“if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Today is Palm Sunday. As I read the relevant passage from the Gospel of Luke recounting Jesus' triumphal return to Jerusalem, this part really caught my attention:

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19, NIV)

This is the positive form of a theme we find in many scriptures, in which the elements of creation praise the Creator. Psalm 148 is a great example of this

1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 148)

Here are a few of the thoughts I had as I studied:

1. As we are spiritually recreated in His image, we will echo these same sentiments. We will praise Him in our thoughts and our actions. In this sense, good works are an effect of the spiritual recreation, not its cause.
2. Psalm 148:5 applies equally to the physical creation of the world and the spiritual recreation of man. The physical creation took place by the power of the word (see John 1:1-3; Hebrews 11:3). It was prepared from the beginning to create a probationary state for mankind, to allow for repentance (see Abraham 3:25). The spiritual creation which then occurs in the heart of man takes place as we each heed God's commands and participate in sacred ordinances, also performed by the power of the word. In both cases, "He command[s] and they [are created]."

Once again, we find harmony between the doctrines of creation and covenant-making. There is a deep connection between these concepts, so much so that they share a primitive Hebrew root. It is just as natural for the children of Christ (see Mosiah 5:7) to praise Him as it is for the sun, moon, stars, and mountains to do so.

I'll close this post with the words of Alma-2 following his remarkable conversion, which were given to him by the Lord:

25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. (Mosiah 27)

Wings of healing and protection -- Part 1

In our modern society, wings are associated with freedom and movement. Spreading your wings is an idiom relating to independence. This is very different from how ancient Israel used the symbolism. They used wings as symbol of healing and protection. The Hebrew word for wings is kanaph. This can also mean extremity or edge and is associated with a garment. I will get to that soon. 

Wings of healing and protection

First a few examples showing the symbolic meaning of wings in the Old Testament.

3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings (Hebr. kanaph). (Psalm 61)

 

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings (Hebr. kanaph) will I rejoice. (Psalm 63:7)

 

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings (Hebr. kanaph) shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Psalm 91)

When "trust" is used in Psalm 61 and 91 in the KJV, the underlying Hebrew is more commonly translated into "seek refuge". Refuge and protection is what we find under the wings of God. This does not mean that the Israelites believed that God was a winged being. They were more interested in his attributes than physical appearance and often used metaphors to describe them. Another well-known example is Malachi 4:2

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings (Hebr. kanaph); and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

This is an expression that Nephi uses too and that probably originates with the prophet Zenos.

Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God. (2 Nephi 25:13)

These examples demonstrate that the symbolism of wings is understood differently by ancient Israelites than modern Westerners. The symbolic meaning has to do with healing and protection more than independence and freedom. With that established, let us move on to some other interesting aspects of this symbol. 

The wings of the garment

As mentioned, the Hebrew 'kanaph' means both wings and extremity and edge and can refer to the borders of a garment. Somehow the wings of God were the edges of his garments that covered the Psalmist and the righteous. 

Lord Wilmore wrote two posts about the instruction for Israel to put fringes in the borders of their garments. (See here and here). Let's have another look at the verse giving this instruction.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders (Hebr. kanaph) of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders (Hebr. kanaph) a ribband of blue: (Numbers 15:38)

The fringes and ribband of blue were reminders of God's commandments and linked to heaven, blooming and eternal life, as Lord Wilmore explains in his posts. The use of kanaph here adds another dimension. The fringes on the kanaph would mean that the reminder of God's commandments protected the Israelite from the consequences of following the lust of their own hearts and eyes. There is a clear covenant connotation here that I will get back to in the next part. First there are two more examples of the connection between wings and garments that I want to discuss. 

