This week was a little bit rough for me because we got into what I call the “Isaiah section” of the Book of Mormon and I find it’s really tough for me to focus on what I’m reading without skimming. I admit I like the stories the best 
, but I was able to focus on a few specific verses and find some personal meaning.
2 Nephi 1:6-7
Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall anone come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.
“Wherefore, this aland is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of bliberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound ccursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.
The BOM Summer reading this week had several references to the Americas as the Promised Land. We believe that the Americas were kept from the world for so long for a reason, so that the Lord might guide His people there in his own time.
June 14th, 2009 on 4:22 pm
Woooooaaaah….wait a minute. I normally don’t comment on these posts, because while I don’t agree with you, I appreciate learning about the Mormon beliefs and genuinely respect people of every faith.
But to say that “the Americas were kept from the world” is so completely Eurocentric and disrespectful to indigenous people that I have to speak up. There was a “world” here, too, long before any European set foot. People raised families, built (often very complex) societies, made artwork, prayed to their God.
Then there was a genocide, eventually destroying entire cultures, languages, and tribes of people in ways that are sickening and entirely inhumane.
That your God somehow meant for that to happen-to “clear the slate” of Native American people, so to speak-to make way for “His [white, European] people” sounds disturbingly racist and cruel to me.
Indigenous people ARE God’s people too. There was a world here.
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Jenna Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Ahhhh… it’s always difficult for me to write these from an outside perspective (and without feeling like I need to make every entry into a novel).
The man making that statement in the scripture above is a prophet called Nephi, a Jew who left Jerusalem before it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 600 BC. It is his posterity, and that of his brothers, that we now know as the Indians of the Americas.
God’s people aren’t any certain race or ethnicity, they are made up of those who believe in him and follow his commandments.
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MrsW Reply:
June 15th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Hm, I had pretty much the same question/objection as Angela, and I (and perhaps she as well, given what she quotes) was objecting to what YOU said, not what Nephi said. I’m wondering if you were trying to say that given you believe the Native Americans are descended from Jews, that America was specially sheltered by God from any other colonization except by that of Nephi so that God could guide His people (before Christ, the Jews) there in His own time? I’m sorry to put words in your mouth, but sometimes that’s the only way I can figure out how to understand a perspective I don’t share.
I’m also interested in hearing about any archeaological or genetic research which has been done to uphold the Native Americans = Ancient Jews theory. While I do think that Native Americans are Semitic in origin, in my own experience living with the Native Americans in my area, they’ve reminded me more in their facial structure and body types more of Far Eastern (Mongolians/Russians crossing the Bering Strait?) peoples, not Jews.
Oh, and also, I saw that “liberty” was one of the cross-referenced words, so I followed it and read some of the passages. My question after doing that is how does the LDS church reconcile the concept of America as a land of liberty, specially ordained by God, with the oppression of the Native Americans and the enslavement of blacks? Oh, and continuing despotic/oppressive governments in Central and South America? Sorry for all the questions, I love Bible history and I’m fascinated to hear the history behind your scriptures.
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Jenna Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Yep, what you said in your first paragraph is exactly what I believe.
i’m not a scholar and could never come close to answering your question very well. This should answer your questions about genetic research though: http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon_and_DNA_evidence
And the verse itself explains the first question in your last pargraph: those who fail to worship the one true God will fall into captivity. About 400 years after the birth of Christ the wicked men killed off all of the righteous men and the land was cursed. The enslavements of blacks… I don’t have an answer for. I believe that there is only one true church (which the Jews who sailed over to America were part of), but the African Americans brought over were not part of that Church and did not have the knowledge of the truth. I do not believe that is any excuse for what happened to them, but I think the promises made in those scriptures apply to those who are members of the true Church of Jesus Christ.
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MrsW Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Hm, read the article, very interesting points raised. However, it seems that the arguments for Lehi descendancy in Native Americans seems to consist mostly of “Well, you can’t DISprove it,” which is usually not a sound scientific or logical argument.
I was intrigued by this part of the article, quoted from a church press release: “Nothing in the Book of Mormon precludes migration into the Americas by peoples of Asiatic origin,” and then in the article’s words: “In fact, DNA data tells us nothing which we did not already know from archaeological data—at present, the human settlement of the Americas is thought to date thousands of years before the advent of Lehi. Many of these settlers have links to east Asia.” However, we just established “that America was specially sheltered by God from any other colonization except by that of Nephi so that God could guide His people (before Christ, the Jews) there in His own time” (from my last comment). This seems contradictory to me — could you please help me to understand?
In any event, wow, I am really enjoying learning all of this. It is so fascinating that so many of our day-to-day living out our faith can be so similar, and yet we believe such different things. As always, it’s a pleasure, and I just wish my husband would agree to my blogging so I wouldn’t be clogging up your site with these novel-length comments.
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Evelyn Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
[I'd just like to preface that I'm writing this around midnight after a long day. I *think* it makes sense. Judge (and respond) kindly.
]
“…there shall NONE come into this land save THEY shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.
“Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto HIM whom he shall bring. And if it so be that THEM shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto THEM; wherefore, THEY shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for THEIR sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.” 2Nephi 1:6-7, emphasis added
“We believe that the Americas were kept from the world for so long for a reason, so that the Lord might guide His people there in his own time.” -Jenna
One thing that should be noted is Jenna never said that the only people the Lord brought to the Americas in ancient times were Lehi’s family & posterity (I say Lehi’s family because his son Nephi was just one of the leaders of the people who settled the Americas, he was the leader/prophet of those who sought to follow the Lord, while his brothers and others rebelled and led their own people-much of the BoM tells of the conflict between these two “peoples” who descended from Lehi).
In the verses quoted, in this post and at the beginning of this comment, Nephi is speaking to the people, prophesying and warning, but that prophesy and warning was/is relevant for all the people who already had or in the future would inhabit the continent. There were actually two other peoples who came to the continent before Lehi’s family. We learn of them later on.
It’s important to remember and recognize a distinction: the Jews are known as the Lord’s ancient covenant people, but they are not the Lords’ only people. His people are those of the House of Israel. Lehi is a descendant of Manasseh and Ishmael is a descendant of Ephraim (both are sons of Joseph). Taking that into consideration, in Ezekiel 37:15-19 it says:
15 ¶ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one astick, and bwrite upon it, For cJudah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and dwrite upon it, For eJoseph, the fstick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become aone in thine hand.
18 ¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us awhat thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of aJoseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
If you substitute stick for scripture, our understanding that the Bible, as the stick of Judah, and the Book of Mormon as the stick of Ephraim (because with few exceptions, all the prophets who wrote were descended from Ephraim), these scriptures make a lot of sense. I know you don’t subscribe to our beliefs, so I don’t imagine you will see that explanation as clearly as we do, but hopefully this gives a little additional light as to why we accept the BoM as scripture along with the Bible.
Also, just remember, Jenna is trying to take a step-by-step approach at introducing our beliefs to her audience, and many of the comments and questions she fields are related to her posts by very small, delicate threads… she does a bang-up job of responding as quickly and accurately as she can, but she’s not an expert on every single aspect of Mormon doctrines, principles, history, culture, etc. (simply because I don’t think many are/anyone is).
Also, did you check out the Wiki Jenna linked to-specifically the Genetic Issues part?
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MrsW Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
That’s very helpful, thank you Evelyn. It looks like I just didn’t have some of the pieces of the puzzle, as I have never read the BOM. I guess I am a little guilty of “leading the witness” because in my original comment I asked if “America was specially sheltered by God from any other colonization except by that of Nephi” and Jenna responded “Exactly.” Now I am thinking she probably didn’t mean exactly, given as the BOM does allow for pre-Lehi settlers. I just didn’t know.
And I do apologize if I come across badly — I was always the annoying kid in class who had all of the questions that were relevant but too in-depth and everyone HATED to see my hand go up.
One of my special areas of interest is Biblical/ancient history, so I know I’m probably digging deeper than most would, but there really is no offense meant. It is a learning experience for me. I’ve really appreciated the way Jenna takes the time and effort to answer the questions so thoroughly, because I know how flustered and upset I can get when someone questions *my* faith. I would hope that if Jenna has a problem with my questions, that she will let me know.
And yeah, I did read the article — my response is in my previous comment.
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Evelyn Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Haha… It actual took a bit of careful reading for me to realize the confusion hinged on the “America was specially sheltered by God from any other colonization except by that of Nephi” bit.
I haven’t reread my comment, but I certainly didn’t want you to think I was offended by your questions… I wasn’t! I just thought it might be worthwhile to give a reminder that Jenna’s not *yet* a BoM scholar. ;D (And I mean no offense Jenna, you do have a great knowledge of the scriptures, but I think you know what I mean… right?)
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June 14th, 2009 on 8:36 pm
The Americas were certainly less developed and technologically advanced than Europe. I’ve often wondered, but never asked anyone, why Joseph Smith’s revelations (right word? No disrespect intended here!) were so far from where the New and Old Testament events occurred. I agree that there was quite a bit happening in the Americas pre-European discovery, but I thought that todays comment about “why America” was interesting. I’m glad that to know why Mormons believe America was the place. Thanks, Jenna, for putting yourself out there and explaining your belief system!
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Jenna Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Although Joseph Smith did have and write down many revelations that we now consider to be scripture, the Book of Mormon itself is made up of the words of prophets who sailed over after the cursing at the tower of Babel and lived in the Americas up until about 400 AD.
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Cristin Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I love reading these posts. Its information I find so interesting but realistically wouldn’t delve far into otherwise. I really like learning more about this faith. Thanks again, Jenna!
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June 15th, 2009 on 12:49 am
Yes, we have been getting into these Isaiah chapters in 2nd Nephi - so I’ve been doing a bit more rereading of those verses and trying to stay on schedule!
It always amazes me every time I read the BoM how often we see the promise from God to Nephi’s and Laman/Lemuel’s people that if they will keep the commandments, they will prosper in the land. Even in just this short amount we’ve read so far it must be mentioned a 100 times! Yet, we as learn, the people just kept forgetting this and forgetting God.
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