Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 3: "The Perks of Being Wallpaper"
Chapter:
King Benjamin continues his address--The Lord Omnipotent will minister among men in a tabernacle of clay--Blood will come from every pore as He atones for the sins of the world--His is the only name whereby salvation comes--Men can put off the natural man and become Saints through the Atonement--The torment of the wicked will be as a lake of fire and brimstone. About 124 B.C.
Throwing kindling on smoldering flames of superstitious ambiguity, Benjamin speaks prophetically as he relays a bunch of curiously specific things about Jesus he totally heard from an angel in his sleep. I have yet to hear a non-ludicrous reason why angels or Jesus or god don't appear to everyone, which would level the playing field of religious reasoning. It seems that some people are just favored by god more than others. And yet, the same eternal punishments are proposed for rebellion from both groups, which Benjamin gets into later. As it turns out, god may discriminate on levels of evidence, but he is an equal opportunity executioner.
As Benjamin shares what I consider to be more shameless retrofitted prophecies on the part of Joseph Smith, he drops a few buzz words to get the attention of believing Christians:
"3 And he said unto me: Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee; for behold, I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy."
Anyone who has ever read Luke 2 (or watched Charlie Brown's Christmas) will immediately connect the phrase "glad tidings of great joy" with the angel Gabriel, who, as we all know, was the scamp who told Mary she would conceive without laying with a man ("That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"). Clearly, this invocation of a recognizable Biblical figure is meant to borrow authority from the Bible. This seems to be most effective on superstitious and undereducated frontiersmen who already believe in the infallibility of the Bible, which would describe most of the people living around Joseph Smith.
Benjamin continues to quote the unnamed but totally recognizable angel concerning Jesus:
"5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases."
"6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men."
It should be noted that, although omnipotent and willing to heal the afflicted, Jesus apparently has no interest in curing these ailments for all those suffering by them. Why would Jesus come to earth and heal a single man of blindness, but not bother to abolish blindness altogether? Given the proposed omnipotence of Jesus, healing a single person seems terribly self-serving. Apparently the only reason he healed anyone was to convince the credulous and ignorant that he is divine. If he had any interest in relieving pain and misery, shouldn't he have cured everyone?
Ultimately, however, none of it matters because Joseph has repeatedly retrofitted prophecies to serve his purposes, just as he did here. As I have asked before, why is it that this specific group of ancient Jews more closely resembles modern Christianity than the Law of Moses-based Judaism of their contemporaries in Jerusalem?
Mormons will tell you that ancient Judaism actually resembled Mormonism, but many aspects were lost due to scribal errors during the copying and translating process. Mormons go so far as to claim that Adam and Eve practiced Mormonism in the garden of Eden and that in the temple of Solomon Jews conducted Mormon endowment ceremonies--the knowledge of which was lost in translation. To Mormons, these clear examples of retrofitted prophecy in the Book of Mormon are actually examples of their claim that ancient Jews were basically Mormon!
Of course, this outlandish hypothesis (I refuse to call it a theory) assumes that the Book of Mormon is true.
The angel goes on to spout details like Jesus' name, specific miracles performed by Jesus in the New Testament, bleeding pores, crucifixion, even his mother's name. Most of this was spelled out in a similar fashion by Nephi. So, why include this second testimony of a ridiculous claim? Because Mormons are taught that multiplicity of anecdote equals evidence. This shows how thin the evidence for Mormonism is spread: "Believe us because we all believe each other's second-hand accounts based on warm fuzzy feelings." Well, sign me up!
The angel touches on a point of theological confusion within Mormonism concerning the fall of Adam:
"11 For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like the angel is saying that those who die without learning about Jesus will get a free pass into heaven. This raises two questions for me. First, why would anyone teach anyone else about Jesus? Wouldn't this rob them of their ticket to heaven? Second, if Jesus' atonement can make clean those who sin in ignorance, why can't it make clean everyone ever? Is god's omnipotence limited by logistics?
Of course, this all assumes that killing an innocent person to appease an angry omnipotent god for someone else's insult is both effective and not completely ridiculous.
The angel further digs his rabbit hole by stating that those who know god's commandments and rebel will not be saved:
"12 But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ."
