2 Nephi 26-30

My scripture reading this week was 2 Nephi 26-30. These chapters contain a number of passages that speak to liberal themes.

26:25-28 Christ commands no one to depart from him. He commands no one to depart from his houses of worship. His salvation has been given freely for all; all are equally privileged to partake of his goodness. There's a powerful universalizing, inclusivist, egalitarian thrust to this passage. That's refreshing when so much LDS discourse, scriptural or otherwise, tends to emphasize conditionality (do X, and Y, and Z, and A, and B, and C, and H, and M, and Q, and T, or you cannot be saved) and even fear (like the Richard G. Scott quotation that appears in the Sunday School study guide for this week's reading, about staying well away from any kind of moral ambiguity so you won't risk being lured into one of Satan's traps). When I say it's "refreshing" to have an alternative, I mean that rather literally in the sense that discourses oriented toward conditionality and guilt and fear have a tendency to wear people down, despite whatever good intentions there may be on the part of those who preach those discourses. This is why people loved Chieko Okazaki so much (still do, I hope). Her preaching was positive and uplifting, focused on the assurance that God loves you and therefore you shouldn't be so hard on yourself—more in line with the spirit of 2 Ne. 26:25-28. And LDS people—women especially—were hungry to hear that.

A couple more thoughts about these verses: (1) The assertion that Christ commands no one to depart from him is a direct contradiction, as far as I'm concerned, to the image promoted elsewhere in the scriptures of a Christ who says, "Depart from me you accursed, I never knew you." (2) The assertion that Christ commands no one to depart from his houses of worship poses a challenge to the practices of exclusion that have always surrounded LDS temple worship. One of my fantasies would be to see more discussion within the church—by which I mean the membership at large, not just the General Authorities—about the ways we regulate temple admission. For example, when family members are barred from witnessing a marriage, is that an affront to the inclusive spirit proclaimed in 2 Ne. 26:26? Could temple worship be conducted in less exclusionist ways while retaining whatever benefits the faith community derives from maintaining temples as a space apart?

26:33 Christ does only what is good, and all are invited equally to partake of his goodness. This, again, is a refreshing alternative to discourse about God as punitive or threatening (which we just got a lot of in the Isaiah chapters, actually). All are alike to God: black and white, male and female. Just as this verse posed a constant challenge to the black priesthood ban and all the teaching that upheld it, as well as LDS teachings and practices that supported racial segregation in society (a dimension of Mormon history we hardly talk about)—so too this verse now poses a constant challenge to teachings and practices that try to segregate men and women into "equal but complementary" roles, whether in the church or in society.

27:26-35 A vision of the Restoration as the coming of the Millennium. God promises to perform "a marvelous work and a wonder" that will revolutionize the world—that will turn things upside down, is how the Book of Mormon puts it (v. 27). It's a vision of reversal: forests will be turned into fields, fields into forests (v. 28). The deaf will hear; the blind will see; error will give way to understanding (vv. 29, 35). The poor will rejoice; there will be an end to oppression, exploitation, and injustice (vv. 30-32). This is the work to which Latter-day Saints are called.

28:16 Wo to those who turn aside and revile against what is good. A few verses later (v. 20), we get a variation on this message: Satan stirs people up to anger against what is good. Likening these verses to myself when I read them, they made me think of homophobia and campaigns against same-sex marriage. People revile and rage against relationships that I know on the basis of my own experience can be good.

28:21, 24-25 Wo to those who are at ease in Zion or who cry, "All is well!" I hear this as a warning against complacency or self-satisfaction within the church—an invitation to greater self-scrutiny and critical review of church teachings and practices. When the Saints resist that kind of scrutiny on the grounds that the leadership is inspired, so what they're teaching and doing must be what God wants—that's one way of crying "All is well!"

28:27-30 Wo to those who say, "We have received God's word; we need no more." In other words, we are never in a position to say: "This is God's final word on the subject." God gives line on line, precept on precept, here a little, there a little. Our understanding of God's will is always incomplete, always subject to change. If you accept the principle of continuing revelation laid out in these verses, it's impossible to be dogmatic. Or if you want to put it paradoxically: The only thing you can be dogmatic about is the impossibility of being dogmatic.

29:6-11 "A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible!" That always makes me laugh when I read it. I love the satire. In context, of course, these verses are an apologetic for the Book of Mormon itself (plus a promise of coming attractions: someday God plans to give us the records of the lost ten tribes, too). As important as that is in and of itself, as a way of splitting open the notion of a closed canon, I'm intrigued by how these verses point to an even more broadly ecumenical—if not universalist—understanding of revelation and scripture. God brings forth his word to all the nations of the earth (v. 7). All people, everywhere, are commanded to record the words that God speaks to them (v. 11). It's ambiguous, but verse 11 could be read as saying that every people will be judged out of the books God has given them. I don't want to attribute more to these verses than what they actually say; but there is a universalizing thrust to these verses that points us toward the possibility of recognizing other traditions' sacred texts as scripture.

30:9 As part of another millennial vision, another promise of justice and equity for the poor.

30:16-18 And here's my hard-edged political commentary for the day. I long for the world described in these verses: a world where secrecy is done away. No more secret CIA prisons. No more domestic spying and wiretapping. No more closed-door dealings among political and corporate elites, away from the eyes and ears and voices of the people whose lives they're impacting. To bring it closer to home: no more keeping of confidential files by the Strengthening Church Members committee. According to these verses, secrecy is one of the instruments by which evil stays in power; the revelation of all truth breaks that power by bringing all those secret files and confidential dealings and covert operations into the light.