Before I resume, I want to check my heart. Yesterday's sermon was on 1 John 4:7-21 and the importance of showing love as Christians, especially to other Christians but also to others. I want what I write here to be consistent with that.
As I said before, I do not hate Mormons. Those I have met (with one exception) have been very nice people who were very zealous for God. I've liked them, even as I've disagreed with them. But as they themselves have pointed out, the Mormon Church's claim to legitimacy stands or falls with the Book of Mormon. So whether or not the Book of Mormon truly is a volume of scripture comparable to the Bible is a question of great importance. If it is, then I need to know, because then I will not be able to reach the Celestial (highest) Heaven and attain the godhood that is god's desire for me unless I believe the Book of Mormon and follow all the commands of the Mormon Church and its prophets. But if the Book of Mormon is not scripture, not comparable to the Bible, then (as some of the Mormons I talked to have said) they need to know, because then there is no Celestial Heaven to work their way into and the commands of the Mormon Church are meaningless religious burdens handed down by false prophets, distracting them from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ. I believe the Book of Mormon is not true, and so far what I've read has only served to confirm this, but I know there are many, many people out there who have read it and say it must be true. Clearly, one of us is wrong and should know it. For either party to hold their peace on a matter of such import would be unloving. An atheist once asked a Christian "If you believe Heaven and Hell are real, how much do you have to hate someone not to tell them the gospel?" A similar question might be asked here: if I believe and see from my reading that the Book of Mormon is a deception, how much do I have to hate Mormons to keep quiet about it?
With that said, chapter 8 of 1 Nephi (as I recall, and as glancing at the chapter headings to come bears out) begins a section of prophetic and symbolic visions. As the previous owner of my copy has noted, everything in chapter 8 is supposed to be symbolic.
The chapter relates a dream (or a vision: the writer seems to be unclear on what the usage of the word "vision" should be--he uses the terms as interchangeable here, though in the Bible they are distinct, as in Joel 2:28, and he also seems to be under the impression that "visionary" is an appropriate description for someone who sees visions) that Lehi's father had. Lehi introduces it as being specifically about salvation, saying that, because of this vision, he believes his sons Nephi and Sam will be saved, but fears his sons Laman and Lemuel will not.
His vision is as follows. It begins with Lehi meeting a white robe in a dark and dreary wilderness. By following this man, Lehi reaches a broad plain with a tree (which the chapter heading says in the Tree of Life, though it is never named as such). Lehi tastes the fruit from the tree and wants all his family to do so as well. He invites his wife, Nephi, and Sam to join him, and they do. He invites Laman and Lemuel to do the same, but they refuse. On this plain, there is also a river, and a rod of iron on its bank, leading along a "straight and narrow path" that leads to the tree. There is also a floating "spacious building" where richly-dressed people mocking anyone who attempts to, or actually does, reach the tree. Lehi sees many people trying to make it along the path to the tree, but many become lost in a "mist of darkness." Others, when they have reached the tree and tasted its fruit, become embarrassed because of the mocking of the people in the floating building and wander off, becoming lost. Some fall into the river and drown. Others join the mockers in the floating building.
The vision of Lehi suffers as much as the rest of the book from poor writing. Redundancy shows up in the gross overuse of "and it came to pass" (which begins three verses in a row), and the repetition that fact that the vision begins in a "dark and dreary" place and that in it Laman and Lemuel do not eat the tree's fruit. There is also the character of the white-robed man. One might initially assume it to be an angel, as they often participate in visions in the Bible and usually explain them or serve as primary characters. However, the white-robed fellow is forgotten in the narrative, soon after his introduction. Lehi follows him into darkness in verse 7 and he is never mentioned again. Lehi does not even remark on him leaving or suddenly being gone. The author evidently forgot how many characters he was supposed to have in the scene (which, as an author, I can say is all too easy to do). Verse 29 and 30 also contain a jarring reminder that Nephi is abridging and leaving lots of stuff out. Fortunately, this chapter appears to fall at the end of the lost 116 pages, so nothing critical seems to have been left out, but having Nephi jump into the middle of the narration and say, "By the way, I'm not telling you everything" doesn't really help.
