Mormon speaks to the Gentiles

Today I read Mormon 5, reading this chapter really causes me to wonder just why the Lamanites hate the Nephites so much. I mean honestly, they are insatiable. I understand that they believe different things and Mormon does not tell us if the Nephites have done anything to them at any point, but the Lamanites truly and completely hate the Nephites at this point in their history. Nothing short of their utter destruction will satisfy them it seems. But we are not really told why. We know earlier in the Book of Mormon the Lamanites always desired to rule and have power, but this time they just seem to want to destroy. I guess that is what happens when a group is ripe for destruction.

The majority of this chapter is again taken up by Mormon speaking to us in the latter days and to the purpose of the Book of Mormon. It is really interesting to me that the Lamanites would lose so much of their history. By the time the Book of Mormon was translated, the American Indians had lost all knowledge of their origins and the history of their people. I understand that it's 1400 years later and that is a lot of time, but you would think that there would be at least a few of them that remember where their ancestors came from and how they came to be on the American continents. And perhaps there were but we do not hear about those isolated cases.

Perhaps it is because the Spirit of the Lord had left them. Or maybe they hated the Nephites so completely that they wanted to forget that they had once been one people and that they had split off. It's so strange that they would have a knowledge of Quetzalcoatl, which most people believe is Christ, but they would forget just about everything else. However, we are taught that we learn line upon line, precept upon precept and we are also taught that whoever does not live up to that light and knowledge that they have previously gained, it will be taken away, so maybe that is the answer.

I will not dwell overly long on the rest of this chapter because we have already spoken many, many times of the purpose of the Book of Mormon and I do not wish to dwell on it today. I will end with a final thought that I think it is very interesting that despite all that is going on around him, Mormon does not seem to feel any ill will towards the Lamanites. It's almost like he views them as an inevitability, something akin to a force of nature like a giant tidal wave. Something to be saddened over the fact that it is happening and causing so much destruction, but not to be angered over. I think that is the Spirit of Christ in him. Or perhaps he is just keeping his personal feelings out of the scriptures. We may never know. I like to think though that he has a love for his enemies, like we are all supposed to. Until tomorrow.