Nephi and the Boyfriend Deflection

Schalom to all!

First, let me welcome Yankel to the blog. I'm sure that his kvetching will fit right in with the rest. And maybe his tastes in cheese will be useful. By way of introduction to our readers, let me just say that Yankel is a real mensch, and you will like him. Mazal tov, Yankel!

Second, I want to talk about something that struck me while I was reading 1 Nephi 11. In the opening verses, Nephi prays to see the vision his father saw, and is visited by a Spirit. The Spirit asks Nephi if he believed that his father did see the vision, and Nephi answers that he believes all that his father has told him.

I have always seen this as a sign of Nephi's super faith. I read it as saying "Not only do I believe that he saw the tree, but I also believe everything else he has ever said." But, the more I think about it, the more I think that is not what is going on. It sounds more and more like Nephi is using what I call the Boyfriend deflection. Allow me to demonstrate:

Girl: "Do you think I look good in this dress?"
Boyfriend: "Honey, you know I love all your dresses."

Or let's try another one:

Girl: "Did you think my sister was acting immature?"
Boyfriend: "Why would you think that? I love spending time with your family!"

The boydidn't want to give the completely true answers ("You look like a zeppelin in that dress and your sister is a meshuggenerin"), but didn't want to lie either. So, he used the age old method of giving a positive answer to a different question. That way, his sweetheart doesn't get hurt, and he doesn't lie.

I think this is what Nephi is doing. He is not trying to be dishonest, but he is trying to give the best response he can. He knows that the right answer would be that he believes, but he doesn't quite feel comfortable with that, so he gives the next best thing.

The Spirit then shows Nephi the vision, based not on his belief in his father, but on his faith in Christ. I am not sure where I want to go with this, I just think it's something interesting. Maybe later I will revisit the idea and see if I can flesh it out a bit. Till then, the take home message is that it is OK not to know everything, as long as we are willing to be taught and want to know.

Till next time, zay gezunt!

Herschel

Rough Stone Rolling

I am currently reading Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, and am more confused than enlightened. In church videos, he is portrayed as not really a person, but a being. (A little like Ward Cleaver) He is wise, benevolent, perfectly moral, and totally unselfish. (Don't get me wrong, I think Joseph Smith was a prophet, kind hearted, moral, and a really really good guy.) I want some more information to flesh out his character. On the other hand, many other sources also describe Joseph as an inhuman, but devilish being. His only desire is to corrupt the souls of men.

So, now I am reading Rough Stone Rolling, and the historian's slant is to show that Joseph Smith was a person with personality and lots of problems, but still a prophet. I AM SO CONFUSED! I enjoy the detail, but do not know now what to think of the man. Maybe the book gives more details (Temper tantrums, personal breakdowns, and Polygamy Polygamy Polygamy) than I can accept.

P.S. I still have a testimony as to the veracity of the Book of Mormon, and continue to happily attend the temple and regular Sunday meetings.

P.P.S I wanted to find a good picture of Joseph Smith, but since I couldn't find one, here is one of Orrin Porter Rockwell.

The Keystone Lesson

Schalom! This month I was called as a Gospel Doctrine teacher, so I plan on posting more often. Hooray! Last week I taught the dreaded lesson about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. I get very tired of this lesson, not because it is a bad lesson, but because I disagree with the way that it is always taught.

This is how it happens: the teacher draws an arch on the board, points to the keystone and says "What would happen if we took this one out?" Then everyone in the class responds (without thinking at all) that the arch would fall over.

"Herschel," you might ask me, "How do you know they aren't thinking?" I know this because if anyone thought about this before they answered, they would be able to tell you that removing any stone from an arch would cause it to fall. Any toddler who has played with blocks can tell you that.

So, as I prepared to teach this lesson, I tried to find a new approach to avoid this pitfall. And so I present for your consideration: "Keystones: What the Heck Are They For, Anyway?"

Before people started building arches, they framed their doors, windows, and other openings with a construct called a post and lintel. This consisted of two vertical posts and a beam across the top. These were somewhat limited in their usefulness because the posts had to be very close together, and they couldn't support very much weight above them. I won't go into the physics of it, but just know that if you put much weight on the lintel, it snapped in half and everything above it came crashing down.

Contrast that with an arch. Arches have a special way of distributing weight put on the keystone to the side, away from the gap in the middle. This means that they can accomodate wider doorways and support much more weight. That is what the keystone does: it transfers weight away from the very unstable open space to the more stable foundation.

This is one of the things that touches me about the story of Nephi. When he was asked if he understood the future coming of the Lord, he replied that he did not, but that he did know that God loved his children. This is why the Book of Mormon is so important to me. It allows me to take the weight of my testimony and put it back on the foundation of Christ, despite the holes formed by things that I don't understand.

Herschel