In 1 Samuel 24 there is a story where king Saul seeks David's life out of jealousy. As he eases himself in a cave, he is unaware of David sneaking up behind him and cutting off the kanaph of his garment. This is to demonstrate that even though Saul seeks his life, David does not want to harm him even when he had the chance. David later calls out to Saul, showing him the kanaph as a witness to his determination not to harm the king. Still, David feels terrible about what he has done, indicating that there is significance to the cutting of the kanaph. Metaphorically, David is clipping Saul's wings. I am not sure if this would be understood as Saul losing his protection or losing his ability as king to offer protection, but I am inclined to believe the latter. The NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible explains:

In acceding to the people’s demand for a king, Yahweh did not relinquish his rights as Great King over his inheritance to the human monarch. Rather, the human king was to be Yahweh’s vice-regent and was to subordinate himself within an authority structure that Yahweh himself would stipulate

With this context it is easy to imagine the king's garment with its "wings" as an earthly representation of Yahwehs protective garment/wings. The kings were not just to rule but to offer the people protection as part of their jurisdiction. David stripped Saul of this authority in a humiliating gesture and felt bad about it afterwards.

5 And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt (Hebr. kanaph).

6 And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. (1 Samuel 24)

Shortly after this event, David wrote Psalm 57. Consider the subheading to this psalm and the first verse

To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.

1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings (Hebr. kanaph) will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

He had just cut Saul's kanaph and is troubled by the trial resulting from a king who seeks his life, but finds refuge in the kanaph of God. As Yahweh's vice-regent, this king was supposed to offer such protection but had utterly failed to do. Fortunately, the kanaph of God never fails.

Over to the final example of this part. But there is much more to say about this topic so I will write more in my next post. This is from the Book of Ruth, that I find absolutely beautiful. Ruth shows great faith, diligence and care and loyalty to her mother-in-law. This is noticed by Boaz who treats her kindly and praises her.

11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.

12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings (Hebr. kanaph) thou art come to trust. (Ruth 2)

Again, the KJV uses "trust" where most other translations would use "seek refuge". As a foreigner from a different land with different gods, Ruth has come in under the protection of Yahwehs wings. Since Boaz is the next of kin (technically there was someone even nearer but he declined), it is his responsibility to "redeem" Ruth. (See this post about the role of the kinsman-redeemer). This is what Ruth appeals to in the next chapter.

8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.

9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt (Hebr. kanaph) over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. (Ruth 3)

When kanaph is translated into words as diverse as wings, skirt and borders it is difficult to immediately see this connection that exists in the Hebrew Bible. Here it seems that Ruth is referring to Boaz' statement from the chapter before. In his role as redeemer, Boaz is to emulate God in offering protection by covering her with his "wings". The garment of Boaz symbolize the wings of God and is an act of redemption and protection. We don't really see protection as the primary need of a young widow in a modern Western society, but in ancient Israel, a widow who was much more vulnerable and protection essential. This story of a widow being redeemed is also about a foreigner who is gathered into the fold of a covenant people and offered the protection that comes with that. This is a topic I will explore further in the next part.

Belief as the gate to "wisdom's path"

Moses 1:31-32 stood out to me recently:

31 And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me.

32 And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.

"These things" in verse 31 refers to the earth and its inhabitants (see verses 27 and 28).

Moses' vision shares some parallels in form to the grand vision received by Nephi.  Nephi also sees in vision a large portion of the Nephites and learns of their fate long before they existed.

Moses only receives his vision after overcoming Satan by calling upon God in the name of Jesus (see Moses 1:20-21).

Nephi must also declare his belief in God prior to his vision.

4 And the Spirit said unto me: Believest thou that thy father saw the tree of which he hath spoken?

5 And I said: Yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father.

6 And when I had spoken these words, the Spirit cried with a loud voice, saying: Hosanna to the Lord, the most high God; for he is God over all the earth, yea, even above all. And blessed art thou, Nephi, because thou believest in the Son of the most high God; wherefore, thou shalt behold the things which thou hast desired. (1 Nephi 11)

Notice also that the final verse of Moses 1 restricts sharing this information that came through belief with those who do not believe. (See Moses 1:42.) Nephi is also restricted from sharing parts of his vision. (See 1 Nephi 14:28.)

All of that is interesting. It seems Nephi had access to this material, perhaps on the Brass Plates, and was intentionally writing the account of his vision to compare himself to Moses.  He did this in other places, too.

What is this wisdom?

That's the question I've been pondering for the past few weeks.

Notice God's wisdom referenced in Moses 1:31, quoted above. The context of this verse implies that God's wisdom is contained in the foundational purposes of the earth.  Covenant fidelity unfolds this wisdom.  

