Polarization in the Book of Mormon

When we started this blog over a year ago, we had a general sense of the type of material we wanted to post. Somewhat unexpectedly, as one government “crisis” passed and as another was introduced¹, it seemed important to note and point out the continuing, yet rapid transformation of American society further away from the traditions and principles upon which the United States was founded.

Much of this transpired just a few short years after the largest temple building program The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had ever undertaken.²

Although we hope things will improve and a renewed sense of liberty will awaken in the hearts of American citizens, the events of the last century or more in this country parallel the process of polarization – as described in the Book of Mormon, and elsewhere – in ancient societies.

For example, Hugh W. Nibley wrote,

At the center of ancient American studies today lies that overriding question, “Why did the major civilizations collapse so suddenly, so completely, and so mysteriously?” The answer now given by the overwhelming majority of those scholars as contained, for example, in T. P. Culbert’s valuable collection of studies on the subject, is that society as a whole suffered a process of polarization into two separate and opposing ways of life, an increased distance between peasant and noble, as W. T. Sanders puts it, that went along with growing hostility between cities and nations as resource margins declined.³ The polarizing syndrome is a habit of thought and action that operates at all levels, from family feuds like Lehi’s to the battle of galaxies. It is the pervasive polarization described in the Book of Mormon and sources from other cultures which I wish now to discuss briefly, ever bearing in mind that the Book of Mormon account is addressed to future generations, not to “harrow up their souls,” but to tell them how to get out of the type of dire impasse which it describes. Moroni is explicit: “And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, . . . that ye may repent, . . . that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done” (Ether 2:11). And again Moroni says: “Give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Mormon 9:31).

What we are to avoid in particular is that polarizing process that begins on the first page of the Book of Mormon and continues to the last. In the opening scene it is Egypt versus Babylon, West versus East, with Lehi’s people caught in the middle; and the book ends with the climactic confrontation at Cumorah, with Moroni caught between two wicked and warring peoples in a battle of annihilation. The Book of Mormon is the story of the fearful passage that led from one situation to the other. Every Latter-day Saint knows that it is a tale of Nephites versus Lamanites, conveniently classified as the Good Guys versus the Bad Guys. In a book called Since Cumorah, I pointed out that a line drawn between the two peoples does not automatically separate the righteous from the wicked at all.⁴ Far from it—the Lamanites were often the good guys and the Nephites the bad guys; and they had a way of shifting back and forth from one category to the other with disturbing frequency. In the end, as Mormon sadly observes in letters to his son, it is a toss-up as to which of the two is the worse. Cumorah was no showdown between good and evil; it was not even a contest to pick the winner, for while the Nephites did get wiped out, the Lamanites went right on wiping each other out, “and no one knoweth the end of the war” (Mormon 8:8). Speaking of another final showdown, which ended in the extermination of both nations, Moroni turns to address us directly: “And thus we see that the Lord did visit them” when “their wickedness and abominations [not their enemies!] had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction” (Ether 14:25). He wants to make sure we do not miss the point.

The often dangerous polarization between Nephites and Lamanites was no imaginary thing. It was very real, from beginning to end. Right at the outset God explained to Nephi that it was going to be both real and permanent. He wanted it that way for a definite purpose: “Inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord . . . I will curse them even with a sore curse, and they shall have no power over thy seed except they shall rebel against me also”; then “they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance” (1 Nephi 2:21—24). The Nephites would never be able to remove the Lamanite threat by knocking them out. Every time the Nephites tried that solution they suffered severe losses, and in the end, when after a series of brilliant victories they determined to “cut them off the face of the land” (Mormon 3:10) and end the Lamanite menace once and for all, the Nephites got themselves exterminated.

The process of polarization works like the elimination in a tennis tournament that begins with a large number of contestants for the prize, and by pairing them off two by two ends up with a final pair and winds up with a single Numero Uno. Thus Amalickiah, the most competent of a long line of ambitious and unscrupulous men in the Book of Mormon, removes all competitors one by one, uniting ever growing numbers of his opponents’ followers into a political party and then into a mighty conglomerate army. All this he does in preparation for a showdown with his archenemy, Moroni, whose blood he swore to drink. Moroni was the intolerable obstacle between Amalickiah and his goal, which was to be Number One. It is the age-old story of the three rivals for the kingdom, the treasure, and the inheritance, in which two combine in secret to surprise and kill the third, after which they must fight it out between themselves, each of them having prepared a trap ahead of time that destroys the other.⁵

Over time, the focus of this blog may change. But it is difficult to ignore the warnings of present and past prophets, seers, and revelators while witnessing the continuing process of polarization in today’s society as described in the Book of Mormon. Even then, comfort can be found in Harold B. Lee’s statement:

Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail.

This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail.

I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges. I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through.⁶

It is hoped that the material on this site is viewed within this context.

Sources:

1. For examples, see the posts tagged Financial Crisis and Health Care; see the post on Participatory Fascism on how government leaders use crises towards illicit ends.↩
2. LDS Church Continues Temple Building Throughout the World.↩
3. W.T. Sanders, in T. P. Culbert, ed., The Classic Maya Collapse (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973), 345—46.↩
4. Hugh W. Nibley, Since Cumorah (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1967), 373—409; reprinted in CWHN 7:337—72.↩
5. Nibley, Hugh W. “The Prophetic Book of Mormon”. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. 13 Sep 2009.↩
6. Lee, Harold B. Ye Are the Light of the World. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974. 350-51.↩