The Nephites Lose the Culture Wars
Book of Mormon Notes - Friday, December 15, 2023, 3 Nephi 2
Not surprisingly, the signs of Christ’s birth were not enough to convert people and they were soon forgotten. Growing unbelief led to hardened hearts, blind minds, and more wickedness and abominations. Faith in Christ softens hearts, enlightens minds, and leads us to do good continually. Our hearts and our minds are precious instruments of revelation. No wonder the devil attacks us in our hearts and our minds in his relentless attempts to disrupt, obstruct, and destroy the delicate channels of Divine communication.
In fact, in these first few verses in the second chapter of 3rd Nephi, we see that the devil leads away and deceives hearts. The heart is fountain of our desires, thoughts, and actions, and the sacred organ of love, emotion, and devotion. No wonder the Lord cares so deeply about the condition of our hearts.
Mormon measures time with the three Nephite units of measurement: 1. from the time of King Mosiah and the first year of the reign of the judges, 2. from the time that Lehi and his family left Jerusalem, and 3. from the time of Christ’s birth. Mormon informs us that at this time, nine years after the birth of Christ, the Nephites began to areckon their time primarily from the time of Christ’s birth.
Meanwhile, Nephi’s father Nephi had disappeared, and the people grew more and more wicked. Increasingly hardened hearts, increasingly blinded minds, and increasing wickedness led inevitably to wars and contentions. The Gadianton robbers became so numerous, slew so many people, laid waste to so many cities, and spread so much death and carnage that the Nephites and the Lamanites were compelled to take up arms to defend themselves.
We shouldn’t have to be compelled to take up arms to defend ourselves against bands of criminals, robbers, and murderers. It is better to win the war for hearts and minds before we reach such dire circumstances. Because faith in Jesus Christ is the key to softening hearts, enlightening minds, and leading people to do good, whatever we can do to increase our own faith in Christ and to help foster the faith of others will do the most good in the long run. An ounce of faith in Christ prevention now is better than a pound of military cure later.
Furthermore, it’s not enough for us to be converted in our own little clusters and enclaves of like-minded believers, because sooner or later, if we have not sufficiently offered the ounce of faith in Christ prevention to others, or if others have deliberately rejected our offering, then we will, like these ancient Nephites and Lamanites, be compelled to apply a more drastic cure, even - heaven forbid - a military cure. The converted Lamanites joined with the Nephites and fought for the asafety of their lives. Because the surrounding culture had grown so wicked, the Lamanites and Nephites combined forces to form a kind of Benedict Option community in order to defend their women and their children against the Gadianton robbers, and also to maintain their rights, and the privileges of their church and of their worship, and their freedom and their bliberty.
The Nephites were once again on the brink of destruction, and the converted Lamanites once again became a strength for them. In fact, the acurse was taken from these Lamanites, and their skin became bwhite like unto the Nephites. Their young men and their daughters became exceedingly fair, and they were numbered among the Nephites, and were called Nephites.
This is such a fascinating moment in the Book of Mormon. We need to remember that Mormon describes these converted Lamanites, now Nephites, as exceedingly fair. As Mormon concludes his record much later, his soul is rent with anguish because the fair ones of his people:
aO ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! (Mormon 6:17)
But fourteen years after the Birth of Christ, the fair ones were forced to engage in an exceedingly sore battle against the Gadianton robbers. If my discernment serves me well, this seems to be where we are heading right now, in 2023. We’ve lost the culture wars. We failed to capture the hearts and minds of the people for Christ and for good. Criminals and murderers rule and run the government on both federal and state levels. Hearts are hardening, minds are blinded. Unless reversed by the preachin gof the Gospel and sincere repentance, these opprobrious conditions lead inevitably to conflict and war. Perhaps the preaching of the Gospel and sincere repentance can still reverse these deleterious trends in our society. But if not, we few believers may find ourselves in a situation not unlike these ancient Nephites who were compelled to confront and combat the modern equivalent of the Gadianton robbers.
These internecine wars were particularly ugly and difficult to stop. The Nephites would drive out the robbers for a time, but because of wickedness among the Nephites themselves, the robbers would often gain advantage over them again. Mormon laments that at the end of the fifteenth year, or fifteen years after the birth of Christ, the people were in a state of many afflictions, and the asword of destruction hung over them. Because of their iniquity, they were one the verge of destruction.
Once again, this sounds like a very apt description of the time in which we now live.