“The Preaching of the Word”

Brant Gardner

Mormon’s synopsis of Alma’s record begins with the military significance of Antionum. This is perhaps not surprising coming from Mormon the military general. He would have recognized the danger posed by this tenuous member of the Nephite alliance holding a strategic position so near the Lamanites. What Mormon also tells us, however, is that while there is a military need for a strongly Nephite Antionum, the Nephite response was not military, but religious.

The mission to the Zoramites is a religious one. Once again we must remember that the dividing line between religion and politics is a very fine one in the ancient world. While the Nephites had a line that was perhaps better demarcated than most, it was nevertheless still a thin line. Religion and politics were never far apart in Zarahemla, even when the leader of the political alliance and the leader of the religion were two different people. This political mission has a religious face because the laws of the land and the structure of society would have made it nearly impossible to do anything else.

Mormon has introduced us to the rule of law in Zarahemla in the discussion of Korihor. A fundamental law in Zarahemla was one that did not condemn people for their beliefs. The Zoramites certainly had different beliefs, but those beliefs alone did not constitute a crime. The potential defection of the Zoramites held the potential for treason, which would certainly have been a crime, but this had not happened, and was the very thing that Alma was attempting to avert. There was really no legal option for Zarahemla available to recover Antionum by either force of military or force of law. The only way to recover them was to return them to full community with Zarahemla by returning them to the religion of the Nephites that could bind them to all other Nephites.

The general principle that Mormon suggests is a correct one. Our religions define the way the world works for us, and that fundamental definition of reality helps us when we deal with laws and governments. In modern pluralistic societies, we may all be governed by the same law, but our understandings of that law may have much to do with our relationship to that law and to society in general. The example of the Amish is a clear example of how religious ideals can create an internal community in a larger community goverened by the same general laws, but very different communal “laws.” The power of the religious conviction transcends law and can be a much more powerful governor of the way men act.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

References