3 Nephi 8
8:1-2 - We’re going to get into some heavy duty geology today, because this is a big deal. Mormon takes his time pointing out that “we know our record to be true, for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record- for he truly did many miracles in the name of Jesus; and there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name of Jesus save he were cleansed every whit from his iniquity.” HN asks why Mormon would go to so much effort to make sure that we knew that Nephi was a just man and that he wasn’t just making stuff up, and his answer was because this was a big event and he wanted us to have confidence that this account was as accurate as possible. I like that Mormon uses a “if A=B and B=C then A=C” formula here, “If Nephi kept the record and he was a just man, then the record can be taken as truth.” It’s interesting though that the Mormon concludes that because Nephi performed miracles in the name of Jesus that he was incapable of falsifying the record. Because Nephi was righteous he was able to perform miracles, part of being righteous includes being honest and truthful, and because he was righteous enough to perform miracles, then we can assume that the record he kept is accurate to the best of his ability. The IM taught how Nephi was able to perform miracles because he was “cleansed every whit from his iniquity,” by quoting Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone as teaching “People cannot hide sin. You cannot mock God and hold the Lord’s holy priesthood and pretend to propose that you are his servant. I know of a great man who held his dead son in his arms, and said, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power and authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, I command you to live.’ And the dead boy opened up his eyes. This great brother could not have possibly done that had he been looking at a pornographic piece of material a few nights before or if he had been involved in any other transgression of that kind. The priesthood has to have a pure conduit to operate.” That is an incredible event, could you imagine not having the ability to do that, or to have your pronouncement honored because of porn or drugs or theft or something like that? I’m not perfect, I have my own demons to contend with, that’s for sure, but this is a powerful example of what is possible and what is at stake. The IM continues by quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as teaching “Now, my young friends of both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood, not every prayer is answered so immediately, and not every priesthood declaration can command the renewal or the sustaining of life. Sometimes the will of God is otherwise. But young men, you will learn, if you have not already, that in frightening, even perilous moments, your faith and your priesthood will demand the very best of you and the best you can call down from heaven. You Aaronic Priesthood boys will not use your priesthood in exactly the same way an ordained elder uses the Melchizedek (Priesthood), but all priesthood bearers must be instruments in the hand of God, and to be so, you must, as Joshua said, ‘sanctify yourselves.’ You must be ready and worthy to act.” This is interesting, I had not thought about miracles, and the priesthood, and how deep the concept of personal righteousness went before.
8:3-19 - The people “began to look with great earnestness for the sign which had been given by the prophet Samuel, the Lamanite, yea, for the time That there should be darkness for the space of three days over the face of the land. And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many signs had been given.” First there is a great storm, the biggest that had ever been seen in the land. With that came a tempest, which I don’t know how that is different from a storm, and there was thunder that shook the “whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder. And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land.” Some cities are destroyed by fire, and some are sunk into the sea, some were covered up by mountains and “the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth.” HN gives a very in depth analysis about all these geological events and shows that they were devastating yes, but this isn’t an isolated event, it’s happened before throughout history and is scientifically studied. He says “It would appear that the storm developed into a hurricane. Well, here we read from some books on earthquakes. Major earthquakes are so often accompanied by ‘heavy rains, thunder and hailstorms, violent tempests,’ etc. that some specialists insist that ‘there is some evidence that certain weather conditions may ‘trigger’ an earthquake,’ as with the Japanese earthquake of 1923. Great earthquakes are almost always preceded by great storms. Aristotle said it was the air pressure that did it, as a matter of fact.” This was news to me, I had never considered that storms, hurricanes and earthquakes were related, I thought that they were all individual events, completely unrelated to each other. He continues that “one of the still unexplained phenomena of earthquakes is that ‘all types of lights are reported seen… There are flashed, balls of fire, and streamers’- every type of lightning… hen next, the Book of Mormon says there were high winds. Occasional whirlwinds even carried some people away… In the Japanese earthquake of 1923 the wind reached a velocity of 50 miles an hour, and ‘the fires, in turn, set up minor tornados.’” This is incredible. He continues that earthquakes are followed by tsunamis and that in 1960, and like the city of Moroni, “such a submergence happened on a spectacular scale in the Chilean earthquake.” As far as the city of Moronihah being covered up by a mountain, to me that would make sense in the event of an earthquake, especially one severe enough to change the face of the land. HN gives examples of when, “In 1538 a mountain came up and suddenly covered a town on the Bay of Naples. Of course, since then there has been the great one at Surtset in Iceland in the 1960s, and there has been the one in central Mexico, where these mountains came up and actually covered the town.” So these catastrophes are extraordinary, but not isolated events. Then we have 3 days’ worth of aftershocks. The IM teaches that “some physical upheavals in our day signal the approaching of the Second Coming.” Just like these physical signs indicated the death of the Savior then, physical signs can indicate the coming of the Lord the second time. The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching “Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. For example, the list of major earthquakes in The World Almanac and Book of Fact, 2004 shows twice as many earthquakes in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s as in the two preceding decades. It also shows further sharp increases in the first several years of this century. The list of notable floods and tidal waves and the list of hurricanes, typhoons, and blizzards worldwide show similar increases in recent years. Increases by comparison with 50 years ago can be dismissed as changes in reporting criteria, but the accelerating pattern of natural disasters in the last few decades is ominous.” I wonder why the second coming is preceded by natural disasters. I don’t understand the connection other than to give us signs that he’s coming. If the earth reacted this way to the Savior’s birth and death, and is slowly reacting to His second coming, I wonder if they are simply signs given for us to see or if there really is some sort of connection to which nature is reacting.
