The Place Which was Called Nahom

The first book in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi) details, among other things, the challenges that Nephi and his family had to face while traveling through the Arabian desert. The hardships in the desert became so severe, in fact, that one member - a man named Ishmael - died. Nephi indicates that Ishmael was buried "in the place which was called Nahom" (1 Nephi 16:34).

This bit of information in the Book of Mormon constitutes one of its strongest evidences of authenticity. There are three points to this.

1. The root of the name Nahom - NHM (remember, there are no vowels in Hebrew) - means "consolation" or "to be sorry, console oneself." How appropriate that Ishmael was buried at a location that had a name such as this. Also, how appropriate that the daughters of Ishmael, following the old Bedouin tradition of mourning, choose here to proclaim their lamentations for the loss of their father (1 Nephi 16:35-36).
Of all the names that Joseph Smith could have choosen for the name of the place that Ishmael was buried if he was the author of the text, how did he know to pick such a befitting title? Joseph did not begin to learn Hebrew until 5 years after the publication of the Book of Mormon.

2. In the late 1990's, a team of non-LDS German archaeologists discovered a group of limestone altars in the Nehem region of southern Arabia. On these altars was inscribed the name NHM, which can be constructed as Nehem/Naham/Nahom. These altars are older than the time in which Nephi says Ishmael was buried (circa 600-592 BCE) which shows that Nephi was strictly correct to note that Ishmael's burial site "was called" Nahom, since the location was older than the time of Nephi's narrative.

3. Nephi indicates that he and his family, after entombing Ishmael at Nahom, traveled "nearly eastward" (1 Nephi 17:1) until they hit the land that Nephi and his family named Bountiful, where Nephi built his ship that would take him and his family to the New World. Latter-day Saint scholars have shown that the most likely candidate for Nephi's "Bountiful" - a location today known as Khor Khafot - is indeed a simple eastward trek from Nahom, thus proving that Nephi's record is in strict accord with Arabian geography.

These three elements create an impressive evidence for the Book of Mormon's authenticity. There is no evidence that Joseph Smith was familiar with pre-Islamic Arabian geography, which makes him and unlikely author of the text of 1 Nephi. The only person who could have written it is someone who had a familiar understanding with Arabian geography (i.e. Nephi).

However, despite this impressive bullseye for the Book of Mormon (and there is plenty more from Arabia that I did not cover which are also impressive evidences for the Book of Mormon), it cannot be stressed enough that the ultimate proof for the Book of Mormon is the witness of the Spirit of its truthfulness (Moroni 10:4-5) which comes from personal revelation from the Lord through the Holy Ghost.

For further reading, consult the following:

"New Light from Arabia on Lehi's Trail" by S. Kent Brown (http://farms.byu.edu/publications/bookschapter.php?bookid=8&chapid=61)

"Lehi's Arabian Journey Updated" by Noel B. Reynolds (http://farms.byu.edu/publications/bookschapter.php?bookid=41&chapid=195)

"Lehi in the Desert" by Hugh W. Nibley (http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/booksmain.php?bookid=59)

"Through the Arabian Desert to a Bountiful Land: Could Joseph Smith have Known the Way?" in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins by Eugene England

"New Light: "The Place That Was Called Nahom": New Light from Ancient Yemen" by S. Kent Brown (http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=jbms&id=187)

"Bountiful and Nahom in the Arabian Peninsula" by Jeff Lindsay (http://www.jefflindsay.com/BMEvidences.shtml#geography)

The Wicked Take the Truth to Be Hard (1 Nephi 16 Part I)

Despite Nephi having urged his brothers to pray to know the truth of what he and their father Lehi had been teaching them from the beginning of this journey, Laman and Lemuel continue to protest being taught.

1 Nephi 16:1

And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold they said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.

Notice that even they admit that the things they were told were "hard things" and "more than we are able to bear", not that they were necessarily false. This is one of those scriptures that speaks volumes about our own period in history, where good is called evil and evil is called good. One need only open the newspaper, or a magazine, or turn on the television or surf the Web to see that the things that were once considered decent, and a high-water mark of civilized society are now being called evil, selfish, and indulgent practices.

Take, for example, the erstwhile ideal of having large families. It used to be that a large family was considered a blessing, even a necessity in keeping family businesses, farms, and other economies thriving. When a person mentioned to an acquaintance that he/she had eight children, they received congratulations and were afforded a certain amount of respect. However, I know from my own experience (and hearing that of others) that this is no longer the case. Mention that you have more than one child and you're likely to get stares of disapproval, or even outright rude comments such as, "Well, I certainly hope you're finished now."

On the other hand, things like pornography, drug abuse, violence, gossip, taking advantage of another person to get rich, etc. are all acceptable, even respectable facets of our society. Not that they didn't exist before, but at least there was a healthy dose of stigma attached to them.

