Mankind's Nothingness and a Man's Potential for Greatness
Book of Mormon Notes - Friday, December 8, 2023, Helaman 12
Helaman 12 is another one of the greatest chapters in all of scripture. Why? For one thing, this is Mormon’s voice, pure and clear. After abridging and recounting so many events in Nephite history from the Book of Helaman and his son Nephi, and after some direct quotations from Helaman and others, Mormon finally provides us with his prophetic commentary and lessons drawn from all of these things.
Of course, Mormon has already given us many of his patented “thus we see” lessons along the way, but this one is different. I can almost see Mormon with his inscribing tool, shaking his head and even weeping as he composes these words. We have every reason to suppose that Mormon had his own generation in mind as well as he composed these words, because his own people had become, if such a thing were possible, even more wicked than the wicked Nephites during the time of Nephi and Lehi, sons of Helaman. But Mormon’s words in this chapter have an eternal, timeless quality that move him to ponder the cosmos and man’s relationship with God in a simple and profound way.
When Mormon writes his patented phrase “thus we see,” who is the “we” that he has in mind. As much as he loved the Lehites who preceded him and as much as he loved his own people, Mormon’s message is directed toward us, his latter-day readers, particularly the remnant, the seed of Lehi, but also Jew and Gentile and everyone in between. We can insert our names here: “thus we see… thus you John, and I Mormon see,” because Mormon wants us to learn these lessons by revelation and inspiration rather than having to learn them the hard way, as his own people learned them. As the fluctuations and the tumult in Nephite society increased, like a drumroll leading up the events that preceded the birth of Christ and then His Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ministry among the Nephites, Mormon pauses to reflect and comment upon human nature and the pathway to salvation.
Think of it. Mormon has just recorded how the Nephites whom the Lord had preserved from famine, war, and troubles had grown so wicked as to reject the very man and prophet whom the Lord sent to help them. The patient Lord had not given up, nor does He ever give up on His children. But the mortal Mormon could only mourn and ponder, almost in disbelief, at the utter nothingness, wickedness, and foolishness of men:
And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and aprosper those who put their btrust in him.
Yea, and we may see at the very atime when he doth bprosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of cprecious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do dharden their hearts, and do eforget the Lord their God, and do ftrample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
And thus we see that except the Lord doth achasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with bdeath and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not cremember him.
O how afoolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how bquick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their chearts upon the vain things of the world!
Yea, how quick to be lifted up in apride; yea, how quick to bboast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to cwalk in wisdom’s paths!
Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath acreated them, should brule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at cnaught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.
O how great is the anothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are bless than the dust of the earth.
That’s not a very flattering picture of human nature. In essence, human beings in general are: false, unsteady in heart, ungrateful, hard hearted, forgetful of God and His blessings, complacent, foolish, vain, evil, devilish, quick to do iniquity, slow to do good, quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, materialistic, proud, boastful, iniquitous, impervious to counsel and wisdom, rebellious, headstrong, nothing, and less than the dust of the earth.
Mormon places particular emphasis on mankind’s inability or unwillingness to remember the things that are paramount to remember. He seems to contrast the foolishness and forgetfulness of the masses with the unwearyingness, steadiness, and faithfulness of Nephi and Lehi who remembered the Lord and the lessons of their father. And of course Mormon contrasts the great infinite goodness, mercy, generosity, patience, lovingkindness, power, and constancy of the Lord with the utter depravity of men.
Why does he do this? What did Mormon foresee about his future audience, whether Lamanites, Jews, or Gentiles? Did he witness the same things of which the Apostle Paul prophesied in the third chapter of his second epistle to Timothy? Mormon reminds us that the Lord in his great infinite goodness blesses and aprospers those who put their btrust in him. He reminds us that the merciful Lord bprospers his people, increases their fields, flocks, herds, gold, silver, and cprecious things of every kind and art. He reminds us that the Lord spares our lives, delivers us from our enemies, softens the hearts of our enemies, prevents wars, and does all things for our welfare and happiness. Remember what Nephi taught about the Lord’s goodness?
He doeth not aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: aCome unto me all ye bends of the earth, cbuy milk and honey, without money and without price. (2 Nephi 26:24-25)
Remember Jacob’s great paean to the greatness of God in 2 Nephi 9?
Remember King Benjamin’s discourse on the goodness of God in contrast to the nothingness of man?
For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God at this time has awakened you to a sense of your anothingness, and your worthless and fallen state—
I say unto you, if ye have come to a aknowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the batonement which has been prepared from the cfoundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his dtrust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body (Mosiah 4:5-6)
In His goodness, mercy, and omniscience, the Lord also achastens his people in order to help us to remember Him. Thus the afflictions, the visitations with bdeath and terror, and the famine and the pestilence, are blessings from the Lord that help us to cremember Him. Strange, isn’t it, that the more that the Lord blesses us, the less we seem to cremember Him as the source of all of our blessings?
