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Scripture links
1 Nephi 1:19 — Jacob 2:31 — 2 Nephi 27:7
Links
Lorenzo Snow quote: Journal of Discourses Vol. 5, pgs. 315-316
Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to 132 Problems revisiting Mormon polygamy, where we explore the scriptural and theological case for plural marriage. My name is Michelle Stone, and this episode we are going back to the basics, back to the scriptures, to what I love to talk about specifically Soraya, and also to address some strange claims about Lehi and about Jacob’s sermon. So thank you. So much for joining us. I do always recommend listening to these episodes in order, or at least going through and seeing if I’ve already done episodes on some of the questions you might have. And if anyone cares to support this podcast, I would very much appreciate your help. The links are in the description box below. So thank you for being here as we take this deep dive into the murky waters of Mormon polygamy. I have to confess I have been feeling quite unsettled about this podcast for the last month. Ever since about my episode on Joseph’s Polygamy came out. I just feel like I’m out of my comfort zone. And then after my last episode, um, I, I got quite a bit of feedback from all of you. Thank you so much for sending feedback and thoughts. And I think that there was value to that interview, but I know that a lot of people struggled with it and didn’t think it was. The best episode they’ve watched and so I um I, I had planned to release my interview with Jeremy Hoop this week, but he very kindly agreed to let me push that back a week so I could just take a week and go back to my comfort zone, back to what I feel like is my um strongest suit, which is the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, and so I realized I hadn’t talked about Soraya yet, who is just So phenomenal and fabulous, and I love her so much. So I really wanted to just delve into something I love and talk about Soraya. Um, several years ago I was invited to give a talk, um, to the wars in our stake, and, and Soraya was the main focus that I addressed as I talked about going through a faith crisis. And so, um, so I’m going to tell a bit of her story, but first, before we delve into that, I want to um talk about two. Really, I think ridiculous claims that keep coming up more and more that I, I didn’t think I would even need to address because I think they’re so ludicrous, and yet they seem to keep coming up. So we’re going to start with those two claims. The first is the claim that Lehig either was or could have been or probably was a polygamist. Yep, people say that. I feel like, I feel like as we keep knocking different claims out and showing the falsehood of them, they just keep bringing more up, digging deeper and deeper to get a little wilder. So we’re going to start with that claim. Like I said, I can’t even believe we need to address it. And then the next one is the really equally ridiculous claim that Jacob’s sermon was only meant for that particular Nephite audience that was there listening to him. So we’re going to talk about those two claims. I think that they are so easily disproven that it’s, you know, pretty, pretty silly, maybe kind of fun. And then we will talk about Soraya and some of the profound things that I we learned from her. So anyway, I hope you’ll stick with me to the end because some of the things that I’m the most excited about in this episode come at the end. So please don’t miss that part. So anyway, OK, the first thing to go to this claim that Lehi either did or could have taken additional wives or had additional wives. I want to get the, the heart of that comes from First Nephi 18:7,
[00:03:23] where it says, and now my father had begot two sons in the wilderness. The elder was called Jacob and the younger Joseph. The claim centers on the fact that they are only listed as um Lehi’s children. It only says my father begat two sons, and so therefore, obviously they, they could have had any mother, right? And, and that goes along with the fact that Lehi and Soraya, you know, we always paint them as like white haired and so clearly they were too old. OK, this is so silly. First, I, I like, which way should we even address it? Let’s start with this. Mothers are pretty much never named in the Book of Mormon. I mean, I can think of, we do not doubt our mothers knew it from the Stripling warriors, right? Probably because their fathers were all dead and they were raised by their mothers, so I’m glad we have that mentioned, but the children of Lehi are always listed as Lehi’s children, right? The children of Ishmael are always listed as Ishmael’s children. It never gives lip service to the mother. If you go through any list of begats, I shouldn’t say never. It very rarely mentions the mother, right? So first of all, to try to make that claim is just silly on its face. Second, the fact that Soraya must have been too old. OK, her children, her oldest children were not yet married when they left Jerusalem. So I’m going to assume that times were similar, you know, that you might get married around 20, right? So we know. That they spent 8 years in the wilderness and Jacob and Joseph were born in the wilderness. So if Soraya had them when she was 1819, or 20, let’s let’s go up and if she had Laban when she was 20, she was 40 when he was 20, right? So she was probably in her 40s. Jacob and Joseph were born sometime in the next few years. It was less than 8 years, right? So we are saying that she couldn’t have had a child when she was 41, 42, 43, 44, 45. OK, first of all, that’s not true. That’s not true at all. Women who have children are still very fertile, often into their at least mid if not late 40s. I know I and several of my friends have had children in our mid to late 40s, and they could have been much younger than that. So mathematically, it’s ridiculous to claim that they were too old, right? So let’s just say that that’s not an impossibility, but I think that The real proof is in the scripture, the scriptures themselves. That’s where the real evidence comes from. So first of all, the Book of Mormon itself tells us that Lehi had one wife and that Ishmael had one wife. Um, 76, it talks about Ishmael and his wife that they came. Out of Jerusalem from the heading of chapter of the first book of Nephi,
[00:06:00] which I, I looked up, I couldn’t find if that was written on the golden plates or if Joseph wrote it, but I know it was included in the initial manuscript, so it was in the very first publication. So I assume that it was, um, you know, that that Joseph Smith said it and it was written that he that was transcribed from Joseph Smith. So I’m assuming it was included on the plates. But in any case, from the very beginning, from the word of Joseph Smith, it says um. Let’s see, an account of Lehi and his wife Soraya and his 4 sons. So we shouldn’t need to go any further to point out how ludicrous this is, but I’ve heard some people say, well, he took Ishmael’s wife after Ishmael died, because that makes any sense. Ishmael and his wife had married sons. They would have been at least as old as Soraya if as Soraya and Lehi, if not older. And so, um, and then, you know, it could have been one of Ishmael’s daughters, but we’re told exactly how many daughters Ishmael had, so like they’re making up this phantom woman to be a second wife to Lehi because they want to. So, but um we’ll, we’ll talk a little bit more about never listing the mothers cause I think it’s important. If you remember when um we’re going to talk quite a bit about First Nephi chapter 16, but one thing that happens there is Ishmael dies, right? And it goes on quite a bit about his daughter’s mourning and suffering of their affliction. They, at the end of that cry, our father is dead and we have wandered much of the wilderness and we have suffered much affliction, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and after all these things, we must perish in the wilderness with hunger. And that’s how the daughters of Ishmael did mourn exceedingly because of the loss of their father. And so I want to point out that these are girls, right, and they are, we are given all of this information. These are daughters crying about the loss of their father. Guess what we are never told anything about. The death of their mother, right? Same with Soraya. We don’t know anything about these two matriarchs. We’re not given much information about them at all. So to claim that just not mentioning them is proof that it was somebody else is really, really wild to that they were too old, is that that Soraya was too old does not add up logically. I mean, does numerically at all because Lehman, her oldest child, was not married when they left Jerusalem. So he could have been in his teens for all we know, right? Um, I would think I, so I should have looked up where the marriage age was in Jerusalem, but I don’t imagine it was very old. I looked up the age of marriage in Jerusalem. This is from the Jewish encyclopedia. It says it is thus considered the duty of every Israelite to marry as early in life as possible. 18 years is the age set by the rabbis, and anyone remaining. Married after his 20th year is said to be cursed by God Himself. It goes on to say that many urge that children should be married as soon as they reach puberty, meaning the 14th year, but that it’s illegal to be married before puberty.
