señor, y oyeron la voz del Señor que les hablaba en dirección del Jardín de Edén, y no lo vieron, porque se encontraban excluidos de su presencia” (Moisés 5:4).

Aunque nosotros todavía viven en un mundo caído, Dios no espera que permanezcamos caídos y excluidos de su presencia. De hecho, después de la caída, había dos personas, Enoc y Noé, de quien las escrituras dicen que caminaron con Dios (2). Es decir, que ellos ya no eran excluidos de su presencia. Quizás ustedes recuerden de la vida del hermano de Jared, quien vio al Señor. Cuando Cristo se le mostró al hermano de Jared, dijo a el, “eres redimido de la caída; por tanto, eres traído de nuevo a mi presencia” (Éter 3:13). Esta es nuestra meta, vencer este mundo caído y regresar a la presencia de Dios.

Por medio de su hijo amado, Dios nos ha dado un método de ser redimido de la caída y regresar a su presencia. Este método simplemente requiere que seamos humildes y tengamos fe en El. Jesus nos invita, “[caminen] en la mansedumbre de mi Espíritu.” Este es un camino que empieza con nuestras debilidades. Escuchen por favor a las siguientes palabras del Salvador:

Y si los hombres vienen a mí, les mostraré su debilidad. Doy a los hombres debilidad para que sean humildes; y basta mi gracia a todos los hombres que se humillan ante mí; porque si se humillan ante mí, y tienen fe en mí, entonces haré que las cosas débiles sean fuertes para ellos (Éter 12:27).

En la ultima Conferencia General Elder Hamilton nos enseñó acerca de esta escritura en Éter: “Observemos más detenidamente lo que el Señor nos enseña. Vemos que primero dice que da a los hombres y a las mujeres debilidad —en singular—, lo cual es parte de nuestra experiencia terrenal como seres caídos o carnales. Nos hemos vuelto hombres y mujeres naturales debido a la caída de Adán, pero mediante la expiación de Jesucristo, podemos vencer nuestra debilidad, o naturaleza caída.

Luego dice que Su gracia es suficiente y que si nos humillamos y tenemos fe en Él, entonces Él ‘har[á] que las cosas débiles [en plural] sean fuertes para [nosotros]’. En otras palabras, a medida que primero cambiemos nuestra naturaleza caída —nuestra debilidad—, entonces podremos cambiar nuestro comportamiento, nuestras debilidades.” (3) Así vemos que nuestra debilidad, al fin, no es una debilidad verdadera, sino más bien es un paso importante para nuestro progreso a regresar a las presencia de Dios. Pablo lo dijo bien, “cuando soy débil, entonces soy fuerte” (2 Corintios 12:10).

Hay otra manera en que una debilidad nos da fuerza. La fe, en un nivel básico es una debilidad porque es limitada. Según su definición de Alma, “La fe no es tener un conocimiento perfecto de las cosas; de modo que si tenéis fe, tenéis esperanza en cosas que no se ven, y que son verdaderas” (Alma 32:21). Aunque la fe es un conocimiento limitado y es ciega, y entonces se parece que es una debilidad, en realidad, es una fuerza. Al “ejercitar [nuestra] fe para arrepentimiento” (Alma 34:17) llegaremos a ser mas fuerte en maneras que el mero conocimiento no puede hacer. De hecho, tenemos que andar en fe, antes de andar con Dios.

Pablo enseñó que “por fe andamos, no por vista” (2 Corintios 5:7) y cuando andamos por fe estamos “and[ando] en el Espíritu” (Galatas 5:16). Tener fe es tener más acceso al Espíritu Santo, quien testifica de Cristo. Es por medio del Espíritu que podemos ver Dios “con el ojo de la fe” (Alma 32:40) —en singular— en preparación por el día en que lo veremos “con [nuestros] propios ojos” (Éter 12:19) —en plural. Es posible que el ojo de la fe es singular, porque el objeto de nuestra fe, Cristo también es singular. Alma enseñó, “hay otro modo o medio por el cual el hombre pueda ser salvo, sino en Cristo y por medio de él” (Alma 38:9). Así fue el progreso del hermano de Jared y muchos otros, según Moroni:

Y hubo muchos cuya fe era tan sumamente fuerte, aun antes de la venida de Cristo, que no se les pudo impedir penetrar el velo, sino que realmente vieron con sus propios ojos las cosas que habían visto con el ojo de la fe; y se regocijaron (Éter 12:19).

