Reading Nibley again today, Lecture 58 on the Book of Mormon.  He discusses the unregenerate nature of man and compared them to the atom.  According to Heisenburg's uncertainty principle, one can predict with absolute certainty how a group of atoms is going to behave, but it cannot be predicted at any one time what one of those atoms is going to do.  The atom can go off anytime, and there's no way to control it.  This is similar to the fate of man.  Throughout history there have been patterns of wickedness and destruction, right from the very beginning with Adam--mankind is continually on a downward slope.  However, Father offers all the help we as his children need & if we but except His help we will depart from the general nature of man.  If you don't accept Heavenly Father's help, our excuse can't be a complaint against the human nature--it is the trial of life to overcome the natural man and the tendency to spiral downward (with the desires and requirements of the flesh). 

When Christ was being tempted by Satan, He was tempted in every natural, human need and desire....but he overcame.  So it must be with us.  Nibley quoted a noted scientist of the time at MIT and suggests that evolution has been a course in downward progression--not as the Victorians suggest, an upward spiral--and that we must fight the tendency. 

So the first theme is destruction, the second survival--the "get out" theme where the righteous are saved before the wicked are destroyed.  This happens constantly throughout the Book of Mormon.  Almost as soon as Nephi settles in the new world, he is commanded to depart and take those people with him who have not corrupted.  And when one departs, one chooses a wilderness.  The idea was that only way one could keep oneself unspotted before the world was to literally leave the world--to start over someplace where one could begin again fresh. 

The third theme within the Book is the importance of keeping a record, so that those who follow will understand that things are not haphazard, but are the work of the Master Creator.  The past written word is like a fossil from the past, showing those who are able to read it what happened, who lived, and what God has done--this is the importance of the Book of Mormon.  A fossil or a piece of archeology that has been brought forth by the power of God to prove that God is a God of miracles and that His hand is upon the inhabitants of the earth; His children.

The next motif is that of the gospel plan.  Although the Book of Mormon is a historical document, it also explains what is happening and gives wonderful sermons.  It explains everything , as Nibley puts it, "when we are suffering these things we have a right to know" and such is the case.  The problem is that, like the unrepentant child, once corrected we tend to leave the care of the Master or think that our wisdom is more than His.  Take Cain as an example, once he was corrected by the Lord, he turned and left from His presence.  The gospel plan in the Book of Mormon tries to tie our historical perspective into visible hand of the Lord by giving us a parallel explanation. 

The Liahona, or guider by faith is a kep help to understand the gospel plan.  As it explains later in the Book, the Liahona worked by faith, according to the heed and diligence to which they gave it.  The scriptures are the same way.  Nibley suggests that the written word is itself the same entirely, as all it is is ink and paper (or whatever material), that it is just markings--the mind has to be applied to put the markings (ink/paper or whatever) into some kind of meaning....by itself it means nothing.  It is our ability to understand it that matters.

 Newton had the principle that making significant discoveries couldn't be done without revelation....such is what needs to be done understand the greater meaning behind the scriptures, i.e., pray and read them so that the true meaning can be brought to our minds and that we can remember what we knew before (in the premortal existence).  The Lord has commanded us to seek learning out of the best books by learning and by faith.  This is the principle of the Liahona--it worked only by faith.  The Book of Mormon is our modern Liahona to put us on the road that we are supposed to go, just as they did.  This puts us into a sort of esoteric brotherhood with the ancients, having knowledge that allows us to understand the mysteries of Godliness.  As Bruce R. McConkie once stated, "To be like them (Enoch, Abraham, Nephi, etc) we must know what they knew, believed what they believed, and possess the faith that they possessed."  President Hinckley stated at a General Conference of the church that the membership of the church needed to gain the faith to move mountains.  This can only be done thru study, by using the Liahona of our modern era, and by seeking to know Our Father. 

Tags: Nibley Scripture Study

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