In the early history of America you could cause a man to feel real shame when you confronted him with a sin or transgression he was committing against God, himself, his family, and humanity. Try confronting, say, a pornography purveyor today with the real-world, heartbreaking consequences of his business and you will be laughed off as being out of touch with "what the people want" and "good business" and "market forces". As if being popular and rich were a virtue rather than a tipping point for being ripe for destruction.

That is the state in which we find Laman and Lemuel. The good news, at least in the short term, is that they accept Nephi's truth-telling and realize they need to repent.

Prayer as a Commandment (1 Nephi 15)

After Nephi had received this vision, he had to come back to the harsh realities of this world, for his brothers, Laman and Lemuel, despite their previous experiences with angels and God's protection, were still not believers in revelation from God.

Nephi relates that his brothers came to him with many questions about what he and their father, Lehi, had seen.

3 For he truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be ^aunderstood, save a man should inquire of the Lord; and they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought.

They told Nephi that they couldn't understand what Lehi and Nephi were telling them about natural branches of an olive tree, a rod of iron, a tree with fruit, and a filthy river. Nephi was direct in asking them, "Have ye inquired of the Lord?"

"We have not;" they said, "for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us."

Nephi responded, "How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?"

In other words, they had been taught, correctly, that asking God is a commandment whenever we are in doubt or are confused about anything at all. It's not something to be treated lightly or tossed aside because of our unbelief or doubts. We have an obligation to approach God and ask Him for wisdom.

This is the principle problem with the Book of Mormon. Not that the book itself has problems, but that people will renounce it out of hand, after reading just a few pages, by declaring it unreadable, boring, difficult to understand.

What they really mean is that they don't understand or don't want to comply with the commandment from God to "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt. 7:7)

How is it done? Through prayer! When we feel that we should not pray to know the truth of something, we are paying more attention to the devil than we are to God. For, "if ye would hearken unto the ^aSpirit which teacheth a man to ^bpray ye would know that ye must ^cpray; for the ^devil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray."

Alma, a prophet we will read about in a later book, taught:

Alma 34:17-27

17 Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your ^afaith unto repentance, that ye begin to ^bcall upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you;

18 Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is ^amighty to save.

19 Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in ^aprayer unto him.

20 Cry unto him when ye are in your ^afields, yea, over all your flocks.

21 ^aCry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.

22 Yea, cry unto him against the power of your ^aenemies.

23 Yea, ^acry unto him against the ^bdevil, who is an enemy to all ^crighteousness.

24 Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.

25 Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.

26 But this is not all; ye must ^apour out your souls in your ^bclosets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.

27 Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your ^ahearts be ^bfull, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your ^cwelfare, and also for the welfare of ^dthose who are around you.

It is a theme that is repeated frequently in scripture.

1. Matt. 21: 22
   22 And all ^athings, whatsoever ye shall ^bask in ^cprayer, believing, ye shall receive.
2. John 16: 24
   24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ^aask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
3. James 4: 3
   3 Ye ^aask, and receive not, because ye ^bask ^camiss, that ye may ^dconsume it upon your ^elusts.
4. 1 Jn. 3: 22
   22 And whatsoever we ^aask, we receive of him, because we ^bkeep his ^ccommandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
5. Enos 1: 15
   15 Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to ^apreserve our records, I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.
6. Mosiah 4: 21
   21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive...
7. 3 Ne. 18: 20
   20 And ^awhatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.
8. 3 Ne. 27: 29
   29 Therefore, ^aask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
9. Moro. 7: 26
   26 And after that he came men also were ^asaved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the ^bsons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: ^cWhatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.
10. Moro. 10: 4
    4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
11. D&C 35: 9
    9 And whoso shall ask it in my name in ^afaith, they shall ^bcast out ^cdevils; they shall heal the ^dsick; they shall cause the blind to receive their ^esight, and the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk.
12. D&C 50: 31
    31 Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a ^aspirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God.
13. D&C 66: 9
    9 Lay your ^ahands upon the ^bsick, and they shall ^crecover. Return not till I, the Lord, shall send you. Be patient in affliction. ^dAsk, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
14. D&C 88: 63
    63 ^aDraw ^bnear unto me and I will draw near unto you; ^cseek me diligently and ye shall ^dfind me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
15. Moses 6: 52
    52 And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be ^abaptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of ^bgrace and truth, which is Jesus ^cChrist, the only ^dname which shall be given under heaven, whereby ^esalvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.

It is clear from these and many other passages what the Lord wants us to do. He wants us to talk to Him and ask Him for wisdom.

Will you ask God whether what you are reading in the Book of Mormon is true?

