Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 1: "By Any Other Name"
Chapter Summary:
Jacob and Joseph seek to persuade men to believe in Christ and keep His commandments--Nephi dies--Wickedness prevails among the Nephites. About 544–421 B.C.
As Nephi nears his own sunset limited, he passes the plates to his younger brother, Jacob. The very same Jacob who got several chapters worth of space in Nephi's second book. Nephi is careful to let Jacob know that he should only write about spiritual things on these smaller plates, for the history of the people will be written on the larger plates.
It is still unclear to me which books are included in the large and small plates, as I discussed in a previous chapter. Mormons hold that the small plates include both books of Nephi and Jacob and a few subsequent books. But, the first mention of the large and small plates makes it sounds as though the first book of Nephi is the small plates, and the second book of Nephi is the large plates. Who knows which is which, though, since we don't have the plates to actually examine.
I suppose this doesn't really matter in the long run. I find this interesting because of my Mormon upbringing and because what I was taught as a child appears to be different, or at least unclear, based on the text so far. What interests me more is the proposition that somewhere out there exists a book similar to the Book of Mormon which contains more history.
That this book allegedly contains less history or information about the culture of the Nephites and Lamanites makes the verification of claims more difficult. We are left with several unverifiable claims and anachronisms (i.e. Steel swords and armor, chariots, horses, certain grains, etc., all of which were unknown to American Natives at this time, yet the Book of Mormon claims the Nephites and Lamanites used all of these things) and little else, which brings in to question the very historicity and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
With more historical information, one could more easily show that the Book of Mormon is accurate. Unless, of course, such a historically focused book would only draw more lines in the sand between Joseph's fatuous claims about ancient America and verifiable history, anthropology, and science.
My guess is that, like the several references to other records which could potentially verify the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith was setting himself up to "discover" even more circle-jerking ancient texts to "translate."
As I have pointed out a few times already, it is very telling to me that, despite the claim in the Book of Mormon that dozens of such books exist and will be discovered and verify conclusively the truth claims in the Book of Mormon, not one of Joseph's successors--in nearly two centuries--has found and translated another book. Keep in mind, Mormons believe that their 15 highest leaders are "prophets, seers and revelators." Translating another ancient record comparable to the Book of Mormon, and through the same divine process, should be easy for any one of these 15 self-important aging men.
Jacob explains a few things about the Nephites around this time (of course, nothing verifiable). He suggests that many of the people have stopped believing in future-Jesus, and he super-duper wants all men to believe in Jesus, because Jesus is super-duper awesome.
He also tells us that despite all of these people leaving pre-Common Era Christianity, the people greatly respected Nephi as a leader. In an attempt to honor Nephi after his death, they decide to call all future Nephite kings "Nephi:"
"11 Wherefore, the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name. And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth, according to the reigns of the kings; and thus they were called by the people, let them be of whatever name they would."
If this doesn't sound odd to you, consider how strange it would be if early Americans decided to call all presidents after George Washington "Second George, Third George" and so on. Barack Obama would be "Forty-forth George." It's weird, right?
Jacob goes on to explain that, although each household has their own name, those who follow Nephi will be referred to as "Nephites," while those who "rebel" will be called "Lamanites." Nuances in social demographics are much easier to grasp (and judge) when groups of people fall neatly into rows of religious prejudice.
Having taken a completely unnecessary and arbitrary oath that they would take upon themselves the damnation of the people should they fail to adequately teach others about Jesus, Jacob and Joseph (the two youngest sons of Lehi) travel around telling people how super awesome Jesus will be:
"19 And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day."
This is an interesting concept. On some level, Mormon missionaries probably believe this applies to themselves. They believe they are "called of god" to preach and convert nonbelievers to Mormonism. If they slack-off even in the slightest, someone who might have potentially joined the church might be missed due to the ineptitude and laziness of the missionary.
This implied pressure to save souls and not screw up god's work weighs heavily on some young Mormon missionaries, who already feel great pressure to not disappoint their families. However, I don't know any missionary who has taken an oath assuming the damnation of those missed souls they might have saved. This is bizarre and cultish to me.