Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! This is the first week with Mormon and Moroni! I'm not going to lie to you... most of you already know it is going to get pretty bad. You can tell Mormon is incredibly sorrowful that his people ended the way they did, But something I find interesting about both Mormon and Moroni is the transcendent beauty that surrounds them in the midst of pretty awful carnage. I encourage you to look for those signs over the last chapters of the Book of Mormon.
Post script: I came across this blog post as I was preparing to write this week's come follow me. It writes about hope in darkness and inspiration of the stars, especially in The Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend you read it before walking through the end chapters of the Book of Mormon
Ten years of age!
Mormon is so young when Ammoron entrusts him with the place of records! 10 years. There are a few reasons it may have come so young.
- Mormon was a sober kid and Ammoron picked up on it. It states this in the record so we know this is true. The rest is slightly speculative, fair warning
- Mormon was chosen for this and Ammoron picked up by revelation that this boy had a big role to play
- Mormon was exceptionally gifted and this manifested at a very young age.
- Perhaps Ammoron knew he was running out of time for some reason and needed to entrust him quickly
This isn't the end of it. He basically fulfills the role of Prophet, and then commanding general of the nations armed forces, by 15. That being said, I believe that we are selling most of our kids way to short. I believe that if they were to receive the proper help, and learned what great expectations we had for growing their nascent potential, we would see miracles like this one among them.
Miracles taken away
Mormon covers a lot of ground in chapter 1. One thing he mentions is that miracles, and the work of healing is gone. Notice that he mentions this before all the wickedness. This is the true loss for him. It also is a way to judge how our own society has become. Are there beloved disciples among us? Are there miracles? Is there healing? Are there gifts of the Lord manifest? Does the Holy Ghost come to you or people you know?
That seems like a high bar to hit in modern culture, but those are the things that Mormon laments are gone when you live in a wicked time and place. the work of miracles is emphasized to such a degree in both Mormon and Moroni's writings. This is such a key message for them, and i admit that grasping the full meaning of that can be difficult sometimes. Remember that Joseph Smith said that revelation, a connection to heaven, was the thing that separated the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from every other church. I think Mormon emphasized it because he knew what our time was like. Here in chapter 1 though, he is mourning it per se. It is really worth thinking and praying about what it means.
Mouth shut up
Mormon's mouth was shut up so that he could not preach. This was because there was willful rebellion against God. This is a really really bad place to be.
Is it time for Marxist poetry? I think it may be time for Marxist poetry. It is really hard for rank and file members, or nonmembers, to realize what was going on here. Mormon was really careful to not get into it, and Moroni felt like he should give us a short idea, but not dwell on it. So we don't have a lot of clues to understand what was going on.
I'll dive into this deeper as we get to the end, but for now, I've got Marx to help us out with what is happening. Just read this lovely poem called 'Invocation of One in Despair' and think as your read if this does not reflect what is happening among the Nephites, and undoubtedly the Lamanites as well.
The deeply badness shizam
Mormon doesn't talk about it much, but there is deeply badness shizam going down in both civilizations. Not good.
Notice the new lands.
Something I mentioned in Blog numero uno was that We shouldn't see the Nephites as a contiguous homogenous civilization from Lehi to Mormon. Looking at them we should expect to see evidence of a number of phases. Here as Mormon traverses the land in chapter 2 with his armies, there is evidence of that, as we hear about completely new cities and lands (Angola, David, ?Joshua?, Jashon, Shem) These were likely built on the old lands that were destroyed during the Savior's coming.
While we are on cultural notes, one thing I wonder is who taught these new armies to fight? Did they have to relearn the craft after so much peace? was it preserved through history, or hunting? Did they learn it from other groups of people in the land? Does it reflect earlier methods, like during the great wars in the book of Alma and Helaman, or did it evolve from that?
Sorrowing of the damned
Here is the deal. You can suffer one of two ways. you can suffer in such away that you come unto Christ and get beauty for ashes (remember this was a major point of the beatitudes) or you can just suffer. I know Orson whoever or some-such-a-person whitney said nothing in this life is suffered meaninglessly, all has a purpose, and that is technically true, but let me tell you, if you don't figure out how to come unto Christ through your suffering, there is no end to the depths of hell or the blackness of the pit you may need to wade through. Okay, technically I believe that even oblivion must end some day, but for you, repent, lest, per D&C 19
your bsufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
16 For behold, I, God, have asuffered these things for all, that they bmight not suffer if they would crepent;
17 But if they would not repent they must asuffer even as I;
It says in vs 14 of Chapter 2 that 'they did cures God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives. Reference that lovely piece of Marx's poetry above and see if there isn't some nasty parallels there.
I had loved them, according to the love of God
So if you have a tough stomach, go ahead and read Moroni chapter 9 then come back and read Mormon 3:12. The Nephites who were doing those awful things are the same Nephites who Mormon loved according to the love of God, and the same Nephites whom Mormon utterly refused to lead on an attack trip. I write this to help you understand that there is literally no end to God's love, if there was a possible way back to heaven from those terrible things, Jesus would do whatever was necessary to help them back. I know this because He already did that on the cross. But they willfully rebelled, and if it was possible, they would have turned away still.
And before you judge this to be (literally) overly charitable to depraved monsters, read a lovely little book called 'Ordinary Men', and don't be so quick to judge. the evidence is overwhelming that statistically, you would be the same as them if you were born there, and you just have no idea what kind of a monster still dwells in your heart. The natural man was a gentle reminder from King Benjamin. This is a harder reminder that the natural man is not a cute concept, it is a very real monster to overcome.
The very Christ and the very God
Speaking of King Benjamin, we get one last reference in 3:21 alluding to the idea that God Himself came down to redeem mankind. I spoke about this extensively during the Abinadai chapters in Mosiah 13-15, and alluded to it as a central message throughout the blog. This is the harder reminder again. Mormon is saying, liberally paraphrased, 'I know what happens to civilizations that turn their backs on the Savior. There aren't many more verbal warnings after this one, so do yourself a favor and get a clue before you have to see things that you can't unsee'.
Also note that since this book has gone to the world, We have witnesses of the worst atrocities in the Civil War, Crimea, WWI, WWII, soviet Russia, Communist China, the killing fields of Cambodia, and the desolation of North Korea.
'And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people'
If we say we didn't know better, the prophets are going to look at us and say 'Oh yes you did.'
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