[00:08:52] But it goes on to say that a man who, without any reason refused to marry after he passed his 20th year was frequently compelled to do so by the Court. So I think it’s safe to say that I definitely erred on the older side, and that, that both Soraya and the boys were likely even younger than I suggested. I think the real proof of this is on the boat, right, where Leman and Lemuel and the Sons of Ishmael have tied up Nephi for 3 days. They’re pushed back and on the 4th day finally they let him back, but Um, we’ll go to verse 17 now. My father Lehi had said many things unto them and also unto the sons of Ishmael. But behold, they did breathe out much threatenings against anyone that should speak for me, and my parents being stricken in years and having suffered much because of their children. They were brought down, yeah, even upon their sick beds. So can I mention that there Nephi does talk about his parents? And also I can think that 8 years of wandering in the wilderness with this kind of stress and hardship would age you, right? I think that Soraya was probably a lot and Lehi were. Probably a lot older after the eight years in the wilderness than before, so, um, but it says, but, um, because of their grief and much sorrow and the iniquity of their brethren, they were brought near even to be carried out of this out of this time to meet their god. Yeah, their gray hairs were about to be brought low to lie in the dust. Yeah, even they were near to be cast with sorrow into a watery grave, and Jacob and Joseph also being young, having need of much nourishment, were grieved because of the afflictions of their mother. And also my wife with her tears and prayers and also my children did not soften the hearts of my brethren that they would lose me. Anyway, I wanted to point out Nephi specifies that it’s his parents that are brought low, and yes, she could have very well had gray hair. The average age, I’m actually lucky that my hair hasn’t gone gray yet. I just turned 47 and I don’t yet have gray hair, but my sister and my niece that’s my age both had gray hair at least in their 30s if not earlier, and so. Anyway, so I just want to point out that these claims are not valid. And um let’s see. And also it says that Jacob and Joseph, having much need of nourishment, were grieved because of the afflictions of their mother, who we were just told is basically on her deathbed at this point, right? If they had a younger, different mother, why was she She not caring for them? Why was she not able to care for them? It doesn’t say anything about the afflictions of another wife. So Nephi specifies his parents were brought low, and then the very next verse talks about Jacob and Joseph’s suffering because their mother had been brought so low. Can we put that one to rest, please? So anyway, is there anything else we need to talk about on that because I think it’s just so silly. Oh, there is more. There is more to talk about. There’s additional information. We know for a fact that Lehi was given strict commandment that he should, he and his posterity should only have one wife. He was told explicitly, we, we are told that several times. Let’s go to Jacob 2. 34. And now behold, my brethren, and ye know that these commandments were given to our Father Lehi. This is his whole thing about
[00:11:59] you will only have one wife concubines, you will have none. That commandment was given to Lehi. Wherefore ye have known them before, and ye have come unto create great condemnation, for you have done these things which ye have known, which ye ought not to have done. So Lehi was commanded and commanded all of his posterity, that polygamy was an abomination and was not of God. I couldn’t find that in the record that we have, but again, we don’t have the writings of Lehi, right? Where it very much would have been included because Jacob had free access to it and referred to it. It, um, he repeats it again. And the next chapter 3, chapter 3, verse 5. Speaking of the Lamanites who the, oh, this is speaking of the Lamanites who the Nephites feel superior to, right? They’re so judgmental of the Nephites of the Lamanites, and it says they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our Father, that they should have, save it were one wife and concubines, they should have none. OK, clear. Lehi was commanded that man should have one wife and no concubines. They like, I will, I admit I will be curious to see what the polygamist activists do with this one, right? How they wiggle out of that one is the way if it’s like, oh it, it, it, well, it says. Save it were one wife and concubines, they have none. So I don’t even think the Brian Hay’s trick of, well, it just says at least one wife, even that won’t work, that he tries to do with Doctor Covenants 101. So anyway, and then we know that this commandment was also given to Joseph Smith. Doctor Covenants 4222 is just one of so many examples. Thou shalt love. Thy wife with all thy heart and shall cleave unto her and none else. and it says so many other things, but Lee Isaac’s commandment was actually the most explicit. It is repeated multiple times by Jacob that Lehi was commanded by God and passed that commandment on to his people that they should have, save it were one wife and concubines, they should have none. So how we want to argue that. Lehi broke that commandment is, is silly to me. I will be very interested to hear, um, those of you making that argument. Please tell me where you’re gonna go with it now. I will be, I’m anxious to hear. And then um another thing that while we’re on this subject, I want to again just address the false claim about raise up seed that polygamy is permitted by God at times to raise up seed, that twisting of verse 30, Jacob 2:30. I just want to again, since we’re talking about Lehi, I’m going to point out the importance of First Nephi chapter 7, verse 1. And now I would that ye might know that after my father Lehi had made an end of prophesying concerning his seed, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto him again, saying that it was not meat for him, Lehi, that he should take his family into the wilderness wilderness alone, but that his sons should take daughters to wife, that they might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise. OK, we know a couple of really important things to put together. Lehi was commanded that every man should have only one wife and no concubines. He was commanded that his sons must take wives so that they can raise up seed to the Lord,
[00:15:14] exactly the wording that is used. Used in Jacob 2:30, right, to raise up seed, I will command my people. Lehi was commanded that monogamy is the only acceptable law of God, and he was commanded to find, to get wives for his sons so that they could raise up seed, right? OK, so can we, can we just put that one to bed? And then um I think it is funny that Lehman and Lemmue didn’t complain this time when they were told to go back, how brutally they complained when they were supposed to go back the first time to get the brass plates compared to the second time when they were supposed to go back and get their girlfriends. They seemed a lot more willing that time. I like that part of the story. And so um then verse 6 though is also really important because it tells us the exact numbers and it came to pass. As we journeyed in the wilderness, behold Layman and Lemuel and two of the daughters of Ishmael, Layman and Lemuel, their two wives, right, and the two sons of Ishmael and their families. So Ishmael had two sons, but they already had families. They already both each had a wife and children, it sounds like. But those people did rebel against us, yeah, against me, Nephi, and Sam and their Father Ishmael and his wife and his 3 other daughters. OK, so we know that Ishmael had 3 daughters, the wives of Nephi, Sam, and Zoram. And then he had 2 daughters that were the the wives of Lehman and Lemuel, and then the sons that already had their wives. We are explicitly told the numbers. So where they’re getting this other phantom girl that I, I mean, Please, can we, can we just accept how silly this is? And then, um, 167, and it came to pass. I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife. Nephi took one wife, right? And also my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife, and also Zorrum took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife. There it is, the perfect numbers, how exactly how it worked out. And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And also I Nephi had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly. I like that cause I think that’s Nephi telling us how awesome his wife was. I think that’s the only information really that we get about Nephi’s wife other than her pleading to layman and Lammel to let him go. So I just wanted to include that part because he says that he had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly because of his wife. Isn’t that sweet? I like that a lot. So anyway, I hope that that just put every final nail in the coffin that should never have even been built. So. OK, so despite that though, they just the same people who like to claim that 132 reveals that Isaac was a polygamist. Like it doesn’t just get it wrong, it gives us that additional information. Oh thank you, they like to say the same thing that Lehi also very well could have been a polygamist, and they’re not just making this claim for no reason because it is a ludicrous claim, but they have a reason that they want to make it, and that’s because
[00:18:12] They, it, it, it is part of the other claim that Jacob’s words were only specifically to that group of Nephites, only to the Nephites that were there listening, and it was only because they wanted to use polygamy as whoredoms. So they just weren’t righteous enough to do this exalted form of polygamy that the righteous. Um, you know, early members of our church did and that right just polygamists today do like, I, I guess they wouldn’t have to necessarily include Warren Jeffs in that because he’s doing unauthorized polygamy, but everyone else, their polygamy never has anything to do with whoredoms. It’s only righteous polygamy, so. OK, a couple of things. I have yet to have anyone describe to me the difference between this righteous non whoredom form of polygamy and every other kind of polygamy I’ve ever seen. I have yet to have anyone point out to me what our early church leaders did that made their polygamy. Non-horamish. Like how, how is it this exalted form that doesn’t fall into all of these exact same patterns? What we did, you can listen again to the um episode on Zion versus polygamy. Like really Brigham Young fits very well into the category of the polygamists in the Book of Mormon, as do the other polygamists that we still have going that we can see. So I, I need someone to explain to me how we can look at polygamy and analyze the difference between like authorized sanctified exalting celestial plural marriage and all the other polygamy that we see. So, and while I’m on that subject, again, I will invite anyone to show anywhere that Joseph Smith um separated out any of those instead of always lumping it all together and. Condemning all of it. People also like to make that. No, he was only, again, condemning this kind of hormish polygamy, but all the good polygamy, he was totally in favor of. Show me, show me any of the good polygamy and show me any, any statement where he ever specified a difference between the two. So anyway, OK, the reason that they say that that speech was only to the Nephites is because they were just too wicked to live polygamy righteously, right? And so, um, I’m gonna quote a couple of Um, very dedicated fans who make this claim. So this is one. In verse 27, we find that the restriction from practicing polygamy was actually limited in its application to the people present at the meeting where Jacob addresses them. To apply this scripture beyond its intended scope is textually unsupported. So that’s a great way of making it sound like there’s actually something to this silly silly thing. So. Um, I want to, there, there are, there are other people that make that same claim that um I was going to read more, but I guess I can’t find them. Oh, here’s someone else to quote someone making this claim. Um, it was only for those within earshot, those who lived in his area, those who were right there then listening to the sermon. He goes on to explain that, like I said, that it was because they were too wicked. They wanted, they wanted polygamy as whoredoms, and so that was why they didn’t qualify. So I guess since they can’t claim that Lehi was wicked or even that Nephi or Jacob was wicked, they just have to claim that it was that small group of Nephites that were wicked, and that’s why they need to make Lehi into a polygamist,
[00:21:29] right? So I’m going to go into this ridiculous claim because it also keeps coming up. I hope that all of you have a million things going in through your head of why that is so ridiculous, but let’s just go into a few of them. First Nephi 1923 24, Nephi explicitly tells us to liken all scriptures unto ourselves that it may be for our profit and learning, that we may have hope in God’s promises. So on the, at the very beginning, we need to throw that completely out because these scriptures we don’t like into ourselves because it was only for those people right there at that time. And we are told repeatedly by Nephi and by Jacob and by their descendants how arduous it was to engrave their records, how difficult and laborious it was, but how they did it so that it would be for the profit and learning of those of their descendants and of those who would have them later. This is Jacobs 3:12, and now I, Jacob, spake many. More things than to the people of Nephi, warning them against fornication and lasciviousness and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them, and a 100th part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates. So he summarizes so much of his teachings, but he included this full sermon, this entire sermon, right? Now behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much into my people in word, and I cannot write but a little of my words because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates. Again, he included the entire entire sermon despite all this, and we know that the things which we write upon plates will remain, what must remain, but whatsoever things we write upon anything other than plates must perish and vanish away. But we can write a few words upon plates. Only a few words can be written up on plates, which will give our children and also our beloved brethren a small degree of knowledge concerning us and concerning our fathers. Now in this thing we do rejoice and we labor diligently to engrave in these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt concerning their first parents. Do you hear how he wants us to receive these with joy and appreciation and not with contempt, right? So all of that that he went into saying how he has to just be so choosy about what he includes, but he included this entire sermon. We are going it goes on to tell us how Mormon loved the things written on the small plates and intentionally included them. So Mormon had to edit down all of the Nephite records. Anything that made the cut was really, it’s really amazing when you think of. Nephi and Jacob couldn’t even include 1 100 of what was spoken in the time of Christ. It says that they could barely include any of the words that he spoke, and then it even goes down, and a Mormon has to do another edit to get down to the bare bones, and yet he chooses to include the small plates of Nephi where this entire sermon was written. And um and and then I just want to point out also that we, so anyway, do you see how many cuts it had to make to make it there? We only have a few entire sermons in the Book of Mormon. I can think of King Benjamin’s. I can think of the teachings of Alma, you know, there are, there are a few, but this, but this entire sermon of Jacob, it’s the only sermon of Jacob that we have, I believe.
