Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 4: "Obfuscating Sophistry"
Chapter Summary:
King Benjamin continues his address--Salvation comes because of the Atonement--Believe in God to be saved--Retain a remission of your sins through faithfulness--Impart of your substance to the poor--Do all things in wisdom and order. About 124 B.C.
Having finished his tall-tale of dreamy angels, offering no reason for anyone to believe a word he said, Benjamin looks out to the multitude, who seem to have stopped reading his speech all at the same time. Benjamin notices that everyone is scared out of their wits by his threats if hell and they are prostrated on the ground, crying in unison for salvation:
"1 ...he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them."
"2 And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins..."
Such is the power of fear-mongering. This is exactly why the Catholic Church and many Protestant churches rely on threats of hellfire and damnation to retain membership--they scare the crap out of people. This is especially effective, and I would argue verging on verbal and emotional abuse, when done to children.
Not only is religion given a blind eye from child protective services for levying such a mental fuster-cluck on innocents, but they do it tax free! Would we allow any other charitable, tax-deductible organization to spew this kind of filth? Imagine the outcry if the Red Cross routinely told children that if they do not donate blood they will be tortured forever. Would we stand for this? Why does religion get a pass?
What follows is another example of Joseph Smith's culture bleeding into his holy book. In "big tent revival" fashion, everyone present is overcome with joy because god has forgiven them:
"3 ...after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins..."
Good for them. Imagined consolation induced by groupthink must be comforting. What's next? Faith healing? Speaking in tongues? A sappy song about Jesus' love for those who debase themselves lower than dirt? Handling poisonous snakes? Bless The Lord! Hallelujah! Praise baby Jebus!
Ugh. I hate revivals...
Now that everyone is filled with the joy of being forgiven by that pesky voice inside their heads, Benjamin tells everyone to shut up so he can finish his super important speech:
"5 For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God at this time has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state--"
Yup. The first thing out of Benjamin's mouth, after filling everyone with joy, is that the goodness of god should awaken a person to a sense of their own nothingness. What the what?
As I pointed out in the last chapter, the concept that humans are less that the dirt they are made of is absurd. It makes no sense at all. The sum is greater than its parts--especially in biology. In what way is man less than dirt? Disobedience to god? Dirt isn't intelligent. It just does what dirt does. It is like comparing rocks to douche bags. They are different classes.
Old Ben goes on to talk about the implications of "coming to a knowledge" about god, without offering a reliable method to come to said "knowledge:"
"6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God... [he] that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life..."
"7 ...this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement..."
Never mind Benjamin's own words in the previous chapter which states that "[Jesus'] 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." What really matters is coming to a knowledge of the goodness of god.
And how, I pray thee, does one come to "know" anything about an invisible god who interacts arbitrarily with reality? Through warm fuzzy feelings? Through peace of one's mind? Through a sometimes still and small, yet sometimes boomy and earth-shaking voice? How do any of these completely subjective methods of attaining "knowledge" actually help anyone "know" anything?
Benji issues his usual warning against those who rebel and fail to repent, while completely missing the point that this wouldn't be a problem if Mormons would just stop their missionary program. More than anything, assuming that Mormonism is true (snicker), their missionary efforts damn many more people than they save. More people would make it into heaven--according to Benjamin's own words--if they let everyone die in ignorance of Mormonism. Do they take their own scriptures seriously, or not?
Not being one to let dead horses lay, Benji reiterates--yet again--that prophets have told everyone on earth about future-Jesus, so no one has any excuse for disbelief. And--yet again--I am compelled to point out that revelation is necessarily first-person and any testimony offered to me by another person, prophet or not, is second-hand anecdotal evidence. If this is the best evidence god can offer--the very evidence which would damn me to hell--then god is an imbecile.
Or Joseph made it all up.
Benji continues to bad-mouth sound logical reasoning by blaming those who are not compelled to believe the extraordinary claim of future-Jesus based on less than ordinary evidence. According to Old Ben, like his predecessors, people unmoved by the tall-tales of perceived lunatics are simply being bullheaded and reject the spirit of god.
I am running out of synonyms for the word "asinine." So, I'll just say it. This is ASININE! Rejecting bad evidence is not being stubborn. Accepting extraordinary claims based on bad evidence is moronic. Learn your epistemology!
Losing any semblance of logic or credibility he may have had, which leaves me scratching my head trying to think of when he ever had it, dear Old (and probably senile) Ben strings together an incongruent list of assertions and admonitions:
"9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."
"10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them."
