The Book of Mormon teaches some really mind-blowing theology and it seems like such a waste that Church leaders ignore that to push conservative family values. I know there isn’t any archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon and that it was written by Joseph Smith.
BUT
What if we could discuss some of the Book of Mormon’s stories and ideas, regardless of whether Joseph Smith told the truth [fn 1] about where the book came from? ji’s comment on hawgrrls post yesterday (the Pompey Stone) talked about learning principles from stories, rather than just reading a theological treatise. In my opinion, the Book of Mormon has a good balance of sermons and stories and it would be SO interesting to see how the stories stack up against the sermons. Joseph Smith had some interesting ideas about the nature of God (and then he bypassed everything interesting and preached polygamy; such a waste!).
My favorite bit of theology from the Book of Mormon is the idea that God obeys laws of justice and mercy, and if he gets the balance off by even a little bit, he ceases to be God. This is fundamentally different from how, for example, Evangelicals think of God. According to Christian Beliefs, a book by conservative pastor Wayne Grudem that I read, Christians teach that God can do anything he wants. He doesn’t have to be fair or save anyone, so we should just be grateful he doesn’t send everyone to hell. God doesn’t owe you an explanation and he doesn’t have to be consistent. He’s a very capricious God.
In contrast, the Mormon God is required to be rational in his judgment of sinners and the repentant. Alma’s sermon about the laws God has to obey is in Alma 42. The context is that Alma’s son thinks it’s unfair for God to punish sinners and Alma explains why God must enforce laws and cannot simply brush everything off in a fit of mercy and escort everyone to heaven and eternal happiness.
The whole chapter is worth reading, but verse 13 has the heart of the theology that I want to discuss:
Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God.
The key to all of this is the Atonement because Christ’s sacrifice allows for repentance – that’s the merciful part. The justice part is that God must punish unrepentant sinners. Let’s see how that applies to the actual stories in the Book of Mormon.
Laman and Lemuel
The first story in the Book of Mormon is about Nephi’s family. Nephi spends years trying to get Laman and Lemuel to stop beating him, verbally abusing him, accusing him of being evil, and basically making his life hell. Nephi forgives them several times. Finally, after their parents die, and Nephi pours out an entire lifetime of pain in prayer (2 Nephi 4), Nephi gets the Lord’s approval to leave (2 Nephi 5:5) because otherwise Laman and Lemuel are going to kill him. Laman has sinned against Nephi and refused to repent. In fact, the first time Nephi prays about his brothers’ wickedness, the Lord tells him that his brethren will be cut off from the presence of the Lord inasmuch as they rebel (1 Nephi 2:18-24). I’ve read their story closely many times, and nowhere does Nephi express any hope that Laman and Lemuel can be saved for their sins after 2 Nephi 4. They wouldn’t repent. Mercy cannot rob justice; God cannot forgive L&L or he will cease to be God.
(I’ve heard a lot of people try to blame L&L’s abuse on Nephi being a self-righteous, annoying, do-gooder, but I like Nephi and think he was doing his best in a terrible situation.)
Alma
Alma the Younger, famously, repented. You recall the story. Alma the Younger and the four sons of King Mosiah were going around raising havoc and persecuting the church established by their religious fathers. An angel appears. The way Alma tells it, he only heard one thing the angel said: “If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God” (Alma 36:9). Alma was so terrified that he passed out and all of his sins and iniquities tormented him. He repented and was saved by Jesus. Repentance means mercy can take effect. God could forgive Alma without breaking the laws of justice and mercy.
Zeezrom
Alma and Amulek met Zeezrom in Ammonihah. Zeezrom starts out wicked, but his heart is touched and he starts asking real questions and listening to the answers (Alma 11-12:8). Zeezrom has a complete change of heart and tries to defend Alma and Amulek when the city leaders come after them. For this, he’s chased out of the land (Alma 14:7). After a serious bout of illness brought on by his guilt, Zeezrom converts and starts preaching (Alma 15:1-14). Repentance leads to mercy. Like Alma, Zeezrom’s repentance allows God to be merciful.