[00:24:49] It made all of those cuts to come down to us to this book that we are explicitly told was written for our day. I’m going to include. It says several things in the Book of Mormon, but let me just include this Moroni 8:35. Behold, I speak unto you, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown me unto you, and I know your doings. So they knew what to include, right? Think of how many writers of the Book of Mormon claimed to know our day and know our doings and know what we needed. To be told, and they included all of them, this entire sermon condemning polygamy, telling us that from the very beginning Lehi was commanded that they should not have any polygamy, right? Let me just to like drive home this point about the Book of Mormon was written for us, at least that’s our belief. It came forth in our day for us. This is Ezra Tough Benson. The Book of Mormon was written for our day. The Nephites never had the book. Neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant for us. Mormon wrote near the end of the Nephite civilization under the inspiration of God, who sees all things from the beginning. He abridged centuries of records, choosing the stories, speeches, and events that would be most helpful to us. Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for future generations, skipping forward. If they saw our day. And chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us. Is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, why did the Lord inspire Mormon or Maroni or Alma or I’ll I’ll include, or Jacob to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age? Um, that’s, um, from the teachings of Ezra Haf Benson. It was, anyway, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll put the links below as. Always with all of this, that all of this, we are supposed to believe that that one particular sermon given as the word of God and beating all of those odds to make it to us was only meant for that that initial audience right there at that time. Why did what how can we make that claim? Please, again, explain to me how we make this claim. And so Um, again, I don’t think that we should have to beat this down anymore, but we’ll just keep going. Um, also, I, I, I guess the reason that we’ll keep going is because of my disappointment that The church also seems to be on board with this claim. So in our good old books of Mormon that we have, the chapter heading says Jacob condemns the unauthorized practice of plural marriage. Now these chapter headings, I’ll go into them a little bit. They were added in the 1920s and and they so it was very much in that mindset. We’re going to go into chapter headings a little bit more. Later on in this episode, but that’s when they were added. So it was through this paradigm and through this framework we had come through. We had just officially ended plural marriage, but it still was happening all the postmanifesto marriage. Most of the leaders were living in polygamy, right? So, so, so we had to do the whole unauthorized plural marriage. But if you look
[00:27:53] now at the church website, the scriptures, they’ve changed that chapter heading. To say the Lord commands that no man among the Nephites may have more than one wife. So it seems that they’re trying to do, whoever is in the ear of the people doing the online chapter headings seem they seem to have gotten this message through. That was just for those knee fights, just for the knee fights. It’s so sad and disappointing to me that we even have to go here, so. I’m just gonna keep going because I guess we need to, right? I hope that we have, like, how do we have that teaching of of um Ezra Tu Benson and then at the same time say, no, that was just for them. That’s all, it’s just for them. So we’re gonna go here because those who argue this claim have a couple of keywords that I mentioned, right? It says, there shall not any man among you. So since it says among you, it’s only among that little group of people that Jacob is talking to, right? And then, um, it also says this. People, um, and so it was only about this people, right? Um, oh yeah, I have it right here. Wherefore my brethren hear me and hearken to the word of the Lord, for there shall not any man among you have it saved, have save it be one wife and concubines have he he shall have none. And then verse 23, well, the people making this quote only claim only cite 23 and 29, although it says it several other times in other contexts that matter, but it says verse 23, this people began to begin to wax in iniquity. They understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms because of the things which were written concerning David and Solomon, his son. So they’re making the claim that this people was wicked and was trying to use polygamy as a justification for whoredom as opposed to. All the rest of the people that, you know, weren’t ever trying to use polygamy to justify anything. It was just God commanded it and so they had to, but they really didn’t want to, right? And so, um. Anywhere, that that’s where they make this argument. So we’re going to break this down now. We’re just going to come at this at every angle because, like, I mean, I know that we are beating a dead horse, but apparently we have to keep beating dead horses because they keep trying to ride these dead horses, so. Let’s see, so what I did was look through, here’s a little experiment that you can all do as well. Search for you, if you put on on the church website still isn’t fixed completely, it’s not great, but, but it’s better than it was, and you can search the scriptures and put in parenthesis this people or among you and see what comes up, right? See, if we are going to use this standard that we want to apply to um. Jacob chapter 2 of if it says this people, it doesn’t apply to us, and if it says among you it doesn’t apply to us, see how many scriptural teachings, commandments, promises, how many things we need to throw out
[00:30:48] because we weren’t there in that initial audience. Are you understanding how silly and ludicrous this is? I’ll just the list is endless, but I’ll just cut a hit on a couple so that we can hopefully. Get a point through to this. So we have to cut out the teachings of Jesus, right, because they were only to those people. 30 by 11, he said, and there shall be no disputations among you. So that’s just one example. We can, we can dispute all we want, right? I really, I’ve left several Facebook groups. I try not to get into disputations and contentions. I kind of decided. If it makes me start feeling uptight and upset and wanting to like say something that I would rather not say then it’s contentious and I need to just leave that group. So, so I’m trying to just put out my thoughts without contentions and disputations, but Anyway, that’s, that’s one. And then, um, he goes on, there are so many. There shall be no wickedness among you. So we can have all the wickedness. That’s in, I think, the Old Testament, maybe Leviticus. And then it goes on the New Testament, um, that was only given to the people that Jesus was teaching, and he never even, he didn’t even write his own words, let alone engrave them, right? So clearly, It doesn’t have to come to us. We can throw out the parable of the lost sheep. What man shall there be among you that won’t go after his sheep, right? So that doesn’t apply to us. Um, and then when Jesus says that, like, like, apparently, we’re free and fine to exercise dominion over one another, because Jesus said, it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be the, will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. There were a lot of among you in that, right? So none of these teachings have any relevance to us cause it’s cause it’s among you and we weren’t there to be among. And then, um, Joseph must not have realized that James promise that says, if any of you lack wisdom, James was only writing to that specific group, right? So that, that wasn’t applicable to Joseph Smith. And the Book of Mormon, it’s even worse. It uses among you and this people hundreds of times. We could literally go on. For hours and hours. We’re not going to, don’t worry, but I will say just a couple because why not, right? Um, let’s see. Oh, King Benjamin’s sermon. It says among you repeatedly. So this entire exquisite sermon, again, was only to his people that were there at the time. We need to throw the whole thing out. It’s not talking to us.
[00:33:04] Um. Alma, the same thing. When Alma steps down from the judgment seat and he goes out and does his missionary work and gives his beautiful sermons, we need to throw out all of his teachings because he says among you several times. Isaiah, it has no application to us. For example, Isaiah 29:13, which is also quoted in 2 Nephi 27:25, For as much as this people, see, it’s only that people, as much as these people draw near unto me with their mouth and their lips do honor me but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men, therefore, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, yeah, a marvelous work and a wonder. Isn’t that interesting? Like We’ve really had personal application that, but it’s not about us. It has no relevance to us because it was only that people that he called this people. So anyway, I, I hope that you’re getting this despite the fact, and, and look at how many times Isaiah says this people are among you, and we need to just throw it all out because, um, despite the fact that the only commandment Jesus gives to the people in the of Mormon is 3rd Nephi 23:1, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently, for great are the words of Isaiah. So I guess we could extrapolate like Isaiah was teaching for his people, right? And then Jesus told only the people gathered there at the temple to hear Him that it was for them because he says, I command you to search these things, right? So Anyway, um, teach speaking of Jesus, he, um, he himself repeats among you many times, um, and I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things, and if you shall always do these things, blessed are ye, for ye shall shall are built upon my rock. But whosoever among you shall do more or less than the teachings he’s given. And then these things are not built upon my rock, but they are built upon a sandy foundation. And when the rain descends and the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon them, they shall fall and the gates of hell are ready to open to receive them. Therefore, blessed are you, a blessed are ye if ye shall keep my commandments which the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you. So again, can we all agree that this idea that Jacob’s sermon only applied to that audience or even some like the The Book of Mormon says all I mean the heading, not the Book of Mormon, that chapter heading online that it says that it only applied to the Nephites. Can we please stop making those claims that would undermine all of the teachings of the Book of Mormon and of all scripture, including all of the teachings of Jesus. And so again, I, I, we could go on forever. So it truly never ceases to amaze me the claims that we make and the things that we try to argue in defense of this insane tradition of men, this false doctrine, and The I, I’ve mentioned this before, but I have to say it again, it is no coincidence that Jacob includes pride and polygamy together in this same sermon that was meant for us in our day as we just read President Benson say, right, like. This claim that well they weren’t righteous enough, but we are righteous enough, so we that doesn’t apply to us is insane. It’s such a dangerous claim to make,
[00:36:14] and I want to really like, like since we believe these writings were for us and uh considering what President Benson just said, which I think we can all understand, we’re the only ones reading the Book of Mormon, right? And so how nice is it to just say, oh, that’s not about us, that’s not to us, that’s not speaking of us, that’s not relevant to us. For example, if we read 2 Nephi 28, I’ve talked about this chapter many times too, but just let me read three verses. This is 12 to 15. Because of pride and because of false teachers and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted. And their churches are lifted up because of pride. They are puffed up. They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries. They rob the poor because of their fine clothing, and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart because of their pride, they are puffed up. They wear stiff necks and high heads, yeah, and because of pride and wickedness and abominations and whoredoms, they have all gone astray, save it be a few who are the humble followers of Christ. Nevertheless, they are led that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men. There’s so many, so much application of this to us in this church throughout time since the beginning of our church and. Even the humble followers of Christ err because of the precepts of men, because of being taught the precepts of men, can we at least liken that part of it to ourselves and see that there is always room for repentance, right? God is always waiting for us to turn and come again unto Him and to shake off our false traditions. That’s what I think we so desperately need to do, so. I, I think that all of us can see how prideful this claim is that these words were not meant for us, and that’s why they make the claim that Lehi must have been a polygamist. But then we have the ongoing problem of the righteousness of so many of the people throughout the Book of Mormon, right? Let’s start with Jacob 3 after he continues, after he’s telling us why they keep those records, we’ll go on to verses 6 to 8. Wherefore, we see, search the prophets, and we have many. Revelations and the spirit of prophecy and having all these witnesses we attain a hope and our faith becometh unshaken insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us or the mountains or the waves of the sea. Yet he and his people were just too sinful to qualify for polygamy, unlike us, right? We are, we, we are above that commandment. Um, Jacob and his brethrens weren’t the only ones. Helim in 10:7, this is to, um, the, the Helim and the son of Nephi. Behold, I give unto you power that whatsoever ye seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven, right? The ceiling power was given even the even the church accepts that there was no polygamy allowed among the Nephites, and yet they have the ceiling power. And whatsoever ye shall loose seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven whatsoever ye shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And thus shall ye have the power among this people. And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple, be it rent in twain, it shall be done. I’ll go on a few more verses. And if ye say unto this mountain, be, be thou cast down and become smooth, it shall be done.
[00:39:17] And behold, if you, if ye shall say that God shall smite this people, it shall be done. Um, Heliman 11:23, we are told that Nephi and Lehi and many of their brethren knew concerning the points of the true doc concerning the true points of doctrine. They knew the true doctrine. Can we claim as much? And they had many revelations daily. Do we even need to continue with all of the Book of Mormon prophets, all monogamous, all the miracles they did. And again, look at the polygamists in the. Book of Mormon, right? King Noah, um, was it replication? Am I getting that name right? And look at the wickedness that came, the the whoredoms and abominations, the taxation of the people to provide for the many mansions, for the many wives and concubines. Can we see parallels? Can we accept truth? Um, so I was going to go over this again, but as I was learning this, I did see a very interesting parallel that I want to draw your attention to. If I think you should write in your scriptures if you still do that. First Nephi 1:19 and Jacob 2:31. I think it gives us important information. So. Go ahead and make note of that. First Nephi 1:19 and Jacob 2:31. I’ll read those. And it came to pass. This is talking about Lehi among the Jews, and it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them, for he truly testified of their wickedness and their abominations, right? The Jews were participating in wickedness and abominations that Lehi testified against that made them so angry that they wanted to kill him. Now let’s go to Jacob 2:31, for behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem. Yeah, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. What was one of the things at least that Lehi was calling out in Jerusalem that he was teaching against, prophesying against, and I think it is an interesting parallel to at least consider that it seems that preaching against polygamy. Can make people who want to live polygamy become murderous. They became murderous against Lehi and there may be other parallels of that that we need to consider in our history. And so I think that it’s something to be aware of. Please make that connection in in the scriptures. I think we should. So I think that knowing that Lehi had explicit commandments, commanding them that they should have but one wife and concubines none. Lehi was told that Jacob repeated it, attributed it to Lehi, so Lehi had that explicit commandment, and he called out the wickedness and abominations of the people in Jerusalem that Jacob also named as wanting to have many wives and concubines. I, I, I just don’t know how, how we keep making these claims. Can we just repent, please? And so that’s, that’s that parallel, and I think that we should also see how relevant and crucial this is for us today. And so this is Neph 2 Nephi 27:7, and behold, the book shall be sealed and in the book shall be a revelation from God from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.
