1 Nephi 4

(January 6, 2014)
The Lord has a way of preparing His children for the tasks ahead of us, and sometimes our most unexpected situations end up being preparatory for accomplishing His work.  We all know about the need for acquiring the Brass Plates, but I think that there likely was a need for Nephi to kill Laban.  The Lord could have directed Nephi to knock him out, hide him, bind him, or do any of a dozen other things.  But the Lord directed him to kill Laban.  I do not think that was an accident.

The Lord needed Nephi to be a warrior.  He was going to be put in the position of defending his family and his people against the proto-Lamanites by wielding the sword of Laban.  He could not do that if he hesitated, and he likely would have had more difficulty raising his sword against his brethren than he would against Laban.  So he was placed in a position to wield the sword when he could ponder and accept what the Lord was teaching him, and then to carry it out.  Thus he would be better prepared when called upon to do so in the future.

My other thought was on the Spirit’s whispering that it is better for a wicked man to be destroyed than for a whole nation to perish in unbelief.  There are those who claim that Exaltation should be available to all and that a perfect plan would lead all or most of His children (leaving aside the Sons of Perdition) back to Exaltation.  This scripture, in a way, shows why that cannot be the case as I understand it.  Knowing what Exaltation is and what it means, it is better that a soul should be damned than an eternal race be condemned to perish in unbelief.