The Paths We Choose

If you were to plot the righteousness of the Nephites and Lamanites as a line graph, you’d get something like a sine-wave drawn over time with increasing amplitudes. We can see this in the cyclic nature of the Nephite society.

Leading up to the Savior’s appearance, which ushers in a great high point, you have the low point of the Gadiantons destroying the government. You have the righteousness following the Sign of His birth. Before that the imminent massacre of the righteous. And so it goes. I’ve wondered what the lesson there are for us in that.

One the one hand, I think we’re in that descent into wickedness which parallels the Nephites' path before the destruction immediately preceding the Savior’s appearance. We need to be mentally ready for the long haul. Several years ago, Elder Packer said in a conference talk we live in times where our children and theirs can experience joy, but in a wicked world.

One the other hand our lives I think are like the sine wave too. As we mature, so does our understanding and the consequences of our choices for good or bad increase over time. Mistakes as a child don’t carry the consequences of mistakes as a teenage youth. And those mistakes don’t carry the consequences of those of an adult.

The Prophet Joseph once made the observation about people’s life choices. He said most are content to live in the valleys where the path undulates. It never gets bad, but neither do they ascend the spiritual heights to see the true grandeur and majesty of God. But for those hardy souls who choose to ascend the heights, they will see great things — at the cost of great risk and severe trials. Nephi saw the Lord. Yet he also dealt with his brothers, Laban, the Arabian peninsula and an ocean. Alma had a war, Ammonihah, and the Zoramites. Mormon and Moroni both had a war and Cumorah. Abinadi, Noah’s court. Even the Savior had Gethsemane and Golgotha. Should we expect less?

Put another way, any athlete will tell you, you pay a price to become great. Spiritual growth is no different -- especially today.

A Case for the Ohio River Valley

I think one of the archeological evidences for Book of Mormon events occurring here in North America are the fortresses described in 3rd Nephi. This is the time of the Great Siege I wrote about a year ago. There is evidence among the Hopewell ruins in the Ohio River valley which I think fit well with what happens in the Book of Mormon.

From it, we get the sense Zarahemla is to the West and Bountiful is to the East. Between them is the “center of the land” where the Nephites and Lamanites go to outlast the Gadianton Robbers. Next to Zarahemla is the Sidon River. Here’s how I see the match.

Zarahemla to the West: Havana Hopewells. The older Hopewell sites are along the West side of the Mississippi and run South to Florida. The ruins in the Appalachian mountains aren’t considered Hopewell because they use a different mode of burial. Interestingly enough, the mode these people use is more like how the Egyptians did it than the Hopewells. I’m just sayin’.

Bountiful to the East: Ohio Hopewells. The archaeological evidence shows the Hopewells migrated East and then began to shrink towards upstate New York. There, the last of their culture disappears around 450-500 AD. Cumorah anyone?

The Center of the Land: Crab Orchard Culture. This is the interesting part. In Southern Illinois there is an escarpment running the length of the state. If you look at the Ohio River to the East and where it joins the Mississippi to the South and with the Mississippi to the West, you see a bowl. Running in a line forming the rim of the bowl is the escarpment and all along it are the ruins of ancient fortresses. Picture yourself… you have wide rivers that are impassable by armies on three sides: East, South and West. Along the North side you have the escarpment and at the top of it, running its full length are these fortresses. It would be a great place for a large population to outlast an enemy.

Obviously, I don’t know for certain, but it’s a compelling match of what’s described in the Book of Mormon with what exists unmistakably in the archeology. Even the timing is right. Is it? It seems like it to me. The Meso-America advocates will disagree, but that’s what makes it fun to debate these things.

Helaman 2 - The Gadiantons

In the US Air Force, every time a jet crashes, a small army of people try to determine what happened. They look at everything related to it. They examine the debris. Rebuild the jet from the debris if needed. They look at training and maintenance records. They examine anything which will help them understand what, how, and why it happened. Their goal is to prevent it from happening again.

