how easy it is to be a Laman

[lesivaea]

I'm in LDS Pathways and this weeks reading in our Book of Mormon class was 1 Nephi 1-5. One particular verse had and still has a profound effect on me.

1 Nephi 1:12:And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.

It has been the basis for much of my assignments and thoughts this week. I'm still not sure why. Is it because I can associate with being a Laman or Lemuel or am now sympathizing with them for the curse or punishments they received for their murmuring and disbelief?

Please keep in mind when reading, I am a convert and although I have read the Book of Mormon, it's only now that I'm learning as I am reading.

Anyhow, in a group discussion board a fellow classmate gave an honest assessment of how he would have reacted had he been Laman or Lemuel and it was just as they reacted. He went on to say that he couldn't judge them and given the circumstances, he would have reacted similarly.

It reminded me that Laman and Lemuel were human and sometimes, with the miracles and the strength of Nephi, you tend to separate human nature from the characters. So until now, I never empathize with them until I gave them their humanity. I realized that I can easily be a Laman and a Lemuel but I cannot easily be Nephi. That's a little hard to accept because Nephi was a chosen one of God...we should all be like him. But Nephi's strength, courage and his ability not to doubt (even innocently) is extraordinary...how do you even begin to measure up?

I suppose the blessings come when we try to be like Nephi. I'm trying to talk myself into believing that if I saw Angel of the Lord and the many tender mercies the Lord shown them, that i would be better than Laman and Lemuel but who knows.

I do know that Laman and Lemuel had good parents who taught them as they did Nephi but why were they so different? Why am in so affected by this?

I suppose i wish to know their background story, assuming there is one.

I guess for now, I'll continue to pray for answers and for understanding in this plan God has for us so that I can be held accountable for knowing of Heavenly Fathers dealings in my personal life in the hopes that I never murmur against Him. Maybe that's my fear...being like Laman or Lemuel, especially seeing how easy it can be especially with the craftiness if Satan.

[Crypto]

Even Nephi as all of us, have to start somewhere and grow in faith.

My 2cents

[Guest]

I think it's wise not to get too comfortable with our own righteousness. 

[The Folk Prophet]

Hmm. Are you brushing aside the fact that Laman and Lemuel tried to murder Nephi several times? I hope you don't really mean you could easily be like Laman and Lemuel.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

I think the fact that you are pondering this and asking these questions makes you more like Nephi than Laman and Lemuel.  That was the major difference between them, IMO.  When Lehi taught them and gave direction, Nephi was humble and inquired of the Lord.  Laman and Lemuel didn't pray.  They were prideful and wanted their own way more than the Lord's way.  This pride led them from simply murmuring (which you are right, we are all prone to sometimes) to plotting to kill their brother and father.

 

By pondering this and asking these questions you are showing humility.  Saying, "Lord is it I?" is a wonderful step toward becoming more like Nephi.

[Palerider]

I think it's wise not to get too comfortable with our own righteousness.

So true ...

[theSQUIDSTER]

Lessons from Laman and Lemuel

 

I've often wondered that perhaps if we had a very detailed account from not only Nephi, but also one from Laman and/or Lemuel, we might be startled at how much more we resemble Laman and Lemuel (at least in "little" things.. especially murmuring) than we might feel comfortable with...  This family was in extreme circumstances... What would each of us do in such circumstances?  Would we willingly leave everything behind?  Or would we look back longingly, as Lot's wife...?  

 

well... it's all academic.. We don't have a written account from either Laman or Lemuel... But even in the plain words of Nephi the cautionary tale is still there.  Miracles didn't save Laman and Lemuel.  Faith and humility could have.  Those are personal things we each need to choose and continue choosing. 

Edited January 18, 2015 by theSQUIDSTER

[Blackmarch]

Hmm. Are you brushing aside the fact that Laman and Lemuel tried to murder Nephi several times? I hope you don't really mean you could easily be like Laman and Lemuel.

I think its to the reference to how they started down that path. And that is an easy one to go, whether or not someone follows it to such a conclusion is a different story.

[The Folk Prophet]

I think its to the reference to how they started down that path. And that is an easy one to go, whether or not someone follows it to such a conclusion is a different story.

 

It's true. Going down the path of the natural man is easy. Choosing the right is hard. But when we do, we find that His yoke is easy. But we must choose to be yoked in the first place...a hard choice.

[skalenfehl]

Laman and Lemuel were your average members of the church who obviously considered themselves "righteous" because like the people at Jerusalem, they "kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses."

 

They were probably very familiar with the performances and ordinances, but clearly oblivious that these were only types and shadows. When Christ was being nailed to the cross on the day of Passover, the priests in the temple were sacrificing their ritual lamb, completely oblivious to what was going on outside, and their part in both coinciding events! 

 

King Noah was the same, merely going through the motions without understanding the types and therefore never engaged in the pattern for which the laws were given. Contrast Laman and Lemuel's reasoning with Nephi's:

 

 

 

2 Nephi 25:27 Wherefore, we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law; and they, by knowing the deadness of the law, may look forward unto that life which is in Christ, and know for what end the law was given. And after the law is fulfilled in Christ, that they need not harden their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away.

 

Abinadi goes into more detail in King Noah's court. Simply put and likening it to our day, one could argue that we go through the temple once for ourselves (endowment) without ever realizing that the endowment ceremony is merely a type and a shadow of the real pattern and a path, which we must walk. In other words, unless we are actively praying and not fainting, asking and importuning the Lord, seeking and knocking, He does not open. Not only did Nephi give us the pattern in 2 Nephi chapters 31 and 32, but he exemplified it. So did Jacob and many others in the Book of Mormon through the bro of Jared and Moroni. They showed us how they did it. Or are we missing the point just as Laman and Lemuel and all the people at Jerusalem did?