Post Mormonism I have thought a ton about the story of Nephi and Laban: 1
He gets all pissy at his bothers for being scared.
He kills a defenseless drunk guy because he heard a voice in his head.
He puts on the bloody clothes and impersonates said drunk guy to steal stuff.
He deceives a servant to help carry out the loot.
Then he blackmails the servant to stay with him rather than tell anyone.
I seriously thought he was the good guy… What was wrong with me?
I’ve come to the conclusion that religion screws with your inner sense of morality. In any other setting I would have had real doubts about the morality of this whole story, but religion not only got me to swallow it whole. I actually thought this was a person to emulate.
Now I think the guy willing to stand up to the despotic all powerful leader that can have anything he wants for himself is the one with real courage. What do you think?
- My religion was founded on murder and theft… SMH ↩
The Mormon faith is not the only religion built on lies deceit,murder etc.If you study the history of religions of the world they all have this theme in common.Why because they were designed and built by man simple as that.Then man invents a “God” to justify their misdeeds.But over time the truth is lost or more likely revised to appear to be what it is not.In my opinion Religion is just the sad telling of human history and it ain’t pretty but accepted as divine and beyond our understanding because someone was clever enough to invent a “God” that can justify all this as well as “Satan” to blame for all the bad things.Sure beats being responsible for your own actions.
I remember hearing this story as a young child & asking why the bad guy was so mean? I recall my primary teacher fumbling out an explanation of how Laban was deceived. I corrected her saying, “no I mean the bad guy, Nephi.” She assured me that Nephi wasn’t the bad guy, that he was simply doing what the Lord wanted. I’ve never forgotten that day. I felt so much confusion trying to understand how the “good guy” was the one who murdered his own brother. I’ve reflected on this a lot over the years since leaving the church. There are countless reasons for why I rejected the faith I was raised in; but that day in Sunday school was the beginning of the end. My nine year old mind could see clearly what my teacher could not. I intrinsically recognized right from wrong. Regardless of the adults in my life telling me otherwise, I knew Nephi was no hero.