[00:42:25] This is again. Knowing what happens when we either go with polygamy or against polygamy, right, um, the beginning of the world to the ending thereof. Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the book shall be kept from them. Did you catch that? The sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, right? I’m going to read another scripture that tells us that we are under condemnation for not receiving more. So if we connect also to those two first scriptures that I gave you, I think it was 1 Nephi 119. Jacob 2:31, add to that list second Nei 27 7 to 8 that tells us why we can’t receive more because we continue in wickedness and abominations. The same ones called out by Lehi in Jerusalem, commanded God commanded his people that they should not participate in them. Named by name by Jacob, and then we are told that that is why we cannot receive more is because we are still participating in these wickedness and abominations and given wickedness and abominations has many applications. I don’t think this is the only thing it’s talking about, but I think we can prove for a fact that it is at least one of the main things that it is talking about, right? And so we’ll go on to talk about why this matters. Remember I’ve referenced this before too, 3526, 9 and 10. And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first to try their faith, and if it shall be shall so be that they shall believe these things, then shall the greater things be manifest unto them. If we will believe these things, these teachings that are so clear in the Book of Mormon against the wickedness and abominations that keep coming up and appearing in. In the in God’s people, and if it shall, and if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them unto their condemnation. Ah, Mormon goes on and he wants desperately to teach us more just like Nephi did in his book, but it is forbidden because the Lord says, I will try the faith of my people. Can we repent and become the people that God needs us to be so that we can not be under condemnation so we can receive more? I’ve also quoted these verses in the doctrine of covenants. This is section 84 starting at verse 54, and your minds in in times past have been darkened because of unbelief and because you have treated lightly the things you have received, these commandments given to Lehi, carefully engrave and passed down to us, which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemn condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion even all, and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written, that they may bring forth fruit, meat for their father’s kingdom. Otherwise there remaineth a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion. So I think we can see that a scourge has been has been poured out until we stopped doing polygamy. Now we need to stop believing polygamy, right? And speaking about the former commandments where Joseph Smith revealed that right there, it reminds me again of the words of Joseph Smith that I read in the episode about Joseph Smith. We do not want, this is the quote quoting Joseph Smith. We do not want anyone believing anything coming from us contrary to the old established morals and virtues and scriptural laws, the old, the former commandments, right? The scriptural laws regulating the habits, customs, and conduct of society, and all persons pretending to be authorized by us or having any permit or sanction from us are and will be liars and base impostors, and you are authorized on the very first intimation of the kind to denounce them as such and shun them as the flying.
[00:46:22] As the flying fiery serpents, whether they are prophets, seers, or revelators, patriarchs, 12 apostles, elders, priests, mayors, generals, city councilors, aldermen, marshals, police, lord mayors, or the devil are all alike culpable and shall be damned for such evil practices. OK, all right, we’re gonna move on from that. I think it’s really clear we really need to get past this. Like we need to stop trying to make these claims, please. Like it’s so it feels so good to repent. It tells us that many of the humble followers of Christ have been in error because they were led astray by the precepts of men. It also tells us that we can always repent and turn again, right? That that God is always there. It feels so good to repent. We can do that. The invitation is always valid for all of us, each of us, and so. If we want to receive the blessings that the restoration that began with the restoration with Joseph Smith that are still waiting to be poured out, it’s time for us to move on, right? We, that that’s, that’s what we really need to get back. So now I want to move on now that we have. Moved on from that section. If anyone has any objections, I would love to hear your thoughts. I would love to hear people continue to argue either of those points that Lehi might have been a polygamist or that Jacob’s sermon is not applicable to us. Please go ahead. Let me, let me hear your thoughts on that. Uh, so, um, now let’s go back to the what was meant to be the main focus of this episode, which is Soraya, because I love Soraya. So. Um, now that we know without any doubt that she was Lehi’s one and only wife, um, I want to talk about her story, and I want to address one of, there are many, but one of the saddest parts of polygamy and this polygamist mindset It can be in patriarchy in general. I know we use that term in positive and negative ways, but in the negative connotation where we are trained to not see women, right? To not notice that woman is missing. That’s part of, I think, I actually, I mentioned this to Carolyn Pearson, but I think that that’s part of the message from the Book of Mormon. It makes it even more explicit and more obvious that woman is missing. We only have 3 named characters in the Book of Mormon, Soraya Aish and the Harlot Isabel, I think, and then it mentions by name Eve and Mary, when it’s. Talking about them in the Book of Mormon. Those are, I think, I think it might also mention their mother Sarah. So it might mention I, um,
[00:48:55] Abraham and Sarah. But in any case, there are only 3 named characters that are female in the Book of Mormon, and Soraya is the only one we’re told anything about whose name we are given. And I think that I actually, my belief is that the Lord is trying to awaken us to know we need to seek more, that we need to recognize that woman is missing and we need to seek her. And so I really think that When we say we believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God, I think so much of that is the stories and the teachings and the prophecies and the miracles and the writings of the women, right? Of our mothers. We need to seek that. We’re gonna go on and talk about that because I think that’s part of what we learned from the story of Soraya and the Book of Mormon in as a whole. So Soraya, she is fantastic. I love her and she has so much to teach, to teach us. So Um, let’s consider her life, right? Like we’ve done with some of the other women in the scriptures. She was a wealthy, comfortable mother in Jerusalem, right? We know that they were goodly parents, which means that they were wealthy among other things. She was, um, she had a righteous husband that was successful in trade. They were living their lives in comfort and relative wealth, relative ease, I would assume, and her husband starts having visions, right, starts hearing the prophets and he kind of Maybe goes off the deep end from some people’s perspective, definitely for the from the perspective of the people in Jerusalem. I get the impression that Zarraya was remarkably um faithful and was a a team player, a partner with her, with him and everything he did. We don’t have any indication that she ever was at all dismissive of his revelations or that she ever told him to be quiet. In fact, When they, when God told him, he was preaching so much that the people wanted to kill him, the things he was saying he was going against some of their pet wickedness and abominations, right? And what would that have also done to Soraya, right? How would that have affected her in her, um, society? How would that have affected her children and so when God told Lehi to to leave because his life was at danger. Soraya would have had to be fully invested in that, right? How much work is it, mothers, to take your family camping and to move? This was both, right? She was taking her family camping forever. So she was heavily invested and from many of the things I’ve read, it would have been her tent. I don’t know exactly what that means, but um I I haven’t looked into it too much, but we just know that they were a team. And we also know from um Lehi’s dream. I’ll just read first Nephi 8:14 to 16. I beheld your mother Soraya and Sam and Nephi, and they stood as if they knew not whither to go. And it came to pass that I beckoned unto them, and I did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me and partake of the fruit which was desirable above all other fruit. And it came to pass that they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also. I’m sorry, I’m just thinking of this with Lehi because also what he sacrificed and knowing
[00:52:03] that he had a wife who loved him and believed him and supported him. And cooperated with him, right? Like what a comfort would that have been to Lehi, who also sacrificed everything he had, all of his standing in the community, all of his comfort and wealth. And to know that, um, in his dream, not only was Soraya with Nephi and Sam, she led out, right? We know that Nephi is the youngest brother, so when it names Nephi and Sam. It’s because he’s the one that led out, I believe. And so having Soraya lead out in front of them knowing that Lehi had this righteous wife and these boys had this righteous, faithful mother. I think it’s a beautiful story. And so we know Soraya’s heart from all of these things, including explicitly in Lehi’s dream. And, um, And in addition to leaving her all, as so many other matriarchs do, we’re going to talk about the matriarchs of these new dispensations, right? These matriarchal heads like Eve and Z Sephora and Sarah, Noah’s wife. We wish, I wish we knew her name and Mary and Emma. We have so many of these matriarchs of these new dispensations of these new. Um, peoples that go off. She had experienced all of that same pain as all of them as leaving all of her friends and family, all of her comfort, everything she knew and going into the wilderness. And she also experienced that unique pain, that Eve, that she shares with Eve of watching her sons, watching that family division and watching her sons want to murder each other, right? That’s a, that’s a specifically difficult one that she has in common with Eve that I find to be. Very difficult and very sad. And so, um, she not only herself had to leave all of her comfort, she also had to watch her sons leave their entire future, right? Their friends, their education, their, um, aspirations at like into this unknown future. It’s one thing for you to do it yourself, but to have your children do it, and then to have your children be so upset and angry about it. And to be a mother trying to encourage them to believe in their father, trying to keep the family bonds together, trying to soothe their hearts and comfort the other. I just, man, Soraya is awesome. I hope that we give her the due um honor and. that I think she deserves. She’s such a good example to all of us, and there’s really very little that any of us can go through in our lives that our matriarchs haven’t gone through. Like I said, Emma got me through some of my hardest times, and I sure have looked to Soraya in many things as well. And so, um, I, I, like I said, I always have found it interesting that Lehman and Lemu didn’t mind going back to get the Daughters of Ishmael, like one of the other things they were leaving with their girlfriends, right, these girls that they were either already a spouse to or I mean there’s a
[00:54:55] reason that Ishmael and his wife agreed to come with them, and I think part of it is. They were extremely faithful and they trusted in those revelations. I think also those were their children’s intended. It was the perfect, you know, I’m sure that God also gave them a powerful confirmation, but I think that there were already connections with these um young men and women. And so, so, um, that those were all of the things that Soraya was having to watch her sons leave, right? They were leaving all of that behind. I don’t think they initially knew they would go back and get even their girlfriends, which would be maybe the hardest loss of all. And so, um, I just think that she did all she could to keep this family together with all of the labor that she exerted with. I mean, it is so hard to like the comfort that she would have left to living in a tent. It always irks me just a little bit that Nephi says that my father dwelt in a tent without like saying my mother dwelt in it. And, you know, usually camping is harder on women for so many reasons, even just like public restrooms, you know, compare the line of the bathroom to the women’s bathroom to the men’s bathroom everywhere. Everyone knows how much harder camping is for women than men for so many reasons, plus the women are taking care of everyone, washing the food, like it’s hard work for everyone, but let’s not, let’s not forget how hard this would have been on Soraya. And so, um. And yet with all of this, there was never any indication that she ever doubted or complained, right? and up up through all of this that That we’re going to talk about. We’re going to get there for those that are a little bit ahead of me. So with, um, I and, and we know that she didn’t, she hadn’t had these experiences herself. I don’t think she fully understood them, but she had so much faith in Lehi’s connection to God. She had so much faith in Lehi and her husband that she was willing to do all of this based on his testimony, based on believing his experiences. And so then all of that faith, trust and sacrifice finally came to the breaking point, right? You guys all know the story. So, let’s put this into context as well. Lehi being commanded by God to send his sons back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the place they just left because their lives were in danger. The people in Jerusalem wanted to kill Lehi. I have to believe that’s part of the reason that Soraya was so on board to leave, right? If your husband’s life were at risk, you would do just about anything, but now, um. You have fled to save your husband and your husband wants to send your sons back to where you just left cause it’s so unsafe and your lives are at risk, and he wants to send them back alone and not just to be there, but to go get this the wreck. Heard of your people from powerful Laban, who was one of the people in Jerusalem. It doesn’t sound like he was really friendly with Lehi, you know,
