More on Moroni's promise

A few months ago I wrote a quick blog post arguing that "Moroni's Promise" in Moroni 10:3-5 was not intended to ask readers to pray about the content of the Book of Mormon, but was rather intended to ask readers to pray about the Moroni's words that follow verse 5 (ie. his argument that miracles and the gifts of the spirit have not seized). You can read that post here.

A few days ago, an occasional reader of my blog copied that post onto a certain message board to get some responses. For the most part, the responses did not offer constructive critique, but instead either focused on me personally or exemplified a retrenchment into the traditional interpretation with pathetically forced criticisms.



The problem with the first criticism should be obvious to most anyone. A fellow by the name of zerinus wrote:

I still don't see it. Even if you ignore the earlier chapters, and just look at it in the context of Moroni 10, it still doesn't make sense:
Moroni 10:
1 Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the Lamanites; and I would that they should know that more than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ.2 And I seal up these records [i.e. all the BOM plates], after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you.3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things [i.e. all the plates, referred to in verse 2], if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things [i.e. all the plates],and ponder it in your hearts.4 And when ye shall receive these things [i.e. all the plates], I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things [i.e. all the plates] are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
Verse 2 is clearly referring to all the Book of Mormon plates, and verses 3 and 4 are clearly referring to verse 2. I don't see how it can be read differently. 

The obvious response to this sad criticism is that he has to assume his traditional reading in order to make this claim. With his simplistic reasoning, one could just switch things around to make a counter argument. Like this:

Moroni 10:1 Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the Lamanites; and I would that they should know that more than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ.2 And I seal up these records, after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you[i.e. the words that follow vs 5].3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things [i.e. Moroni's words, referred to in verse 2], if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things [i.e. Moroni's words],and ponder it in your hearts.4 And when ye shall receive these things [i.e. Moroni's words], I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things [i.e. Moroni's] are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

zerinus's criticism, of course, ignores all of the other arguments that I made in my original post, and especially recognizes the end of Moroni's mini-sermon (verse 29), where Moroni explicitly says that "And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true." With vs 29 in mind, it becomes very clear that Moroni is encasing his sermon by the invitation for readers to ask if the contents of his sermon are true. In other words, the sermon begins with a plea for readers to "ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true" and ends with the reminder that "God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true." It really doesn't get much clearer than this.


Following zerinus weak criticism, a fellow who goes by USU78 made this supposed criticism that would astound most any cognitive person. He writes:

First off, assuming an Hebraic Nephite language in Moroni's days, the English translation "things" probably refers to a Hebrew word that also means "words." It is thus the TRVTH of allthings/words that are amenable to revelation as Capital "T" TRVTH.It is, moreover, the case that, since we perceive all phenomenal in the natural world via our language, that, since the TRVTH of all "things/words" conveys the TRVTH of all phenomena, the Dinge an sich as well all emanations therefrom. This being the case, we know via Moroni's promise that G-d, through the medium of His Spirit, can and will make known the TRVTH of His entire creation.This is amazing stuff, and only an inveterate and obdurate-in-the-face-of-all-evidence-to-the-contrary antiMormon would so profoundly miss Moroni's point. Why miniaturize a metapoint?

Of course his most laughable line is his pharisaic claim that I am some "obdurate-in-the-face-of-all-evidence-to-the-contrary antiMormon," but there are several other laughable things in his response.

1. His assumption that we have any clue as to what the Nephite language looked like by the time of Moroni.
2. His mysterious Hebrew word that means both "things" and "words"
3. His laughable use of "dinge an sich," as if he wanted people to think he was smart.
4. Finally, and most importantly, if this Hebrew "words/things" word existed, it wouldn't criticize my argument, but would actually support it. If we assume that Moroni was using the same word for "things" and "words" (let's use "&*%") then this is Moroni would be saying:

2 And I seal up these records, after I have spoken a few words [&*%] by way of exhortation unto you.
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things [&*%], if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things [&*%], I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things [&*%] are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

According to USU78's own silly criticism, the "things" that Moroni is referring to are his "words." Duh.

To really understand Moroni's plea, however, is to understand what Moroni's primary concerns were for his readers. If you look at his previous last sermon in Mormon 9, it becomes obvious that Moroni was heavily concerned with the people who would read the Book of Mormon would be people who did not believe in miracles. Here he gives a very similar sermon to that which he gives in Moroni 10:

7 And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;
8 Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them.
9 For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.
11 But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.
12 Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man.
13 And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.
14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.
15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.
16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?
17 Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?
18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.
19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

With this in mind, his words in 10:3 should be pretty clear: "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts." The context that Moroni wanted "these things" to be read in is in the context of the miraculous workings of the unchanging God--the very topic of his sermon that he gives when he has "spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you" and the very topic that he says that "God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true."

Seriously, how hard is it to see this?

**Update 5/16/2011**

I have been informed that the mysterious Hebrew word that is translated as both 'words' and 'things' does exist. My ignorance of Hebrew is clear enough. Oh well... as I pointed out, USU78's appeal to such a word (if Moroni actually used it) only supports my argument.

Some on that message board have complained that I have been ignoring vs. 5 and that 5 was the key to understanding Moroni's plea. However, it doesn't take much to see that vs. 5 comes more as an afterthought or addition, and is set apart from his initial plea to pray concerning 'these things.'