The BoM: Title page, paragraph 2

"An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven—Which is to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ." -- Moroni or Mormon


Hold the phone there's a third group that make an appearance, the people of Jared, an off-shoot of the famed tower of Babel debacle. We get a light sprinkling of their dealings with God and each other. Take a look at the table of contents, and unless my math is wrong which is often the case, of the 531 pages in the BoM, 31 are dedicated to the Book of Ether (which is an abridged record of said peoples' history). That's roughly 5 percent, not the largest morsel on offer, but still important enough to garner a special mention on the title page and hopefully tasty all the same.

The account of the people of Jared then, no matter how sparse, requires special consideration, then again so does the entirety of the BoM as the final sentences of this paragraph goes on to explain. You've got to love the vagaries of the English language "which is to show" (highlighted above) functions as an indexical here and like all bad indexicals it's not immediately obvious what it is referring to (or maybe I'm just being obtuse). It could mean that the record of the people of Jared, or the confusion of languages at the tower of babel, but most likely that the record which constitutes the Book of Mormon is or was written to illustrate that Jesus is God (an interesting idea that will be explored in another post) and the anointed of God and that He will manifest this fact to the world.

I am therefore left to use the discernible intent of the author as the lens by which I go about my (for lack of a better word) deconstruction/commentary/annotation of the BoM. Moroni's purpose was to show the divinity of Jesus and His interactions with the people in the BoM. Lets see where that takes us.

Plan(s) of Salvation

Before the foundations of this world a plan was proposed and each of us who is born to the earth "shouted for joy". After the ancillary celebrations (and the notable expulsion of a farely large group of dissident party poopers), we left heaven with the promise that one day we could return if we were obedient to God's law. Sometimes I wonder what we were thinking.

In life we have many different challenges, this I suppose is built into our purpose for being here. Sometimes we even share the same challenges as others around us. Case in point: One day the Lamanites decided that they were going to wipe out the Nephites (again) and also the recently established People of Ammon, both of the non-aggressive groups had a different way of responding to the threat. The Nephites fought "for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church." The People of Ammon on the other hand buried their swords "deep in the earth" and refused to retaliate.

Which reaction was correct? They both were. "If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever;" Captain Moroni lead the Nephites in the defence of their nation. Consider the other side: "And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away." "And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace."

One problem, two very different solutions, now what's the point of all this? The Plan of Salvation is an all encompassing thing that effects each of us. In saying this, the Lord understands each of our unique situations; so there is the Plan of Salvation and then there are my acts of salvation (the actual salvation part being made possible through Jesus of course). We each come from different backgrounds and contexts just as the People of Ammon were different from Captain Moroni, so we will be schooled according what best serves our needs. The path is straight and narrow, but even on a finite straight line there are an infinite number of points. There are common points we all need to pass through (baptism's probably a good place to start), but in the end we need to choose our own way back to heaven. When we make peace with this fact, that's when the fun begins and maybe that's what we got so excited about in the first place.

Perfunctionary no more

Why do I take the sacrament?

To remember, but just what exactly it is that I'm trying to recall is something I often struggle with. And then I'm reminded and I start all over again... Do I need to remember my abstract formulations of who Jesus was and the mechanics of how the Atonement works insofar as I understand them? That's certainly part of it, but the knowledge needs to go deeper than that. There are other neural pathways (and spiritual ones) that need to be accessed. It is said "by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things" and that "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." So, to entertain the truth of what I'm remembering on a purely intellectual level would leave my knowledge of the reality of the divinity of Christ on par with the rest of my memorized facts about the world. However, these scriptures offer a valuable insight: stating that there is a special (non-provisional) knowledge available through a witness given by the Holy Ghost. The question is have I experienced this? Yes. OK, back to the beginning again, that's why I take the sacrament to remember the Atonement based on my own actual spiritual experience of its reality.