The beginning

Hello everyone. After reading some articles from the most recent Ensign about how technology can be used for good I have decided to use this as a forum for my random thoughts while I read the scriptures and also by way of maybe doing some good and providing some insights to some folks I have created this blog!

It is open to all and I hope you all find it enjoyable as I hope to enjoy writing it. For my first post I want to talk about a thought that occurred to me the other morning about Nephi. I recently started over reading the book of Mormon and came to 1 Nephi 4. I was struck with a thought when I read 1 Nephi 4:10 where the Spirit commands Nephi to kill Laban. I was intrigued by the fact that the Lord wanted Nephi to kill Laban personally. Surely the Lord could have had Laban stumble and hit his head, he could have been robbed and murdered by robbers, he could have gotten alcohol poisoning, he could have been killed any number of ways, but the Lord wanted Nephi to do it.

So that of course begs the question why? People are changed when they kill another person. No matter how revolting an act it is, taking a human life irrevocably changes a person. So what reason could the Lord possibly have needed Nephi to kill Laban? I think the answer lies in 2 Nephi 5:34. Within 40 years of Nephi killing Laban, he writes that he has had wars and contentions with his brothers and their families. As hard as it must have been for Nephi to take the life of a man he was upset with and maybe even hated, think how hard it must have been to take the life of his brother or his nephews. But the Lord knew he would be required to fight with and even take the lives of those he loved and the Lord knew how devestating that would be to Nephi and Nephi had to be prepared for the trials that would come.

So, aside from being the heinous act that the Book of Mormon critics have claimed, I personally feel that asking Nephi to kill Laban was in fact, one of the Lord's tender mercies. The Lord, as he always does, knew what His servant needed and provided him the support that he needed. I hope that you enjoyed reading the first of many of these posts and hope that they can do some good in the world.