The opposite of wisdom, then, is covenant rebellion, which leads to utter destruction, being cut off and cast out, etc.

This wisdom pattern is reinforced many times in the scriptures. I'll give three examples below.

Doctrine & Covenants 38

In this revelation, the saints are told to "treasure up wisdom in [their] bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth..." (see verse 30).  This comes after we are told:

17 And I have made the earth rich, and behold it is my footstool, wherefore, again I will stand upon it.

18 And I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh;

19 And I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts.

20 And this shall be my covenant with you, ye shall have it for the land of your inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever, while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in eternity, no more to pass away.

Helaman 12

This whole chapter is a narrative aside written by Mormon, lamenting the foolishness and instability of man. In verse 5, he mentions "wisdom's paths":

4 O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world!

5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!

6 Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.

Wisdom's paths clearly start when we hearken unto God and consider his "great goodness and mercy."

Mosiah 8

My final example is a bit of a mystery by itself, but it fits the pattern we're talking about, so I'll share it.

In Mosiah 8, Ammon-1 (the explorer, not the son of Mosiah) learns of the discovery of a fallen civilzation.  Records have been found but no one can read the language.  They seek a man who can interpret languages. Ammon knows such a man.  

In that context (learning about a destroyed civilization), notice these words at the end of the chapter:

19 And now, when Ammon had made an end of speaking these words the king rejoiced exceedingly, and gave thanks to God, saying: Doubtless a great mystery is contained within these plates, and these interpreters were doubtless prepared for the purpose of unfolding all such mysteries to the children of men.

20 O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!

21 Yea, they are as a wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd, and scattereth, and are driven, and are devoured by the beasts of the forest. (Mosiah 8)

That strikes me as deeply significant to the wisdom pattern I'm trying to flesh out. The mystery is "A whole group of people slaughtered each other."  Heavenly gifts are cited as the path to understanding why this happened.  Wisdom is the answer revealed by that heavenly gift.

To put it simply, the doctrine of Christ is the path of wisdom. Every other course leads to death. Only this path leads to life eternal.  The "mysteries of God" are unfolded to those who will hearken to God's counsel. Everyone who will not hearken is left unprotected from the dangers that lurk as a result of the work of the destroyer. The scriptures are filled with cautionary tales, which can bring us as much wisdom as the examples of righteousness we also find therein.

This is partially a new idea to me.  I'm going to continue to look for examples to help tease more out of this pattern, but I believe I'm starting to see the concept of "God's wisdom" in a whole new light.

"the Lord did strengthen them"

In my previous post, I wrote that people in the Near East in the Bronze Age relied on their gods for literally everything of significance. For the Israelites, it was only one God and to the extent that they managed to keep the first two out of the 10 commandments (which was very often not the case) they similarly relied solely on Yahweh for everything. We see how this is played out in warfare for instance. The NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible explains:

It is not proper to call this “holy war,” because in the ancient Near East there was no other kind of war. The divine warrior motif depicts the deity fighting and defeating the deities of the enemy. The gods empowered the king and fought before/ beside him. Warfare was a divine undertaking, because it was generally understood as a response to unrest. Deities were responsible for bringing rest and maintaining it for their people, so unrest had to be addressed. In Assyria, the god Nergal is the King of Battle, and Ishtar is viewed also as a war goddess. The Canaanite Baal and the Babylonian Merodach are divine warriors. In situations of impending battle, prayers would be made and omens asked to assure the god’s presence. Standards or statues of the deity were usually carried to symbolize their presence. Assyrian kings of the ninth and eighth centuries BC regularly refer to the divine standard that goes before them. The ark of the covenant, as Yahweh’s standard, represents the Lord as clearing the way before the Israelites and leading the armies into Canaan. Nearly every army in the ancient Near East included priests and diviners (as seen in the Mari tablets), prophets (cf. 2 Kings 3), and portable sacred objects (Assyrian annals of Shalmaneser III [858– 824 BC]). In this way, the god(s) could be consulted on the battlefield or invoked to lead the soldiers to victory. In this worldview, human warfare is simply a representation of warfare among the gods. The stronger god would be victorious regardless of the strengths or weaknesses in the human combatants. Therefore, if Yahweh fought on their behalf, the Israelites would be convinced that they would be victorious.