Gentiles in America and the Conditions of the Last Days (1 Nephi 14)

Nephi learns what the Gentiles need to do to stay in favor with God while inhabiting the lands of the Americas. The requirements are simple. The Gentiles:

• shall hearken unto the Lamb of God
• [shall] harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God
• [shall] repent

The blessings they will receive for their faithfulness are great.

• taking away of their stumbling blocks
• they shall be numbered among the house of Israel
• they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever
• they shall be no more brought down into captivity
• the house of Israel shall no more be confounded
• that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction

Nephi is taught about a "marvelous work and a wonder" that God would bring to pass around the time that the Gentiles immigrate to the Americas. This work would be as the dividing of the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, "either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil".

Nephi is reminded of the part of the vision he saw wherein there was a great and abominable church, representing the world at large, or anything or anyone that fights against the kingdom of God. In comparison to that church, the kingdom of God on the earth would be very small.

Nephi sees the great and abominable church gather against the seemingly small church of God, who were scattered across all the earth and armed with righteousness. God, seeing this imbalance, pours out wars and rumors of wars among those of the church of the devil. At the beginning of all of this conflict, the work of God commences, "preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel."

At this point, Nephi is shown a man, who is identified as one of the "twelve apostles of the Lamb" who would write down everything that would happen in those days of wars and conflict. This is obviously whom we know to be John the Revelator, who wrote the Book of Revelations in the Bible. Others also wrote the visions they were given of the same happenings, but those records were sealed up to be revealed later, when God decides to reveal them. The brother of Jared, mentioned in the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon, wrote one of these accounts which makes up the sealed portion of the gold plates Joseph Smith received, but was not permitted to translate. Even though Nephi is allowed to see all of those things, he is not allowed to write them himself because it is not part of his mission.

At this point Nephi's vision ends. Who can doubt that we live in these times that Nephi foresaw? During what age of the world's history have we had such a density of conflicts between worldly organizations and the kingdom of God? When have the righteous been more persecuted and martyred on such a global scale? Think of the Holocaust, and those that continue to follow it in diverse parts of the globe. It is the mark of a desperate enemy of God who knows he has little time to hinder God's work of restoring the Gospel to all the earth.

Which church do you belong to? The one which supports God's work, or the one that fights against it? Look at all of your beliefs, affiliations, alliances, and practices and ask yourself whether they help or hinder those who are trying to build up God's kingdom.

Some notes on the name Nephi

The Book of Mormon starts with a narrative written by a man named Nephi. Nephi, in the opening verses of the Book of Mormon writes the following:

"I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents..." (1 Nephi 1:1)

What is interesting (aside from the fact that Nephi here in his introduction from verse 1 to 3 is employing a perfect example of an Egyptian literary device known as a Colophon) to note is the possible meanings of Nephi's name. Latter-day Saint scholars are - by and large - in agreement that Nephi's name is of Egyptian origin. This should not be surprising, as not only was ancient Israel saturated with Egyptian influences during Nephi's time, but that Nephi himself gives indication that he and his family had knowledge of Egyptian culture and language (See, for example, 1 Nephi 1: 2 and Mosiah 1:4).

But what does Nephi's name mean in Egyptian? There are several possibilities. John Gee, a scholar at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute, for example, says the following (found here http://farms.byu.edu/publications/bookschapter.php?bookid=&chapid=618):

"Three of the four etymologies proposed for the name Nephi are Egyptian; these are the Egyptian names Nfr "good," Nfw "captain," and Nfy "wind.""

Dr. Gee then concludes:

"Thus, one may confidently conclude, whether from Nfr or Nfw, the name Nephi is an attested Egyptian name."

The late Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley agrees with Dr. Gee, as is detailed in his book Lehi in the Desert, page 27.

What is also interesting to note is that Nephi's choice of the word "goodly" to describe his parents may be a play on words. Brant Gardner, in his recent Book of Mormon commentary Second Witness, notes the following:

"Is there a possibility that "goodly" is a play on words? Matthew L. Bowen noticed an interesting correlation between the plausible etymology of "Nephi" as a personal name and this description of "goodly" parents." (Vol. 1 page 60)

Gardner then quotes from Bowen, whom I shall quote in full:

"A proposed etymology of the Book of Mormon name Nephi is that it derives from the ancient Egyptian word nfr which is an adjective that means "good," "fine," or "goodly" and as noun denotes "kindness" or "goodness". By Lehi's time, this word was probably pronounced "nefe" (NEH-fee)...Nephi's use of words that translate into English as "goodly" and "goodness" makes this passage even more beautiful and meaningful if we also understand the name Nephi to denote "goodly" or "goodness." The wordplay perhaps suggests why the name Nephi so befits its bearer: he is nf, or "goodly", because he was born of "goodly parents" and is one endowed with a "knowledge of the goodness and mysteries of God.""

