SoyLeche
meh...
In the choir I sing with we will be performing an oratorio entitled "Messiah in America" this spring. In general, I'm not a fan of oratorios, but I've had to listen to this one quite a bit to familiarize myself with it, and I've got to say, it's growing on me. If any of you happen to be in Orange County CA, Dallas, Boise, Mesa AZ or SLC in April/May you might want to check it out. Let me know and I'll get you details.
Anyway, the oratorio picks up the story in 3 Nephi 4:29. As a review - this was just after the Nephites had defeated the Gadiantons. As an aside, I was at BYU in the fall of 2001 and my religion class was the 2nd half of the BoM - 3 Nephi 3-4 was very real in my mind at the time.
Anyway - the basic story is that the Nephites had gathered a bunch of supplies, grouped together into a small area, and waited out the Gadiantons until they were able to finally defeat them. After that, they took the remainder of their supplies, went their ways happily, were about as outwardly righteous as at any point in their history, etc. Within 6 years, they had backslid to be as wicked as at any point in their land. Then chapter 8 starts with the "great storm", and you know the rest.
It got me thinking - what was it that caused the people to fall so quickly? What exactly were the "iniquities" that they were so wont to commit?
Starting in 3 Nephi 6:10 we see that "some were lifted up unto pride and boastings because of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions". Then in verse 12 we have "And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning" and in 14 "And thus there became a great inequality in all the land".
Verse 15 sums things up rather well: "Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world."
More is described in the rest of chapter 6 - like people being sent to call the people to repentance and the people getting angry at them.
In chapter 7 we have the "people divided" and the government falling apart completely. Things go downhill from there, and you know the rest.
In these chapters there isn't a whole lot of detail about what exactly the "iniquity" of the people was. It is just described generically as "iniquity", EXCEPT for the parts where it talks about being lifted up in pride, loving your riches, and the great inequality in the land.
It seems to me like maybe we need to be aware of and wary of our own propensities towards these things. Sure, we need to individually look towards the generic "iniquities", and we for the most part know what those are for us personally. As a society what brought the Nephites down, though, was things like inequality and the like though.
Any thoughts?
Anyway, the oratorio picks up the story in 3 Nephi 4:29. As a review - this was just after the Nephites had defeated the Gadiantons. As an aside, I was at BYU in the fall of 2001 and my religion class was the 2nd half of the BoM - 3 Nephi 3-4 was very real in my mind at the time.
Anyway - the basic story is that the Nephites had gathered a bunch of supplies, grouped together into a small area, and waited out the Gadiantons until they were able to finally defeat them. After that, they took the remainder of their supplies, went their ways happily, were about as outwardly righteous as at any point in their history, etc. Within 6 years, they had backslid to be as wicked as at any point in their land. Then chapter 8 starts with the "great storm", and you know the rest.
It got me thinking - what was it that caused the people to fall so quickly? What exactly were the "iniquities" that they were so wont to commit?
Starting in 3 Nephi 6:10 we see that "some were lifted up unto pride and boastings because of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions". Then in verse 12 we have "And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning" and in 14 "And thus there became a great inequality in all the land".
Verse 15 sums things up rather well: "Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world."
More is described in the rest of chapter 6 - like people being sent to call the people to repentance and the people getting angry at them.
In chapter 7 we have the "people divided" and the government falling apart completely. Things go downhill from there, and you know the rest.
In these chapters there isn't a whole lot of detail about what exactly the "iniquity" of the people was. It is just described generically as "iniquity", EXCEPT for the parts where it talks about being lifted up in pride, loving your riches, and the great inequality in the land.
It seems to me like maybe we need to be aware of and wary of our own propensities towards these things. Sure, we need to individually look towards the generic "iniquities", and we for the most part know what those are for us personally. As a society what brought the Nephites down, though, was things like inequality and the like though.
Any thoughts?