Drivel. Nonsense. Fatuous. Bald assertions without merit or reason. Give me one good reason to believe any of it. Just one.
Sadly, I know exactly what many Mormons would say: I have to humble myself before god and pray in faith before I will receive the complementary warm fuzzy feelings, which for some unexplained reason mean god is talking to me.
Sigh... Debunking this kindergarten theology is exhausting.
Benjamin spews more of this baseless nonsense for a while longer and makes a new, but equally baseless claim that people who receive this quieting of the voices in their heads will be better members of society in virtually every way:
"13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due."
"14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another..."
Right. Because theocracies are the best form of government.
Benjamin proceeds to chastise those who do not help the poor. On the surface, much of what he says is admirable. Helping those less fortunate than ourselves--especially those without food to eat--is a good thing. Such altruism helps society, and I would hope that if I were to fall on hard times my neighbors would have compassion on me and help me.
If this was the extent to which Ben took this issue, I would agree with him. However, Ben bases his belief in helping poor people on the concept that all men are equally beneath god, nothing you have is your own--even your life--and that those who do not help the poor will not be allowed into heaven. In other words, Benjamin believes that one should help poor people in order to earn real estate in heaven.
This is the shallowest form of charity I know. This is more self-serving than paying alms in order to get praise from other people. What could be more selfish for a true believer?
Old Ben doesn't stop here, however. He further condemns anyone who has riches when they die:
"23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world."
Mormons, like most groups of people, have their share of wealthy members. And they spin their reconciliation-wheels as fast as the rest of them. As rich Mormons explain, Ben fails to point out that the love of money is the root of evil; simply having money, as long as the person makes the occasional charitable donation (preferably through the Church), will not lead to damnation. I don't get this level of nuance from Ben. He sounds pretty darn clear on the subject to me: if you die rich, you will be damned.
I wonder if Ben's scathing review of wealthy people also applies to wealthy churches who draw in billions of dollars in tithes and offerings annually, yet only use a fraction of that money in humanitarian causes (the Mormon Church uses less than 2% of their annual 8 billion dollar a year income from tithing to help people in the way Ben is advocating). Who is responsible for this hypocrisy? Church leadership or god? I guess it doesn't really matter since neither will be reprimanded.
Curiously, Ben issues a passive-aggressive threat to a certain type of poor person:
"24 And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give."
"25 And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received."
Not only does Ben consider "giving until it hurts" the only charity god cares about, he also condemns poor people who want more than they have, because, ya know, coveting is bad. Condescending prick! Wanting enough food to prevent perpetual hunger and wanting a half-decent roof over one's head is not a bad thing. I would want those things if I was poor. In what way is this sinful? What a stupid concept.
The funny thing is that in the very next verse Benjamin contradicts the idea that coveting is necessarily bad by saying that those who give to the poor should give "according to their wants:"
"26 ...I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants."
This verse also brings up the idea of feeding people "spiritually." Due to Ben's lack of detail, I don't know if this is exactly the same thing, but I am reminded of various religiously based charities which offer food to homeless people only after they have listened to a sermon. In a sense, they hold their sandwich as ransom. Talk about manipulation.
Mormons do a similar kind of thing, as well. Mormons have food storage centers around the country, called "bishop's storehouses," the purpose of which is to feed poor Mormons. They do not give to just anyone, however. Oh no. That would be too easy. Those who manage to get food from these storehouses have to first show good faith in the church by paying tithing.
This means that in order for poor Mormon families to receive aide and food from the church they must first give the church 10% of their income. Help from the church is not guaranteed, either. They must first be approved by their local ecclesiastical leader, who has no training whatsoever in matters of welfare. To me, this is far worse than forcing homeless people to listen to a babbling preacher for an hour to get soup and a sandwich.
Nearing the end of his speech, old Ben pulls out a nonsensical example of sin:
"28 And I would that ye should remember, that whosoever among you borroweth of his neighbor should return the thing that he borroweth, according as he doth agree, or else thou shalt commit sin; and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also."
I have no idea how one person not returning something would make the other person sin. Seriously, what does that even mean? The only thing I can think of is the whole "coveting" nonsense. But how can someone covet something which is already theirs? I don't get it.
Benji leaves us (finally) with one last threatening jab:
"30 ...if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not."
The concept of "perishing" because god listens to and judges your thoughts is not a new one. In fact, it has been affectionately coined "thought crime." This is the ultimate form of totalitarian control and such an invasion of one's privacy is immoral in every way I can think of. Furthermore, it can really mess with the head of a true believer, leading a form of paranoia. God's omnipotence does not excuse him of such an infringement.