Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 24: "Pretty Much Always Really Ya"
Chapter Summary:
Israel will be gathered and will enjoy millennial rest--Lucifer was cast out of heaven for rebellion--Israel will triumph over Babylon (the world)--Compare Isaiah 14. About 559–545 B.C.
Christians of all stripes read Isaiah as a prophecy for end-times. In particular, when Isaiah speaks about the Israelites being gathered together in their promised land, the state of Israel is pointed to as fulfillment. The issue I have with this is the context in which this prophecy was given. You see, Isaiah lived in Jerusalem at a time when the Jews inhabited and had control of the city. As a prophet issuing warnings to a king, it is not surprising at all that he would talk about a falling away and a returning to their "promised land".
But his prophecies are still vague. Whenever Isaiah is specific, which I will get to later, believers either claim allegory or they twist historical events to seem prophetic.
There is also the issue of self-fulfilling prophecy, which I have addressed before. The Jews will forever be drawn to Jerusalem because their holy book points them in that direction. But guess what, the Jews who have migrated to Jerusalem and set up their own government in Israel read the book of Isaiah, too. Never mind that the prophecy was made 2500 years ago. It was simply a matter of time until some event occurred which could be counted as fulfillment.
As with the previous chapter, Isaiah presumably is still speaking to king Ahaz, and has given no indication that he is speaking prophetically about events thousands of years in the future. He seems to be speaking about localized events which will happen fairly soon. The twelve tribes of Israel were already spread out in Isaiah's day. For him to claim that they will be drawn back to the land of their origins is no more a surprise than the claim that I will likely eat pizza in the next few weeks. I may not be a prophet, but I can dish out self-fulfilling prophecy with the best of them.
One specific prophecy which stands out to me is that when all this gathering occurs, Isaiah tells Ahaz (presumably) to approach the king of Babylon thusly:
"4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased!"
A few things: first, Ahaz, not some unnamed futuristic ruler, is supposed to challenge the Babylonian king. Second, the kingdom of Babylon is no longer a kingdom. It was disassembled centuries ago. The whole region (parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa) is now split up into several nations, some with kings, some with presidents, some with dictators. There is no single king of Babylon. But, in the time of king Ahaz, the Babylonian empire did have a king. Again, this points to Isaiah's predictions being local and current--not 2500 years in the future.
The warning to the Babylonian king goes on to predict his downfall, which seems to be mostly because god doesn't like prideful people. And who does, really? Oppressors will become the oppressed; captors will be made captive; you get the idea.
For several verses Isaiah rants about Lucifer being thrown out of heaven. What was Lucifer's crime, you ask? According to Isaiah, Lucifer fell from heaven because he wanted to be like god.
To run-of-the-mill mainstream Christians this will sound like the utmost form of blasphemy. How dare Lucifer aspire to perfection and glory, amirite?
To a Mormon, though, this makes no sense. You see, aspiring to godhood is the whole point of our earthly existence. And Jesus, who apparently beat out Lucifer, was given as payment for saving humanity from god's wrath the exact thing Lucifer asked and was punished for.
This kind of unraveling, which occurs during close inspection of poorly thought out ideas, is exactly what is to be expected of mythology--not truth. God's perfect plan should hold up better against my moderate scrutiny, frankly. Imagine what would happen if someone truly intelligent and insightful got ahold of this book...
Throughout his rant about Lucifer, Isaiah blames many of the world's ills on the fallen angel. He even claims that Lucifer "did weaken the nations". How? How could a fallen angel do anything? Remember, god set up this whole system. God threw Lucifer out of heaven. God could annihilate Lucifer (and according to Mormons, god will eventually do so), so why not do it now?
Mormons love to tout the "free will" argument as a justification for god allowing Satan to tinker in our lives and mess stuff up. Here is a thought: does Satan have free will? If so, then clearly his knowledge of god's existence did not prevent him from rebelling against god, and he is not a mindless obedient robot. Why could god not do the same for us?
"Free will" is not the issue here. It is an excuse to justify the horrible things which happen in our lives. As some more astute Christian apologists have noted, the problem of evil, which is the other side of the "free will" coin, does not prove no god exists. But it does prove that no benevolent god exists.
Isaiah goes on to predict that god will punish Lucifer and Babylon and anyone else he doesn't care for. And then we get this fabulous little gem which completely dispels the notion that any of these predictions are to occur 2500 years in the future:
"28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden."
Bam! Right there Isaiah admits that this already happened. I don't know how well documented any of this is by historical artifacts, but I don't care. Isaiah admits he isn't speaking about our day. He isn't speaking about the millennium or Jesus' second coming. He is talking about local current events, which is what I have been saying throughout these last several chapters.
Vindication feels pretty good.