Improvement Era, 1952 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Religion

The Big Picture

The time has come to draw a few conclusions. If you will recall, I set out to prove "that certain strange and unfamiliar things described in Ether could have taken place as described because they actually did take place-characteristically and repeatedly-in those culture areas in which, according to the Book of Mormon, the Jaredites acquired their culture and civilization." Among such strange and unfamiliar things we mentioned that valley of Nimrod, the confounding of the languages, the great wind, deseret, and the flooded plains of the Old World, while in the New World our list includes such items as the great assembly of the nation, the drawing off of followers by bribes, oaths by kings in prison, fine work done in prisons, the dancing princess, strange breeds of animals, plagues of serpents, great national hunts, and special hunting preserves, the nation in arms, peculiar strategy and tactics, the formation of armies by forced recruiting, systematic terrorism, the rule of robber bands, wars of extermination regarded as personal duels between rival rulers, with the ritual survival of the king. The list of bulls'-eyes is a long one, and if it is not as long as Lehi's it is because Ether takes fewer shots (Nephi, which covers but eight years, can devote much more attention to detail) and at an, if possible, even more difficult target. His percentage of hits is no less staggering.

Journals of anthropology are full of such photographs of forlorn-looking Indians. They are essentially "hiders," seeking only to escape any involvement with the outer world. The danger and exertion of life in Jaredite times drove many into the wilderness as permanent refugees. It is not impossible that their descendants have left a strain in the blood and culture of the predominantly Lamanite American Indians.

by Hugh Nibley, Ph.D

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, HISTORY AND RELIGION, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

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