So I thought I would do a little "likening" of my own. Please do not consider this as pure doctrine. It's just some of my own little thoughts that may offend some. But if the right wing can do it, so can I.
My text is Alma 51:2-8 with slight "likening." You can compare the original here.
2 Nevertheless, they did not long maintain an entire peace in the land, for there began to be a contention among the people concerning President Obama; for behold, there were a part of the people who desired that a few particular points of the Obamacare and Stimulus laws should be altered or repealed in their entirety.
3 But behold, President Obama would not alter nor suffer the laws to be altered or repealed; therefore, he did not hearken to those who had sent in their voices with their petitions concerning the altering or repeal of the laws.
4 Therefore, those who were desirous that the laws should be altered or repealed were angry with him, and desired that he should no longer be President over the land; therefore there arose a warm dispute concerning the matter, but not unto bloodshed.
5 And it came to pass that those who were desirous that Obama should be impeached or not be re-elected to the Presidency were called free-market-men, for they were desirous that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish the power of money over the land.
6 And those who were desirous that Obama should remain President over the land took upon them the name of freemen; and thus was the division among them, for the freemen had sworn or covenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges of their religion and the beliefs and rights of others by a free government.
7 And it came to pass that this matter of their contention was settled by the voice of the people. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came in favor of the freemen, and Obama was re-elected to the Presidency, which caused much rejoicing among the brethren of Obama and also many of the people of liberty, who also put the free-market-men to silence, that they durst not oppose but were obliged to maintain the cause of freedom.
8 Now those who were in favor of free markets and money were those of high birth, or they sought to be money-men; and they were supported by those who sought power and authority over the people.
See how easy that is? And if that's too much for some to swallow, how about this more historical version?
2 Nevertheless, they did not long maintain an entire peace in the land, for there began to be a contention among the people concerning the constitutional election of President Lincoln; for behold, there were a part of the people who desired that a few particular points of the laws protecting slavery should be altered to allow slavery in all states and territories or they would reject the constitution and form their own governments.
3 But behold, Lincoln would not alter nor suffer the law to be altered; therefore, he did not hearken to those who had sent in their voices with their petitions concerning the altering of the law.
4 Therefore, those who were desirous that the law should be altered were angry with him, and desired that he should no longer be President over their land; therefore there arose a warm dispute concerning the matter, but not unto bloodshed initially.
5 And it came to pass that those who were desirous that Lincoln should not be President were called slavelords, for they were desirous that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish Slavery over all the land.
6 And those who were desirous that Lincoln should remain President over the land took upon them the name of freemen; and thus was the division among them, for the freemen had sworn or covenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges of their religion and freedom for all men by a free government.
7 And it came to pass that this matter of their contention was settled by the voice of the people. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came in favor of the freemen, and Lincoln retained the Presidency of the entire Union, which caused much rejoicing among the brethren of Lincoln and also many of the people of liberty, who also put the slavelords to silence, that they durst not oppose immediately but organized armed troops and the seizure of the property of the people's government.
8 Now those who were in favor of Slavery were those of White birth, and they sought to be slavelords; and they were supported by those who sought power and authority over the people.Now, please don't condemn me for wresting the scriptures unto my own destruction. I won't be using this is Sunday School or any Sacrament Meeting talks. And I am not speaking officially for the LDS Church in any way. This is only an exercise to show how easy it is to manipulate scripture when we "liken unto us" to confirm our preconceived notions. Better that we seek for the Lord's Spirit in understanding his word that listening to any philosophies mixed up with scripture to support ideological causes. (Even if mine are still better than those of the Skousenites.)
I would actually like to point out that the war chapters in the Book of Mormon are always a result of Nephite wickedness. I can't emphasis that enough. They are meant as a warning the are supposed to be unpleasant. I get annoyed when people use those chapters as metaphor, Mormon himself points out that it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished. It may very well be that a people maybe drawn into a war and need to defend themselves in which case we are justified, but there is no such thing as a righteous preemtive war (see Alma 26 or well Third Nephi or the whole book for that matter).
ReplyDeleteAs I get older I am more convinced that we(and I mean the LDS) are playing out the tragedy of the Nephites, right down to saying that if we had lived in the days of the Prophets we would've acted differently (see Helaman 13).
Anonymous D
Thank you again for the reminder, good buddy Anonymous D. I'll keep repenting.
DeleteI was in 9th grade seminary, studying the Book of Mormon, ironically, during the first gulf war. The ways these verses were twisted up and repackaged in talks at church made me very grateful for a seminary teacher who skipped "likening" these verses as an assignment that year. (Usually it was a project to help students understand better to compare it to the civil war, but he felt we were getting more than our share of those scriptures as it was, and instead we spent more time and did our big project on the time if peace after Christ's visit to the Americas, and "likened" that time period.
ReplyDeleteThat's really great to hear of a teacher going for the positive. I remember a Stake Conference just as the 1st Gulf War started. President Packer was visiting and in the Saturday Adult Session said not to worry because this is not going to be the big one for the end of the world. Funny, but I haven't really worried since (except I certainly didn't like Iraq War II before it ever began).
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