After they finish the investigation, they write a report. In it is a second by second retelling of the flight from take-off to when the debris comes to rest. There's one line in every report that says something like this: "At this point, the accident was unavoidable." For me, it's the most chilling phrase in the entire report. You know something the aircrew may not have known at the time — they were going to crash and nothing could stop it.

Such is the moment in Helaman chapter two. It's here when the Gadiantons appear. While there were still wars to be fought, many miracles yet to occur, even the Savior's visit lay in the future. It was people's willingness to conspire together to literally get away with murder that would be their undoing.

This cultural cancer thrives on the selfishness, greed and pride of people. Not even the Savior’s visit could eradicate it — His visit just put it into remission for a few generations.

When I think of our society today and ponder this and Moroni’s plea that we be wiser than they were — well, let’s just say I’m grateful for the Savior’s promise in John: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Amen.

Helaman 7-9 - The Futility of Hiding From God

These three chapters comprise the account of Nephi warning the people of God's judgements that are coming to them because of their rejection of Christ. As proof of the truthfulness of his words, he tells them of the murder of Seezoram the Chief Judge by his brother Seantum. The remainder of the chapters describe the account of the five who are sent to prove what Nephi said, their capture and the eventual exhoneration of both them and Nephi when Seantum is caught and confesses his guilt.

The main story is evidence of God knowing all that happens. My sense from the account is God knows things in real-time, as they happen. Additionally, there are some nuggets on human nature and a peek into things the Nephites knew in their scripture, which we don't have in ours. That's what I want to delve into today...

Human nature: the wicked, in this case, the Gadiantons are cowards. Rather than confront Nephi directly and go head to head against him, they try to incite the people against him so they can use the power of their office to silence him. Their resolve is foiled because Nephi convinces enough that they dare not act out of fear of the political cost such actions would exact. We see this today in our politicians who are on the whole cowards who hide their true selves by the trappings of their office and their "leadership" just rides safely within the swells of public opinion.

Human nature: the wicked seek to control people through anger and fear, while they are controlled by fear of the loss of power. It's true for them and us: what do you see in the news today? Stories that incite fear or anger or both. By doing that, they shape and influence our thoughts and subsequently our actions. Faith in God however, gives us the power to go against this to do what is right.

Human nature: don't underestimate people's ability to forget and ignore the obivous when it doesn't server their selfish ambitions. The Nephites, who less than ten years earlier had lost half their country to the Lamanites were boasting of the might of their cities and how they coulnt' be captured.

The nugget: In the middle of the story, as Nephi testifies of how many witnesses in the scriptures there are of the coming of Christ (a lot more than what we have in our Bible, by the way) there's a comment in Helaman 9:18 where he says, "a great many thousand years before his coming," prophets testified of it. How many years do you think that means? I'd dare say, that in reality, prophets have been testifying of Christ's coming from the beginning of recorded history. While modern Bible scholars say the earliest written text of the Bible probably occurred some 1800 years BCE, about the time of the establishment of the Davidic Kingdom, the scriptures tell us these prophecies were written from the time of Adam.

Helaman 6 - Role Reversal

Helaman chapter six is extraordinary in the Book of Mormon because this is the first time in the history of the Lehites the Lamanites as a whole are more righteous than the Nephites. It's a powerful lesson on God's impartiality in that He blesses the righteous and witholds those blessings from the wicked.

The difference between the two is demonstrated throughout the chapter in how they individually respond to the secret combination, the Gadiantons. The now righteous Lamanites, when they discover them in their midst, do everything they can to eradicate them while the Nephites embrace them.

A geography note: before the ascendance of the Gadiantons, the Lamanites and Nephites experience several years of extraordinary prosperity because they are able to travel freely between both "nations." Here the land northward is named, the Land of Mulek and the land southward is named, the Land of Lehi.