8:20-22 – The most of the natural disasters have already happened and now the earth and the people are simply reeling, and “there was thick darkness, neither candles, neither torches, neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all. And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land.” In referring to the mists of darkness, HN suggests “This, like much else in the account (e.g., that God ‘did send down fire and destroy them,’ 3 Nephi 9:11), suggests nearby volcanic activity. Of course, this is right in a string of volcanoes all down Central America there. Earthquakes are preparation for the volcano that follows, as in the Chilean 1960 quake which triggered the activity of long-dormant volcanoes in the area. (We’ve had more terrible things happen in the 1980s in Chile, as you know.) Most of the victims of the great catastrophes of Pompeii, St. Pierre (Martinique, 1902) and Mount Pelee (1906) died of suffocation when earthquake dust, volcanic ash, steam, and hot gases (mostly sulfurated hydrogen gas) took the place of air. In some area, the Book of Mormon reports, people were ‘overpowered by the vapor of smoke and darkness,’- and so lost their lives. There is it, this vapor of smoke and darkness that comes down. It shuts everything out. Even without volcanic accompaniments, however, major earthquakes kick up a terrible dust, according to Sieberg. They’re accompanied by phenomenal vapors and astonishingly thick air. According to 3 Nephi
8:20-21, the vapor of darkness was not only tangible to the survivors but defeated every attempt to light candles or torches for illumination. And here’s an example of the same thing from (the Greek island of Thera in 1400 B.C.), eight times as violent as Krakatoa. The overpowering thickness of the air extinguished all lamps and make it impossible to light them.” So here we are, the science behind the overpowering mists of darkness that consumed the land “for the space of three days that there was no light seen.” But what about the symbolism? The IM teaches “The three days of darkness symbolized the death of Jesus Christ, who is ‘the light and the life of the world.’ Mormon emphasized that the three days of darkness was ‘a sign’ given of the Savior’s death. After describing the damage caused by the ‘great storm’ that lasted for three hours, Mormon documented the complete darkness as one of the signs that was now fulfilled. The darkness was so intense that ‘there could not be any light at all.’ During this time of darkness, the body of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, lay in the tomb. On the day of His Resurrection, after Christ had overcome death, light came again to the people in America, signifying Christ’s victory over death and darkness.” When Jesus was dead, in between the crucifixion and the resurrection, that seems like a unique time period in the history of the world. The Nephites felt physically the torment and anguish and hopelessness that we would be subjected to spiritually if Jesus hadn’t been born and accomplished the atonement. How interesting.