This is an interesting insight to the Book of Mormon that not only gives us a more deeper appreciation for it as a literary work, but also is further internal consistancy that rules out Joseph Smith - or any of his contemporaries, for that matter- as a likely author of the Book of Mormon.

Nephi Sees Conditions Leading to Latter-day Events (1 Nephi 13, Part III)

In Part II of this chapter, we covered the arrival of the Gentiles and their wars and contentions with their mother nations. We also covered the book they brought with them which, it is abundantly apparent, is the Bible as we know it today.

In Part III, we finish 1 Nephi Chapter 13 by discussing Gentile influences on the descendants of Nephi's brothers, Laman and Lemuel.

Christopher Columbus wrote in journals regarding his experience in mounting his voyage to the New World:

It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel his hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me.... For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied.

The passages of Isaiah he refers to are as follows:

Isaiah 18:1-2

1 ^aWoe to the land shadowing with wings, which is ^bbeyond the rivers of ^cEthiopia:

2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of ^abulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have ^bspoiled!

Isaiah 49:1, 5-6

1 ^aListen, O isles, unto me; and ^bhearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath ^ccalled me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

5 ¶ And now, saith the Lord that ^aformed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.

6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a ^alight to the ^bGentiles, that thou mayest be my ^csalvation unto the end of the earth.

Samuel Eliot Morison of Harvard, who studied the extremely spiritual character of Columbus, wrote:

Men may doubt this, but there can be no doubt that the faith of Columbus was genuine and sincere, and that his frequent communion with forces unseen was a vital element in his achievements. It gave him confidence in his destiny, assurance that his performance would be equal to the promise.... This conviction that god destined him to be an instrument for spreading the faith was far more potent than the desire to win glory, wealth, and worldly honors, to which he was certainly far from indifferent.

In the secularized world of today, with its so-called "separation of church and state", and perpetual hand-wringing over America's erstwhile participation in the slave trade, the topic of Columbus can certainly make for uncomfortable dinner conversation among mixed company. For, as the argument goes, if Columbus hadn't set foot on his ship and come here, nothing bad would have happened.

Utter nonsense. To believe such a thing is to ignore patterns of human development and behavior in all nations and by all nations, especially their tendency to invade and enslave their neighbors. It is to imagine that only Columbus would ever have stumbled upon the Americas.

If not Columbus, then someone else--perhaps with unabashedly ignoble motivations--would have taken his place.

It certainly can't be denied that the impact of European contact with American natives was enormous. However, contrary to popular, uninformed opinion today, Europeans unknowingly carried with them certain strains of microbes and viruses that had not existed in the Americas, accidentally causing the deaths of great numbers of those already living here. They didn't arrive with a knowledge of what would happen in the future any more than you or I know whether we will be safe going to and from work in the morning or if we will, by some innocent choice or errant left turn, cause accident or injury to others.

Columbus was a humble, yet noble, learned, and religious man. So were several (but not all) of those who traveled with him on his first voyages. Those who were the more righteous and well-intentioned part did the best they knew how with what knowledge of the Gospel they possessed in the scriptures they had inherited from their fathers. They were therefore zealous in their desire to convert the natives they found on Hispañola and other islands of what is now known as the Bahamas.

Among many, a great example of these good intentions is found in a quote from a copy of Columbus' original Journal of the First Voyage as written by Bartolomé de Las Casas and quoted in America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations:

...And I say that Your Highness ought not to consent that any foreigner does business or sets foot here, except Christian Catholics, since this was the end and the beginning of the enterprise, that it should be for the enhancement and glory of the Christian religion nor should anyone who is not a good Christian come to these parts.

Tragically, when word got out about the great resources and riches of the New World, others who were not so much inclined towards religious benevolence as to monetary gain, took it upon themselves to exploit and plunder whatever they could find. The Native Americans, being in the way of their greed, took the brunt of this exploitation in that they were turned from friends into slaves and made to do the work of those who wanted what the new land had to offer.

Again, in today's political climate, we often hear a revisionist interpretation of these events: as if somehow Columbus was the purposeful instigator of the mistreatment of God's children on the American continents. However, those who malign Columbus do not have the perspective that the Book of Mormon offers to us--and to Native American descendants who remain. God foresaw all of these events and has designed a higher purpose in their tragedy and suffering that transcends our own limited perspective and interpretation of events. When people make wrong choices and suffer consequences, God provides for even greater blessings than those that were lost, if they will but repent and obey Him. Sometimes those blessings come much later, but the do come.

30 Nevertheless, thou beholdest that the Gentiles who have gone forth out of captivity, and have been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations, upon the face of the land which is choice above all other lands, which is the land that the Lord God hath covenanted with thy father that his seed should have for the ^aland of their inheritance; wherefore, thou seest that the Lord God will not suffer that the Gentiles will utterly destroy the ^bmixture of thy ^cseed, which are among thy brethren.