The view of all significant events personally and nationally as manifestations of divine will permeates the Old Testament. As a somewhat random example, see how Ruth 4:13 refers to her conception

So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. (Ruth 4:13)

Similarly, this is how Hannah's inability to conceive is explained

But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb. (1 Samuel 1:5)

Today, we explain conception in scientific terms. Whether you can or cannot conceive, there is a physiological reason and no need to drag God into it for the non-believer. What about the believers? We also know the scientific explanation and yet we may in certain circumstances both pray for a pregnancy and consider it a blessing when it happens. Still, scientific discoveries and increased knowledge about the natural world has had huge implications on our worldview, also as Christians. In "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, authors O'Brien and Richards explain

Through advances in mathematics, physics, astronomy and medical science, Western intellectuals learned more about the fixed rules or laws by which the universe operates. For some Western Christians, such discoveries increased their awe of and dependence upon the Creator God...Many other Western Christians, however, became convinced that the universe is a closed system in which God no longer plays an active role. On the whole, the Western world did not abandon the idea of a Creator until the nineteenth century. What changed first was our understanding of God’s relationship to the cosmos. Sure, God created the heavens and the earth. Before Darwin’s theory of evolution sparked humans to look at other aspects of the universe through the lens of natural law, most folks assumed God made the material world. However, Westerners increasingly assumed that God no longer tampered with the world he had made. He was a master watchmaker who skillfully creates a quality timepiece, winds it up and then lets it run on its own. No longer was God assumed to be the sustainer and maintainer of the universe. He was now a distant deity whose relationship to creation ceased after the event of creation. He left the world to operate according to rules and laws, which he prescribed. The God of the deists, whom we’ve been describing, was a creative genius, but he was not an engaged father. Increasing knowledge of the natural world did not, in general, inspire greater awe of and dependence upon God, but less.

A modern Westerner and Christian like myself will not find it problematic to accept the fact that God can and does intervene in our daily lives, even though most phenomena can also be explained by natural laws. God simply is the greatest scientist and perhaps takes advantage of natural laws himself in his dealings with his children. But to what degree he micromanages everything or sits back to observe his wound up clock run on its own is hard to tell. There is no doubt that development in the last few centuries have caused us to change our language. Few people would use expressions like "the Lord gave her conception" or "the Lord had shut up her womb" today, even if they are faithful church members.

But we see such language in the Book of Mormon as well reflecting this ancient worldview. The Lord is always taking a very active role in any event of significance. There are numerous examples of that and I will just give a few. For instance, the people of Alma-I had to flee the place Mormon after they had been discovered by the armies of king Noah.

And the Lord did strengthen them, that the people of king Noah could not overtake them to destroy them. (Mosiah 23:2)

For the modern reader it would be reasonable to ask how the Lord strengthened them. Did he descend in a cloud and touch their legs causing a miraculous instant muscle growth? Nothing in the text indicates such an event. Most likely, they simply managed to travel faster than the king's men or the king's men were unable to find and follow their tracks. For a non-believer at least, that has little to do with God. But for a Nephite in Alma's group or for Mormon abridging the plates, it had everything to do with God and the question about how the Lord strengthened them would probably seem strange and pointless. It happened so therefore God was behind it. How God performs his marvelous works is impossible for humans to understand anyway. 

Later in the story of Alma's people, they are brought into bondage. We see another example of the Lord's active role in the narrative expressed with the exact same wording.

And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. (Mosiah 24:15)

This sort of language is especially common in the war accounts.

Nevertheless the Lord did strengthen the hand of the Nephites, that they slew the Amlicites with great slaughter, that they began to flee before them. (Alma 2:18)

Compared to the explanation of ancient divine warfare in the first quote I shared, there is a slight deviation in the Book of Mormon, though. The Lamanites did not seem to have a god to fight the war for them. The Book of Mormon even seems to make a point of that.

Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men. (Mosiah 10:11)

Similarly, in periods of Nephite wickedness, they lose the divine favor that would otherwise keep them preserved and strengthened. They did not seem to substitute him for other gods either, and so they were left to their own strength. This detail seems unique in the Book of Mormon because in the Old Testament, people would only abandon God by replacing him by other gods. 

