Quick Fall
200 AD — the children of Lehi live in a perfect society with visible miracles and deathless men who had seen the Christ walking among them
210 AD — wicked churches deny the Christ and try to kill the Saints
230 AD — They split again into warring Nephites and Lamanites
How quick the fall.
Why? Or better yet, how? Nearly every adult in 210 would have had the living experience of being part of that ideal gospel world. 10 years later, they are trying to burn people.
Corruptio optima pessimi. That is the Book of Mormon’s answer. When those most blessed of the Lord reject Him, the Spirit of the Lord withdraws completely and they perish. With the ordinary wicked, the Spirit of the Lord continues to strive, so they can still muddle on. Not so those who reject God, whom God rejects.
There is a secular expression of that same concept. When people live in a society that is run by trust and cooperation, they have nothing left to fall back on once the trust and cooperation cease. There is nothing left but the war of all against all. Whereas an ordinary society that has some trust and cooperation but also relies on coercion and manipulation and so on has its existing use of coercion and manipulation as a fallback when trust evaporates somewhere.
Those are good explanations. Those are true explanations. But I am interested here in bringing out some complementary explanations, that may also be true.
First, it may be the game theory logic of fallen humanity playing out. Temptation moves slow. But if you have already rejected morality and are just left with the brute facts, you see that what you are left with is an unstable equilibrium that rewards the first person to defect. It’s a race to the bottom where everyone is aware that it is a race to the bottom and is trying to win the race. In such a situation, the change is more like a phase change. It happens incredibly quick.
Second, it may be that the difference between goodness and wickedness is in some ways less than we think so the transition may require less than we would suppose. Perhaps in the good eras they also hunted for heresy and had the heretics publicly recant and had punishments for crimes and were serious about boundary maintenance, and all of that–except they did it with love and wisdom and for good ends. So when they went wicked, they just kept on doing those things, except wickedly.
Ugly Mahana
October 29, 2020
I have always wondered what happened in the prior generation. How did they not communicate the power of what they had to the generation that fell?
One theory: This is evidence of the truism that “more blessed are those who do not see, but believe.” The first generation of believers – that powerful, remarkable cohort that established the Nephite Zion – was made up of people who, at a minimum, had experienced the destruction and three nights of darkness. And many had been ministered to by Jesus and by angels. While faith was still required to obey, in some sense they did not have to believe – they knew! (At least some things.)
That first generation told their children and grand-children that they (the first generation) were eye-witnesses. But by the fourth generation, no eye-witnesses were left. Even the three disciples were taken away. All they had was cultural memory. And eye-witness testimony is much stronger than cultural memory.
It is interesting to me that Mormon did not give us even a single speech or sermon from the centuries of peace. Not even from Ammaron.
Bookslinger
October 29, 2020
All the first-hand and second-hand witnesses had passed away by 210.
(assuming a lifespan of 80 years…)
The children of 34 AD, were the last living witnesses of the Lord’s visit, and were the (great)grandparents of 114 AD. They gave their first hand testimony to everyone up through the children of 114 AD. The latter were second-hand witnesses. They would have testified: “my (great)grand-parents were among the children who saw and touched the Lord, they were actually there, they told me about it”… up until 194 AD.
The power of that witness then sharply dropped off around 194. No longer did anyone know someone who was there. It was then third-hand, … legend.
…
Assume one had to be at least 8 years old (born in 1836) to have seen/heard and remembered Joseph Smith before his martydom in 1844. Extend the lifespan a little and do the same calculation….
1836 + 170 = 2006. And that’s more or less around when the retention of born-in-church members became more noticeable. (Certainly there are many other factors. So consider this a “Freakonomics” style analysis.)
Add one generation (25) to that year, and that takes us to 2031. That’s when I think the major tribulations will hit. And the Lord’s advent sometime in the mid to late 2030’s. (I have other reasons to assume that decade, based on economic and societal trends which I have touched on before.)
Bookslinger
October 29, 2020
UM: Wow. We doubled – and on the exact same idea. (your comment was not there when I began composing mine.)
Jacob G.
October 29, 2020
Perhaps related: The Jaredites were destroyed by secret combinations, just one generation after being introduced. (perhaps because of their large families and circle of friends)
The Nephites were much more resistant (about 3 generations), and I think we much more resistant still. I know people talk of the U.S.A. as having been a high trust society, but I just don’t see it. Maybe relative to other modern societies?