31 Neither will he suffer that the Gentiles shall ^adestroy the seed of thy brethren.

32 Neither will the Lord God suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain in that awful state of blindness, which thou beholdest they are in, because of the plain and most precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that ^aabominable church, whose formation thou hast seen.

33 Wherefore saith the Lamb of God: I will be ^amerciful unto the Gentiles, unto the visiting of the remnant of the house of Israel in great judgment.

First, God makes a promise to Nephi that his family's descendants will not be completely eliminated. He promises to be merciful to the Gentiles and, through them, to restore what was once lost from the written Gospel they carried with them. How would he do this? Through the seed of Nephi and his brethren.

35 For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them [the Book of Mormon], which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, ^athese things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.

36 And in them shall be written my ^agospel, saith the Lamb, and my ^brock and my salvation.

37 And ^ablessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my ^bZion at that day, for they shall have the ^cgift and the ^dpower of the Holy Ghost; and if they ^eendure unto the end they shall be ^flifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting ^gkingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall ^hpublish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.

The fulfillment of this prophecy is the restoration of the Gospel, through Joseph Smith, who descended from these first European-American Gentiles, and the Book of Mormon, which was written by Nephi's, Laman's, and Lemuel's descendants.

Verses 38 through 42 can be summed up thusly: God saw that people would make wrong choices and intervened to help them. When precious parts were taken out of the Bible, either intentionally or unintentionally, He made sure that the Book of Mormon would be made available to support the Bible's teachings and provide clarification as to what was lost. In the end, the Jews, who were the first to receive the Gospel, and the Gentiles, who received it second, would be brought together and unified towards fulfilling all of the prophecies in both books.

Research hints that Columbus was of Jewish descent. It is certainly possible that God meant for Columbus' journey to be one of many symbols of the literal fulfillment of the unification of Gentiles and Jews in the latter days in this vision given to Nephi.

Nephi Sees Conditions Leading to Latter-day Events (1 Nephi 13, Part II)

Nephi now sees that the Gentiles who have come to the Americas (to Nephi, "the promised land") have family troubles of their own. The "mother Gentiles" from which they came arrived by sea to do battle with them. We know this as the various wars that led up to and followed the Revolutionary War.

Nephi also sees that the Gentiles are not alone in their struggles against their mother nations.

18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together ^aagainst them to battle.

19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were ^adelivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

As we will read later, and quite often at that, one of the major themes of the Book of Mormon is this: that no people will be able to prosper here unless they believe in God, their Creator.

Now, Nephi sees that they have something else with them that is "of great worth". He writes:

20 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a ^abook, and it was carried forth among them.

21 And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?

22 And I said unto him: I know not.

23 And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The ^abook that thou beholdest is a ^brecord of the ^cJews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the ^dplates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.

In short, they carry with them a record of the Jews who were left at Jerusalem. Remember, now, that Nephi only has everything up to and including the reign of Zedekiah, Nephi's contemporary, and then his record is of his own people in the Americas. He would have known nothing about the Christian Bible as it came forth from the Middle East and Europe after the third century A.D. The book he sees in the vision is entirely new and unexpected, especially, as he writes, that they are "of great worth unto the Gentiles". Why would they have been of such great worth to Gentiles if they were considered "outsiders" to ancient and traditional Hebrews?

Here's why.

24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the ^abook proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.

25 Wherefore, these things go forth from the ^aJews in purity unto the ^bGentiles, according to the truth which is in God.

It contained (past tense) the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, which the twelve apostles also shown in this vision bore testimony. The words that were originally written by the Jews at one time were uncorrupted when they arrived in Gentile hands. But then...

26 And after they go forth by the ^ahand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews ^bunto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that ^cgreat and abominable ^dchurch, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have ^etaken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are ^fplain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and ^aprecious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

29 And after these plain and precious things were ^ataken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.

You can read the howls of heresy across the Internet as I write this. Hundreds of anti-mormon web sites exist for the sole purpose of denouncing us for believing that the Bible is not 100% the inerrant and flawless word of God. All kinds of rhetorical gyrations are engaged in by anti-Mormons to show that the Bible (no matter which of the hundreds of translations now published) has never, ever been tampered with...or that if it has, God "made it okay" somehow and that it's just a mystery we'll never understand.

We respectfully disagree.

We disagree on the grounds that any document that passes through the hands of men, as the Bible has done for the nearly 1600 years that it has existed more or less as a single book (there were 400 years during which it was scattered to the four winds), has the potential of being changed. To claim that God somehow forced each handler to be precise, even when making mistakes in translation or interpretation, either on purpose or by accident, is completely illogical and at odds with the clearly accepted Christian doctrine that God respects free agency.

