Thursdays with Moroni, Part 6: Jesus H. City-Crushing Christ!

[vovat]

Yes, after a lot of build-up, Jesus has FINALLY decided to actually show up. But first we have to get through the book of Helaman, which tells how most of the Nephites lost their faith, while some of the Lamanites converted. There's a secret society of thieves that gains prominence among the Nephites, and it's a Lamanite prophet named Samuel who predicts that there will be no night when Jesus is born, and no day when he dies. Since it wasn't likely that too many potential followers in the nineteenth century would believe the old concept of the Sun standing still in the sky, Joseph Smith states that God accomplishes this by turning the Earth backwards for a little while. Hey, Superman did it! We also learn about a new prophet named Nephi (there apparently wasn't much variation in names among these early Americans), who brought many people back to God by causing a famine through prayer. And we learn that the Devil conspired with Cain and his followers (I know Cain was a murderer, but Joe's hatred of this Biblical figure goes a lot further than the actual Bible ever did), and planned the Tower of Babel. Satan is behind pretty much everything bad in the Book of Mormon, even though many scholars think that the idea of Satan as the source of evil didn't originate until the time of Persian rule over the Jews, which of course the Nephites and Lamanites wouldn't have experienced.

Next come two books known as 3 and 4 Nephi, although this Nephi is the prophet I mentioned in the last paragraph, not the one from the beginning. 3 Nephi finally brings in the big guy himself, but not until after the new Nephi has worked a lot of miracles in his name, including restoring his brother to life. There's also a mention of a division of the people into tribes, which I guess Smith thought didn't exist until the first century BC. When Jesus finally does appear, honestly, it's a little disappointing. He mostly just repeats a lot of the Sermon on the Mount (perhaps the entire thing, for that matter; I didn't do a direct comparison of the two), appoints twelve new disciples in America, and heals a bunch of people. If we take the Book of Mormon as a literary work, it seems like bad fanfiction in which the author's idea of keeping an established character consistent with what had gone before was to have him say and do the exact same things he did in the canon. There are a few interesting new tidbits, however. My personal favorite is that Jesus, at the time of the resurrection, announces his arrival by destroying a whole lot of cities in the New World. Wait, is this supposed to be the Son of God or Godzilla? While in America, he transfigures some followers by touching them with his finger, after which they're immune to pretty much any danger. Oh, and he not-too-modestly says that the Mormon church should be named after him, which I guess is why it's the Jesus Christ Church of Latter-Day Saints. After Jesus leaves, most of the people just go right back to their heresies, thieving societies, and mammon worship, which kind of makes his visit pretty much pointless. Yeah, I know about history repeating itself, but there doesn't appear to be much rhyme or reason for why the Nephites and Lamanites turn toward or against Christianity at any given time.

Comments

[brostron.livejournal.com]

I love how the portrayal of the Gadianton Robbers reflects anti-Masonic sentiment, particularly in upstate New York, in the 1820s. Then later, Smith became a Mason and borrowed a lot of their ceremonies for the Mormon temple endowment ritual.

[kevenn.livejournal.com]

"Wait, is this supposed to be the Son of God or Godzilla?"

LOL!!!!

The 3 Nephites who get transfigured - we got told stories in church about "I knew this lady, and one day these three guys showed up to help her. Maybe they were the 3 Nephites!" And they've been supposedly kicking around with John the Beloved from the Bible, who Mormons believe was Jesus' half brother by Mary and was transfigured or resurrected - one of the two.

[brostron.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the 3 Nephites are apparently really good at auto repair. Of course, they've had two millennia to wander around and learn things, so it's not surprising.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Heh, I didn't know that. That's pretty amusing.

It's odd how modern the Nephites' society was for Smith's own time, wasn't it? The Masons themselves claim that their group dates back to the Middle Ages, but I don't think anyone but Joe thinks it was around before Jesus.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

There's a specific mention in the Bible of Jesus' brothers, and none of them are named John. Or do Mormons think that John was the son of Mary, but not of Joseph?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Maybe they were the founders of AAA. The three A's are for Alma, Aaron, and Aminadi.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I've heard supposing that John was the big guy's brother, too, in non-Mormon world, but it's just theoretical, not canon.

That's Nothing

[brostron.livejournal.com]

Mormons actually believe that some Masonic lore dates back to Solomon's Temple, which explains how they ended up with portions of the "true" temple endowment ceremony.

Of course, nothing in Solomon's Temple even remotely resembles what goes on in an LDS temple, but that's beside the point.

Re: That's Nothing

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Also, Nimrod invented the theory of evolution while building the Tower of Babel.