Fourth Nephi
The Book of Nephi Who
Is the Son of Nephi—One of the Disciples of Jesus Christ
An account of the people of Nephi, according to his record.
Chapter 1
The Nephites and the
Lamanites are all converted unto the Lord—They have all things in common, work
miracles, and prosper in the land—After two centuries, divisions, evils, false
churches, and persecutions arise—After three hundred years, both the Nephites
and the Lamanites are wicked—Ammaron hides up the sacred records. About
A.D. 35–321.
Christ’s ministry has ended. The twelve are now responsible
for the church and teaching the people.
All who repented of their were baptized and received the Holy Ghost. “And
it came to pass that the disciples whom Jesus had chosen began from that time
forth to baptize and to teach as many as did come unto them; and as many as
were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi
26:17).
Within two years of Christ’s ministry, all the people in the
land joined the church. There were
neither contentions nor disputations among the people. All the people dealt
justly with each other.
“[Verse 2] says something very important, but notice how.
Only two years after the Messiah’s visit to the people assembled in Bountiful, ‘the
people were all converted unto the Lord.’ This conversion was so complete that
it included both Nephites and Lamanites. It was so effective that there was no
enemy with whom to have wars, and even inside this new Nephite society there
were ‘no contentions and disputations, . . . and every man did deal justly one
with another.’
“We would love to know how they did that. We would love to
know what kinds of sermons were given to a people this righteous. Mormon tells
us nothing. He gives us the outlines that are as historically satisfying as ‘they
lived happily ever after.’
“Was it true that everyone was converted? We may take Mormon
at his word, but we should also understand that ‘all the face of the land’ must
refer to a significantly limited geography. This is because this absolute unity
and harmony was accomplished in only two years. Beginning with the surviving
population of a single city, this new sociopolitical order had to spread from
person to person to other locations. How far could this new understanding have
traveled in two years? Without attempting to answer, I suspect that this mass
conversion was confined to a limited geographic area. Mormon gives us no
indication of how limited it was—in 4 Nephi it is the generalization that is
important, not the historical fact.”[1]
The members of the church shared things in common. There was no rich, poor, and bond, for all
were free. Taking care of all is a theme
common in the Book of Mormon. For example, King Benjamin taught, “And now, for
the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of
retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless
before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every
man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually
and temporally, according to their wants” (Mosiah 4:26).
Alma1 made it clear to church members. “And again
Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance,
every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should
impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be
required; and to him that had not should be given.
“And thus they should impart of their substance of their own
free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in
need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul.
“And this he said unto them, having been commanded of God;
and they did walk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both
temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants” (Mosiah
18:27-29).
Alma2 and Amulek taught the same concept to the
Nephites. “And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his
Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men,
or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among
them at the time of his coming” (Alma 16:16).
“And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they
had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another” (3
Nephi 26:19).
“Mormon’s economic view of his people was that prosperous
conditions resulted when an ideal social and religious order was followed (for
example, see Helaman 3:24, 25, 36; 4 Nephi 1:3, 23). Mormon felt that ideally
the population should predominantly be cultivators and exhibit minimal
distinctions in wealth (see Alma 32:4–5; 34:24–25; 35:9; 3 Nephi 6:1–5).
Conversely, he believed that economic distress followed when the people became
unrighteous and unequal. When such conditions arose, Mormon editorialized
pointedly about the suffering and evils that resulted from differences in wealth
and class distinctions (see Alma 4:6–9; 5:55; Helaman 3:36; 4:12; 6:39; 4 Nephi
1:26).”[2]
The thirty-seventh year passed and peace continued in the
land.
[1] Mormon's
Editorial Method and Meta-Message, Brant A. Gardner, Maxwell Institute
website.
[2] The
Environment of the Nephites and How They Exploited It, Maxwell Institute
website.
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