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1 Nephi 11-14- Who is your neighbor?

There’s a story in Luke 10 where someone asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks, “what is written in the law?” and this person says “Love God with all your heart soul strength and mind, and love thy neighbor as thyself” and then he asks Jesus “but, who is my neighbor?”

Jesus answers by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man from Jerusalem is beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest walks by and doesn’t help him. A Levite walks by and doesn’t help him. A Samaritan stops and helps him.

Who was this man’s neighbor? The Samaritan, the one who treated him like a neighbor despite being from different cities and despite the animosity between their different ethnic groups. We learn from this parable that you choose who is in your in group and who is in your out group. You choose who to make your neighbor.

In Nephi's vision in 1 Nephi 11-14, Nephi sees two churches- the Great and Abominable Church and the Church of God. Lately, I haven't felt entirely comfortable with this kind of good vs evil imagery, where one group of people is clearly good and one is clearly evil. It all too often leads us to imagine ourselves as wholly good and some other group of people as wholly evil, and more often than we like to admit, it leads people to justify actual violence and harm against the group they imagine as evil.

Growing up, the discussion on these verses has centered around the question "who is my enemy?" The great and abominable church has often been interpreted as a specific group of people, or any group of people who are not part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Olsen Hemming pointed out in The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, the actual text of the Book of Mormon characterizes the Great and Abominable Church as worshipping wealth and power while perpetuating captivity and oppression of innocent people. They write:

“Disciples need to work to eradicate the values of the great and abominable church from our society. To do so, we need to look at our own organizations and institutions and our own history to see where we have worshiped at the altar of the great and abominable church. If we read these verses thinking that this evil church is always somewhere else and never within our midst, then we miss what God asks us to do. We have to remove it from our own walls and from our own hearts.”

How do we remove the great and abominable church from ourselves and our communities? We must stop asking ourselves "who is my enemy?" and begin asking ourselves "who is my neighbor?" We must stop seeking to justify ourselves by saying "I am good and you are evil so I don't have to love you." Instead, we must follow the example of the Good Samaritan, who actively chose to reach out across boundaries, to invite all into his in group, to make everyone his neighbor.

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1 Nephi 7- The Peacemakers

The story of 1 Nephi 7 is familiar for those of us who grew up in the Church. Laman and Lemuel bind Nephi with cords and leave him for dead. He prays for strength to break the cords and his prayer is answered. Laman and Lemuel are even more angry and are about to lay their hands on Nephi again, but then three unnamed figures step in. The text refers to them as one of the daughters of Ishmael, her mother, and one of the sons of Ishmael. In the alternate title of this painting depicting the scene, they are simply called The Peacemakers.*

In Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, he criticizes the white moderate "who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."**

Too often, we think of peacemaking as a passive thing, simply avoiding contention and doing whatever you can to dispel disagreements as soon as possible. But positive peace, the presence of justice, doesn't come passively. That kind of peace has to be fought for, the way Martin Luther King and so many others fought for it during the Civil Rights Movement, and the way so many people are fighting for it now. Being a peacemaker is an active choice to look around, notice when something is wrong, and take a stand. It takes courage and compassion. Just like the Peacemakers actively stepped in to protect Nephi from his brothers, we can be peacemakers as we actively stand up to protect and stand in solidarity with those who are marginalized and oppressed.

*George M. Ottinger, Nephi Protected from his Brethren by the Daughter of Ishmael and her Mother, 1890. The Book of Mormon Art Catalog, https://bookofmormonartcatalog.org/catalog/nephi-protected-from-his-brethren-by-the-daughter-of-ishmael-and-her-mother/.

**Martin Luther King Jr, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963. https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

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1 Nephi 8- Pure Religion

I love deep religious conversations. I'm actually incredibly picky about institute classes because I don't want it to feel like extra church; I want to actually learn something. I want to learn about how the ancient Israelites would have understood the words of Isaiah, I want to talk about how the temple symbolizes a cosmic mountain, I want to read papers about the parallels between the story of Moses and the first five chapters of Matthew. But as time goes on, I've come to feel that knowledge for the sake of knowledge and faith for the sake of faith, while valuable pursuits, are not the best way to come closer to Christ.

There's something beautiful about the way Lehi's dream centers on his family. When he tastes the fruit of the tree of life, symbolizing the pure love of Christ, he immediately desires to share it with his wife and children. He invites them to come join him, and taste the fruit too so that they can enjoy it together. And then he sees numberless people all coming to the tree, all tasting the fruit, all experiencing the love of God together.

There are so many things to learn from Lehi's vision, but the one that stands out to me the most right now is that God's love is not meant to be experienced alone. We need each other.

James 1:27 says "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Pure religion is not about hiding away in an ivory tower and discussing eternal truths--it's about being out in the world and living those truths by caring for people. We can come closest to Christ not by studying and memorizing His words but by loving the way He loved "that when he shall appear we shall be like him" (Moroni 7:48).

#book of mormon 2023 #1 nephi #mormonism #tumblrstake

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"I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: 'All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.' Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity."

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963

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1 Nephi 4- Nephi's Choice

"Whatever choice he makes, Nephi must break a commandment--either God's word in scripture or God's word to Nephi individually. We see Nephi's understanding of his dilemma in the way he argues back and forth inside himself. He cites scripture, particularly the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments. In the end, Nephi chooses to 'obey the spirit' and kill Laban. ...