No. There is another explanation that makes much more sense, does not require incredible claims with virtually no evidence, and does not contradict God's law of free agency: a second record. God knew that there would be mistakes and deliberate changes made by translators and those who made handwritten copies. Instead of forcing those individuals to "do it right" in some unexplainable way (and forcing us to believe without providing some other witness as to authenticity), God prepared other records, the principle of which is the Book of Mormon, to help re-establish what was lost in terms of doctrine and "plain and precious things" that once existed in the Bible.

1. Deut. 17: 6
   6 ^aAt the mouth of ^btwo witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to ^cdeath; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
2. Deut. 19: 15
   15 ¶ One ^awitness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two ^bwitnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
3. Matt. 18: 16
   16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three ^awitnesses every word may be established.
4. 2 Cor. 13: 1
   1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three ^awitnesses shall every word be established.
5. 1 Tim. 5: 19
   19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three ^awitnesses.
6. Heb. 10: 28
   28 He that ^adespised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
7. D&C 6: 28
   28 And now, behold, I give unto you, and also unto my servant Joseph, the ^akeys of this gift, which shall bring to light this ministry; and in the mouth of two or three ^bwitnesses shall every word be established.
8. D&C 128: 3
   3 Now, in relation to this matter, it would be very difficult for one recorder to be present at all times, and to do all the business. To obviate this difficulty, there can be a recorder appointed in each ward of the city, who is well qualified for taking accurate minutes; and let him be very particular and precise in taking the whole proceedings, certifying in his record that he saw with his eyes, and heard with his ears, giving the date, and names, and so forth, and the history of the whole transaction; naming also some three individuals that are present, if there be any present, who can at any time when called upon certify to the same, that in the mouth of two or three ^awitnesses every word may be established.

The Book of Mormon is that sacred, second witness that fills in what Satan tried to have removed from the Bible. Why else was Joseph Smith killed, among other things, for claiming it to be true scripture? Why else were thousands of Mormons forced from their homes and made to flee from the most religiously free nation on earth? Why else would Mormons be so hated for propagating it to all the world? It so enrages the enemy of God to know that his original plan to create confusion and contention among thousands of breakaway Christian sects because of misunderstandings about passages found in multiple of versions of the Bible was thwarted, that he will stop at nothing to discredit a second witness.

And that is why God establishes truth via multiple testimonies, including the Book of Mormon. To destroy the works of the devil and to establish His Word among all nations...not just those dwelling in one region of the world.

For more on this subject from a Book of Mormon perspective, go to www.fairlds.org:

• Archaeology and the Bible [2 articles]
• Bible Complete - No Additional Scripture [18 articles]
• History and Manuscripts [16 articles]
• Inerrant [11 articles]
• Joseph Smith Translation [12 articles]
• LDS View [16 articles]

Also see 2 Nephi 29.

Nephi Sees Conditions Leading to Latter-day Events (1 Nephi 13, Part I)

As the vision continues, Nephi is shown many of the things which, to him, were new and amazing. To those of us living in the U.S., they are now part of our national lore and cultural history. These things at which Nephi marvels as future and strange events are things we now take for granted and even struggle to teach effectively in our schools. This begs the question: Which is of more benefit in our day...to learn exclusively from our history, or to look to prophets to guide us so as to avoid pitfalls of the future?

The answer as provided by the Book of Mormon is that we should do both.

First, Nephi sees the many nations and kingdoms of the earth. In those nations were living those that the angel refers to as "the Gentiles". To Nephi, who was part of the house of Israel, this would have meant that they were all people outside the covenant and lineage he had come from.

Next, Nephi is shown that the Gentiles create a great church, one that is opposed to God's purposes and aligned with Satan's purposes instead. Nephi sees that this church puts in bondage, persecutes, tortures, and kills people who believe in God.

The temptation here is to immediately wonder which "church" is meant by what is shown in the vision, but we must be careful not to engage in presentism (distorting historical analysis by applying our own present-day biases) to interpret scripture. The purpose of this vision was not to single out any one denomination or even any one religion. No such entity is specifically named. All this scripture points to is "a great church".

The angel clarifies what is meant. This church is a metaphor for any organization of the world that seeks to use its power to gain power over God's people, to corrupt them in any way, or to destroy them physically and/or spiritually. He also states that it is the "church of the devil", meaning that the devil is the founder of it, and that its motivation is pride and to get the glory of the world. The fact that it is lumped into one great church is meant as a convenience in addressing its influence in the world rather than an attempt to single out any one group of individuals having a particular religious belief.

Now we get to the really interesting part, for we learn that Nephi sees "many waters" that divide his and his brothers' seed from the Gentiles (obviously these are the Atlantic and Pacific oceans). Then, he sees a man who is influenced by the Holy Ghost to set out on the waters "even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land."

