The Praise of the World (Two Meanings)

 Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church.

And also for the praise of the world do they destroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.

-thus 1 Nephi 13:8-9

In Joseph Smith’s day the idea of free lance enforcers entrepreneurially and opportunistically attacking dissenters from the world for social  media likes would seem bizarre, but nowadays it makes perfect sense.  In the attention economy, the carefully polished apple they give to teacher is the persecution of the saints.

“They” probably refers to the great and abominable church.  That church seems to be in charge so its odd that they church itself is trying to earn the praise of the world.   What this represents is that no one in really in charge, its just something mutable like “fashion” or “the consensus” and you have to keep scrambling to stay on top.  You never arrive, there is no there there.

But there is another  meaning of “for the praise of the world.”   The second meaning is that you are praising the world.  These are people who are impressed with the power and structure of the world and are angry that someone opposes it or gives it the lie.  They persecute the saints because they feel aggrieved by them.