Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 10: "Magic Cheese Whiz"
Chapter Summary:
Jacob explains that the Jews will crucify their God--They will be scattered until they begin to believe in Him--America will be a land of liberty where no king will rule--Reconcile yourselves to God and gain salvation through His grace. About 559–545 B.C.
Reiterating many of things about which Nephi wrote (surprise!), Jacob makes prophecies about his descendants perishing in the flesh because of unbelief and then being restored to the knowledge of Christ. This begs the question of whether those who believe in Jesus will not perish in the flesh. Jacob points out that an angel came to him the night before and told him that the messiah would be named "Christ."
First of all, this is yet another verse in the Book of Mormon which teaches people to interpret their dreams literally, as though they are some conduit for communicating with the divine. If dreams had any effect on reality, I would have learned to fly many years ago. And I would be ten feet tall. And rich.
This is simply a reflection of the ignorant mysticism which was prevalent in Joseph Smith's day. After all, he used a magic rock (a "seer stone") to locate buried treasure, and on more than one occasion he was convicted of fraud for failing to find anything more valuable than dirt, despite guaranteeing results and taking money from people. Oh, and he refused to give the victims of his scam their money back, hence the suits.
A lesser known fact is that Joseph reportedly used this same magic rock to translate the Book of Mormon. This assumes, of course, that the book needed translating to begin with. Given the open question of the existence of the original ancient record, for which we have no evidence, I find it doubtful.
Joseph's own father claimed to have several divine dreams, so it is no wonder that this idea would seep in to Joseph's book of fanciful tales. In fact, as I noted in the chapters in 1 Nephi where Nephi shares his father's vision of the tree of life, Joseph's father had the same dream as Lehi. But, who knows? Maybe the Smith family's superstitious nonsense is more valid than that of other uneducated frontiersmen.
The second thing is that the word "Christ" is a Greek title--not Jesus' name. This may be a minor point, but keep in mind the original language of the Book of Mormon is supposed to be reformed Egyptian (whatever that is). How would a Greek title make it in to a book written in reformed Egyptian? Could this be another case of retrofitting things to make the Book of Mormon appear prophetic?
The case could be made that the word "Christ" is a translation of some other Egyptian or Hebrew word, like "savior" or "messiah", and the Greek word "Christ" is the closest word we use in modern English. If this is the case, it would go a long way for apologists to identify what this ancient Egyptian or Hebrew word is. Failing this, it comes across to me as another retrofitted prophecy.
In the same passage, verse 3, Jacob vilifies the Jews in much the same way Hitler incited the economically stifled Germans to kill the Jews:
"[Christ] should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him--for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God."
Jacob continues explaining that if Jesus had appeared to any other group of people on earth and did the same miracles they would have swooned all over Jesus and worshipped him. This would have thrown a wrench in god's perfect plan to have his son killed to appease the rules god set up in the first place.
Perhaps at the time Jesus lived other nations would have accepted him as god or god's son (or both!), but this does not mean they would have been justified in doing so. What is it about a miracle that implies divinity? At best a fantastic and seemingly impossible feat would only show that it is possible. It does not explain how it happened. Maybe it was some other god. Maybe it was aliens. Maybe someone figured out a way to do it naturally but wants people to think it was magic. Maybe it was magic.
Until a mechanism is demonstrated, natural or magical, any conclusions made about the cause of the phenomenon would be speculation at best. Why would anyone worship someone as a god based on speculation?
I wonder if the ancient Chinese, who could read and make explosives and had no concept of a god in the Christian sense, would have been impressed with the illiterate blue-collar Jesus and his watery wine and self-replicating bread and fishes, none of which can be verified because Jesus never taught anyone how to do these things. Maybe upon seeing the world's first fireworks Jesus would have worshipped the Chinese. What would Jesus think of airplanes and computers and band saws? How would the ignorant and uneducated divine carpenter explain the seemingly magical phenomenon of cheese whiz?
How would we think of an alien civilization sufficiently advanced to travel across the universe?
Keep in mind that the same people who believe Jesus is god because an ancient book says he performed miracles also believe other people, such as prophets, perform miracles. How did they determine Jesus was god and not some other faith-healer?
Many Christians believe that the creation of the state of Israel is fulfillment of prophecy. They usually cite the book of Isaiah as the source of this prophecy, just as Nephi and Jacob have done. Mormons who buy into this idea also cite the Book of Mormon as a source for this prophecy. Setting aside the obvious self-fulfilling nature of this prophecy (it turns out Zionist Jews also read Isaiah), Mormons often overlook a potential problem with the prophecy as it is spelled out in the Book of Mormon. In verse 7 Jacob explains that the Jews will believe in Jesus before they go back to Israel:
"But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance."
So much for the efficacy of prophecy, even the self-fulfilling variety.
Jacob also prophecies that the land (America) will have no king, because god is their king. It isn't explicitly stated when this will be the case. But it should be noted that Joseph Smith was raised in colonial America just a couple decades after the revolutionary war, a main focus of which was independence from a king. Naturally, this cultural sentiment would have been passed down to Joseph in his early years.
The Book of Mormon describes a few different groups of people, some of which have a king, others have some form of democracy. The kings which are the most successful in the book are described as "righteous men", which basically means kings are best when they are theocratic.
Joseph was a theocratic leader for his people and he tried to convince large groups of natives who distrusted the government to join the Mormons, possibly to add to the already existing Mormon militia (perhaps the main purpose of the Book of Mormon). Joseph even ran for political office several times, including president of the United States. Considering these things it makes sense that Joseph would generally favor a democracy over a monarchy due to his cultural background, but would still include a provision in his holy book to allow a theocracy which would place himself as king.
A few times in this chapter Jacob says that the Gentiles will be like fathers to the Jews and the natives. Given what we know about the relationship the Jews have had with non-Jews (rife with prejudice and violence over thousands of years culminating in a holucost), and the decimation of the natives by the colonists (massacres, stealing land, blankets laced with small pox and other diseases to kill off entire tribes, restricting natives to small plots of land), the paternal nature of the Gentiles comes across as an abusive step-father who holds no regard for the safety or well-being of Jews or natives.
The language that Jacob uses suggests that the Gentiles are more sophisticated and advanced than the natives. This was a common view in Joseph's day and was used as a justification for the brutal way the settlers treated the "savage Injuns", who did not have wheeled vehicles, metalwork, sea-worthy vessels, or Christianity (no matter what the Book of Mormon says). Many "civilized" Europeans thought so low of the natives that they were convinced that the natives were incapable of learning English. Such a high-minded view sure sounds like Jacob's description of Gentiles being "nursing fathers" to the natives.
According to Jacob, god will only allow those who believe in him to live in America. It has certainly never been the case that the whole of America has believed in the same god, much less the specific god described in the Book of Mormon. I guess this is one of those "to be continued" prophecies.
God seems to have his work cut out for him, though, since secularism is growing far more quickly in the United States than Mormonism, especially among younger generations. Good thing he's omnipotent.
Interestingly, Jacob elaborates on the idea that those who live in "the isles of the sea", like the Native Americans, are of Jewish decent:
"But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren."
"For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure."
It is because of verses like these that many Mormons believe that Polynesians are Jewish. If this is the case then there would be evidence, such as corroborating DNA. Let me know when scientists show a genetic link between Native Americans and Polynesians and Hebrews. Forgive me if I don't hold my breath.