24 And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—  

25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish. 

26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years. (Helaman 4)

As mentioned in my previous post, it is easy to become arrogant about the apparent naivety of the ancients who knew little to nothing about natural laws and relied on God for all events of any importance. But perhaps we also have something to learn from this kind of faith. Our modern day challenge is to avoid letting science and our trust in the arm of flesh create a mist of darkness that prevent us from seeing "His hand in all things" (D&C 59:21).

The importance of critical thinking

Earlier this week a man stabbed my father in the back and took his money. The incident caused him to lose some of the sensation in his lower body.

This actually happened to my dad, and I will come back to it at the end of this post.

Fair warning, this post will be unlike my typical posts. It stems from a question I recently received from a faithful member who was thinking about a criticism against the prophet Joseph Smith. The question centered on a claim that all of the letters of the English alphabet and Arabic numbers can be found in the 'Anthon transcript.' Here is a picture of what we'll call 'the claim' (sorry for the poor quality, this is how it came to me):

 

On its surface, this isn't even a very worrisome criticism. Even if this claim were true, I could easily see how a marginally-literate farmer might transcribe foreign characters in a way that resembles the English characters they already know. 

However, I'm not willing to simply accept this claim as factual until I look into it myself.  Not surprisingly, once we investigate, the claim begins to unravel.  

I'd also point out that referring to the document as the "Anthon Transcript" suggests that this was the actual document Martin Harris took to Charles Anthon. It almost certainly wasn't. (Read more about that here and here.) The characters in the image above all come from the so-called 'Caractors document' shown below.

Applying critical thinking skills to investigate the claim

Oxford defines critical thinking as "the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment" (source).

In order to determine how serious I should take this criticism, I went through the images in the claim above to find them in the 'Caractors document.'

'A', 'B', and 'C' as presented look pretty similar to what we would write, so that's interesting. 

But then look at 'D' as presented in the claim.

Is that how you write a D? Of course not, but it is certainly vaguely D-shaped. If I tell you I'm going to show you a 'D' and then I show this image, you'll probably not stop to question why it has those extra markings along the left-hand side.


Let's keep going. This is where we start to find dishonesty in how this is presented. Here's E as shown in the claim:

That looks like an 'E', but what they don't tell you is that you won't find this character in the document. You can find this character in the middle of the second row:

That looks a lot less like an E, doesn't it? Why didn't the author of this claim mention that the image was rotated? It gets worse. Notice how the bottom line runs to the right edge of the image? Why is that? Well, that is because the entire character isn't included as it appears in the document. The whole thing looks like this:

Let's all just agree that the character as it appears in the document looks nothing like an E.

So in order to create an 'E', the person who authored this claim took a lot of liberties and didn't mention what they were doing. They are relying on the reader to accept the claim at face value rather than looking into it. Why not mention cropping and rotating the image?

Well, it wasn't mentioned because it would significantly weaken the claim they are trying to make. As you'll see below, any set of characters, if sufficiently large and varied, can be cropped and rotated into the English alphabet.

This isn't an apologetics blog, but I've seen too many good people have their faith weakened by claims which are disingenuous, so I thought it important to put this on display.

At this point, in my opinion, the claim becomes a non-serious one, and the source of the claim becomes "generally untrustworthy." That means any other criticism put forth by this person should be met with a high degree of skepticism. Anyone who desires to be taken seriously should outline materials and methods used to produce evidence. They should offer explanations as to why certain decision were made, and couch any conclusion in some degree of uncertainty, especially if this kind of procedure is required to produce the desired result.

Just for fun, we can keep going a little bit more, and you of course are welcome to carry this on further to your heart's content. :)

Here's 'G' as it actually appears on the document, before it was rotated 180 degrees:

H is shown as it appears in the document, but it has an extra comma-shaped component in the upper left. Here's 'I':

Cropped and flipped 180 degrees again. Doesn't look like any 'I' I've ever written.

And here are J and K in context:

Now that we've looked into this, we can better judge for ourselves if this claim should be taken seriously. I personally focus my attention on sources and claims which do their best to maintain a high degree of intellectual honesty, and I don't find that in this claim.

