here is a word that Nephi uses frequently in his records, the word clarity
«… I shall prophesy according to the plainness which hath been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father; for behold, my soul delighteth in plainness unto my people, that they may learn. « ( 2 Nephi 25: 4 )
Nephi’s insistence on this idea reaches the point of being assimilated by Jacob, his brother. Jacob, being born in the desert, was not a direct witness of the Jewish people and their behavior. Therefore his conclusions are based mainly on the testimony of his brother and the revelation.
«…the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand…» ( Jacob 4:14 )
Therefore, the Book of Mormon is of a special nature. It is made by the inspiration of a town almost in white, whose first prophet, Nephi, expressly renounces the Jewish way of writing. «For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not concerning the manner of prophesying among the Jews.» ( 2 Nephi 25: 1 )
The result of this is a simplicity and clarity that can mislead those who seek to find the truth in the «many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it.» ( Jacob 4:14 ).
I often hear about that simplicity in the Book of Mormon, as a demerit. Accustomed to the fact that everything novel is of an increasingly incomprehensible technology. We observe the simplicity and clarity of the gospel as the simplicity of primitive tools.
A parable
In order to reflect on this I propose to take you to the high seas.
Imagine a traveler who is shipwrecked on the high seas. It is in a luxurious yacht motionless and adrift. It has no electricity but it does not lack what is necessary for a while. He does not consider himself, still a castaway. His situation is not yet desperate, but he knows that with the passage of time he will face a desperate situation. The sky is covered with thick clouds that almost do not let see the stars.
One day suddenly the shipwrecked man sees a rope coming down from among those clouds.
He gets up and approaches. It is a vulgar rope, but solid, braided with four beams. Our friend observes it and considers it a rescue offer. However it is a simple, outdated rope. It is a vulgar rope. He is surrounded by valuable and advanced things, although most of them can not understand them.
Then he retires. He does not accept that something so simple, that he can understand , can improve his situation. He has never dealt with things so easy to classify in his life, and so simple; therefore he rejects it. It is possible that at one time you could cling to it with force, but now it is not the propitious situation.
He is sure that this ship drifting, at some point, will save him from his desperation. However, even if he wants to believe it, he feels the weight of an existence without hope inside him.
The true shipwreck
As shipwrecked destined to certain death, it may seem to us the salvation of Christ from a too simple braid. Four principles, faith, repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit as four bundles of a rope. It is the same simplicity of the tree of life that we see in Lehi’s dream in front of the large and spacious building.
Our shipwreck judges that ransom for the appearance of the rope, but this only offers a chance to be saved.
Life on the high seas is hard and difficult. All of us suffer. The plan of salvation provides us with a hostile environment to live. Do not believe everything they see or tell you. Really living in this world is difficult and challenging, do not you notice it?
We all feel the hunger for an uncertain horizon, which surrounds us on all sides. The health that will one day leave us. Our finances, disturbed by stormy fronts. The desire to live and the certainty of dying. Both nesting left and right in our chest.
That is why our situation is called a fallen state and not salvation.
The hidden in the clouds
However, if he could see the mechanical complexity of the helicopter hidden in the clouds. Of the rescue team that pilots it. If he knew of the years of study and training they had until he got to where he is. If you saw the whole conglomerate of technology, technical support, financing, the necessary administration, your organization chart. If you saw what kind of society allocates resources and puts lives at risk to carry a simple rope to the center of the ocean, to rescue a stranger. And that assumes that stranger can simply despise all that effort. If he were aware of everything after that string, then he would not judge that string so superficially.
He would see in his braid the intention of a whole world to save his life.
Then I would no longer wonder why God allows so much pain in my life? but rather, how can you love me and risk my salvation with so much sacrifice? How can parents and wives allow their children and husbands to die for my salvation?
The clarity of the gospel
Often the clarity of the Book of Mormon, some confuse it with simplicity … if anyone can understand it, it should not be very useful. But this rope is there, in front of us and it tells us:
«Behold, I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words.
Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.» ( Mormon 9: 30-31 )
Before this book intentionally clear since Nephi began to braid it, we all meet. But even more, the saints of the last days. We should consider the miracle of discovering it in the middle of the ocean. To treat it lightly is to turn a deaf ear to all those who through generations fought and died to bring it here.
«Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing. « ( Mormon 8:35 )
Having it in our hands we must consider that it is the last corporal of salvation whose origin comes from a kingdom that is in heaven. The power of that kingdom and its inhabitants reaches every inhabitant of this world, through the salvation of Christ and his new witness, The Book of Mormon.
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