On this surface, this sounds like it would apply to people who leave Mormonism, such as myself. But I cannot truthfully say that I have ever knew anything to be from god. I cannot say that I have ever had a sound reason to believe in god, and frankly, I don't think anyone else has a sound reason either. If only those who "know" god's commandments and still rebel against god are damned, which I contest would qualify no one, does this mean that basically everyone has a ticket to board the heaven-bound double-decker?
Apologists will attempt to counter my point that no one qualifies for damnation by claiming that everyone knows that god exists and that god's commandments are written on the hearts of all men. Based on a couple of fatuous verses in the New Testament which predicate modern presuppositionalism, they believe there is no such thing as an atheist. Really? This is their argument? It is as childish and intellectually lazy as the schoolyard taunt "I know you are, but what am I?" Claiming that the opposing side of an argument is just in denial and they really are on your side is stupid.
Old Ben's angelic escort continues to defend the indefensible by claiming that all men around the world have been adequately taught by god's prophets, so no one has any excuse for rebelling:
"13 And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them."
This is demonstrably false. No form of Christianity, Judaism or Mormonism has ever been taught to everyone on earth. This has literally never happened--ever.
And again, even if prophets had taught the whole earth about Jesus, this is still not a sound reason to believe in the supernatural. It doesn't matter how many anecdotal accounts exist of people claiming to see angels or hear god's voice or see Jesus in a vision or dream; second-hand evidence is still second-hand evidence. The plural of anecdote is not evidence!
And what about people who see Allah or Krishna? This type of thing is not exclusive to Mormons or even Christianity in general. It is ubiquitous among religiously minded people. Why should I believe one person's tale of angels over another person's tale of djinni? Why should I believe any of it?
The angel brings up the issue of children needing salvation, a hot-button issue in Joseph's day:
"16 And even if it were possible that little children could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are blessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins."
This seems to be an unnecessary statement considering the claim earlier that those who die in ignorance of Jesus will be saved anyway. It seems apparent to me that this would extend to children who die before understanding Mormonism. I think that the only reason this comes up at all is because Joseph knew it would stir up certain people who were rallied against the Catholic Church on this point. In many ways, this was a power play.
The angel drones on for the next few verses about salvation and damnation and children and rebellious men and atonement and on and on, offering nothing in terms of new superstitious nonsense. That is, until the angel brings up "the natural man:"
"19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
This raises some interesting concepts. First of all, god gave man his nature, so why would the natural man be an enemy to god? This doesn't make any sense. Not to mention the illogical thought that an omnipotent being could possibly have a non-omnipotent enemy. Could an ant, however irate or defiant it may be towards me, possibly be my enemy?
Second, in what way are all of the positive traits listed not part of man's nature? Can men not be good without "yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit?" This must be demonstrated.
Third, if god is a father figure who looks out for our good, why is there any suffering at all? In what way does he look out for us? He surely is not interested in eradicating disease or physical suffering, like a father would do for his children. He doesn't seem interested in making his existence known in any demonstrable way, like a father would. He doesn't reward good deeds and punish evil in a timely manner, thus teaching his children valuable life lessons, like a father would. As far as I can tell, if the Mormon god exists in any way as a father to us, it is as an absentee father who cannot be bothered to write check for child support. Oh, and what's up with parasites, tsunamis, and AIDS? What the hell, DAD?!?
In an indirect way, this whole thing about the natural man rebelling against god is about sexual sin. At least, this is what always came up in Sunday school when I attended church. Succumbing to sexual urges outside of marriage--including masturbation--is a sin next to murder according to Mormons. With all this theologically-based shame towering over sex, is it any wonder that Mormons have been found by psychologists to associate more guilt and self-loathing around sexuality than almost any other group? Sexual repression is abuse, as far as I'm concerned.
Benjamin ends his quote of the angel he totally saw in a dream by reminding everyone that should they not repent, they will be burned forever, because, as you know, Mormons totally don't believe in a literal hell:
"24 ...they shall be judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil."
"25 And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls."
"26 Therefore, they have drunk out of the cup of the wrath of God... therefore, mercy could have claim on them no more forever."
"27 And their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever. Thus hath the Lord commanded me. Amen."
Thanks, DAD!