Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 28: "The Devil's Advocacy Group"
Chapter Summary:
Many false churches will be built up in the last days--They will teach false, vain, and foolish doctrines--Apostasy will abound because of false teachers--The devil will rage in the hearts of men--He will teach all manner of false doctrines. About 559–545 B.C.
With great gumption, Nephi assures readers that everything he has prophesied will definitely happen. He knows this for the same reason he was cocksure that god wanted him to lop off Laban's head: the voice inside Nephi's head told him so. This is a terrifying thing to teach people, such as Mormons, who already think god talks to them.
He also reiterates the ludicrous idea that the Book of Mormon will be of great worth to Native Americans, because they are Jews. Think about this. The next time you see a Native American family at a restaurant, just think to yourself, "what a nice Jewish family," and see how silly you feel. This goes double for Polynesian families.
Continuing the fine Mormon tradition of belittling the faith of other people, Nephi describes the contentious nature of churches in the last days:
"4 And they shall contend one with another; and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance."
So, false churches will contend with each other and they will focus more on learning than the spirit of god. By implication, god's true church will never say anything negative about other churches (like calling them "abominable" or the "whore of all the earth"), and they will shun academic learning in favor of religious warm fuzzy feelings. Easy!
Of course, I am having fun, but this just goes to show how ridiculous such vague prophecies and unsupported assertions can be. For prophecies to have any meaning or be the slightest bit verifiable, they must contain specificity which can only be fulfilled through a single, non self-fulfilling way. Anything else leads to confusion, moving of goal posts, and finger pointing.
All this contention is typical of Joseph Smith's descriptions of the religious climate where he lived. It is not surprising that he would use this to his advantage when starting his own religion. But by establishing his new religion as distinctly and exclusively true, he effectively demeans all other religions in the process. This is one of the reasons some religious sects dislike Mormons.
Furthermore, it is awfully condescending and presumptuous for Nephi/Joseph to say that other churches deny the power of god. A great many churches claim to utilize god's power to heal the sick, acquire money, or perform ordinances to please their god--all of which Mormons also do!
Oddly enough, despite the contentious climate surrounding Joseph in his youth, churches tend to be more accepting of each other these days. Even the Mormon church will concede that other churches have a "portion of truth." There are a few hypotheses for this change.
The most compelling reason to me is that during the Cold War America vilified communism as godless hedonism, thus redirecting their condescension from each other to a common enemy: disbelief. Christians even changed their tune concerning Jews post World War II.
The point of all this, though, is that Nephi's depiction of quarreling churches does not fully describe the current religious climate. The fact that Nephi's description appears to be more applicable to Joseph's day than ours is very telling, indeed.
Nephi furthers this argument by claiming that in the last days false churches will deny miracles by claiming such things don't happen anymore. Again, this is a mirror of Joseph's description of his own surroundings.
Nowadays, you can scarcely flip through the tv channels without seeing some big-haired, drawling evangelist claiming to heal unnamed people of gout, arthritis, cancer or financial troubles, for the small price of whatever your conscience will allow. Just keep in mind that god is watching and he knows how much you can afford to give.
Many Mormons equate atheism to Nihilism. They figure that without an imposed grand cosmic purpose to life, our lives would have no meaning. I have countered this notion in other chapters, so I won't go into detail here. Basically, my argument is that finding one's own purpose in life is more fulfilling than following the orders of a supreme being. Especially when the proposed supreme being has such a shoddy record.
Anyway, the notion that disbelief is inseperable from Nihilism is perpetuated by verses in the Book of Mormon, such as the following:
"7 Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us."
Personally, I kind of like the sentiment that we should live a joyful life while we can. But, given the context of the next verse, the implication is that eating and drinking and being merry means that such people do it at the expense of the poor:
"8 And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God--he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God."
This may be a criticism of the catholic notion of purgatory, where sinners are punished temporarily after death, rather than eternally. After they have been sufficiently flogged for their misdeeds, they can rejoin the righteous in heaven for the rest of eternity.
Honestly, this is a much more ethical form of retribution than the rampant Christian idea of eternal punishment for finite crimes. It is still utterly stupid and unsupported, but it is a step in the right direction.
Skipping ever downward, in verse 13 Nephi elaborates on the idea that rich people steal from the poor simply by being rich:
"13 They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up."
This is very interesting for a few reasons. First, like the rest of mainstream Christians in America during the Cold War, Mormons have a knee-jerk distain towards socialism. But Nephi seems to condone it here.
Second, Joseph Smith (and even some of his successors) tried to create a closed socialist Mormon society. He cleverly called it by a different name, however: "The Law of Consecration." The idea is simple: everything you have belongs to god, and by extension, the Mormon church. This gives the Mormon church the power to use and distribute your stuff to those in need. It is a fine idealistic idea, but alas, not even god's latest chosen people could ever make it work.
Nephi provides us with yet another list of people led by the devil to hell: those who are angered by good things; those who have a false sense of security in Zion and say "all is well;" and those who are "flattered" by the devil into thinking there is no hell.
This is a blanket argument that everyone should always be worried about hell and never be content. Oh, and if you disagree with the church on moral positions, you are mislead by Satan.
There are two ways to hold the moral high-ground: through asserting dominance via divine mandates, condemning opposing views; or through reasoned argument demonstrating with evidence the superiority of your position contrasted against less-favorable alternatives. Guess which method Nephi prefers...
As would be expected, Nephi informs us what awaits such people:
"23 ...death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment."
But if you ask a Mormon about hell they will say it is a state of mind, not a place of torture. Whether it is a place of torture or a painful state of mind doesn't really matter, because the reasons which would condemn traditional views of hell also condemn the more wishy-washy views equally well. Infinite punishment (physical, mental, or otherwise) for finite crimes, such as disbelief due to insufficient evidence, is infinitely unjust and immoral. Yet, this is precisely the system Nephi and Mormons advocate and proclaim as the best their god could do.
Furthermore, every instance we have in scripture where Satan interacts with people, he tells them the truth! Honestly, the devil sounds more like a fall-guy than a villain.
Finally, Nephi brings up spiritual foundations for truth:
"28 And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall."
The analogy, although stolen from a parable in the New Testament, is incredibly flimsy. It attempts to discredit arguments against god or Mormonism by claiming that such arguments are fueled by anger. And from whence cometh anger? The Devil!
So, when Mormon comes across dissenting views, red flags flare up like a bad rash and they instantly "feel" the influence of the devil trying to lead them away from god. To me, this is not Satan barraging the inner sanctum of your mind, but rather the psychological discomfort caused by the cognitive dissonance of your mind trying reconcile conflicting beliefs or world-views. Like everything else in religion, it is not spiritual; it is psychological.