Skip to main content

Mormon 6 is the Most Depressing Chapter in the Book of Mormon

The award for the most depressing chapter in the Book of Mormon goes to...envelope please...Mormon

chapter 6. If you think your life is going poorly with first-world problems, it might help to read that chapter.

"I finish my record concerning the destruction of my people," Mormon writes (v 1). The Nephites knew the end was near, and their last-ditch effort at survival was to send an epistle to the king of the Lamanites asking for a reprieve so that they could gather all of their men, women, and children into one strategic place, where they "had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites" (v 4)
Yeah, whatever, laughed the Lamanite king, like a cat playing with a mouse. Go for it.
Almost the only thing that Mormon was successful in saving was the record of his people written on plates. (v 5) But without that, we'd have never even known the terror and devastation they experienced.
Once they had made their preparation, the Nephites, "my people with their wives and their children did now behold the armies of the Lamanites," and they were gripped "with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked" (v 7)
Imagine yourself being among those Nephites, among whom "every soul was filled with terror" (v 8 ) because of the approaching Lamanite armies.
Mormon doesn't say how long it took the Lamanites to dispatch nearly every Nephite with "all manner of weapons of war" (v 9) but after one of those terror-stricken nights, the "twenty-four of us" who were still alive "did behold on the morrow, from the top of the hill Cumorah" the unfathomably vast extent of the devastation. (v 11)
"I dare not to give a full account" Mormon concludes, because God commanded him not to give a full account, "that you might not have too great sorrow" (Mormon 5:9) at the "awful scene of blood and carnage as was laid before mine eyes." (v 8 )

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting. If you have a Google/Blogger account, to be apprised of ongoing comment activity on this article, please click the "Subscribe" link below.

Popular posts from this blog

School Vouchers: "The Bramble Memo"

$429 million? What? Where? The legislative fiscal analyst for the State of Utah calculated the costs to the public schools over the next 13 years if school vouchers are implemented. It said the costs would be $5.5M in the first year, and $71M in the 13th year. Suddenly, the number I have started seeing thrown around was $429 million, the total costs for vouchers over 13 years. Where did that number come from? Enter the mysterious "Bramble Memo". In the past few days several of us (Jeremy, Utah Taxpayer, Craig, Sara, Urban Koda, Jesse, and me) have (sometimes?) enjoyed a lively discussion about school vouchers in Utah . Jeremy clarified to me the costs of the venture by linking to a copy of the Utah Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Impartial Analysis (LFA) of the costs of Vouchers , found on "The Senate Site". In my previous voucher article, I quoted some of Lavar Webb's article from last Sunday's Deseret News, wherein he stated that those total costs ...
66 comments
Read more

Red Clothing and Resurrection: Jesus Christ's Second Coming

The scriptures teach that when Christ comes again to the earth, that he will be wearing red apparel. Why red ? They also teach that at Christ's coming, many of the dead will become resurrected. Will this only include members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Not by a long shot, no matter what some Mormon might tell you.
2 comments
Read more

The Legend of Enkidu and Shamhat: Wait!...Did I just Read About Adam and Eve???

The story of Enkidu and Shamhat seems similar to that of Adam and Eve.  See what similarities you can find in my description of the story of Enkidu, Shamhat, and Enkidu's alter-ego, Gilgamesh below.
Post a Comment
Read more