[00:57:58] like, like, I cannot imagine how terrifying this would be. So much so, so that layman, Lemuel and Sam all cause it Lehi says your older brothers, you know, all refuse and think that I’m crazy and and that it’s impossible. All of them. Utterly refused and talked hard against their father, and we give Nephi so much praise for saying, I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare away for them, that they may accomplish the thing which he commanded them. I’ll just finish the scripture so it doesn’t doesn’t bug me to not finish it. But we, we recognize Nephi’s great faith. But let’s point out a couple of things. Nephi. You know, those of you who have studied like human development and brain development and psychology, Nephi was still a youth, right? His frontal lobe was not fully formed. He was still in that immortal phase, that invincible phase where they feel immortal and invincible. They’re not fully aware of how vulnerable and fragile they really are yet, right? It’s why, like young men have to pay a higher car insurance rates cause they drive so fast cause nothing bad can happen to them, right? And so, um, still, Leyman Lemuel and Sam would have also been still in this phase of waiting for full frontal lobe development, but even they recognized how terrifying it was. So I don’t want to take anything away from Nephi and his faith, but let’s compare him to Soraya, right? Soraya had a fully formed frontal lobe. Soraya was very aware of the fragility and the mortality of her children and the danger that they were facing. And still she didn’t complain. She didn’t say no, she was supportive from everything we see, she was supportive in letting um Lehi send her sons back and it wasn’t until Until they didn’t come back that um she finally crashed and I wanna talk about that a little cause I think it matters if we consider that probably knowing the danger that they were going into, I imagine from day one when she was watching them walk away. Can you just imagine mothers, the prayers in her heart, right? Constantly God. Protect my boys. Watch over my boys. Like I’m just sorry that like I cannot imagine sitting day after day. With Lehi in the tent, you know, she didn’t have anything to, she couldn’t like turn on a podcast to distract herself. She was just there praying, waiting, and from the um scholars I’ve looked at, it looks like I I people hypothesized that this trip would have taken about 6 weeks and that’s a long time, right? And she was probably tracking in her mind, OK, it took us that long to walk, that long to walk back, like which day should they be back keeping track, you know, and when. The last day that she anticipated that they should be back came and went.
[01:01:00] That is when she broke, right? That is when the faith that she had had failed her up until this point. She had had this unflinching like rock solid faith in Lehi. And then her faith in Lehig failed. It wasn’t enough. And as I, the, the talk I was invited to give to the, to the various wars was on faith crisis, right? And this to me was Soraya’s crisis of faith, and I see. God’s hands all over in it everywhere because God knew that Soria’s faith in Lehi would not be sufficient to get her through what was coming, right? So God was giving Soraya the amazing opportunity. I talk about an episode, it’s called House of Cards. Maybe it’s episode 19. I can’t remember, but many of you know what I’m talking about when You feel like you have this rock solid foundation and this firm testimony until all of a sudden things start happening that shake it up and it’s God shaking all of that sand out of the of your foundation and you may feel like you’re in a free fall. But if we can recognize the Lord’s hand in it, that the Lord is intentionally giving us opportunities to shake away all of that sand so that we can hopefully be founded more firmly upon on on on a rock solid foundation, a foundation of Jesus Christ, and I think that that is what the Lord is allowing Soria to experience right here. The Lord knows exactly what is happening, exactly what he’s doing, and so, um. Let’s see where I, I, I skipped forward a little bit and so this is where we are told what what Soraya experienced. It’s when they’ve returned and Nephi is telling us what happened. First Nephi 5:1, for she truly had mourned because of us, for she had supposed. We had perished in the wilderness, and she also had complained against my father. This is where it was, telling him that he was a visionary man. So this whole time, she had believed he was a prophet, right? She had had this unquestioning faith in him until Her sons are gone and she’s alone and has lost everything, everything, and she’s just going to be alone with Lehi in the wilderness and I mean I cannot imagine the desolation you would feel and it’s at that point that she tells him, no, you’re not a prophet, you’re just a visionary man. You’re just insane, I think is what it’s saying, you’re delusional, right? That and telling him that he was a visionary man, saying behold, thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness. And after this manner of language had my mother complained against my father. So at this point she had believed him, and now I can’t even imagine the pain she experienced where she lost everything. She lost her home like she had believed him. And now that she no longer, now that she had lost her everything, the most painful loss of all was the loss of her faith, because she, all of this had been filled with hope and faith, and they were going forward and they were doing this thing and now all of a sudden. She sees that it was all just Lehi’s fault. It was all a mistake. He started having these visions that were just him and they alienated everyone in their community.
[01:04:24] They left their entire home, and now they have no children because of Lehi. That is the place that she was at that I think I cannot imagine how dismal and painful it would be to be there, right? I know, I, so anyway, I think anyone that is experiencing faith crisis to any degree or has. Look into Soraya, right? She is given to us as such a beautiful example of what the Lord does with us and some of the purposes as to why, because, um, we. We need to recognize what God is doing with this matriarch. This, she is the matriarch of this group, right? Is it good enough that a matriarch just trusts in the patriarch or does God need something more from her? So, Um, I, I was going to quote from the talk that I gave, and maybe I will. I’ve already said a lot of it, but um, I’ll go ahead and quote it and then see if, if it’s too redundant, I apologize. This is, this is quoting from the talk I gave. God took Soraya to her breaking point. The faith that had sustained her crumbled into a million pieces, and she was left with no foundation. Everything she thought she knew and thought she could rely on evaporated, and she was left feeling betrayed, lost, and hopeless, although she didn’t know it, her house had been built upon a sandy foundation. And God knew that that would not be sufficient for the purposes he had in store for her. Throughout this entire experience, Soria was completely in God’s hands, and his great love and mercy in His great love and mercy, God was giving Soria exactly what she would need. God needed Soria’s old faith to be obliterated so that he could establish in her a new and more much more profound faith. Look at the power of Soria’s testimony on the other side of this experience. After her son’s return, no longer is she simply trusting and following her prophet husband. She now has a profound, unshakable faith of her own firmly established on the rock of her own knowledge of God’s goodness and love. This is, I believe, where Soria becomes a prophetess instead of merely a follower of her prophet husband. She says this verse 8. Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness. Yeah, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons and delivered them out of the hands of Laban and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them, and I love this part. And after this manner of language did she speak, we can only imagine how she must have just gone on and on in her rejoicing and proclaiming and testifying of the goodness of God, um. God had not only saved her sons, but he had saved her and rebuilt her faith. But, but on a much, much more solid foundation, right, this incredible woman who would be the matriarch to lead this group through the desert needed steadfast and unshakeable faith of her own. The Lord’s love and care for her is incredible. And it goes on. I, I’ll I’ll read just a little more. Nephi first Nephi 1720 describes the suffering of the young women. Um, this is Lema Lemu talking about their wives. Our women have toiled being big with child, and they have born children in the wilderness and suffered all things save it were death, and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these these afflictions. Hey, this is the boys talking about their wives, their young wives,
[01:07:57] these young women suffering pregnancy and childbirth and privation in the wilderness, right? Can I point out that Soraya was also A woman pregnant, suffering in the wilderness, giving birth and experiencing these privations, but she wasn’t a young pregnant woman. She was an old pregnant woman, and for anyone else out there who has had a baby at 20 and had a baby at 45, there’s a difference, right? I would never say that pregnancy, at least not for me, is fun or easy or comfortable or even anything other than completely tortuous and the torturous, but Um, if the women suffered like this in their 20s, can you imagine what a woman would have suffered in her 40s in these same experiences, and yet she never complained again, right? She never again doubted or complained what the Lord had given her, enabled her to be the mother to all of this, to this group, to be the matriarch, to keep, um, supporting. Their faith to keep. I just imagine her wrapping her arms around those suffering women, and she was one of them herself, but testifying to them of the goodness of God. Like what I see God doing with her is profound as the matriarch of this group. I think it is just as beautiful as it can be. And as we go on with her story, we see why this incredible strength and testimony she developed was so absolutely essential. So Going forward in the story, they hit the low point, right? Rock bottom, even at the very worst point. Soria’s faith doesn’t waver. So let’s go ahead and read it. First Nephi 16, you’ll recognize this. And after we had traveled for the space of many days, we did pitch our tents for the space of a time that we might again rest ourselves and obtain food for our families. So if any of you have watched like the documentaries on nomadic people, there are lots of them, but Um, the Mongolians or other people that like watching how hard they work. It is amazing how much work it is to put together all of their tents and put them on their sleds or whatever they’re using to carry them and then travel as long as they can until they Can’t get any more food along the way and they are completely out of food. Then they go to the exceptional amount of work to set up their camp again. They all do that together and then the men go out and hunt, right, and the women stay home. That is the situation I imagine they were in at least something similar to that and They would have been almost out of food before they even stopped, right, because and and otherwise they wouldn’t have stopped. You go, they go as far as they can when their purpose is to travel. The men are out getting food for at least days, maybe a week, and the women are at home scraping out the last little bits of food that they can for the hungry children, telling them that food is coming, more food is coming. That was the situation they were in, right? They were exhausted. And hungry and needing to um bulk up both their bodies again
[01:11:06] and their stores so that they could continue their travels. So that’s the situation and it came to pass that as I if I went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow, which was made of fine steel steel. The magnitude of this disaster is almost incomprehensible for us. This was their way of getting food. We know that the other men, their bows had lost their springs. They were like me I had the one good bow and it broke. And after I did break my bow, behold, my brethren were angry with me because of the loss of my bow, for we did obtain no food. And it came to pass that we did return without food to our families. And being much fatigued because of their journeyings, they did suffer much for the want of food. OK, again, to put ourselves into this story, right? The children are starving. The women are hoping that they continue to have enough milk for their babies. They need food. The mothers are telling their children, Daddy’s getting food. It’s going to be OK. Daddy, as the children are crying and going to bed hungry, just wait one more day. Daddy will be here with food, right? That’s the situation that they were in watching the hunger growing in their children, growing increasingly thin, and then as they’re looking out each day, they finally see the men coming. Can you even imagine the excitement and the anticipation that would be there all the time in this process, you know, and And um they see the men coming, meaning there’s going to be food. They would already their mouths would start salivating right then their bodies would start the processes of digestion for the food they so desperately needed when the men come. That that is the situation. So when they come with no food, I, I think. I think in the past I’ve read this thinking, you know, I’ve always lived within driving distance of a grocery store, so it’s like, oh, they didn’t get food today, they’ll try again tomorrow. I think what this meant when the men came home, they came home to watch their children and their wives starve to death and die, and for them to starve to death and die. There wasn’t another way to go get food. That’s what they were doing, and they gave up and came home. So when they came home empty handed, it was a death sentence, a slow, painful, torturous death sentence, watching their children starve and then them starving. That was the situation. And so it was so dark and so dismal that the group lost all hope. Here we’ll go on and read. And it came to pass. Oh, let’s see, and it came to pass that layman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness. Exceedingly, this was intense murmuring. They were all going to die. And also my father began to murmur against the Lord his God. Yeah, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord.