Huston
October 29, 2020
My big thought from this week’s study:
Mormon becomes the Nephites’ general at 16. We admire that testament to the power of youth, but seriously, what kind of depraved society puts people that young into battle? Yes, this is a miraculous example of the Lord’s people being heroes, but it also an example of a fallen world’s corruption.
My takeaway here is that the Lord can and often does use society’s decline as a means to somehow advance His own work, even when society thinks they’re subverting Him.
Looking at the many kinds of anti-child corruption in American right now, I wonder what surprising victories God will eventually make come from it all.
John Mansfield
October 29, 2020
Related to the connection made above between the post 3 Nephi generations and the post Joseph Smith generations, I was struck by the absence from the October General Conference of much teaching or preaching about Joseph Smith and the restoration, with the sole exception of Elder Gong’s talk, “All Nations, Kindreds, and Tongues.” The other talks were rather inward-directed, with scattered mentions through the weekend of Joseph Smith as an example of an afflicted sufferer while confined in Liberty. It felt as though after marking the bicentennial of his birth at the previous General Conference in April, we 21st Century saints are now mostly done with him and his work.
JRL in AZ
October 29, 2020
John Mansfield:
That is an interesting point. I didn’t even think of it until you mentioned it. I got the feeling that they just wanted to talk about Jesus and preparing for the second coming. And it was inward-directed. I felt like it was a “hunker down and prepare” kind of conference.
E.C.
October 29, 2020
@ JRL,
I (kind of) disagree. What I heard – and as I’m studying through the talks, what I still see – is SO MANY references to how to build Zion.
Remember, Enoch’s people created Zion even as the world around them descended into depravity. It may be that, rather than a Benedict Option, our leaders are calling for a Zion Option.
Rozy
October 29, 2020
@E.C. That’s what I heard too! Many calls for unity and building a Zion people as individuals and collectively.
Studying the Doctrine and Covenants next year should be exciting.
JRL in AZ
October 30, 2020
@E.C.,
You’re right. I have been seeing the emphasis on building Zion, too. And I recently talked to my kids about it. I think I expressed myself very poorly. “Hunkering down” is not what they called for. I should have said something about serious personal preparation, no matter what storms rage in the world around us.
Bookslinger
October 30, 2020
Look how quickly _we_ have fallen.
Less than 1 lifetime since: contraception pills, Summer of “Love,” Roe-v-Wade, home-video (early 1980’s) for distribution of {pron}, same-sex marriage.
What’s happened to family and sex-related and population/vital statistics since the 1960’s ?
Bookslinger
October 30, 2020
I don’t know how quickly/frequently things changed in the church before my time. But, look at some recent things implemented, I assume, in order to stem the loss of youth and young adults:
2002 – Raise the Bar.
2008 – (or thereabouts) Revamp of youth Sunday classes – YW/YM, sunday school.
2012 – reducing age of missionary service.
2019 – A big revamp of YW/YM.
bvg
(I note that the 8 year olds of 2002 were the 18 year old missionaries of 2012. Their entire time since baptism to mission was then under the new paradigm.)
And… the missionaries of 2002 now have children entering YW/YM.
Those who served missions since 2012 are another step in this progression. I wonder what trends the Brethren are seeing in that cohort’s church activity and the number of their children of record.
G.
October 30, 2020
Marriage rates and birth rates continue to drop. Drop appears to be accelerating.
Eric
October 30, 2020
The biggest revamp of youth Sunday school classes came in 2013 with “Come, Follow Me,” patterned largely on “Preach My Gospel,” which in turn was introduced in 2006 to replace the memorized missionary discussions.
I was a Sunday school president at the time, and specifically asked my bishop to help me find someone to teach the youth who had served a mission after 2006 so they’d be up to speed on how the new lesson formats worked. We found a married couple that fit the criteria, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with how it all worked out.
Vader
October 31, 2020
“It’s a race to the bottom where everyone is aware that it is a race to the bottom and is trying to win the race.”
You just described the current political cycle. And it ain’t over yet.
I think the Church is rapidly finding itself in a position in which neither major political party offers a friendly political home. I see it as part of the process of separating the Church from Babylon.