Alma considera el ojo de la fe equivalente con nuestras imaginaciones espirituales. Cuando Alma pregunta a su gente, “¿Miráis hacia adelante con el ojo de la fe y veis este cuerpo mortal levantado…para presentaros ante Dios…?” Alma también pregunta “¿Podéis imaginaros oír la voz del Señor…diciéndoos: Venid a mí, benditos?” Y “¿podéis imaginaros llevados ante el tribunal de Dios…? (Alma 5:15-18) ¿han imaginaron ustedes este escenario antes? ¿El día en que nosotros estamos arrodillados ante el Señor? La imaginación espiritual es un instrumento eficaz para el arrepentimiento. Nuestro Profeta, Presidente Nelson, han dicho, “El caminar por la senda de los convenios, en combinación con el arrepentimiento diario, aviva el ímpetu espiritual positivo” (4).

En el tiempo del Nefita Jarom, los profetas, los sacerdotes, y los maestros enseñaron a la gente “persuadiéndolos a mirar adelante hacia el Mesías y a creer en su venida como si ya se hubiese verificado.” (Jarom 1:11). Así que los Nefitas imaginaron que el Mesías ya vino a ellos, y se ajustaron sus comportamientos según esta realidad imaginada. El Espíritu puede guiar nuestras imaginaciones para que nos sentamos la realidad de un encuentro con Dios. ¿Han tenido ustedes algunas oportunidades de sentir la realidad de Dios?

Me recuerdo cuando era un joven, a veces durante las oraciones de my padre, me sentí que Dios realmente estaba en el cuarto con nosotros. En estas ocasiones pensé que si abriera los ojos yo vería a Dios. Así me sentía que Dios estaba tan cerca a nosotros. Y a veces cuando leo las escrituras con el Espíritu, me siento como estoy recibiendo las escrituras por la primera vez, es decir estoy el que recibe la revelación originalmente. Es como si “es [su] voz la que [me] las declara” (DyC 18:35). Y según las palabras de Doctrina y Convenios sección 18, “[puedo testificar] que [he] oído [su] voz y que [conozco sus] palabras” (DyC 18:35).

Testifico como Alma que “hoy es el tiempo y el día de [nuestra] salvación” y “es cuando el hombre debe prepararse para comparecer ante Dios” (Alma 34:31-32). Si andamos por la senda de los convenios, “hasta al fin,” podremos oír la voz del Padre diciéndonos: “Tendréis la vida eterna” (2 Nefi 31:20). Espero que todos nosotros podamos imaginar esta escenario, pero te garantizo que ninguno de nosotros podemos imaginar todo lo que Dios nos dará en esa ocasión. Por que, “Cosas que ojo no vio, ni oído oyó, ni han subido al corazón del hombre, son las que Dios ha preparado para aquellos que le aman” (2 Corintios 2:9).

Esta publicación es parte de un discurso dado en Mayo 2022.

(1) Enseñanzas de los Presidentes de la Iglesia: José Smith, capítulo 2

(2) En el antiguo testamento, Enoc y Noé también fueron traídos de nuevo a la presencia de Dios, pero las escrituras describen esta situación así; “caminó Enoc con Dios” (Génesis 5:22) y “con Dios caminó Noé” (Génesis 6:9).

(3) Kevin S. Hamilton, “Entonces haré que las cosas débiles sean fuertes” April 2022 o https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/28hamilton?lang=spa

(4) Presidente Nelson, “El Poder de Ímpetu Espiritual,” Abril 2022 o https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ftsoy/2022/05/04-the-power-of-spiritual-momentum-excerpts?lang=spa

When Facing Doom, There is Room for Opportunities

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

Paul prophesied that “in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1). Especially in our current pandemic experience, it feels like those perilous times are already here. At times like today, it is important to remember that with every prophecy of doom there is room for opportunity; opportunities to bring salvation to you, me, and others. While “the whole earth shall be in commotion” (D&C 45:26); and “many hearts shall fail” (D&C 45:26), we should “sanctify the Lord God in [our] hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us] (1 Peter 3:15). Hope is always in short supply, when fear barks out its demands. 

Sustained anxiety and fear have a powerful effect on the human psyche. The continued commotion caused by sensationalized media from news outlets and social media feeds can blind people to the truth. “[T]here are many yet on the earth…who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men…who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it” (D&C 123:12). In this age, we can easily confuse truth with information and be “ever learning,” but “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Being inundated with data is not the same thing as having “[our] whole bodies [being] filled with light” (D&C 88:67). What I am suggesting today is for you and me to find our light. If we have “misplaced” it under a bushel (see Matt.5:15), then let’s get it back, and rush out into the darkness to those who feel alone on an island of isolation surrounded by a sea of fear.