[01:13:59] So this was bad, even Lehi, this was Lehi’s breaking point. He lost his faith at this point. Now what I notice here is, guess who doesn’t murmur. The women, right, there’s no mention of Soraya murmuring, I see, I just see the hand of the Lord in this so much. Soria had already been brought to her breaking point and passed it, and her faith was rock solid, and I think God needed to establish that kind of a powerful matriarch so that when the patriarch crashed and his faith failed. She had faith to sustain them. I, I think that’s what I see happening here. Can you even imagine if her faith was still in him, still in Lehigh at this point, when his faith fails, what would that have done to her and to all of them, and I just see. The profound influence of this matriarch because the women who are the ones who have suffered the most in this dark, dark situation, it only mentions it mentions that all of the men murmur except Nephi. Nephi is just solid. He and He and Soraya, man, but, um, but the women don’t, and I do. I just see Mother Soraya’s influence so much. If we turn to the next chapter after they’ve passed this crisis, we read what, what happened to the women. This is 172, and so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, upon us that while we did live on raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children and were strong, yeah, even like unto the men. And they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings. Now this is, yes, this is my interpretation. This is what I read into the story, so everyone can read it their own way, but I do like, I mean, just consider what Soraya has been through and all of these young girls, these young women suffering, these young mothers are watching Soraya, the older woman. Suffering worse than they are, right, and yet she hasn’t murmured and hasn’t complained. She continues to work. She continues to testify, to comfort to do that maternal role, and I think that those young girls watching that mother, both her testimony expressed both by word and deed. I can’t even, I, I just think that they were so strongly and profoundly influenced by her. That they were brought to the point where they could be like her, so they could all be these women able to accomplish what God set out for them to do, this unthinkable trial they had to go through, but they had this matriarch leading them, and even in this darkest dismal time, the women. Do the girls do go on to murmur after this when their father dies, as we already read, but at this time there’s no account of them murmuring, and they go forward in that much strength. And I really, I just think that Soraya had a profound influence on this entire group. I think it’s such a great demonstration. Of the absolute need for a father and a mother,
[01:17:10] right, the patriarch and the matriarch, I think that that is something that this teaches us so profoundly. It it reminds me also of the story of Emma Smith when she, after the loss of her first baby, was on her deathbed for several weeks. And as I believe the Lord was communing with her, so as soon as She regained consciousness, even though Joseph was about done, about ready to give up. Emma’s first word to him was was about the record, right? She wanted him to go get the manuscript for Martin Harris. That was what her focus was, and I just see a similarity here with Soraya. I think the Lord had brought her to where she needed to be so that they had a rock solid matriarch and patriarch going through this experience. And I, I just threw out all of this. I, I said it before, but I want to say again, I just hear Mother Soraya. Wrapping her arms around those girls and letting them cry to her and her crying with them in their suffering and yet her listening to them and encouraging them and testifying to them of what she knew, she knew God at this point because of what she had experienced. She could testify to them with so much power that God was with them. That it was all worth it, that it would be worth it in the end, the much better future that they had, and that God would sustain them and bless them, that they were not alone. They were not hopeless, and they were known. They were loved. They were cared about deeply as women. I just think this is so important to recognize how much God truly does know. And love and care about women, right? God cares about the daughters, about the women, and so we can’t forget that we have to compare it to Jacob, the the sermon of Jacob verses 132, right? These women were known and loved and God provided for them in profound amazing ways to sustain them. And so I think that that is a beautiful example of both. The the necessity for the matriarchs and the patriarchs and also the gift of a faith crisis, right? Because of what Soraya experienced, it enabled her to carry along with Nephi to carry them through that. And so I want to now talk a little bit about Lehi’s experience and compare. Soraya’s experience to Lehi’s experience, because I think it’s very important and also very telling with some of the false traditions that have been handed down to us. First though, I want to talk about Lehi because I love Lehi. I think that Lehi is a remarkably good man. I think he is just like He’s a man like Abraham and Adam and Jacob, all of these incredibly good men who were incredibly good husbands. I think it is very important to look at Lehi’s response to Soraya when she, um, when she crashes, when her faith is gone, right? And she really comes at him with everything she has, she is. Just so upset and I imagine that for him to be told he’s a visionary man is about the hardest thing he could hear, you know,
[01:20:27] to have his wife who had been his rock, his unified partner, to have her lose her faith in him. Must have been so painful and yet Lehi’s response is just gorgeous. If you read what he says, there is no defensiveness, no anger returned at her. Like I think his response is such a good example to all of us. First, he starts out by validating her. Yes, it is true. I am a visionary man. He, he, I just, I love this so much. He validates her and then with such. Loving kindness and meekness and gentleness and humility and long suffering and patience and love unfeigned, he does his best to comfort her, to testify to her like she later does to those girls, I believe. He tells her, I know that the Lord is with us and that He has given us a land of promise, and I know that our sons will return. I know that Lord, the Lord will deliver our sons out of the hands of Laban and bring them again down down again unto the wilderness. And after this manner of language did my father Lehi comfort my mother Soria concerning us. That is beautiful. That is such a good example for all of us of how we can show up in our relationships, right? I think that it is so profound that Lehi, like Adam and Abraham and Jacob, none of them ever exercised any ounce, the slightest ounce of unrighteous dominion. They consistently loved their wives and and submitted to them repeatedly as we’ve talked about with those other men and those other stories. I think that Lehi is another example that is just like that. So as we talk about this, please don’t think in any way that I’m being critical of Lehi. I’m not. I want to make an important comparison. And so, Let’s compare Soria’s faith crisis to Lehi’s faith crisis, and I’ll explain why this matters in a minute. First, um, I already read from verse 20 that even his father did murmur against the Lord, right? So a couple of things that are important to note here. When Soraya had her faith crisis, she lost her faith in Lehi, right? She actually didn’t murmur or complain against the Lord. She murmured and complained against Lehi. She thought that he actually didn’t have the connection with the Lord that she had thought he had, right? He did, but in that moment her faith was was shaken in that. Soraya also by Lehi or by the Lord was never in any way condemned, criticized, chastised, judged for her um lack of faith, for her failing faith, right? She was comforted by both her husband and God. I think that that’s important to recognize. So if we want to talk about sinning against the lesser light, right? These were not Soraya’s own experiences. These were Lehi’s experiences she was trusting him and she lost her trust in him. Is that, are you clear with me? Lehi, on the other hand. Lehi knew God. Lehi was the one having these experiences that started all of this, right? Lehi was murmuring against God, not against a different leader.
