2 Nephi 32-33

(February 11, 2015)

                Nephi's words here are remarkably informative towards those who reject the Book of Mormon and speak harshly against it.  There seems to be several different groupings of people when it comes to the Book of Mormon – those who accept and strive to follow the teachings of the book, those who accept but then ignore the book, those who reject the book and yet try to follow Christ, those who reject the book and largely ignore it, and those who are angry at the Book of Mormon.

                You would think that the greatest hostility would come from those who accept Christ but believe that the Book of Mormon is leading people astray but in my experience that isn’t the case.  The greatest hostility (and current events somewhat demonstrate that) comes from those who reject the Book of Mormon after having believed in it.  Once they become hostile to the book, it is only a matter of time before they allow themselves to be lead completely away – there is no halfhearted departure that I have seen in my lifetime.

                Those who attempt to follow Christ and yet don’t believe in the book are dealt with in verse 10 – they cycle through that position until the time comes when they either accept it (and Christ) or reject it (and Christ).  But that process seemingly takes a long time – I can only imagine they are about the work assigned to them by the Lord and other things will be dealt with in time.  But hostility towards the Book of Mormon never seems to end well for the one hostile.  They end up kicking themselves out of the Church and ending up in a commune in New Mexico where no one ever cleans the toilet.