One need only to crack open the scriptures to feel that heavenly light chase away the darkness. Elder Boyd K. Packer taught that “[t]he scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection…they offer hope.”[1] Sharing this hope through the scriptures can open up the “windows of heaven” (Malachi 3:10) to those “walking in darkness at noon-day” (D&C 95:6). The Book of Mormon is particularly relevant to our chaotic circumstances. As pointed out by the church scholar Grant Hardy, Mormon spends most of the Book of Mormon’s space on times of conflict.[2] It is informative to note that it is in those same times of conflict in the Book of Mormon that there are so many narratives about miracles. Mormon and the other narrators in the Book of Mormon knew our day, they knew we needed to know how to find miracles within the most dysfunctional times of our lives. Somehow, the Book of Mormon creatively blends stringent didacticism and literary artistry into a piercing message of hope in the face of the tragedy of its own narrative—the entire destruction of its own people. It is a miracle in its own right that we can read this heart-rending narrative and come away healed, full of hope, and rejoicing because of the Savior. I know the Savior, because of the Book of Mormon. He is real and I love him.  

It was during the years of continuous warfare between the Nephites and Lamanites that the sons of Mosiah convert thousands of their mortal enemies to Christ. This once bloodthirsty people, have such a mighty change in their hearts that they end up burying their weapons of war as well as “the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more” (Alma 23:7). They make an oath never again to take up arms against another soul—an oath they never break. Their conversion was so thorough that despite all the trials that continuously materialized on their covenant path,[3] they “never did fall away” (Alma 23:6). Such is the power of a Christ taken seriously. Christ was not an abstract concept to these converts. He visited them. They were “washed bright through the blood of the Son” (Alma 24:13). They came to know personally that “[God] love[d] [their] souls” (Alma 24:14). I often use the following pleading from their king as a spiritual ruler to measure my own devotion to the Savior:

What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. (Alma 22:15)

And then this same king prays:

O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. (Alma 22:18)

When was the last time I prayed with such fervor? Am I willing to change, to give up the me of today in order to follow God? I love Alma’s question to the people of Zarahemla, “if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love…can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26). If quarantine has caused you to distance yourself not only from others, but from God, “now is the time and the day of your salvation” (Alma 34:31). “Draw near unto [him] and [he] will draw near unto you” (D&C 88: 63). We are at our closest to God when we are on our knees. We don’t even need to don a mask before we “call on his name,” he will “converse with [us]” anyway (Alma 12:30).  

It is in a population of defiant dissidents that Alma and his group of missionaries rescue a group of humble converts for Christ. For these converts, “their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word” (Alma 32:6). Our current quarantine has likewise humbled many and prepared us for the word. The word is Christ. And we have no idea how many people our words about Christ could change. His redemption is “immediate[…]” (Alma 34:31) and life altering. Although the converts from Alma’s party at this time were limited, their effect was lasting. 

In a dark prison 40 years later, a man recites their words to a cowering crowd, who asked “what shall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us?” He responds:

You must repent, and cry…even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you. (Helaman 5:41) 

As a result of this dialogue and the ensuing miracles that followed, the “more part of the Lamanites were convinced” and “did lay down their weapons of war” (Helaman 5:50-51). On top of this, the Lamanites “did yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possessions” (Helaman 5:52). Church scholar Michael Perry points out that this recovery of territory was something that years of war could not bring about (compare with Helaman 4:18-19).[4] This is the power of the word, which “had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else” (Alma 31:5). Like Alma, we “should try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5) in our own lives and share this power with others.  

As it was with them, so it is with us. Under our despairing circumstances, living in a world prophesied to be the end of days with commotion, contention, persecution, disasters, diseases, and the worst of human behavior, we can expect to see most clearly the tender mercies of the Lord. And even more, we can expect to be the instruments of his tender mercies delivered to others! Serving the Lord has never been comfortable, but sometimes God needs to discomfort us so we will bring comfort to the comfortless. We can be emboldened to “cheerfully do all things that lie in our power…with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:17). Let’s let the Lord into our lives to lead us to reach out to someone today and every day his voice comes to us. If we listen, he will call us on his errand. I know this. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Endnotes:

[1] Elder Boyd K. Packer, “The Key to Spiritual Protection,” October 2013: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/10/the-key-to-spiritual-protection?lang=yap

[2] Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 107-108.

[3] “My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ invites us to take the covenant path back home to our Heavenly Parents and be with those we love. He invites us to ‘come, follow me.’” President Nelson described it this way in his talk: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/46nelson?lang=eng

[4] Michael F. Perry, “Supremacy of the Word: Alma’s Mission to the Zoramites and the Conversion of the Lamanites,” in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, v. 24 (2015), 135-136. 

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The Interpreter Published “Joseph Knew First: Moses, The Egyptian Son”

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

The Interpreter published my article “Joseph Knew First: Moses, The Egyptian Son” on their website on the 10th of May, 2018 (https://www.mormoninterpreter.com/joseph-knew-first-moses-the-egyptian-son/). Here is the origin story for the article:

Origin

The idea behind this article came from two unique events. First, I took an Egyptian history class from Dr. John Gee, who inspired me to start learning hieroglyphs (unfortunately, I never was motivated enough to get very far). Second, I attended a fireside by Dr. Royal Skousen, who spoke about the Book of Mormon critical text project. The idea that struck a chord with me was Dr. Skousen’s emphasis on a collaborative effort (collaborating with all sorts of people, even students) to identify apparent errors in the text of the current Book of Mormon. I was so jazzed that I went straight home to the Book of Mormon on a mission to look for apparent errors.

