{"id":37116,"date":"2017-10-09T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=37116"},"modified":"2017-09-05T04:48:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T09:48:56","slug":"reading-nephi-161-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2017\/10\/reading-nephi-161-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Different Hardnesses to the Truth – Reading Nephi – 16:1-6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This post is part of a series of reflections on I Nephi. If you’re interested, the introduction to the series is here.<\/a>\u00a0To peruse earlier entries, click the authors tab at the top of the page and then click on my name. I welcome your own thoughts on these specific verses (or on my reflections) in the comments below.<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

My typical reaction in reading this vision (or, as more often is the case, segments of the vision) and Nephi\u2019s sermonizing and exhortations is to rejoice. This confrontation Nephi has with Laman (et al) pulls me up short, though. My typical reaction is too easy. In part\u2014of course\u2014because my typical perusal presents me with the fictional TV version. I\u2019m not there, this isn\u2019t my life, I\u2019m not in a parent-imposed exile, suffering and watching my family suffer, and I\u2019m not being asked by (er, demanded of) my younger brother to reinterpret the entirety of my religious understanding. Viewed in this more holistic context, it\u2019s not terribly difficult to see why and how this conversation is \u201chard\u201d for Nephi\u2019s brothers.<\/p>\n

Reading this vision and dialogue and then rejoicing with Nephi as I typically do has the potential to blind us to both the complexity and gravity of the vision (it\u2019s certainly not meant to be, nor is it portrayed as a fairytale\u2014though I know I\u2019ve sometimes read it that way). It can also blind us to the diversity of experience in hearing the word of God. Some of my students are already (unreflectively) disposed to enjoy philosophy. Others are the opposite. Ought I to condemn or penalize my students who aren\u2019t already disposed to enjoy the subject? As educators, we often do just that, though typically we agree that such condemnation of these students is wrong.<\/p>\n

Now I hear a variation on Plato\/Socrates: Are the commands of God good because God commands them, or does God only command good things? Are Nephi\u2019s declarations here hard\u2014in and of themselves hard\u2014or is it only the bearing of them (or perhaps the bearing of them by the wicked) that is hard? It\u2019s clear that Nephi takes the latter interpretation; it\u2019s pretty clear that Laman and his brothers take the former.<\/p>\n

On a related note, I have to ask: Nephi, did you know going into the conversation that it was going to be a hard one? You seem to imply as much. If so, I\u2019m not sure what I think of your tactics (I know my mother is unimpressed). I sometimes enter into conversations with my loved family members (or sometimes with my fellow saints, or neighbors or co-workers or students) that I know will be hard, or which they will experience as hard. How ought this to impact my approach? Did knowing make a difference to Nephi, did it change his approach?<\/p>\n

Nephi\u2019s recommended strategy for one who experiences the things of God as hard, is to soften one\u2019s own heart. The recommendation strikes me as a bit glib and rather un-empathetic. The quintessential characteristic of a hard heart is that the one possessing it neither wants<\/em> to soften their heart, nor feels that such softening is needed (rather, it\u2019s the external variables that need to change). As stated, Nephi\u2019s counsel reads like a version of \u201cYou\u2019d be a lot happier if you weren\u2019t so unhappy.\u201d But there\u2019s also obviously something to this. I can agree with Laman that there\u2019s something objectively hard about Nephi\u2019s claims and still agree with Nephi that the solution is a softening of the hearer\u2019s heart. Figuring out how to soften one\u2019s heart in order to be receptive to God\u2019s commands and revelations is critical\u2014this is the unavoidable element of repentance. In order to repent, however, I need to see my need for repentance<\/em>; or I need to see that the word I\u2019m getting is in fact from God. I need at least that level of revelation, that portion of grace. Just as Laman did.<\/p>\n

Which is one of the reasons why Laman and his overall reaction resonates so deeply with me. I don\u2019t struggle with the exhortation to keep the commandments. I don\u2019t struggle with the legitimacy of the commandments (however much I much my mortal soul might struggle with actually keeping them). Like Laman here (or so it seems to me), I feel genuinely humble and grateful for the commandments, for the life they create for me. It\u2019s when my brother Nephi (un-humbly) declares that my keeping of the commandments isn\u2019t nearly enough\u2014that in addition my soul must feel<\/em> and see<\/em> and be<\/em> a certain way, that I need to accept others\u2019 (usually confused and inconsistent) interpretations of the commandments and revelations and doctrines\u2014this is when tensions arise and I feel alienated. And when I do the same to others, when I play Nephi to their Laman, I\u2019ve no doubt it has the same affect.<\/p>\n

I am thus also grateful for the commandments and the great mediating, unifying affect they have on our lives when we approach them as a people in the way that Alma framed it to his sons, and as we see it so commonly through the Book of Mormon: Inasmuch as we<\/em> keep the commandments of God, we <\/em>shall prosper as a people. Commandments and the primary call for obedience to them is a mercy. Commandments are a great blessing, and if we keep them with an eye single to God, God blesses<\/em> us with \u201ccommandments not a few\u201d (D&C 59:4).<\/p>\n

One final note on the temporal passage at the end of the chapter. All these things happened\u2014all of them and whatever that entails which is surely far more than the dream and the conversation we have recorded here\u2014took place in the Valley of Lemuel. They were there for sometime. Perhaps just long enough for them to minimally unify and shift their understanding so that they could undertake the physical and spiritual journey\u2014fulfilling commandments\u2014as directed by the heavens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My typical reaction in reading this vision (or, as more often is the case, segments of the vision) and Nephi\u2019s sermonizing and exhortations is to rejoice. This confrontation Nephi has with Laman (et al) pulls me up short, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37116"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37177,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37116\/revisions\/37177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}