But looking past that at the vision itself, some interpretation is in order. The chapter itself does very little interpretation. The heading declares only that the tree is the Tree of Life. If this is correct, it would be an odd appearance. The Tree of Life is mentioned in the Bible in Genesis and in Revelation. There are some analogies in Proverbs that use the phrase as well, saying one good attribute or another is "a tree of life" to those who have it (ex: Proverbs 11:30). In all the other instances, it's treated as being a literal tree. The Tree of Life is said to have grown in the center of the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). It's fruit had the ability to make man live forever, and therefore an angel was sent from God after the fall to make sure humankind could not return to the garden and eat from the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22-24). In Revelation, however, the right to eat from the Tree of Life is one of the gifts Christ promises those who overcome in His name (Revelation 2:7). In the New Heavens and New Earth, the Tree of Life is said to grow in the New Jerusalem, along either bank of the River of Life, which flows from the Throne of God (Revelation 22:1-2). The Tree is treated as a real entity in the Bible with a real location, not being symbolic of anything. But the tree in 1 Nephi is different. It shows up in the middle of nowhere (no garden, no New Jerusalem, no river of life--the river in chapter 8, according to the notes of the previous owner, is actually symbolic of Hell and filthiness) and is clearly not literal or real. There's also an interesting contrast between how the vision and the Bible approach eating the fruit of the Tree of Life. In Genesis, God denies man the right to eat from the Tree of Life. In Revelation, man is given that right by God. In the Book of Mormon, man eats from it without God's apparent involvement or knowledge.
According to the notes of the previous owner, there is a more full interpretation. The tree is symbolic of God's love. The iron rod is God's Word, the fountain is God's love (the river that flows from it, inexplicably, is filthiness and Hell). The mist is temptations from the Devil and the floating building is pride and vain imaginations of the world. According to this interpretation, we can taste of God's love if we follow God's Word, relying on it to lead us despite the temptations of the Devil, but we must beware the scoffers of this world because even after we have tasted of God's love, they can cause us to fall away in shame. All of this, according to Lehi, is a picture of salvation: for Lehi and Sam, who ate of the tree, were saved, but Laman and Lemuel, who refused, were not.
To me, the most telling thing about this vision of salvation is who isn't in it: God. Oh, God is represented, if the previous owner's interpretation was correct. But God takes no active part. He is represented entirely by inanimate objects. It is people who, by their own volition and efforts, follow the iron rod to the tree or else turn aside and become lost. But this is not the way salvation is portrayed in the Bible. The whole idea of salvation is deliverance by a force outside of and greater than oneself. In Romans 9, Paul takes an entire chapter to talk about the sovereignty of God in salvation. Further, pictures of salvation in the Bible display God as an active agent. The Parable of the Sower is probably the most passive representation, but even there God is the sower and His Word is a live thing that reacts to the passive soil of men's hearts. But in Lehi's vision, God is absent and our salvation, it seems, depends on us alone.
From what I know of salvation in Mormonism, this is a fairly accurate representation. While there is a universal "salvation" which is by unmerited grace, giving everyone the gift of resurrection (the Bible also teaches that all will be resurrected, but not as a gift or part of salvation, John 5:28-29), entrance into the highest heaven and the good graces of God's love is earned through works of obedience, faith, and righteousness. God gives grace, but as one Mormon missionary told me, it is "after all we can do." For the most part, we sink or swim on our own. In the Bible, it is different. Salvation is by grace, not works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace does not come along after all that we can do and fill in what's lacking in our righteousness: rather, grace give us our righteousness--apart from works (Romans 4:1-8).
If there were one thing I could make Mormons understand, it is that God's love, Heaven, and salvation are not earned by works, but are free gifts. I sympathize with their position. Even though I have been a Christian for most of my life, believing in salvation by grace, there have been (as any regular on this blog is aware) many times when I have felt that God's love and favor were things I needed to earn. My spot or "ranking" in Heaven was something that depended on how well I performed. I spent a lot of time trying to measure up, trying to earn God's love, trying to make my relationship with Him about my works first--with His grace to fill in after all I can do. So I did all I could, but was constantly frustrated by how far short I fell. I was constantly aware of my sins and how my feeble attempts at righteousness could never please God. It was an exhausting, discouraging, and fruitless way to live. Only when I remembered that God's love was unconditional, not earned, but given, did I find any rest. Only when I remembered that my place in Heaven was prepared and reserved, rather than made and earned, did I really appreciate it, and the love of God. In grace, good works are a fruit, a harvest that springs from the soul--where previously they were a burden to be born. Surely salvation in Mormonism is such a burden, and I wish they could be free of it to live in grace.
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