Ammonihah
The people in the city of Ammonihah who chased out Zeezrom and the other believers do not repent. In fact, they burn the family members of the believers who were driven out of the city (Alma 14:8-14). They arrest Alma and Amulek and torment them. The chief judge, while beating them, says that if Alma and Amulek have the power of God, then they should deliver themselves from these bands and “then we (the people of Ammonihah) will believe that the Lord will destroy this people according to your words” (Alma 14:24). Sure enough, Alma and Amulek break the cords which bind them and he prison collapses, killing everyone who “smote upon” Alma and Amulek (Alma 14:27). Pretty dramatic. Alma calls them as a hard-hearted and stiffnecked people who would not repent of their sins (Alma 15:15).
Not long after, the people of Ammonihah are completely destroyed by a rogue Lamanite army (Alma 16:3 and Alma 25:2). The story is consistent with the theology — God cannot show mercy to the unrepentant.
More Stories
I’m not going to summarize every story of the Book of Mormon in a blog post. Lots of individuals, cities, and entire civilizations get destroyed in the Book of Mormon. Lehi leaves Jerusalem before Jerusalem is destroyed. Alma the Elder listened to Abinadi and repented, then led other believers away from King Noah’s wicked society (Alma 18) before King Noah was destroyed and the city was conquered by the Lamanites (Alma 19). Over and over again, the righteous eventually leave the wicked. The only definition of ‘wicked’ that really matters in the Book of Mormon is the refusal to repent.
What other stories in the Book of Mormon do you recall? Do they fit this theology of justice and mercy? The comment section of The Pompey Stone did a deep dive into the story of Korihor last week. Alma the Younger tells the story as if Korihor didn’t sincerely repent, thus he was destroyed (Alma 30). Amulon and the other priests of King Noah escape the fate of the unrepentant for a while, but eventually the Amulonites are completely destroyed (Alma 25). Fourth Nephi and his younger brother Lehi cry repentance with varying success (Helaman 3-16). In 3 Nephi 9, Jesus kills the unrepentant in huge numbers before he appears in the land Bountiful. The Jaredites are wiped out for their wickedness (Ether).
My hypothesis is that the theology in the Book of Mormon is internally consistent.
The Potential of This Theology
Imagine a Church that seeks to understand the balance between justice and mercy that even God must obey. Imagine evaluating all doctrinal decisions against justice and mercy. Does the Church need to repent (apologize) for its history of racism in order to ask for mercy? If a priesthood leader abuses his authority, and someone ‘chooses’ to get offended, how does the Church balance justice and mercy in that situation? How do justice and mercy apply to the relationship between husbands and wives? Is there a just reason to keep women out of leadership roles? What if the Church’s focus was on working out the correct balance of justice and mercy rather than pressuring everyone to get married and have children?
The Book of Mormon doesn’t have sermons about the things the Church leaders are so worried about — there isn’t a word about abortion, or queer issues, or the so-called ‘breakdown’ of the family, or even temple and family history work. The Church is so focused on being accepted by mainstream Christians that it’s lost sight of how unique its theology is and what that could mean. Imagine a Church that offers a place for people who are tired of a capricious God who doesn’t make any sense. Imagine a Church that dares to explore the laws that God follows.
Questions:
- Pick a story from the Book of Mormon or Bible and discuss if it’s consistent with Alma 42’s teachings about justice and mercy (or not).
- What if the Church focused on God’s justice and mercy rather than on his status as a husband and father?
- Can you think of examples in which the Church has let mercy rob justice? Or justice rob mercy?
- What do you think of how the Church teaches repentance? Is it balanced between justice and mercy?
[fn 1] I don’t believe Joseph Smith was a cold-blooded con man. I believe he had some form of mental illness but that he believed everything he taught. People around him enabled him by believing he was a prophet, and that gave him permission to go right off the rails. Nevertheless, he had some interesting ideas that are worth discussing.
Wheat & Tares 