Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 7: "Because Satan"
Chapter Summary:
Sherem denies Christ, contends with Jacob, demands a sign, and is smitten of God--All of the prophets have spoken of Christ and His Atonement--The Nephites lived out their days as wanderers, born in tribulation, and hated by the Lamanites. About 544–421 B.C.
At various points in the Book of Mormon, non-believers come into play. Often they are described as "anti-Christ." This chapter contains the first such instance in the book. Before I get to the meat of the chapter, I want to point out a few things which struck me as odd when I read this chapter.
First, two chapters earlier (ch. 5) Jacob quotes the otherwise unknown prophet, Zenos, who seems to have plagiarized a parable from Isaiah. In the previous chapter (ch. 6) Jacob explains certain aspects of the analogy and uses it as an opportunity to offer his parting sermon, which seems to be a theme among the prophets of the Book of Mormon (no untimely deaths for god's chosen, I suppose). And now this chapter (ch. 7) contains a confrontation between Jacob and an anti-Christ. The order of these chapters seems very odd.
It's not as if Jacob 5&6 are part of a linear story; they are just an inserted analogy. Why would the confrontation between Jacob and a naysayer be slapped on as the final chapter--after Jacob's final sermon?
Second, this anti-Christ, named Sherem, appears to be little more than a straw man of a Jew who denies the divinity of Jesus. Many of the arguments Sherem offers against Jesus are incredibly shallow (more on this later). But, who knows? Perhaps Sherem really is this ignorant and obtuse. Perhaps these Bronze Age Jews living in ancient America (snicker) really were as stupid and arrogant as Sherem. Or maybe Joseph Smith used a stereotype to serve his purposes.
As will become more evident in chapters to come, this last possibility seems more likely than the others because the anti-Christ stories all follow the same carefully crafted pattern: they (the anti-Christ's) terrorize the countryside by suggesting Jesus might not come (remember, this is supposed to be centuries before Jesus' birth); they are brought before the high priest, which in this case is Jacob; they claim to know things about the future (i.e. Jesus will never be born); they ask for a sign to prove the existence of god; the high priest uses the power of god to give them a sign, which ultimately results in their excruciating demise; just before they die, they admit that they really did believe all along, and the devil deceived them (sometimes by appearing as an angel and telling the anti-Christ there is no god/Jesus); and they die. If these accounts are genuine, why do they all play out the same way, with so many similar details?
This paraphrases every instance of an anti-Christ in the Book of Mormon I can think of. Add to this the fact that each example gets progressively more detailed (as would be expected if Joseph made it up as he went along) and I feel confident in calling Sherem nothing more than a bad stereotype.
Frankly, I would not be surprised at all if a situation similar to this happened in Joseph's community and he included the story in his book. This is also my view of the multiple renditions of Lehi's vision of the tree of life, which Joseph's father saw in a dream long before Joseph "found" the Book of Mormon. Other events described in the Book of Mormon also share stark similarities to events in Joseph's pre-Mormon life, which I will point out as we go (spoiler: King Benjamin's famous last sermon is one such example).
Let's suppose Joseph did not make it up. Let's suppose that Sherem was a real person who really did preach to ancient Jewish Americans that Jesus would never be born and that he received a sign from god which killed him. What a terrible story! No wonder believers are so afraid to ask questions or withhold belief until evidence is presented. They are afraid god will reveal himself with deadly force!
Or maybe Joseph included this story to discourage doubt: "I can give you evidence, but you aren't going to like it..."
When Sherem first comes on the scene, he offers a counter argument to Jacob's preachings of future Jesus:
"2 And it came to pass that he began to preach among the people, and to declare unto them that there should be no Christ. And he preached many things which were flattering unto the people; and this he did that he might overthrow the doctrine of Christ."
Two things: How does Sherem know there will be no Christ? At best he would be able to say that there is no reason to believe Christ will come. By making such a claim to knowledge, he has shifted the burden of proof to himself. The best way to lose an argument is to overstate it.