[01:23:46] So if we want to say sinning against the greater light, Lehi was very profoundly, um, chastised by the Lord for his murmuring after Nephi, who is just, man, this guy, he just has that eternal perspective and that. Christ-like awareness that everything God does is good, right? That’s, I think the purpose of our lives is to understand that everything God does is good. God, what do you want me to do with this next thing you’ve given me that I know must be good because you’re giving it to me, right? So he goes, makes a wooden bow, makes a wooden arrow, blesses it, and goes to Lehi to kind of remind Lehi of who he is, right, and to get direction from the Lord, and it says that. Um, well, Leha Nephi, remember, it says that he did speak much unto them, and, and that would have included Lehi, right? Nephi is speaking to them and calling them to repentance because of how they harden their hearts and complain against their uh against the Lord their God. And 23 verse 23, and it came to pass that I, Nephi, oh, I read that he made out of wood a bow, and I said unto my father, whither shall I go to obtain food? This is what I wanted to read. And it came to pass that he did inquire of the Lord, for they had humbled themselves because of my words that included Lehi, for I did say many things unto them in the energy of my soul, and it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came unto my father, and he was truly chastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down in the depths of sorrow. So Lehi had severe repentance to do for his murmuring against the Lord, right? I again just want to compare Soria’s faith crisis to Lehi’s. Lehi murmured against the god who he knew and who had directed him. And um and he was severely chastised and had severe repentance. It goes on, they were given direction, but Lehi quaked with fear because of the things written in the Leahona, right, when they, it doesn’t tell us exactly what it was that was written, but just the understanding that it would only work according to their faith. And so that’s a really profound difference, right? Um, Soraya complained against Lehi and was never chastised as chastised at all and then was strengthened to go on to go on to the future without without murmuring. Lehi on the other hand, murmured against God and was severely chastised. So there’s a reason I want to talk about that because really. If we look at it, Lehi’s sin was much greater. I, I hate to call a faith crisis a sin. I don’t mean that, but the murmuring against God, he was chastised by the Lord for that. It’s important to recognize that because I want to draw our attention now to something that I find troubling. If you look, we already spoke about chapter headings earlier, um, with, with Jacob too, how it’s been changed. But if you look at the chapter headings of First Nephi chapter 5, which is where Soraya has her mild small faith crisis and compare them to the chapter. Heading of chapter 16, where Lehi has his
[01:27:02] much more important faith crisis that the Lord chastises him for, it’s very telling. So the very first thing written in the chapter heading of Chapter 5 is, Soraya complains against Lehi. First thing it says, right, we’re going to go on and talk about this a little bit more. It says nothing in the chapter heading of her powerful testimony of the way that she testifies to her family and testifies of the Lord and of of where she’s brought through that. It only says that she complains against Lehi. That is the only thing apparently that we see in her story worth mentioning in the chapter heading. I find that troubling. Then let’s look at the chapter heading of of for 16. It says this is the entire chapter heading. The wicked take the truth to be hard. Lehi’s sons marry the daughters of Ishmael. The Leahona guides their course in the wilderness. Messages, do you catch that? Messages from the Lord are written on the Leahona from time to time. That comes after Lehi complains. Ishmael dies, his family murmurs because of afflictions. That’s the chapter heading. Guess what is not mentioned at all, at all. So all we see in Soraya is her complaining against Lehi. Lehi’s complaining against God isn’t even worth mentioning. It’s not even notable. OK, got to breathe. This upsets me. So let’s look at this. Soraya is mentioned 4 times total in the entire text of the Book of Mormon. Her name is mentioned 4 times. She’s mentioned 3 more times in chapter headings, one of those being chapter 5, where it says Soraya complains against Lehi. That’s all the times that she has mentioned. Compare that to, I think Lehi has mentioned, it’s well over 100 times in any case. It’s maybe 120. Nephi, how many times has he mentioned? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, right? Even Sam is mentioned at least 10 times, and Leyman and Lemuel are both mentioned over 20 times. I’m just talking about the focus that is given to these people by name, right? And yet Soraya, she is one of only 3 characters in the Book of Mormon, right, one of only 5 or 6 mentioned by name, and yet. This is what the one thing we say about her in a chapter heading. This is the focus and the attention that we give to her. I just find it to be astonishing and astounding. So the chapter headings were, as I mentioned before, they were added in 1920, so that was very much still in this polygamist time period, in this polygamist mindset, right, that I wish we had gotten a little more, a little further away from that it seems we have. So, um, I know that some people don’t understand the full culture, this polygamous culture and teachings and ideology, so. I just happened to read another quote. Someone shared it on Facebook and I looked it up and read the whole sermon, and again it’s hard to cut the sermon down. I’m gonna read just one more talk here, this new one I found, to demonstrate this idea that a woman’s absolute highest calling is to be perfectly obedient to her husband. That that just like embedded ideas of the inferiority of women and the superiority of men. And the need for women to obey their husband that polygamy was all about,
[01:30:24] which led to Soraya complained against Lehi. That’s the worst thing a woman could possibly do and the only thing we can see about her, right? So this is Lorenzo Snow. I think this sermon was given October 11th, 1857. It’s recorded both in the Deseret News and in the Journal of Discourses link will be below. Let me just read some kind of extensive quotes from it. Wives and children fail in a great many instances to enjoy that which they might enjoy because of tradition, because of not employing, employing their minds in reflection. This is, I’m reading a couple of different. Things just because this talk has so much, but he’s making the point that it’s not that polygamy is wrong, it’s just that we’re not used to it. Our tradition of monogamy makes it hard for us to live polygamy, right? He goes on a little bit later to say, our children, if we are diligent and cultivating in ourselves, the pure principle of life and salvation will grow up in the knowledge of these things and be able to with greater facility than ourselves to promote the orders of heaven. And establish happiness and peace around them, but our traditions are so interwoven with our nature that it requires more time and effort on our part for us to learn. So despite, despite the clear teachings of God in the Book of Mormon that polygamy is wrong and that polygamy is harmful to women and children. Children, he’s saying, no, it’s just because, you know, they hadn’t yet developed the beautiful idea of keep sweet. They were well on their way. But um, so, so that’s the problem. We just haven’t gotten you used to being completely controlled yet. As soon as we do that, it will be better. So anyway, we’re going to go on. OK, here’s here, here’s more quoting from him. The husband has to learn to give proper counsel and direction. He has to learn how to manage his wives and his children. It does not trouble some women. I’m just taking from different parts. It does not trouble some women, women to follow the counsel of their husbands. They will serve them in faithfulness. They will honor and respect the power of the priesthood that is upon their husbands. In this respect, they do well and enjoy themselves in doing so as every woman will. Every woman will enjoy serving her husband. Now I want to make it like, you know, my husband, I, I serve my husband a lot, right? But we reciprocate. It’s reciprocal. I’m his only wife and we both work hard to meet one another’s needs and to keep things going well. There’s never a reciprocity, right? Women. are commanded to serve their husband and it goes on more and more. Men are commanded to control their women and their children, right, their wives and their children to counsel them well and anyway, so it’s, it’s, it’s not about that women shouldn’t serve their husbands, it’s that women shouldn’t be seen as servants and slaves with no. Ideas of their own with no right, no care for their own. This sermon is also talking about women getting along with their sister wives that’s making the point that they may be able to get along with their husband but not with the other women, and that’s what we need to fix as well. It,
[01:33:20] I mean, it’s such clear, a clear demonstration of how horrible it was to live in polygamy, how horrible it was and how horrible it is. And so, um, anyway, every woman, of course, will, will love just doing her husband’s every bidding, but we should do our duty if it not be so pleasing to ourselves. So even if it’s not what you want to do, it’s your duty. Um, then, then he gives an out. For any sin, mistreatment, abuse, in polygamy, we understand that women don’t have an out. They don’t have any way to resolve an abuse situation with their husband. That is like baked into the cake of of most polygamous society and um there and there’s no remedy for it and right here is will help us understand why. Oh, I just lost my place. Let me get back there. In in as much as I have to, so he’s talking about if if someone in your family, your husband or one of your wives is doing things that are wrong that you’re not doing, then Then you are a better person than they are and therefore you must just be more patient and more long suffering, right, inasmuch as I have to suffer from his wrong because he has not learned to control his passions, it becomes a greater virtue in me to be patient with him, for there is more required of me. Do you understand? Like if you have an abusive husband, it just means that God is requiring more of you to, to continue to suffer with Him and be patient with him. You very seldom find that husbands and wives are perfect, but, but perhaps it is very well that, that the husband is not perfect, because if he was, he would be placed at a great distance from his wives. It requires a great exertion on the parts of wives to keep pace with their husbands, right? Wives have to work really hard to be even as good as their husbands, and if he was better, they, he would just leave them in the dust. It is much more difficult for wives to learn than than it is much more difficult for wives to learn than it is for husbands because women have not the degree of light and knowledge that their husbands have. They have not the power over their passions that their husbands have. Therefore, they have to suffer one for another until they get power over themselves, like unto that like unto those that have advanced more fully in the knowledge of our God. Are you catching this? Do I even have to expound on that at all? To come in possession of the greater amount of happiness, let wives pursue an even course with regard to their husband. Let them bear with his faults. Let them be united and live in peace, and they will increase in light and intelligence. He repeats this in several times in several ways, saying that women are never to complain. It is just their job to bear with whatever faults they have to bear with, right? Um, it reminds me, I know that we have a church leader that said it is wrong to criticize, uh, um, a leader of the church even if that criticism is true, and no, we don’t want to be people that are just critical all the time, but I hope you can see the difference in this, right, because it’s not reciprocated, it’s very much one way. You just have to do whatever your husband wants you to do, never criticize, never complain to anyone
[01:36:34] because it’s just God requiring more of you if you have a husband that’s doing things that are wrong. It is so with you women. If any of you have more knowledge and influence than others, more is required of you. You have the more to endure. If you want to know how to be great, good, and happy, and how to advance faster in the principles of exaltation and and perfection, why then set yourselves to work to find out how you can do the most good. You women do this and learn how you can best serve your husbands. You men learn how you can best serve President Brigham Young. This is what it was about, right? Some women, um, and it doesn’t say say best serve God, best serve one another, it’s very much the women serve the husbands, the men serve Brigham Young. Um, let’s see, some women think that it matters not whether they love their husband or not, so long as they do not let him know it. So. So this is getting to even deeper. Like, even if you don’t ever give your husband an indication that you don’t love him, um, that’s not good enough. Some women think if they can do all that is required of by their husbands, that is all that is required. That is very good, but it is a wild fanciful notion to think that that is all that is called for. But if you will set to with all your energy to bless your husband in serving him and those around him. And endeavoring to make them all happy because they desire exaltation and happiness, then you are in the line of your duty. This requires an exertion. It requires faith, prayer, and the spirit of the Lord to enable you to carry out this operation. But you sisters have made rapid advances in consideration of where you stood a few years ago. That’s all I’ll quote from this talk. Um, I hope this paints the picture, right, that Sorya complained against Lehi. She did it wrong. There is no no attention paid for how Lee High. Responded to Soraya, how God responded to Soraya, right? It’s just that one thing. And then when Lehi murmured, we’re not to complain. We’re not to notice any faults or failings in men or in our leaders, right? That’s not, that’s not allowed. And so this, I, I think it’s important to recognize that this is the culture that we came through. This is our heritage. This is exactly the culture that these chapter headings were written in. And over 100 years later, since they were written, they still haven’t been changed. We know they changed chapter headings. They changed the chapter heading to Jacob 2, sadly, I think in a not great direction, but they could change these chapter headings anytime, and they haven’t. Still, what we mainly know about Soraya is that she complained against Lehi and no attention is given that Lehi murmured against God, right? I, I, I just think that that. Comparison is really important. It shows us how incredibly biased this whole ideology is that is still impacting us today, that is still a deep embedded part of our culture that I think we need to wake up to. I,