"In the end, the reader's role is not to judge Nephi's choice, but rather to empathize with his suffering and consider how we can use God's voice to navigate the challenging choices we make in our own lives. Many of us will, at some point, face conflicting commandments or prophetic direction that conflicts with personal revelation. Nephi's actions indicate that the Holy Ghost ought to serve as the most important factor in making decisions for our own personal journeys."

-The Book of Mormon for the Least of These Vol. 1 by Fatimah Salleh with Margaret Olsen Hemming

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1 Nephi 5- My Soul's Complaint

This Sunday in church, someone quoted the first two lines of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." As I sat in the pew, I let my mind wander through the rest of the words, and then I was struck by a line in the second verse: He lives to hear my soul's complaint. I immediately thought of Sariah.

The one story where we hear the most about her is when she complains against her husband, the prophet Lehi. Far too often, I've heard people tell this story like it's black and white. Maybe Sariah isn't painted as a true villain but she's definitely treated like an example of What Not To Do.

But I actually really look up to her. As someone who has struggled with expressing my thoughts and feelings out of fear of conflict, I look to this story and wish I could be like Sariah. I'm not sure I like the message it sends to women and girls in the church when we speak negatively about Sariah, one of the few named women in the Book of Mormon, simply for using her voice rather than suffering in silence.

We don't always talk about the fact that Sariah had just lost everything. She lost her home, her ancestral land, her community. And she believed she had lost her sons. Her pain was very real. It should be noted that Lehi never belittled her pain and doubts. Interestingly, even though Lehi spoke comforting words of faith, the text doesn't say Sariah was comforted until her sons returned. I imagine that, even more than just speaking truth to her, Lehi waited with her in her pain and fear and truly listened.

It's important to remember that we strive to emulate a Redeemer who comforts when faint, and wipes away tears. And it's important when you have fears and doubts to open your mouth and let your soul's complaint be heard.

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Testimonies of the Three and Eight Witnesses- Strength in Numbers

I admire the courage of queer mormons, those who stay and those who leave. I am inspired by the way they forge their own paths and I am grateful to those who share their stories. But I do wish they didn't have to be so courageous.

Growing up in the church, we are taught to revere Joseph Smith's courage. He had a unique and deeply personal spiritual experience in what we now call the Sacred Grove, and he shared his story and never went back on it no matter how much opposition grew against him. He was the only one who saw that vision. For years, he was the only one who saw the gold plates. He had friends and family and followers, but he often felt entirely alone.

And then, eventually, others were allowed to witness the gold plates. A group of three and then a group of eight signed their names, adding their witnesses to support Joseph's. Joseph said:

"I was relieved of a dreadful burden which was almost too much for me to endure, but they will now have to bear a part and it does rejoice my soul that I am not any longer to be entirely alone in the world."*

I don't know what it's like to be a queer mormon. But I know that there is power in adding second and third and eighth and ninth and tenth witnesses--in speaking up and adding your witness of what is true and adding your support for those who are cast out and persecuted. And then maybe, eventually, it won't require so much courage, and no one will have to feel alone.

*Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–45, book 8, [11]

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Introduction to the Book of Mormon- "most correct of any book on earth"

The introduction to the Book of Mormon contains a quote from Joseph Smith that I've heard countless times:

"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

We have no problem saying that the Bible is imperfect, citing scriptures about the plain and precious truths being removed and the possibility of being translated incorrectly. But what about the Book of Mormon?

Even though I understand why our theology has built up the Book of Mormon as the one book of infallible truth, I think it's healthy to acknowledge that such a book doesn't truly exist.

Even if you believe in the truth of the Book of Mormon and that it was translated by the gift and power of God, it is important to acknowledge imperfections. For example, Nephi would have been writing most of his story decades after the fact, which could affect his memory of the events he recorded. Book of Mormon authors were influenced by their own judgements and prejudices (for example, just look at the way they described the Lamanites). Maybe Mormon had an overinflated opinion of Captain Moroni when he was describing him, as other biographers sometimes do. And maybe modern interpretation has strayed from the original intended meaning of a verse- like the infamous phrase "after all we can do" in 2 Nephi 25:23, which likely has a different meaning than we think.

I am an active Latter-Day Saint and I love the Book of Mormon, but actively seeking to understand its imperfections makes me love it even more. It makes it more real, and it allows people to wrestle with the text and build a more nuanced faith in a way that simply doesn't happen when you are told to take the text at face value and not ask questions. Because asking questions is how you truly "get nearer to God."

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Introduction to the Book of Mormon- Intentions for the New Year

I'm sure I've read the introduction to the Book of Mormon hundreds of times, especially the last two paragraphs. The invitation to pray, the promise that I will learn the truth of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's prophetic call, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There is a reference to Moroni 10:5-6, which I have often turned to immediately after reading the introduction.

This year, however, I turned to Moroni 7:48.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

I have recently become obsessed with the idea of seeing God, if not literally then in some spiritual or metaphorical sense. There are so many people who believe in God, and yet they can all have wildly different ideas about who He is. Every scriptural author describes Him a bit different, with different commandments, teachings, and personalities. The way people see God can alter their interpretation of scripture, leading them to believe things that are hurtful or ignorant, or things that are beautiful or empowering.

This is why I find the message of Moroni 7:48 so intriguing. The way to see God as He truly is, is to become like Him. And the way to become like Him is to be filled with pure love.

So this year, instead of praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true, I will pray to "be filled with this love." I will search to see that which is unseen in the pages of the Book of Mormon, and to find examples and teachings about Christlike love. And I will strive to emulate that love, that I may become like Him and see Him as He is.

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