Setting up a control

One method I use to reality check a critical claim is to compare it to a control. For example, can we find the English alphabet in the Japanese writing system known as Hiragana?

If I tried to write out some of these symbols from Hiragana (from a Japanese writing system I am totally unfamiliar with), I might use English characters as a guide for some. For example, 'no' looks like a backwards rotated lower-case 'e', 'tsu' resembles a 'c' that is backwards, 'shi' is a backwards 'J', 'ku' is a 'V' turned on its side, 'hi' is a lot like a 'U', 'he' is a rotated 'L'.  These examples are easy to see, and I didn't even have to crop any characters.

There are only so many different ways to combine straight and curved lines, and our minds are hard-wired to find meaning in visual input, so we automatically see letters and symbols we know in foreign characters.  This is similar to the phenomenon of seeing animals in clouds.

So what about your dad getting stabbed?

At the start of this post, I made a completely factually accurate set of statements to get your attention (and mislead you).  The thing is, the 'stabbing' happened in a surgery center. The loss of sensation was intentionally caused by numbing medicine used during the procedure. The 'man' happened to be a very skilled physician.

Taking innocuous things and turning them into seemingly nefarious things is not difficult, especially if you are willing to play fast and loose with the facts. The take-home lesson is this:

Never outsource your critical thinking, especially to someone who is being disingenuous.

Don't allow someone else's conclusions to become your own until you've done some work to validate them.

A note on idolatry and culture

Idol worship in the Old Testament

When Moses received the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai, the first two dealt with idol worship.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20)

These are also the two commandments that the Israelites struggled with the most, as far as I can tell. Already while Moses received these commandments, the Israelites made and worshiped a golden calf. As soon as they started settling in the promised land, many of the Israelites started worshiping the local deities of the other nations there, despite the numerous warnings they had received in advance.

This is puzzling to us. Why would making and bowing down to a carved image be so tempting and so difficult to abstain from? To answer this question, I think it is important to understand the ancient Near Eastern culture. The gods (with plural ‘s’ since the monotheism of Israel was unique) had a central role in every community, for good or bad. Whenever something good happened, it was by divine favor, and whenever something went wrong, a petty god had been offended. The NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible states:

The polytheism of the ancient world was not just a matter of numbers. In the ancient world identity was found in one’s community rather than in one’s individuality. Like people, gods found their identity in relationship to the group to which they belonged. Each god had a constellation of attributes, just as people have different skills and abilities. As in human communities, the community of the gods called for hierarchy. So the pantheon of the gods was characterized by a hierarchy (cosmic gods, national gods, city patrons, clan deities, ancestral deities) and by differentiation (according to their jurisdiction, manifestations and attributes). Given this cultural reality, we can surmise that it was very difficult for the Israelites to adjust to a single God spanning all levels of hierarchy and all categories of jurisdiction.

So one explanation is the difficulty of Israel to adjust to a single God. This is certainly not a challenge for us, at least in a literal sense. We may of course have many so-called idols in the form of money, status, luxury items, sports, etc. This is often the modern-day Sunday School application of the ancient problem of idol worship and certainly one way to update an ancient and obsolete problem to our time. But I think there are also other underlying factors that help explain why bowing down to an image was so natural and attractive to an ancient Israelite, that I will get back to.

As I am studying the Old Testament cover to cover this year, I also read the parts that are often omitted from the church curriculum. By all means, I don't blame those who make the church manuals. First of all, there would be 18-19 chapters to study every week. Second, the poor Sunday School teachers would have to grapple with what to us is very strange behavior by ancient Israelites, and try to explain that to a group of people puzzled by what they have read during the week. Anyway, I have gotten a stronger sense of how different things were back then. Still, if you and I were born in Palestine around 1300 BC with our exact same genes, we would obviously think and act like most people did at the time. It would be hard to argue against that. It is the society and culture in which we have been raised that make the ancient Near Eastern culture seem so foreign and strange. But it has been quite rewarding for me to try to understand how people were thinking and acting and what underlying values and motives their behavior was based on, rather than just dismissing them as weird.

