Monday, November 29, 2010

Mormon 2

Mormon says he is large in stature much the same way Nephi describes himself. Mormon must have been a formidable person, not only in size, but as a person, to win the confidence of the armies to be their leader. He shows the maturity of his spirituality when he laments over the fact that the Nephite’s repentance is hollow and not based on regret for their own short comings. He points out that the Nephites, as a nation, not individuals, have passed the point of where there is any hope either spiritually or temporally. This means that the Nephites are no longer a nation that the Lord will favor with prophets, priesthood, revelation, miracles, or any other spiritual blessing associated with the gospel. It also means they will not have the Lord’s help in their battles, not be blessed in terms of growth and prosperity, and basically are faced with complete destruction. It just doesn’t seem possible to describe how bad they have become as a nation. Even Mormon says that things were so bad he had to “forbear to make a full account of their wickedness, for behold, a continual scene of wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since I have been sufficient to behold the ways of man.”

What’s happening here with the Nephites is not really different than other civilizations that first prospered, then declined morally to the point they became weak and vulnerable. It’s especially true of the House of Israel where the Lord finally allowed them to be destroyed as a nation and the people were scattered to the point they were totally assimilated into other nationalities. Mormon says “the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren (the Lamanites).” This is quite a contrast to Alma who said, “I know I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things.” If the Nephites had been like this, what a difference the end of the Book of Mormon would have been.

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