Greetings from this week’s blog breakdown of “Come Follow Me” 2024. This week Pastor Mallinak and I dive into I Nephi 1:1-5 (here’s a link to the full podcast episode https://www.buzzsprout.com/1645945/14299280) and take a look at the call of Lehi and the seizing of the brass plates.
Truth or Fiction?
One thing that we don’t want to do in this season of the Mormon Hope Podcast is get stuck in the rut of “the book of Mormon isn’t true and here are the historical reasons why”. However, with that being said, we can’t help but point out a few things that stuck out in the first five chapters of I Nephi.
First, names were extremely important to the Jews. Names almost always had meaning and in many cases spoke of circumstances at the child’s time of birth. Almost none of the names of these introductory characters have any Jewish origin whatsoever. For example, “Nephi” has Egyptian roots. This leaves us scratching our heads and asking, what Jewish parents would give their child an Egyptian name?
One more example before moving on, the name “Sam”. Sam is an English name. I know that some will point out that “Sam” is an abbreviation of “Samuel” which obviously is Jewish. But here’s the thing, the Jews would have never abbreviated the name “Samuel” because it would completely stript that name of its meaning. “El” in Hebrew is a reference to God. For example, “Immanuel” means “God with us”. “Samuel” means “God hears”. So if you remove the “El” you’re missing the whole point from a Jewish perspective. Naming one of Nephi’s brothers “Sam” screams of anachronism. It makes it seem as if someone from 1800’s America took something from their culture and attempted to read it back into this historical fiction. As we make our way through the Book of Mormon, we will see these types of anachronisms over and over and over. There are more anachronisms even in these first five chapters, but for brevity’s sake I will move on.
God Told Nephi To Do What?
In my opinion, one of the most terrifying precedents in the Book of Mormon is found in I Nephi 4. Laban has stolen the valuables of Nephi and his brothers and refuses to give them the brass plates. Nephi returns to Laban’s house in order to try and take the plates when he finds Laban lying on the floor in a drunken slumber. The Holy Spirit speaks to Nephi and tells him to take Laban’s own sword and slay him with it.
This is extremely problematic because we don’t see a single instance in the Old or New Testament in which God commands an individual to murder another individual. It is true that God commanded military leaders (such as Joshua) to take out their enemies (like the wicked Canaanites) but these were acts of a just war and not the cold blooded murder of a defenseless person.
It seems that this is an unholy spirit commanding Nephi to break one of the ten commandments, which is something that God would never do (James 1:13-15). Not only is this blasphemous, but it sets a very dangerous precedent. If God can command Nephi to kill another person, why can’t God do the same thing today, especially in the LDS system in which subjective experience is pushed so hard?
Setting the Stage
One thing that Pastor Mallinak and I really dug into this week in the podcast is the fact that the message is so clear from right out of the gate. That is, listen to and obey the prophet without questioning. Lehi supposedly heard from the Lord with no evidence or proof of anything that he said. Nephi was the darling child because he listened and obeyed. While his brothers were bad because they dared to question him. And if someone wants to be a good Mormon, they must listen to and obey the prophets, whether they are speaking for God or not. And you’d better be so open minded that you will allow your brain to fall into the floor before you dare ask any questions. I mean, the title of this week’s lesson is “I will go and do” for crying out loud.
Closing Thoughts and Overall Opinion
It’s no secret that we reject the Book of Mormon as being true. There is zero historical evidence that these events ever happened. There is no proof that the characters ever existed. It’s full of anachronisms. The doctrine of the BOM contradicts Christ and the Apostles at every turn. To be frank, instead of the BOM being another testament of Jesus Christ, we believe it to be a testament of another Jesus Christ. We also think that these opening chapters about getting these supposed brass plates are a big nothing burger. But please hear us when we say that our goal isn’t simply to poke holes in Mormonism. As our intro says, we want people to find freedom in truth because lies enslave people and damn them to hell. The bottom line is that you can trust the God breathed and preserved Scriptures in the Bible. You can trust in the gospel of grace, that the death and resurrection of Christ is enough to wash away your sins and make you right with God. Thanks so much for reading this week’s blog review of Come Follow Me.
For more information on how to be made a new creature in Christ visit https://gracebaptistlogan.org/how-to-be-saved.html
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