There is no doubt that these people in return would find modern people, especially in the Western World, really strange. Our actions would simply not make sense to them. A couple of examples would be

• Our culture of expressive individualism would seem extremely weird, selfish and even narcissistic to an ancient faithful Israelite. How could true believers of God be so self-centered?
• Our sexualized society would be shocking to an ancient faithful Israelite. Even if the modern day heathens treat the topic of sex very casually, show much skin at the beach, etc., surely true believers of God should know better and distance themselves from this far more than they actually do?

Similarly, we ask how people who had at least heard of and perhaps even seen the miracles of God leading them into the promised land could possibly start worshiping graven images? But the examples listed above would probably be just as strange to them as idolatry seems to us. Here is a common denominator that I have reflected on: It is done because it is considered normal. Normal is by definition what everybody else is doing. We don't even think about the examples I listed above and how peculiar they are compared to virtually the entire history of the human race. Because this is the normal worldview and behavior in the society that we find ourselves in right now. It was the same for Israel. They did not drive out all the inhabitants of the promised land. They lived among or close to other nations and they all had multiple gods that they worshiped, that they relied on for crop yields, weather, offspring, warfare, etc. The Israelites were the weird ones who only had one god. They relied on him alone for all of these things, but whenever they felt that He did not hear them, many of them resorted to other gods. To them, that was the only alternative. If the crops yields were too meager, what else was there to do?

It is easy for us to feel both morally and intellectually superior to ancient Near Eastern people. But we determine morality by our moral codes that are in fact quite different from these ancient societies. But for believers in the one true God it should be the same because the gospel is everlasting, right? Not quite, I would argue. Culture definitely influences our norms and our emphasis on some moral codes or commandments over others. How about intellect? Isn't idol worship kind of stupid? We obviously have the advantage of education, access to information and knowledge that people anciently could not even dream of. But if I were to be born in an ancient Israel society with the same cognitive abilities, I am pretty sure that I would not be any more successful there than I am here. A better approach than becoming arrogant is trying to understand ancient cultures. At least for me, that has been greatly rewarding.

Idol worship in the Book of Mormon

Idolatry is mentioned in the Book of Mormon, but is less prevalent than in the Old Testament. The word, "idol" appears 13 times, but almost half of those are from Isaiah quotes. The word "idolatry" appears 8 times. It is usually just mentioned as a vice among the wicked without giving details or including specific stories involving idol worship. It does make sense that the Nephites are a little less influenced by it than the Israelites. Lehi and Nephi surely did not bring that tradition across the sea. It would rather have come from other people living in the Americas already, of which the Book of Mormon tells us virtually nothing. But I believe that especially the Lamanites mingled with them.

Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers; notwithstanding the promises of the Lord were extended unto them on the conditions of repentance. (Alma 17:15)

We learn that "many" Lamanites worshiped idols, which implies that not all did, like Israel's neighbors. Also, the general physical separation and distance between Nephites and Lamanites, at least after Mosiah-I's exodus, perhaps contributed to somewhat less influence. Still, some problems with idolatry among the Nephites at times is also evident.

And now behold, he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver. (Helaman 6:31)

Now it came to pass that after the end of Korihor, Alma having received tidings that the Zoramites were perverting the ways of the Lord, and that Zoram, who was their leader, was leading the hearts of the people to bow down to dumb idols, his heart again began to sicken because of the iniquity of the people. (Alma 31:1)

As mentioned, we know little about what exactly the idolatry of the Lamanites and apostate Nephites looked like. For the Nephites, it often seems connected to riches and pride. The concept is generalized by Jacob

30 But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also...

37 Yea, wo unto those that worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them. (2 Nephi 9)

Conclusion

The modern Western world is vastly different from any previous society in the history of mankind. But apart from the societal influences, which obviously play a very large role, we still may not have changed that much as people. We tend to habitually do whatever is considered normal and find people with a different worldview and behavior weird and perhaps even morally and intellectually inferior. But they just do the same as we do in a sense. For ancient Israelites, the commandment to have no other gods before Yahweh was arguably the hardest one, because it represented a drastic change from the rest of the world they knew. The Nephites also tended to devolve into this in periods of wickedness, but perhaps to a lesser degree, which can possibly be explained by less influence. As human beings then and now, we are very easily influenced by whatever others are doing and we don't like to stand out as different. Sometimes, God commands us to do just that. Those commandments are often the hardest to obey.