The second thing: Is Jacob inadvertently suggesting that the doctrine of Christ is unflattering to mankind? Or is he suggesting that the doctrine of Christ can be easily overthrown by appealing to a person's vanity? Either way, this is absurd. If the doctrine of Christ had any evidence it would not be overthrown by flattery. What does this say about the doctrine of Christ?
Adding to the absurdity, Jacob describes Sherem:
"4 And he was learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil."
Jacob is suggesting that Sherem's proficiency with words and his education is being exploited by the devil. This feeds into the common idea among some believers that education can be a bad thing. I suppose from the perspective of preserving faith, Jacob is right. Education is a very bad thing for faith.
For most Mormons, however, education is not seen as a bad thing, but a thing to be taken with a rather large grain of religious salt. They put great emphasis on education, primarily for the purpose of getting a high paying job in order to support lots of Mormon babies.
Because of this, many Mormons become proficient in mental gymnastics. They find some very creative ways to reconcile their religious beliefs with what they learn in school. I saw this every day while attending BYU (a Mormon university). Part of the reason I began questioning Mormonism was because I caught myself doing it, as well.
Jacob assures us that Sherem's flattering education-based tactics will have no effect on him, because Jacob has seen angels and heard the voice of god. Assuming that such signs are sufficient to warrant belief in the supernatural (and I'm not so sure they are), and assuming that such signs would bolster a person's belief so well that they could never be deceived or dissuaded, why doesn't god prove himself to everyone in this manner? What makes Jacob so special that he would be awarded incontrovertible proof of god, yet I am not?
Ultimately, though, visions and angels and disembodied voices are not very good evidence for the supernatural. Perhaps they held more sway at a time before we had a basic understanding of the human brain and psychology (like, say, the early 1800s).
Honestly, if I had witnessed all the things Jacob describes as his reasons for believing in god, I would see a shrink with the expectation of being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Seriously, Jacob offers no method to differentiate between a sign from god and a mental illness. And this is exactly what we would expect if the Book of Mormon was a construct of Joseph Smith's mind (healthy or otherwise...), rather than divine revelation.
Jacob and Sherem finally meet and Sherem accuses Jacob of deceiving the people with a corruption of the true religion: Judaism. Sherem then contradicts his earlier preachings (that there will never be a Jesus) by stating that no man knows the future. And then Jacob attempts to rebut Sherem with some rather dry dialog:
"9 And I [Jacob] said unto him: Deniest thou the Christ who shall come? And he said: If there should be a Christ, I would not deny him; but I know that there is no Christ, neither has been, nor ever will be."
"10 And I said unto him: Believest thou the scriptures? And he said, Yea."
"11 And I said unto him: Then ye do not understand them; for they truly testify of Christ. Behold, I say unto you that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ."
So, Sherem backtracks and doubles down on his previous claim to know that Christ will never come, and Jacob counters by saying that Sherem misunderstands the scriptures, which testify that Christ will come. This is odd. The whole argument is odd. Jews believe in a messiah; they just believe he has yet to come. Jacob seems to be suggesting that Sherem does not believe a messiah will come, yet Sherem is Jewish and lauds the moral superiority of the Law of Moses. What? This makes no sense!
Jacob adds that he knows these things to be true because of his visions and the voices in his head telling him so. Sherem, apparently feeling snarky, asks for a similar sign:
"Show me a sign by this power of the Holy Ghost, in the which ye know so much."
Jacob hesitates to use his god-given magical powers, fearing that tempting god would yield scary results. He also jabs Sherem by accusing him of denying what he truly believes:
"14 And I said unto him: What am I that I should tempt God to show unto thee a sign in the thing which thou knowest to be true? Yet thou wilt deny it, because thou art of the devil. Nevertheless, not my will be done; but if God shall smite thee, let that be a sign unto thee that he has power, both in heaven and in earth; and also, that Christ shall come. And thy will, O Lord, be done, and not mine."