Stop for a minute and think about who Nephi is seeing. Who in our own history books "first" arrives on our continent and "discovers" the people living there? Why, it's Christopher Columbus, of course.

In the next verse, we learn that other Gentiles followed suit and arrived in the Americas in "many multitudes" and began to smite the seed of Nephi's brothers who remained, scattering them--which we, in hindsight, see as having been done in three ways: geographically, culturally, and spiritually.

14 And it came to pass that I beheld many ^amultitudes of the Gentiles upon the ^bland of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were ^cscattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and ^aobtain the ^bland for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and ^cbeautiful, like unto my people before they were ^dslain.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was ^awith them.

Again, beware presentism. It is the norm today to vilify Columbus and those Europeans who followed them by viewing their motives and doings through the lenses of multi-culturalism and political correctness. No one should or can deny truthfully that what happened to Native Americans was a travesty and caused pain and suffering and near extermination of entire tribes and full extermination of others.

But, now we are reading history through the eyes, minds, and hearts of people whose descendants they were and who have a prophetic and divinely inspired explanation (not an excuse) as to why such horrible things would have happened to their seed. Remember that an earlier portion of Nephi's vision is replete with a fratricidal war of equal proportions perpetrated by the Lamanites against the Nephite people and eventually among the Lamanite people themselves.

Nephi explains to us in this and later writings that the Lamanites were reaping the consequences of actions previously sown. The lesson that Nephi, and later Moroni, teach us is that the Book of Mormon is meant to show the Gentiles that they are little different from the Lamanites, Nephites, and Jaredites. The Gentiles will be under equal condemnation and consequence from God if they do not repent of their sins (including the intentional killing and scattering of the Lamanite nations) and turn to Him while living in the promised land.

In the next post, 1 Nephi 13, Part II, we will analyze Nephi's vision of the Revolutionary and other Gentile wars and events in the Americas. We'll also look at Nephi's vision and interpretation of the development and influence of the modern-day Bible (no, it didn't just fall out of the sky one day as a single, chronological volume and land on Emperor Constantine's throne or Martin Luther's pulpit).

In 1 Nephi 13, Part III, we'll look at the additional books of scripture that God authorized to be written and how both the Bible and other books of scripture support each other in testifying of Christ in all the world...not just in Jerusalem.

Nephi Sees the Fate of his People (1 Nephi 12)

Nephi's vision continues as he is shown his own descendants and the descendants of Laman and Lemuel numbering as many as the sands of the sea. Their cities are also numerous. But he is disturbed to find that they are in constant battle with one another. He sees a mist of darkness accompanied by lightning, thunder, earthquakes, and destruction of many wicked people and cities.

At the end of this destruction and mayhem, he sees the Lamb of God (the Messiah) descending and showing Himself to the righteous who were spared from the destruction. He calls twelve disciples in the land of promise, who, Nephi is told, would be set apart to minister to Nephi's posterity. They are to be subordinate to the twelve apostles who would be set apart in Jerusalem at the time of the coming of the Son of God. The twelve in Jerusalem will judge the twelve from the New World when the Messiah comes the second time.

Three generations of people after the visit of the Messiah pass before Nephi's eyes, all of them living in righteousness. A part of the fourth generation also lives in righteousness, but not without conflict. Quickly, the people begin to forget what they had been taught and start to have wars with each other again.

It is at this point that the angel explains to Nephi the meaning of the "filthy water" and the "mists of darkness" in Lehi's dream. The filthy water is symbolic of the depths of hell and the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, blinding them and leading them away from the right path to perish and be lost.

The meaning of the large and spacious building is also given as the pride and "vain imaginations" of mankind. Notice that the filthy water is between the building and the tree of life as a gulf that separates mankind from God. When people complain that God doesn't hear them, or they claim that God does not exist, it is because they stand mocking and prideful in the great and spacious building rather than eating of the fruit of the tree (believing in the Messiah). They are separated from the knowledge and belief in God by the sins of pride, ambition, hatred, apathy, sensuality and licentiousness, and desires of the flesh which the filthy river (the depths of hell) represents.

To Nephi's horror, he sees his own descendants defeated and exterminated by those of his brothers, Laman and Lemuel, because of unbelief and rejection of God by Nephi's seed. Then he sees that Laman and Lemuel's descendants fully populate the land, engage in their own wars of mutual destruction, and dwindle in unbelief.

The next (and last) verse of 1 Nephi 12 is one of controversy whenever it is encountered by those outside the Church. It is even hard to take by some inside the Church who choose to view it out of context with actual doctrines, policies, and practices. Verse 23 says:

And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a ^adark, and loathsome, and a ^bfilthy people, full of ^cidleness and all manner of abominations.