That next week as I was reading in 2 Nephi 3:17, I noticed something odd in the phrase “I will raise up a Moses.” The indefinite article “a” before Moses seemed an odd insertion there. I immediately thought that this might be evidence of the original Egyptian language of the Book of Mormon coming through the English translation, a vestige of an original Egyptian pun on the name of Moses and it’s meaning of  thougchild. I thought of this possible error being a remnant of the translation process based on Dr. Gee’s article, “La Trahison des Clercs.”

It was thrilling to contact Dr. Skousen and have a summary of our correspondence published in the addenda material of the Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon Part Six available in https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/atv/p6/. (see page 553 of 627.) I also started a paper discussing this odd phrase, but I got stuck on the approach of trying to prove that parts of 2  Nephi 3 may have originally been in Egyptian. I was, and still am, woefully unqualified to do this type of study, so the paper languished for years (I started it in 2005). Egyptian was only one of a handful of problems with this original approach. Needless to say, I didn’t come up with another approach until 2016, which turned into the current paper published by The Interpreter.

 

Love First, Love Last

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

As powerful as human love can be, it cannot compare with the unique love Jesus taught and exemplified. In fact, Christ’s love is so specialized the scriptures sometimes employ a different word to distinguish it from the ordinary concept. This word in the English scriptures is Charity. Unlike Charity, “which never faileth”, but “endureth forever” (Moroni 7:45, 47), worldly love is fickle, prone to fall in and out of our hearts depending on circumstances. Like ordinary love, Charity needs to be experienced to be understood. God shares his love with us, and after realizing how deeply he loves us, we might be inspired to reciprocate or even emulate His love. “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).  

Charity does not come naturally to the natural man. Instead it is a gift we receive through prayer. Prayer is a form of work, something we must exercise regularly; this is especially true for the reception and retention of Charity. The scriptures urge us to “pray unto the father with all the energy of heart” to be “filled with this love” (Moroni 7:48). The exercise of this type of prayer can have a cardiovascular effect, which increases the capacity of our hearts to love with more breadth and depth for longer. Receiving Charity trains us in the art of loving first. 

Although very common, measuring another’s interest in loving us as a condition to loving them is more shallow than the love we are capable of through Christ. Christ “first loved us” and his love pushes us to do the same (1 John 4:19). So before we have enough information about someone to judge whether they merit our time and effort, we can choose to love them first. We don’t have to wrap our minds around someone else’s world until we find common ground in order to love. We can push past loving people just because we can see in them things we understand and love about ourselves to loving them just because. When we pray for Charity, we can include an object, a specific person, for whom we can learn to love first. Sometimes this object we are praying to love should be ourselves.

Being “filled with Charity” is not an ability limited to loving others despite their weaknesses, but also ourselves. Sometimes we can learn to appreciate the sordid pasts of others and love them today regardless, but find ourselves loathing our own history so much that we become restlessly uncomfortable in our own skin. Christ’s love comes to us as a comfort, precisely because it comes to us through the “Comforter” (Moroni 8:26). The reception of Charity reminds us that we are not only meant to be the messenger of Christ’s love, but also a receptacle; we are meant to believe the message too. When we read that “[Christ has] loved the world, even unto the laying down of [his] life for the world” (Ether 12:33), the world is not some wholly abstract phrase here, we are the world to him. Spiritual syntax demands that his loving us first not only move us to love him in return, but also love ourselves more completely, which multiplies our ability to love, period.

When we believe Christ’s love for us, we naturally want to love like him (see John 13:34). Our role as an appreciative consumer of his love prepares us to become a distributor too as Christ’s Charity drives us to pour out our hearts in love for others; a marvelous work, from which we can grow weary. As we continue our commitment to loving others, we might fear to expend our coveted reservoir of God’s love, a reservoir carved out originally by our fervent prayers and miraculously filled by the Lord. Just like the widow of Zidon, when we faithfully use up our all for others, we will witness how God will not allow our reservoir to fail (see 1 Kings 17:8-16). Prayer, our connection to the power of loving first, will also enable this love to last, because “perfect love…endureth by diligence unto prayer” (Moroni 8:26). 