[01:39:45] I want to just talk a little bit more about how this continues to affect the stories of these people and affect us as we read them and, and in our culture today. Um, if you look at the very short Wikipedia entry on Soraya. It says a couple of things after erroneously and ignorantly first implying that Lehi might have had another wife, that she might have not not have been the mother of Jacob and Joseph, which is completely untrue, as we just showed, it then goes on to say she has, she is perhaps best known for the story and first Nephi where she complains against her husband for sending her sons back to Jerusalem. That’s pretty much what we’re told about Soraya. I think that’s tragic and It’s so sad because it seems to be somewhat true. Pretty much every lesson that you read about Soraya, every lesson in the manuals or um, most of the stories included in the magazines, most of the things that are written about Soraya, this faith crisis, but it’s not looked at in that way usually. Her complaining against Lehi is one of the main. Things that is talked about. It gets a lot of focus, focus. And while there is so much more written about Lehi, and while his murmuring against God was so much more severe than Soraya’s murmuring against or complaining against Lehi, it gets barely any notice, barely a mention in the manuals, in the chapter headings, in the scriptures, in any conference. and the the lessons or the stories about Lehi, we almost never talk about that. It’s, it’s completely invisible. We, we hide it, right? It is wrong to criticize the leaders of the church even if that criticism is true and apparently to notice what the scriptures teach us that Lehi murmured against God would be wrong, I guess. I don’t know and so. I think that I’m pointing this out so we can all take notice of how this still affects us. I just was in an extensive discussion that I’m, I’m, I’m not contending. So as soon as I see that there’s no point in talking to people, I’m trying to just leave. But, um, this woman was just saying, why does this matter? Why are you focused on this? How can this possibly affect us? Like she was really, she said there’s absolutely nothing you can say that will change my mind that this matters. And so it’s like, OK, well then I guess there’s no reason to say anything, but I hope we can all see why this matters. It matters. It shows us how we continue to think about men and women in the church, in the kingdom of God, in our culture. It matters immensely. And as I was preparing for this, this, um, episode, I had some additional insights that just struck me. So this is what I was hoping that people would stick around for, so that you can hear this because I think it’s so important. I think that part of what was restored through Joseph Smith in this great restoration was a clear demonstration of the central role and crucial importance of the matriarchs, right? We have this story of Soria and her profound testimony and reading how she so excitedly expresses her and rejoices in her newly gained unshakable testimony of the goodness of God. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eve, who does a similar thing. She gives a similar excited expression of her joyful, rejoicing
[01:43:06] testimony. Um, it’s recorded in, let’s see. Oh, I, I wanted to, yeah, draw the comparison between Soria in obedience to God and the quest for the promised land, and, and for greater truth she lost the blessings and the comfort and the security of her old lifestyle, right, in, in her willingness to follow God and to follow her husband in the quest of a greater future, Eve. Even at least as profoundly did the same thing. She lost she left paradise. She willingly sacrificed the incredible comfort and ease of paradise to enter this painful, difficult, fallen world where she would suffer such hardship and such tragedy. She willingly did that in order to follow God and to follow her husband, right? I guess they did it together and it’s an amazing similarity, an amazing parallel, and I can’t, I mean, I just think it’s really important. And then let’s bring Emma Smith in there as well, who also left her home and her family and her comfort to experience incredible hardship and suffering. These matriarchal stories that are brought forth in the restoration are so important. And I want to harken back to Eve when we understand how much she and Adam sacrificed. It gives so much meaning to their words. So this is recorded in Moses, the book of Moses, right? Again, part of the restoration that, that the, that Joseph Smith helps us to understand. Um, Eve, I mean, Adam said in Moses 10 1 11:10, blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression, my eyes are opened. And in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God. He’s telling us what the purpose of the gospel is, right? And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying, Were it not for our transgression, we never should have had seed and never should have known good and evil and the joy of our redemption and the eternal life with which God giveth unto all the obedient. And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God and made all things known unto their sons and their daughters. Can you hear the similarity between Eve’s rejoicing and Soria’s rejoicing and the testimony God had given them after, I always imagined that Eve must have just been tormented about eating the fruit, and did I do the wrong thing and look where we are, and this is horrible, and here she is told, no, it’s good, it’s good, and she gained this unshakeable testimony. Exactly the same as Soraya, right? And then I love that verse 12, and Adam and Eve blessed the name of God and made all things known unto their sons and daughters, the two of them together, standing on equal footing, completely unified, both as the patriarch and the matriarch. The father and the mother made all of these things known to their sons and their daughters.
[01:46:11] There was no. Inequality between them, they were perfectly unified and equal and absolutely necessary. Both of them, their unique voices as just as we saw with Nefa, I mean with Lehi and Soraya, both absolutely necessary. I think this goes, this is true on every single level of leadership, right? This is why I think it’s so important to at least consider our unique doctrine of a heavenly father and a heavenly mother, or at least a God that embodies both the male and the female. And so I think that in restoring this, Joseph restored the pattern for Earth for all of us to seek to follow that that absolute essential equality and unity of both men and women and the importance of having the voices, the writings, the experience, the experiences, the teachings, the miracles of both the fathers. And the mothers, the patriarchs, and the matriarchs, I think that it is an amazing, beautiful thing that we learn and the the idea that this beautiful restoration got turned into these false ideas of woman being subjugated, woman being inferior, needing to be silent and obedient, it’s just tragic that that happens time and time again. God’s warning to Eve is so true that man would rule over her. That was not God’s way. That was a warning of this fallen world. What would continually happen, because I think that is one of Satan’s greatest tools is to silence the women, erase the women, make them invisible, and I think that, I think that should be part of our quest is to recognize. That we are lacking the matriarchs and to be seeking them. And so, um, Emma, like even Soraya, was also a mother of a dispensation, right, the mother of our dispensation. She was blessed profoundly with her own testimony. I already referred to her time spent on her deathbed. I believe communing profoundly with the Lord. Um, she had an unshakeable testimony when we look at the life of Emma Smith and In the in her darkest time saying this and more would I suffer for your sake what God did with and through Emma Smith is no less profound than what God did with and through Eve and Soraya and all of the mothers. It is just beautiful and so inspiring to me. Emma was ordained to expound scripture and to exhort the people. Like, like, even Soraya, she too bore fervent testimony throughout her life, both through word and through action with every willing sacrifice and all of the incredible things that she did to bring forth the restoration. We don’t have as many um a specific testimony written of her of the savior that I was able to find. I think that it’s kind of a shame that her sons didn’t ask for her testimony of the savior. I think it was so apparent that they didn’t even think to think that it was necessary to ask her, but I do want to point out to her faith that comes through and what she did say. This was her final testimony. She said, I know Mormonism to be the truth and believe the church to have been established by divine direction. I have complete faith in it. My belief is that the Book of Mormon is of divine authenticity. I have not the slightest doubt of it. We have this profound testimony of Emma Smith just like we do of Eve and Soraya. I think of the beauty of this, this part of the restoration that we haven’t. Notice I just barely realized it this week preparing for this episode. 3 matriarchal dispensation heads all revealed and brought through the restoration. They are all revealed to us,
[01:49:57] right? We have it recorded in Moses and in the Book of Mormon and in the words of Emma Smith. God restored. The knowledge among everything else God restored. He restored the knowledge of the absolute necessity of the prophetesses, the mothers, and I do believe it is our responsibility to recognize that, and it’s our obligation to begin to seek out the blessings of the mothers just as Abraham sought out the blessings of the fathers. As soon as we understand what is missing and how much of an effect that has on us, for example, just a little tiny demonstration of that is that those chapter headings and the way we talk about, um, Soraya versus Lehi. And, and as I pointed out, my belief that the Book of Mormon invites us to recognize that the women are missing, right? I think that’s part of what it’s inviting us to seek so that we can begin to be given more as we are promised as soon as we will stop with these. This wickedness and abominations that we have been dwelling under for all of these years that is still just weighing down on us, we need to shake this off so we can move on and get more and receive more, be be seeking more and be worthy of more. And so when we consider how this has affected us, how we are in this still today in this massive confusion about the place of women and the place of men and the roles of women and men and how that balance can be worked out and The, the world is trying to solve it by making women the same as men. That that doesn’t feel good to me. The church is trying to solve it by continuing to have men far above women. That doesn’t work for me. I believe there are answers from the Lord that we can and should seek, that we should be seeking and. When you consider the suffering of our grandmothers under the weight of these false traditions that created so much pain for them to endure. And, you know, I think also our grandfathers, it would have been better for everyone to be more like Abraham and Soraya, more like, I mean, more Abraham and Sarah, more like Lehi and Soraya, more like Adam and Eve, more like Joseph and Emma than than they were. I think that there would be so much more joy and peace. So I want to invite you to just consider this scripture in that context as we need help with these challenges that we have had. So let me just read this, and finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the mothers and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same. Having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge and to be a follower, a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge and to be a mother of many nations, a proclaimer of peace, and desiring to receive instructions and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a high priestess holding the right belonging to the mothers. Is that any less true? Any less absolutely necessary and impactful, I think that that is the invitation that we are being given in the restoration. I, I think it’s there. I, I think it’s there for us to see and to find and to activate within our lives and within our culture. I certainly do not claim to have the answers, but I think that an awareness that we need to ask the questions is an essential first step. I hope so much that more and more of us, both men and women. Will sincerely start asking the questions and keep asking the questions of the Lord so that God can send more and more answers, more and more light and knowledge, right? That God can continue to reveal more to us. Um, I, we can’t do this. We won’t do this if we continue with a polygamist mindset. It forces us,
[01:53:56] uh, we To come to the point where we recognize that woman is missing and that we need to see women, this polygamy teaches us to keep women invisible, right, to be blind to the fact that woman is missing and has been missing, that we don’t have the mothers, that we don’t have the matriarchs. It forces us, teaches us to see women as nameless, faceless, voiceless. Um, completely interchangeable objects that have little value other than to be symbols of a man’s worth and power in a celestial hierarchy that we have pretended is also a celestial. as if that’s ever how God would or would ever work. That, that is how 132 views and talks about women as opposed to the rest of the restoration, how women are viewed and talked about and how I, I’ve always called it the invitation of the invisible woman, right? That’s what I think that the Book of Mormon gives us. We can recognize the truth of that, and And, and get rid of this polygamist mindset so that we can not have the wickedness and abominations that keep it so that God cannot give us more. I think it’s so important that we recognize this and then I think we can have the truth of, of What Joseph Smith taught, what power shall stay the heavens as well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri River in its decreed course or turn it up stream as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the latter-day saints. I think that is true. I think that the scriptures teach us what has kept us from being able to receive that and what we can change to receive this promise so that more light and knowledge can continually be poured down upon us. I love how. Valerie Hudson so beautifully articulated it that the universe is pregnant with the knowledge of woman wanting to come forth. So I hope that this, this episode can do its little part to help move that forward, and I certainly am going to continue on this quest to seek for the mothers. I hope that all of you will join. So thank you so much for being here for this episode, and I will see you next time.
