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Chapter 11: "For The Bible Tells Me So"

 

Chapter Summary:

Jacob saw his Redeemer--The law of Moses typifies Christ and proves He will come. About 559–545 B.C.

 

 

 

 

 

Why do Mormons send missionaries two by two? The most obvious and probably the most practical reason is safety. These young people go door to door in all areas around the world. As a former missionary I can say that on more than one occasion a precarious situation was made safer by the fact that I was not alone.

 

Another reason, which may be only apparent to Mormon circles, is to keep each other from sinning. After all, young men are less likely to masturbate if another young man is in the same apartment. Well, most young men.

 

Nephi adds to the list a reason which is even less commonly talked about, but I do recall instances from my mission where it was addressed: having multiple witnesses proves stuff.

 

The New Testament indicates that ancient Jewish courts required "two or more witnesses" to establish an accusation. Otherwise people could just accuse each other out of spite or just to annoy people they don't like. This is, of course, impossible when two or more people make the accusation. I mean, why would both people lie? Oh, wait...

 

Nephi attempts to take this well-known aspect of the Jewish court system to the next level by asserting that anything--even unsubstantiated supernatural malarkey--can be proven true by simply having three people (which is more than two, mind you) attest to its truthfulness. And wouldn't you know it, Isaiah and Nephi and Jacob all saw Jesus Christ before he was born! And they know he is god and he will come to earth, and if none of this happened then there would be no god! But we, the futuristic readers, know that he did come to earth, therefore, there is a god, and it is Jesus, whom Isaiah and Nephi and Jacob all saw in visions!

 

Nephi adds to this yet another proof of god's existence and Jesus coming, the Law of Moses: "Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the Law of Moses been given". Do you believe it now?

 

I feel that simply stating Nephi's case in a sarcastic tone should be sufficient to draw attention to the inherent fallacy which Nephi employs here. But just to be safe I will spell it out: the truth of a claim has nothing to do with how many people believe it or who claim to be eye-witnesses of it. It could be one person, three people or a million people claiming to have seen Jesus in a vision. Unless they can demonstrate their claim, I have no reason to believe that it actually happened.

 

I believe it was David Hume who noted that revelation of the sort described here by Nephi, is necessarily first-person, and anyone who hears their claim is receiving the information second-hand. Why would anyone believe such a bold supernatural claim without something more substantive than a claim that three guys who lived over 2500 years ago claimed to have seen it in visions? 

 

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