It can be overwhelming to realize the implications of an infinite love, but this weighty gift of Charity mercifully comes with a manual. The same Comforter that delivers the package of perfect love to us also is the manual for its correct application. Charity is not a mandate to become a perpetual doormat or an unflinching punching bag. The Spirit “will show unto [us] all things what [we] should do” (2 Nephi 32:5), including what we should do with this most precious gift of His love. The Holy Ghost will prompt us not only to turn the other cheek at times (see Luke 6:29), but also to “[reprove] betimes with sharpness” (D&C 121:43). This repeated spiritual process of seeking Christ’s love and wandering through paths unknown to deliver it, will one day walk us back to Him. In this way, “when he shall appear we shall be like him,” because Charity, above all other gifts, sculpts us most closely into Christ’s image (see Moroni 7:48). After all, Christ’s image needs to be seen on more than paintings and sculptures, it needs to be witnessed in our acts and on our faces as we choose to love first and love last. 

Special thanks to the editing wizardry of my friend Katherine.

“I Will Heal Him”: How the Small Plates Healed the Book of Mormon after the Loss of its First 116 Manuscript Pages

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

Gaye Strathearn and Jacob Moody’s article “Christ’s Interpretation of Isaiah 52’s ‘My Servant’ in 3 Nephi” takes us back to Christ’s prophesied post-resurrection appearance to the Nephites in the Americas. It is in this setting that they present a unique insight into Christ’s usage of Isaiah’s words to prophecy about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. This review summarizes the crux of their article and submits an alternate fulfillment to the prophecies pointed out in their work regarding the Book of Mormon. Strathearn and Moody use the following language to introduce the core of their paper:

…when Christ came to the Americas, he spent a significant portion of his sermon on the second day focused on Isaiah’s teachings. He quoted a substantial portion of chapter 52, although in a rearranged order, and all of chapter 54. What is stunning about this rendition is that Jesus did not include Isaiah 53 in his sermon, even though his audience would probably have expected it. Instead he includes a chapter discussing the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It is the purpose of this paper to argue that the discussion on the Book of Mormon was not a digression from his teachings from the Isaianic texts, but rather was Jesus’ interpretation of the servant passage in Isaiah 52:13-15, which he had just quoted in 3 Nephi 20:43-45.

Stathearn and Moody explain that the servant passage in Christ’s sermon comes from a series of four Servant Songs or poems beginning in Isaiah Chapter 41 (42:1-7;49:1-6;50:4-9;52:13-53:12). They point out that historically many have interpreted this servant to refer to multiple referents, collective Israel, specific prophets both ancient and modern, or Christ. These passages are familiar to many modern Bible readers and would have been familiar to the Nephites. The uniqueness of Strathearn and Moody’s analysis lies in their discussion of how Christ innovatively removed a servant passage from its familiar Isaianic context, (Isaiah 52:13-15) poetically stitched it into His sermon on the future gathering of Israel, added a unique servant prophecy (3 Nephi 21:10), and reinterpreted the servant as a prophetic personification of the Book of Mormon.

Strathearn and Moody show how general thematic elements, specific textual cues, and even chiastic structures in Christ’s sermon focus on the Book of Mormon suggesting that the servant passages in Christ’s sermon should also be read as references to the Book of Mormon. In support of this, they explain that Christ is not using the servant theme to refer to Himself because of the future tenses He employed to explain the servant prophecy of 3 Nephi 20:43-45 (see the use of shall in verse 46). They also discount Joseph Smith as the servant by discussing how the material especially in 3 Nephi chapter 21 is more plainly a discussion of the Book of Mormon. Below are the two passages related to the prophecies of the servant in Christ’s sermon:

Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. As many were astonished at thee—his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—so shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. (3 Nephi 20:43-45; see also Isaiah 52:13-15)

But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. (3 Nephi 21:10)

Strathearn and Moody discuss a possible fulfillment of these prophecies in 3 Nephi by explaining how the Book of Mormon has been marred by critics both past and present. Even Mark Twain’s infamous “chloroform in print” quote makes its way into the discussion. These critics could definitely be said to have marred the reputation of the Book of Mormon; however, there is an alternate and more specific fulfillment to be found for these prophecies signaled by the text itself. In the prophecy in 3 Nephi 21: 10, Christ declared, “I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.” Strathearn and Moody noted that this phrase also appears in Doctrine and Covenants 10:43, but this shared wording between 3 Nephi 21:10 and D&C 10:43 is more than coincidence. It is a textual link connecting a prophecy (3 Nephi 21:10) and its specific fulfillment (D&C 10:43) in the loss of the first 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon.

In D&C section 10, the Lord reveals to Joseph Smith the cunning plan of the devil to destroy the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. According to section 10, Satan had orchestrated the loss of the first 116 pages, which caused the loss of Joseph’s gift to translate the Book of Mormon (see D&C 10:1-2,6-7). Additionally, the Lord explained to Joseph that he had prepared the small plates thousands of years ahead of time in order to replace some of the content that would be lost due to the loss of the 116 pages.