Some point an accusing finger to this verse and say, "There! See how the Mormon church is a racist church, equating skin color with evil!" It is tempting in today's political climate to simply fold our arms and nod in agreement without making an effort to find out more. Upon further analysis, however, it's not that simple.

First, one has to reconcile the above scripture with what is found in a later chapter. 1 Nephi 17:33-35 (emphasis added) states:

33 And now, do ye suppose that the children of this land, who were in the land of promise, who were driven out by our fathers, do ye suppose that they were righteous? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

34 Do ye suppose that our fathers would have been more choice than they if they had been righteous? I say unto you, Nay.

35 Behold, the Lord esteemeth all ^aflesh in one; he that is ^brighteous is ^cfavored of God. But behold, this ^dpeople had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity; and the fulness of the wrath of God was upon them; and the Lord did curse the land against them, and bless it unto our fathers; yea, he did curse it against them unto their destruction, and he did bless it unto our fathers unto their obtaining power over it.

Therefore, we learn that God judges us by our actions, not by the color of our skin.

W. John Walsh, a Mormon apologist (one who answers critics), wrote a very good article on the subject of racism as perceived by those outside our faith:

One of the favorite techniques of anti-Mormons is to falsely say that the Lamanites were cursed with dark skin. They falsely say that Latter-day Saints believe that there is something inherently wrong with someone because he has dark skin. By the dictionary definition of racism, this idea is certainly racist. However, it is not a Latter-day Saint teaching and stands in direct opposition to the Book of Mormon (the keystone of our religion): "... [Jesus Christ] denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God ...(2 Nephi 26:33)

According to President Joseph Fielding Smith,

"The dark skin was the sign of the curse. The curse was the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord and the Lamanites becoming a "loathsome and filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations.'' The Lord commanded the Nephites not to intermarry with them, for if they did they would partake of the curse." (Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol. 3, p.122)

The dark skin given to the Lamanites was simply a physical characteristic to distinguish the Lamanites and Nephites and to keep them from intermarrying. Skin color has no moral significance one way or the other. Why were the Nephites commanded not to intermarry with the Lamanites? For the same reason that Latter-day Saints today are counseled not to date or marry nonmembers of the Church. Latter-day Saints who are married to nonmembers do not enjoy full Church participation, especially temple marriage. Furthermore, their children are far less likely to be faithful members of the Church.

Any reading of the Bible will show that this was certainly not the first time the Lord had made a distinction between one people and another people and commanded that they should not mix or intermarry. The Jews of Palestine were constantly reminded not to intermarry with the native Canaanites, regardless of their skin color, because doing so would have also mixed their differing theologies and put the cohesiveness of the Jewish people in jeopardy. Indeed, whenever they disobeyed this commandment, apostasy (falling away from God) always came, followed by the Jewish nation being conquered and made captive by foreign nations. The promises God was trying to make with them were of no effect when they disobeyed the commandment to not combine with other nations because those promises were contingent on their being part of a faith united in both doctrine and lineage.

Therefore, to reject the Book of Mormon on the grounds that God would never exclude one group of people from His promises at the expense of another is to reject the Bible on the same grounds as well.

To wit, at another point in the Book of Mormon, we will read how the tables turned and how the Lamanites became the more righteous of the two groups. The Nephites became the more wicked part. Therefore, we see that evil is not defined by the color of one's skin, but by one's attitude towards the commandments of God. Obedience to God ensures blessings. Disobedience ensures loss of blessings.

This topic is important and much too broad to cover in this simple blog post. Indeed, multiple blogs could be devoted to the subject. For further reading, see:

• President Gordon B. Hinckley on Racial Intolerance, April 2006 General Conference
• 1978 Official Declaration, Newsroom.LDS.org
  
• "Mormonad" denouncing racism, from LDS Church youth magazine The New Era.
• Race Relations, Newsroom.LDS.org
• The Genesis Group, LDSGenesisGroup.org (unofficial web site)
• Topic Search: Racism, LightPlanet.com (unofficial web site)
• Black Mormon Homepage, http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/homepage.html (unofficial web site)
• Black Mormon History 101, http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/History.html (unofficial web site)
• Experiences of African-American Church Members, Newsroom.LDS.org
• Four Who Serve, Ensign Magazine, February 1992 (emphasis added)
  

  Robert Stevenson was baptized on 8 February 1972. After being discharged from the army in 1973, he considered himself just another LDS student when he enrolled at Church-owned Ricks College that fall. In 1975 [three years prior to the Official Declaration] he went on to study at Brigham Young University, where he made news when he was elected student body vice-president. After the election, a New York Times reporter asked him what it was like to be a black person at a white university. “I don’t know,” Brother Stevenson replied, “because I’m not a black person at a white university. I’m a Mormon at a Mormon university.”