Mormon's Monologue

Today I read Helaman 12, where Mormon takes time out from his narrative of the Nephites to give observations on mankind and on God and His nature. We have already talked about most of this before today, and it is nothing new in our day and age.

The part of this chapter which never ceases to catch my interest, just as it does in Alma 30 when Alma is talking to Korihor, is Mormon's knowledge of astronomy and the planetary motions. There's absolutely no reason why the Nephites should not have had this knowledge, it's just very interesting to me when I see a culture have knowledge of sciences that were "lost" during the dark ages. I honestly wonder as I sit here, how many times astronomy has been "discovered" by cultures since Enoch. Enoch is the first one to really learn about the heavens that I am aware of, although it is possible that Adam knew about them too, we just aren't told.

That brings up interesting speculation which I won't dwell on long because it is not the purpose of this blog but I think is fun nonetheless. Are we really the most advanced civilization that has ever been on this earth? Whether you believe in evolution which puts the human race timeline at millions of years, or a Christian which puts time starting around 4000 B.C., that's still a LOT of time and I find it hard to believe that discoveries that truthfully only took less than 200 years were never discovered by anyone else in all that time. My personal thoughts are we are re-discovering a lot of things over again, similar to our re-discovery of astronomy.

In this chapter Mormon laments the natural man and how he is an enemy to God. He does not use that terminology but that is what he is saying. And as I have said before I used to wonder how the Nephites in just a matter of years could turn their backs on the Lord and go back to their evil ways, and then I saw it happen with my own eyes after September 11, 2001. It is a sad commentary on our society that most of our nation is carnal, sensual and for some, devilish. I don't know what is worse to me, the fact that so many people are that way, or the fact that so many of them enjoy it!

I think that is what disturbs me the most, the fact that our nation is full of "natural men" and they enjoy being that way. There is no drive in them to be better, to be more than they currently are, they see nothing wrong with their lifestyle. Most people would not say this, but this is the way I feel, we are a nation of alcoholics. Most people only use that term for someone who cannot control their drinking of liquor, but I look around me and I see a nation of people who cannot stop drinking liquor. It actually disgusts me how when my wife and I go out to eat together, the waiter/waitress automatically assumes we will be drinking an alcoholic beverage, as if that were the only choice! I do not wish to dwell on this topic but I can understand Mormon's frustration with his fellow man.

I hope, as Mormon did before me, that we can all shake off the natural man and come to rely on the arm of Jehovah more fully and become better saints and learn to take true enjoyment in living the Gospel. Until tomorrow.