A Wise Purpose for the Small Plates

Doctrine and Covenants sections 10 and 3 are the Lord’s words to Joseph upon the loss of the first 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon. Joseph had lent the manuscript pages to Martin Harris after Martin had repeatedly asked the prophet to permit him to show his family the work that he had been transcribing and funding for the last few months. One can only imagine the shame and terror Joseph Smith felt when he discovered that the first 116 manuscript pages of his translation of the Book of Mormon were lost. He probably thought that it was over, all the visions and blessings promised during the multiple angelic visitations for the last few years, the establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth again, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon—all gone [1]. It would have appeared that Satan’s cunning plan to stop the Book of Mormon from coming to light had succeeded. Providentially, God had foreseen this event and had made preparations to counter it thousands of years before 1828. The Lord told Joseph, “The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught” (D&C 3: 1).

The Lord told Joseph that the loss of the 116 pages was part of a cunning plan of the adversary to trick Joseph into retranslating this first section of the book. Then Satan could have his book bandits produce an altered copy of the 116 manuscript pages to prove Joseph was a charlatan. For this reason, God revealed to Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants 10 that it was “in [His] wisdom” that Joseph should not retranslate the same record from which the 116 manuscript pages came, but should translate from the plates of Nephi instead (see verses 30, 38-42). In verse 38, the Lord reassured Joseph that “an account of the things [Joseph had]  written, which [had] gone out of [his] hands, [were] engraven upon the plates of Nephi” or upon what Jacob called the “small plates” (see Jacob 1:1).

Due to the small plates the loss was not total; however, the loss of the 116 manuscript pages marred the Book of Mormon leaving a jagged rift in the first part of the record. The insertion of the small plates directly over the missing first section of the translated Book of Mormon covered this fissure like a textual bandage. The small plates healed the Lord’s servant (the Book of Mormon), which had been marred by Satan’s attack. In this way, Christ’s prophesy to the Nephite people was fulfilled wherein He said, “the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil” (3 Nephi 21:10).

Throughout the Book of Mormon, God’s wisdom becomes a textual trail marker via the phrase wise purpose. The repetition of this phrase guides the reader to discover the intent for the small plates—to allow God’s wisdom to ultimately triumph over Satan’s cunning through its use as a replacement for the the loss of the Book of Mormon’s first 116 pages. Nephite prophet-historians claimed that the decisions to create, preserve, and include the small plates in the final Nephite record was for a wise purpose, a purpose otherwise unknown to them. Remarkably, the small plates would play a defining part in showing how “[His] wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.”

1 Nephi 9 and 19

According to Jack Welch, Nephi made the first set of plates, the large plates, “after his arrival in the New World. On these plates he recorded the book of Lehi and the secular affairs of his people” [2]. After Nephi had left the land of first inheritance and moved to the land of Nephi, the Lord commanded him to make a new set of plates and begin to write a new record with a different purpose than the records he was already keeping (between 588-570 BC) [3]. Jacob called this record the small plates.  These plates were to be spiritually focused, “an account…of the ministry” of the prophets as opposed to the “account of the reign of the Kings” that was upon the other plates, or large plates (see 1 Nephi 9:3-4). This additional set of plates and the subsequent labor to engrave much of the same material already engraved on the large plates only highlights Nephi’s obedient nature. Nephi characteristically states simply “the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not” (1 Nephi 9: 5).

God taught Joseph some 2300 years later what this wise purpose was including the fact that the accounts written in the small plates contained “greater views upon [His] gospel”. These greater views may be connected with the commandments Nephi received when making the record. Nephi wrote that he “received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon these plates.” Many modern readers might agree with Nephi that his small plates are precious. Truly, the spiritual teachings written by these first authors constituted some of the sweetest spiritual sermons contained in the Book of Mormon. Had these teachings only been found in the large plates, they would have been lost. Regrettably, while some interesting information like Lehi’s genealogy and a more detailed account of their wanderings in the wilderness did not make the spiritual threshold to be included on the small plates and were subsequently lost with the 116 pages, according to Kent Brown, the “material quoted or summarized from Lehi’s records contains some of the most powerful doctrine and far-reaching prophecies in the entire Book of Mormon” [4].

Alma 37

Approximately 500 years after Nephi made the small plates (approximately 73 BC), Alma spoke of the importance to preserve all the records (including the small plates) [5]. He commanded his son Helaman saying, “keep all these things sacred which I have kept, even as I have kept them; for it is a wise purpose that they are kept” (Alma 37: 2). After sharing some of what Alma believed were reasons for keeping the records, Alma admits that he does not know all the purposes for preserving the records, “it may suffice if I only say they are preserved for a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God” (Alma 37: 12).

Speaking of the divine preservation of the plates of brass, as well as “all the plates which do contain that which is holy writ,” Alma explained that “the Lord God doth work by means to bring about His great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37: 5, 7). Although only partly known to Alma, the preservation of the small plates of Nephi would play a large role in bringing about God’s purposes to save many souls.