8:23-25 – It doesn’t take long for the remaining people, the surviving Nephites to realized why this happened. The lamented with “great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them. And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: I that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla. And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible.” They put two and two together and realized that the extent of their destruction was caused by their great wickedness. Does that mean that if they had been righteous, there wouldn’t have been all that darkness or quaking? I don’t know, but my guess is had they been a righteous people, there still would have been the signs, maybe even the disasters, because there are righteous people who are affected by the natural disasters now, but I would imagine that the impact of the destruction would have been significantly lessened, probably less people killed, less cities just completely destroyed. Plus if the people had been righteous, then when they saw these terrible events, they would have been able to grow spiritually during this time and not be destroyed. The IM quotes President N. Eldon Tanner as teaching the importance of always following the prophets, both in ancient America and now. He says “Today the world is rejecting the messages of the prophets of God. Is it not true that there is weeping and wailing over the face of the land because men are at war one with another? Do we not have among us many who lament the waywardness of their youth and the tragedies that befall them as they turn away from righteousness and suffer the consequences of tampering with alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and other forbidden things? How many mourners do we have as a result of the lawlessness that is extant in our communities? We need to heed the lessons from the history of the past lest we be consumed as were some of those earlier civilizations. This was the message Christ brought to those early Nephite people.” There may have been some major natural disasters so far, but as the time of the Savior’s Second Coming nears, they will increase, how will we prepare ourselves for that time? What will we do so that our fate isn’t similar to that of the Nephites during this time? First we need to prepare spiritually, we need to purify ourselves, and this is big for me, there are definitely things that I need to work on, we need to follow the counsel of the prophets. I read somewhere that said “it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark,” and that’s similar to how it is now. The prophets warn us to get out of debt and to stay that way, they warn us to avoid pornography, R rated movies, keep the commandments, get our food storage ready, all these things, and most of the time we don’t see the purpose when the counsel is given, but that’s for us to find out later, after we’ve already protected ourselves with righteousness and obedience.
8:3-19 - The people “began to look with great earnestness for the sign which had been given by the prophet Samuel, the Lamanite, yea, for the time That there should be darkness for the space of three days over the face of the land. And there began to be great doubtings and disputations among the people, notwithstanding so many signs had been given.” First there is a great storm, the biggest that had ever been seen in the land. With that came a tempest, which I don’t know how that is different from a storm, and there was thunder that shook the “whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder. And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land.” Some cities are destroyed by fire, and some are sunk into the sea, some were covered up by mountains and “the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth.” HN gives a very in depth analysis about all these geological events and shows that they were devastating yes, but this isn’t an isolated event, it’s happened before throughout history and is scientifically studied. He says “It would appear that the storm developed into a hurricane. Well, here we read from some books on earthquakes. Major earthquakes are so often accompanied by ‘heavy rains, thunder and hailstorms, violent tempests,’ etc. that some specialists insist that ‘there is some evidence that certain weather conditions may ‘trigger’ an earthquake,’ as with the Japanese earthquake of 1923. Great earthquakes are almost always preceded by great storms. Aristotle said it was the air pressure that did it, as a matter of fact.” This was news to me, I had never considered that storms, hurricanes and earthquakes were related, I thought that they were all individual events, completely unrelated to each other. He continues that “one of the still unexplained phenomena of earthquakes is that ‘all types of lights are reported seen… There are flashed, balls of fire, and streamers’- every type of lightning… hen next, the Book of Mormon says there were high winds. Occasional whirlwinds even carried some people away… In the Japanese earthquake of 1923 the wind reached a velocity of 50 miles an hour, and ‘the fires, in turn, set up minor tornados.’” This is incredible. He continues that earthquakes are followed by tsunamis and that in 1960, and like the city of Moroni, “such a submergence happened on a spectacular scale in the Chilean earthquake.” As far as the city of Moronihah being covered up by a mountain, to me that would make sense in the event of an earthquake, especially one severe enough to change the face of the land. HN gives examples of when, “In 1538 a mountain came up and suddenly covered a town on the Bay of Naples. Of course, since then there has been the great one at Surtset in Iceland in the 1960s, and there has been the one in central Mexico, where these mountains came up and actually covered the town.” So these catastrophes are extraordinary, but not isolated events. Then we have 3 days’ worth of aftershocks. The IM teaches that “some physical upheavals in our day signal the approaching of the Second Coming.” Just like these physical signs indicated the death of the Savior then, physical signs can indicate the coming of the Lord the second time. The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching “Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. For example, the list of major earthquakes in The World Almanac and Book of Fact, 2004 shows twice as many earthquakes in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s as in the two preceding decades. It also shows further sharp increases in the first several years of this century. The list of notable floods and tidal waves and the list of hurricanes, typhoons, and blizzards worldwide show similar increases in recent years. Increases by comparison with 50 years ago can be dismissed as changes in reporting criteria, but the accelerating pattern of natural disasters in the last few decades is ominous.” I wonder why the second coming is preceded by natural disasters. I don’t understand the connection other than to give us signs that he’s coming. If the earth reacted this way to the Savior’s birth and death, and is slowly reacting to His second coming, I wonder if they are simply signs given for us to see or if there really is some sort of connection to which nature is reacting.