What a condescending thing to say to a person who does not believe the same thing you do. But, manners aside, this idea (that non-believers really do believe, they are just suppressing belief) is surprisingly common among certain groups of believers. Just talk to a presuppositional apologist.
It is strange and rather vindictive of Jacob/god to smite Sherem, rather than give him a sign like those which convinced Jacob. Why does Sherem get a different sign? Because he asked too many questions? Because he asked the wrong questions? Because he challenged the poorly-supported religiously-based social paradigms? No! He was deceived by the devil, that's why.
If he truly was deceived by Satan, wouldn't Sherem be a victim? Why would he be punished for falling victim to the powers of a supernatural being, even if that being was created by god and could be destroyed by god in the blink of an eye. What part of this was Sherem's fault?
Jacob smites Sherem, presumably in a similar fashion to Nephi smiting Laman and Lemuel with a bolt of lightning from his hand. Sherem falls in to a coma for a few days and comes out of it with a proclamation for every person in the kingdom to hear. Naturally, Jacob obliges Sherem, and the next day everyone is gathered to hear Sherem's dying words:
"17 And it came to pass that on the morrow the multitude were gathered together; and he spake plainly unto them and denied the things which he had taught them, and confessed the Christ, and the power of the Holy Ghost, and the ministering of angels."
"18 And he spake plainly unto them, that he had been deceived by the power of the devil. And he spake of hell, and of eternity, and of eternal punishment."
"19 And he said: I fear lest I have committed the unpardonable sin, for I have lied unto God; for I denied the Christ, and said that I believed the scriptures; and they truly testify of him. And because I have thus lied unto God I greatly fear lest my case shall be awful; but I confess unto God."
As far as I am aware, the unpardonable sin was not introduced as a concept until Jesus said denying the Holy Spirit was unforgivable. Why is Sherem speaking to a group of ancient Jews as though they all know and understand this principle when their contemporaries in Israel had no concept of it? This sort of thing bugs me, and I have seen several examples of it in the Book of Mormon. I'm sorry, but were the Nephites Jewish or Christian?
One thing which confuses me about Sherem's confession is that he offers no explanation whatsoever for his change of heart. He denies Christ, is smitten by god, wakes from a coma and accepts Christ. What the what? What happened? Why did he change his mind?!? How could I possibly take this story seriously if Sherem does not share what convinced him he was wrong?
The only thing he mentions which could possibly be an explanation is the "ministering of angels." If this is the case--if this really is what convinced him of Jesus--then this puts his experience in the same ludicrous category as near death experiences. Seeing an angel in his damaged and dying mind while in a coma is hardly convincing evidence. It is certainly not a good reason for those in the multitude to believe he actually witnessed anything supernatural.
To make the whole ordeal even more self-serving, Sherem confirms Jacob's accusation that he was suppressing his true belief because, ya know, Satan. You would likely be hard pressed to find an official statement from the Mormon Church to this effect, but many members do think of atheists and apostates in general as merely suppressing their belief in Jesus in order to sin, or to live an "easier" life. Even members of my own family have accused me of such feigned disbelief.
To someone who genuinely believes they have the "Truth" (with a capital "T"), the prospect that another person might disagree with them opens the door to their "Truth" actually being wrong. This can be terrifying, especially if their whole lives are built around these beliefs, as Mormons are taught to do.
One of the many things about evangelical Christians which has always bugged me is when they fall to the ground in a fit of frenzied spiritual splendor. This is exactly what happens to everyone in the crowd listening to Sherem's confession. And when Jacob sees this, he rejoices.
Joseph Smith, who describes his region as having many religious revivals, must have been a fan of such divine loss of motor function. At the very least, people in his area would have seen this part of the story as similar to their own experiences with revivalist religion, to which Joseph could have easily appealed.
Any way you slice this story (fact or fiction), the whole ordeal is absurd. Even if Sherem really existed, the story is too disturbing to take seriously, and it speaks more to the vindictiveness of the Mormon god than to his morality or compassion towards humanity.