Alma’s anxiety over keeping the records was warranted seeing how the Lamanites historically wanted to destroy the records of the Nephites, not just the Nephites themselves (see Enos 1: 13-14, 20). Consequently, by Mormon’s time the various plates were deposited in the earth (see Mormon 2: 17; 6: 6), no doubt to protect them against evil designs to steal and destroy them. From personal experience, Alma knew the importance of keeping records safe from destruction. As a missionary he was taken captive and made to witness the burning of his converts and the records these martyrs had (see Alma 14).

Despite the many threats posed against the plates, the Lord told Joseph that He had promised the Nephites that their records would go out to all people (see D&C 10: 46-52). Because of God’s wisdom and the great diligence of His servants in keeping the records safe from destruction, Mormon was able to find the small plates among all the other records and attach them to his abridgment of the large plates.

Words of Mormon

Mormon providentially found the small plates among the records entrusted to him some 400 years after Alma made his comment about preserving the records and inserted them unedited with his own abridgment on the gold plates (about 385 AD). Alma and all the other prophets had kept their obligation to keep the records sacred and complete. Mormon not only found the small plates, but found them to be “choice unto [him]” (Words of Mormon 1: 6).

God’s wisdom is seen once again in Mormon’s decision to include Nephi’s small plates in his final record. Although Mormon found pleasure in the small plates, he also states that his reasons for including the plates into his final account were ultimately beyond him. He wrote, “I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come” (Words of Mormon 1: 7).

Additionally, God’s wisdom, in general, is seen in prophecies of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and also specifically in its arrival in the hands of each individual. Mormon wrote that “[the Book of Mormon] shall come forth according to the commandment of the Lord, when [He] shall see fit, in [His] wisdom” (Mormon 5: 13). In the last exhortation of the Book of Mormon penned by Moroni, each reader passes this phrase, “when ye shall read these things (the Book of Mormon), if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them” (Moroni 10: 3), and may wonder if God had provided this individual opportunity to him or her for a wise purpose that only He knows.

One thing is clear about the Book of Mormon, its authors and its translator, all saw themselves acting out God’s will according to His wisdom. They confess that they did not know exactly why they wrote what they did, anymore than perhaps why readers thousands of years later almost coincidentally come upon verses that impact them in such poignant ways. According to the Book of Mormon, in both cases, it can be attributed to the Lord’s wisdom.

Conclusion

Strathearn and Moody identified Christ’s innovative personification of the Book of Mormon as Isaiah’s prophesied servant and identified His use of these prophecies to foretell the Book of Mormon’s future opposition. This review concurs with this identification, but argues that the specific fulfillment to these prophecies was the loss of the 116 manuscript pages. This loss damaged the Book of Mormon; fortunately, God inspired his servants to create, preserve, and pass on the small plates, so that this record could bandage the Book of Mormon.

Although these ancient prophet-authors were likely unaware of the specific reason why the small plates were so important to God’s purposes, they trusted that God was working through them for the benefit of His people. Mormon stated “the Lord knoweth all things which are to come” (Words of Mormon 1: 7). This is a fitting statement seeing how God’s foresight allowed him to inspire Nephi to make and write the small plates 2300 years before they would play their pivotal role as yet another way the Lord’s wisdom would trump the cunning of the devil [6].

Interestingly, the textual bandage of the small plates did not completely cover up the hole left by the loss of the first part of the large plates’ narrative. Ironically, the resulting ragged edges, which remain uncovered can be seen as added support to the veracity of the underlying source materials (the plates) and the theory of multiple authors and editors for the Book of Mormon [7]. Given the limited time in which Joseph Smith had to translate the Book of Mormon, John Welch argues that the textual consistency within the Book of Mormon itself support the claim that Joseph Smith was not the author [8]. Additionally, the empty allusions made by authors of the Book of Mormon to content in the missing material of the large plates creates a virtual ghost text that would have been a difficult feat for a hurried uneducated author like Joseph Smith was [9].

The link between the prophecy in 3 Nephi 21: 10 extolling the future showdown between God’s wisdom and Satan’s cunning in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the explanation of the prophecy’s fulfillment in D&C 10, and the trail of textual connections that point to the working of God’s wise purposes throughout the narrative of the Book of Mormon all support the claim that the Book of Mormon is an authentic ancient record. Although the claim for the validity of the Book of Mormon as an ancient record inspired by God is becoming more solid via faithful scholarship, the truthfulness of its message is still a matter of faith. This truth is only found in the manner God has established, that is, via revelation to the faithful prayers of the humble.