8:20-22 – The most of the natural disasters have already happened and now the earth and the people are simply reeling, and “there was thick darkness, neither candles, neither torches, neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all. And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land.” In referring to the mists of darkness, HN suggests “This, like much else in the account (e.g., that God ‘did send down fire and destroy them,’ 3 Nephi 9:11), suggests nearby volcanic activity. Of course, this is right in a string of volcanoes all down Central America there. Earthquakes are preparation for the volcano that follows, as in the Chilean 1960 quake which triggered the activity of long-dormant volcanoes in the area. (We’ve had more terrible things happen in the 1980s in Chile, as you know.) Most of the victims of the great catastrophes of Pompeii, St. Pierre (Martinique, 1902) and Mount Pelee (1906) died of suffocation when earthquake dust, volcanic ash, steam, and hot gases (mostly sulfurated hydrogen gas) took the place of air. In some area, the Book of Mormon reports, people were ‘overpowered by the vapor of smoke and darkness,’- and so lost their lives. There is it, this vapor of smoke and darkness that comes down. It shuts everything out. Even without volcanic accompaniments, however, major earthquakes kick up a terrible dust, according to Sieberg. They’re accompanied by phenomenal vapors and astonishingly thick air. According to 3 Nephi
8:20-21, the vapor of darkness was not only tangible to the survivors but defeated every attempt to light candles or torches for illumination. And here’s an example of the same thing from (the Greek island of Thera in 1400 B.C.), eight times as violent as Krakatoa. The overpowering thickness of the air extinguished all lamps and make it impossible to light them.” So here we are, the science behind the overpowering mists of darkness that consumed the land “for the space of three days that there was no light seen.” But what about the symbolism? The IM teaches “The three days of darkness symbolized the death of Jesus Christ, who is ‘the light and the life of the world.’ Mormon emphasized that the three days of darkness was ‘a sign’ given of the Savior’s death. After describing the damage caused by the ‘great storm’ that lasted for three hours, Mormon documented the complete darkness as one of the signs that was now fulfilled. The darkness was so intense that ‘there could not be any light at all.’ During this time of darkness, the body of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, lay in the tomb. On the day of His Resurrection, after Christ had overcome death, light came again to the people in America, signifying Christ’s victory over death and darkness.” When Jesus was dead, in between the crucifixion and the resurrection, that seems like a unique time period in the history of the world. The Nephites felt physically the torment and anguish and hopelessness that we would be subjected to spiritually if Jesus hadn’t been born and accomplished the atonement. How interesting.
8:23-25 – It doesn’t take long for the remaining people, the surviving Nephites to realized why this happened. The lamented with “great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them. And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: I that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla. And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible.” They put two and two together and realized that the extent of their destruction was caused by their great wickedness. Does that mean that if they had been righteous, there wouldn’t have been all that darkness or quaking? I don’t know, but my guess is had they been a righteous people, there still would have been the signs, maybe even the disasters, because there are righteous people who are affected by the natural disasters now, but I would imagine that the impact of the destruction would have been significantly lessened, probably less people killed, less cities just completely destroyed. Plus if the people had been righteous, then when they saw these terrible events, they would have been able to grow spiritually during this time and not be destroyed. The IM quotes President N. Eldon Tanner as teaching the importance of always following the prophets, both in ancient America and now. He says “Today the world is rejecting the messages of the prophets of God. Is it not true that there is weeping and wailing over the face of the land because men are at war one with another? Do we not have among us many who lament the waywardness of their youth and the tragedies that befall them as they turn away from righteousness and suffer the consequences of tampering with alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and other forbidden things? How many mourners do we have as a result of the lawlessness that is extant in our communities? We need to heed the lessons from the history of the past lest we be consumed as were some of those earlier civilizations. This was the message Christ brought to those early Nephite people.” There may have been some major natural disasters so far, but as the time of the Savior’s Second Coming nears, they will increase, how will we prepare ourselves for that time? What will we do so that our fate isn’t similar to that of the Nephites during this time? First we need to prepare spiritually, we need to purify ourselves, and this is big for me, there are definitely things that I need to work on, we need to follow the counsel of the prophets. I read somewhere that said “it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark,” and that’s similar to how it is now. The prophets warn us to get out of debt and to stay that way, they warn us to avoid pornography, R rated movies, keep the commandments, get our food storage ready, all these things, and most of the time we don’t see the purpose when the counsel is given, but that’s for us to find out later, after we’ve already protected ourselves with righteousness and obedience.
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