As I lament along with Mormon what Jacob once referred to as the bvainness, and the frailties, and the cfoolishness of men (2 Nephi 9), I start to wonder if we mortals have any redeeming qualities at all. Perhaps not coincidentally, this great lament in Helaman chapter 12 comes not too long after the soaring praise that Mormon gave to the great Nephite heroes, such as Captain Moroni, Helaman, Lehi, Teancum, the Ammonite Warriors, Alma the Younger and his sons, the Sons of Mosiah, and even Lehi and Nephi, the sons of Helaman’s son Helaman. The contrast is made sharper when Mormon begins to praise the dust of the earth and all things in nature above men in general. Why?
I don’t know. But one thing that occurs to me is that in this chapter Mormon writes of the children of men in general, and he writes of the Lord’s people in general in order to warn us and remind us not to be like them. Whereas Mormon praises many particular people for their Christ-like attributes and heroic characteristics, he seems to want to distinguish these kinds of qualities from the general anothingness of the children of men.
Mormon knew his future audience well. He knew that, on the one hand, we moderns, and particularly we modern democratic Americans, would be very prone to arrogance, pride, materialism, and every kind of wickedness and foolishness imaginable. Thus Mormon’s lament and his frequent warnings against unrighteous pride aim to humble us before the Lord and turn us to Him. But Mormon also knew, on the other hand, that we moderns, and particularly we modern democratic Americans, would be susceptible to mediocrity, self-loathing, and a failure to understand our true and great potential as children of God. Thus Mormon humbles our unrighteous pride to show us our nothingness in contrast to the greatness of God while simultaneously revealing to us the path to true greatness and the fulfillment of our divine nature and destiny.
Mormon saw what Tocqueville saw:
Moralists complain constantly that the favorite vice of our period is pride.
That is true in a certain sense: there is no one, in fact, who does not believe himself worth more than his neighbor and who agrees to obey his superior. But that is very false in another sense; for this same man, who cannot bear either subordination or equality, nonetheless despises himself to the point that he believes himself made only for appreciating vulgar pleasures. He stops willingly at mediocre desires without daring to embark upon high undertakings; he scarcely imagines them.
So far from believing that humility must be recommended to our contemporaries, I would like you to try hard to give them a more vast idea of themselves and of their species; humility is not healthy for them; what they lack most, in my opinion, is pride. I would willingly give up several of our small virtues for this vice.
Mormon puts us on the path to gaining a more vast idea of ourselves and our species, not only by humbling our unrighteous pride and providing us with numerous examples of greatness and excellence of character throughout the Book of Mormon, but especially by preparing us to encounter the Essence of Greatness Himself, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Mormon continually highlights the contrast between the falseness, unsteadiness, and foolishness of mankind in general and the firmness, faithfulness, and unwearyingness of those who put their trust in God and seek to obey Him. Mormon helps us to put off the prideful and mediocre natural man while assisting us in our quest to eyield to the enticings of the fHoly Spirit in order to become a isaint through the atonement of Christ. (see Mosiah 3:19) Mormon invites us to embark upon high undertakings, especially the high adventure of true Christian discipleship.
Mormon also shows us that the courage, commitment, and character - the high undertakings - of righteous souls such as Nephi, King Benjamin, Abinadi, Ammon, Moroni, the Ammonite sons of Helaman, and Helaman’s grandsons Nephi and Lehi made all the difference for the Nephites. And not too long after the climax of his laments regarding the nothingness of the children of men, Mormon will introduce us to yet another great character who made all the difference for the Nephites, namely Samuel the Lamanite.
But why are the children of men bless than the dust of the earth? Mormon explains that whereas the dust of the earth - and the hills, mountains, valleys, and the earth itself, and the sun, and waters, and everything else obey the commands and hearken to the voice of the Lord, mankind, the beings endowed with moral agency from God, may refuse to obey His commands or hearken to His voice. When dust obeys God and hearkens to His voice, and man, who is made of dust, refuses to hearken or obey God, dust is superior to man. Nevertheless, when a man, like Nephi the son of Helaman, obeys God’s commands and hearkens to His voice, He obtains power even over the elements.
The essential problem that Mormon points out is that the children of men in general do not desire that Lord their God, who hath acreated them, should brule and reign over them. Even though Heavenly Father is perfectly merciful and good, and His counsels wise, we mortals too often imagine that we know what is best. We ignore the wisdom of nature that obeys God and hearkens to His voice - the wisdom of the dust, hills, mountains, valleys, and the earth itself, and the sun, and waters - and we refuse to let God prevail in our lives. God speaks, and all nature and creation obeys. God speaks, and mankind chooses whether or not to obey.
The examples that Mormon then lists of the things that obey the powerful voice of God are not arbitrary. As we will soon see, the upheavals in nature, the destruction of cities, the cursing of treasures and the wicked point to events between the time of Helaman’s son Nephi and the time in which Mormon composed these passages. I imagine that Mormon had already thoroughly perused all of the records and he marveled at how the voice of the Lord so easily commanded everything else except His children whom He had created.
Thankfully, however, Heavenly Father has also provided the Way for us to embrace the wisdom of all things that obey God and hearken unto His voice:
Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.
And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for agrace, according to their works. (Helaman 12:23-24)
Like the original Nephi before him, Mormon desired and labored for the salvation of all men. But Mormon also knew that the word of God must be fulfilled:
They that have done good shall have aeverlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting bdamnation. And thus it is. Amen. (Helaman 12:26)