I cannot tell you how frustrated the whitewashing in this film makes me. If for one instant the filmmakers are taking the Book of Mormon seriously as a historical document, as something that tells the stories of people that actually lived, breathed, and died, then it is an indefensible whitewash.
But there's something else that gets me, too. A few things, really, but the biggest of all is that it's promoting the idea that you have to kill in order to have peace.
I don't believe that Captain Moroni was a bad man. He was "a righteous man, blameless in his generation," to lift the description given to Noah. This is a description which the Jews say was meant to teach that Noah was not as good as some other good men who had been born into better times. Rather, because he had been born into worse times, he was as affected by his environment and upbringing as any other, and if he had been born into better times then he could have been a better man.
You could say the same of Brigham Young. Did he say some racist things? Certainly. Would he have said those things had he been born in a more enlightened time? I doubt it.
Similarly, we can see by Captain Moroni's actions that he was a man blameless in his generation. Indeed, he was a better man than many that are alive today. He only ever fought a purely defensive war, never a preemptive one, and never one that went past the Nephite borders.
But he was born into a martial culture, as most were until relatively recently, and as a consequence he was bound to think in certain ways.
That Captain Moroni thought it right to meet steel with steel and answer blood with blood, does not mean that it was truly right or that the Savior ever advocated this.
We can tell, because the Savior said other things. Turn the other cheek, and go two miles when your oppressor compels you to go one.
And we can tell, because there is one people in the Book of Mormon that are unique above all others, who were "distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men." Who were described as "perfectly honest and upright in all things" and "firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end." Of whom it is said that they "never did fall away."
Who else in all the scriptures is described in such a fashion? Even in the utopia of 4 Nephi, the people eventually fell away. But not these.
Such was the character of the People of Ammon, and of them it was also said: "They did look upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence... Therefore, they would suffer death in the most aggravating and distressing manner which could be inflicted by their brethren, before they would take the sword or cimeter to smite them."
Now, if there be any doubt, I wish for us to read one verse further: "And thus they were a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord." [Emphasis added]
And thus they were zealous and beloved and highly favored. And thus. Alma 27:29-30, if you want to look it up.
They were zealous and beloved and highly favored because of their pacifism.
We need to stop looking to Captain Moroni and his like for our heroes. We already live in a world where many of our problems can be traced back to the idea that it's okay to commit murder so long as the other guy deserves it.
We need a movie about a people who loved their fellow human beings so much that they were willing- not to kill for their cause, but to die for it.
We need a movie about the People of Ammon.
And we need it badly.
America exists today, and you are free today to write and be heard, because countless soldiers fought violently and vigorously to secure the Constitution of the United States. What would have happened if we (America) decided not to fight the Japanese and the Nazis in the 1940s?
ReplyDeleteThe movie Reign of Judges Title of Liberty illustrates in a visual medium a portion of what the Book of Mormon describes about preserving liberty against forces not only external to, but internal to a republic that was establish under divine direction. It is precisely applicable to what is happening in America today, and in a broader sense to the world as a whole. Aside from the literal relevance of the physical threats to liberty, the film, and the Book of Mormon, carry the dual message of the spiritual battle being waged against liberty.
Read more here:
http://conspiracyparanormal.blogspot.com
What would have happened if America hadn't fought? We would have been a country that actually listened to what Jesus said, instead of a country that claims to "kill people for Jesus," which makes about as much sense as a prostitution drive for the purpose of funding Abstinence International.
DeleteYou want to make a bunch of bupkis about how we're a Christian country and the Founding Fathers were stone-cold fundamentalist Christians, despite Paine's atheism, despite the Jefferson Bible, despite the Treaty of Tripoli, then you'd best actually advocate for this country to practice what JC really preached.
Yes, there does need to be a movie made about the people of Ammon, and surely there will be, in due time. However, it must be understood, and it should be portrayed in such a movie, that the people Ammon were once a bloodthirsty and murderous people who were miraculously converted through the missionary efforts of Ammon. As part of their repentance, they chose to bury their weapons and suffer themselves to be brutally slain, as they had many times slain others without cause. After their conversion, they would rather be slain without resisting than to risk returning their hearts to their bloodthirsty ways.
ReplyDeleteHelaman's two-thousand stripling warriors were the sons of the people of Ammon. These sons had been raised after the conversion of their once murderous fathers. These sons had never tainted their souls with murderous plunderings as had been the case of their fathers. Therefore, these two-thousand sons, seeing their now repentant fathers on the verge of utter extinction, chose to go to war in defense of their fathers, and in defense of the people of Ammon as a whole. They also sought to help the Nephites who were fighting to preserve the people of Ammon.
These sons were perfectly justified in going to war, and they fought most violently and with perfect faith in God and perfect precision in carrying out the inspired orders of Helaman, their commander. And, in their particular case, God preserved every last one of them, just as he had promised.
The miraculous preservation of these two-thousand young men who were probably in their teens, and definitely had never before seen battle, testifies that they were justified before God in going to war on behalf of their fathers and their families, and their allies, the Nephites.
A present day parallel to this might come to pass if there were to be a group of Muslim extremists who miraculously convert to Christ and are so repentant of their murderous practices that they are willing to be slaughtered, as they have slaughtered, rather than take up arms again. Perhaps they will have righteous sons who choose to fight with perfect faith in Christ, and who are miraculously delivered while preserving their repentant fathers and families.
The Stripling Warriors were righteous, but that doesn't mean that they were the most righteous people of their time. They were righteous men in their generation but their parents, I think, would have been among the most righteous even in this generation, to say nothing of their own.
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