End Notes

[1] Lucy Mack Smith, the mother of the prophet, related the sad account of the loss of the 116 manuscript pages in The History of Joseph Smith-by His Mother, revised by George A. Smith and Elias Smith (Utah: Covenant Communications, Inc. [2000]), 123-130. Lucy recorded that upon hearing the news regarding the loss of the 116 pages, Joseph cried out “All is lost! All is lost!” (p. 126) and she noted that “it now appeared that all which we has so fondly anticipated, and which had been the source of so much secret gratification, had in a moment fled, and fled forever” (p. 127). A fair approach to Martin Harris and his role in the transciption and publishing of the Book of Mormon, see Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, “For the Sum of Three Thousand Dollars,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14.2 (2005), 8-9. For some oringal accounts from Joseph Smith on this event, see History, circa Summer 1832, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed 1 June 2013, http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/history-circa-summer-1832 or History, circa 1841, fair copy, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed 1 June 2013, http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/history-circa-1841-fair-copy

[2] John W. Welch, “When Did Nephi Write the Small Plates?” FARMS Update in Insights (March 1999): 2.

[3] See Welch, “When Did Nephi Write the Small Plates?”, 2. According to 1 Nephi 19, it was only after Nephi had already “engraven the record of [his] father, and also [their] journeyings in the wilderness, and the prophecies of [his] father; and also many of [his] own prophecies”, did the Lord command Nephi to make the small plates.

[4] S. Kent Brown, “Nephi’s Use of Lehi’s Record” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights you may have missed before, ed. John L. Sorenseon and Melvin J. Thorpe (Utah: Deseret Book Company [1991]), 11. http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1111&index=2

[5] God’s wisdom has yet to play out fully in the realm of sacred records. The use of God’s “wisdom” is not wholly confined to the instances I have cited above, but also includes verses, which talk about records yet to be revealed. According to Nephi’s record, there was a portion of the Nephite record that was not to be translated by Joseph Smith, it was to be sealed up “until [the Lord] sh[ould] see fit in [his] own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men” (2 Nephi 27: 22; italics added for emphasis).

[6] Another example of how God’s wisdom trumped the cunning of the devil is evidenced in Satan’s attempt to frustrate God’s plan by tricking Eve into partaking of the fruit of life. In Moses 4: 6 we find that Satan “sought also to beguile Eve…he sought to destroy the world”. However,  “[Satan] knew not the mind of God” (Moses 4: 6), for the Lord had already provided a way to eliminate the effects of the fall by anointing a savior in the preexistence. For this reason, Lehi could talk to his son Jacob about the fall and testify that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things” (2 Nephi 2: 24).

[7] John Tvedtnes points out that in the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon the book of Mosiah lacked a preface and had no title therefore the “first part of Mormon’s abridgement of Mosiah’s record, including the colophon, was evidently on the 116 pages lost by Martin Harris.” See “Colophons in the Book of Mormon,” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights you may have missed before, ed. John L. Sorenseon and Melvin J. Thorpe (Utah: Deseret Book Company [1991]), 33. This missing first part of the book of Mosiah is part of this jagged edge not fully covered by the insertion of the small plates.

[8] According to John W. Welch and Tim Rathbone, Joseph Smith had sixty-five to seventy-five days to translate the Book of Mormon, which would have given him a translation rate of seven to eight pages a day see “How Long Did It Take to Translate the Book of Mormon” accessed on 4 June 2013, http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=71&chapid=767. Considering all the complexity and consistency inherent in the Book of Mormon, to write it in this amount of time would have been an extremely difficult feat for an educated genius much less an uneducated farm boy. Welch points this out in his “Textual Consistency” accessed on 15 June 2013, http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=71&chapid=771

[9] Here are two examples of such passages: John Tvedtnes noted that Alma 3:14-17 quotes a passage from Nephi, which does not appear in the small plates and there fore “must have been on the 116 pages”. See Tvedtnes “Covering Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon in FARMS Review, volume 3, issue 1, pages 188-230, accessed on 15 June 2013, http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=3&num=1&id=71; and Amulek provides his ancestry in Alma 10:2-3 noting that Lehi was a descendent of Manasseh, which was a fact that was purposefully not mentioned in the small plates, but was recorded in the large plates (see 1 Nephi 6:1-2).

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The Earth’s Possessed

Posted on by nathanwritesstuff

The earth’s possessed, by hordes outnumbering Legion,

Summoned by man’s enterprises reverenced like religion.

We all bow before our industrial idols, and brew them, 

They swirl about and we breathe them, spew them.  

Demonic mists now rule the day, obscure the night,

The moon turns to blood; the stars lose their light.

We roll in our wages of sin, and yet we doubt,  

We’d rue the day the lights went out. 


I found this in my old poetry notebook from college. You gotta love college angst! “I am so upset about the environment, I am going to write a poem about it!” I wonder if college-me would be disappointed at what I am doing now or not…I had such starry-eyed hopes for my life then. From the apocalyptic nature of this poem, maybe college-me would be surprised that there is an earth left.

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