Laban

Note: I assume that that most of my readers for this blog are also members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and so will be familiar with this story. If not, you can find it in the third and fourth chapters of 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/3?lang=eng

Continuing with violence, let's spend a little time on Laban in the Book of Mormon.

I recently saw a former member complaining about how good could Nephi or God really be, if they allow this cold-blooded murder. I can totally see the reasoning going the other way, with current members who believe they are good liking the idea of getting a chance to decapitate someone.

Usually, when we talk about the story, we focus on how important it was that they had the plates so that they could preserve their language and knowledge. I think we can take a moment to be grateful for the printing press and digital media storage and a variety of ways to maintain and share knowledge now. That was not the case for Lehi's family.

While we know that the brass plates contained writings of Isaiah and other records -- which obviously were recorded elsewhere because we got them in the Bible -- probably for proximity and scarcity, Laban's copy was the only option for Lehi's family. That importance is understood, and that understanding is important context.

We might not pay enough attention to the steps leading up to it. 

First, Laban was asked for the plates outright by Laman. Laban refused, called Laman a thief and threatened his life, but at this point Laban's head was still firmly attached to his shoulders.

Okay, he has no real motivation to give up the records, so the brothers move on to the next plan: offering Laban all of the family's gold, silver, and precious things in exchange.

We know the treasure appealed to Laban, because he stole it, and tried to have the brothers killed; then it's finders-keepers, right?

Laban could have kept his head and gotten treasure by just being a slightly better person. 

Generally when we are going over it, the emphasis is on how they didn't get the plates until Nephi was led by the Spirit; casting lots and coming up with their own plans did not work.

That is a fair point, but let's imagine that Nephi's first step was trying to be led by the Spirit... do you think he would have been led right to decapitation?

Laban appears to have been pretty despicable, but he still got multiple chances.

It's just not likely that you are going to get a chance to wail on someone. More to the point, you shouldn't want to.

We know that even when Jesus was driving the money changers from the temple, and had made a scourge, he still didn't hit the people selling doves or turn over that table; which could have terribly injured the birds. He just told their sellers to get the birds out. (John 2:16, and others)

More than once I have read stories in church magazines of members being robbed, and giving the money willingly or being kind to the mugger, and not only staying safe but sometimes helping the thief.

As familiar as I am with the urge to punch some jerk in the face, I know too much about the possibility of serious brain injury to do it under any but the most dire circumstances.

I'm not saying that in the event of someone raping or murdering your family that you have to let them. I do feel pretty comfortable saying that your wallet or the contents of your glove box or even your car are not worth someone else's life.

Too much desire to be violent -- to prove your toughness and strength and superiority -- well, these are the people who are more likely to annihilate their families than save them. It's not a short path to becoming a family annihilator, but along the way there are many thoughts and incidents that are not kind and loving.

I know sometimes a good fight looks fun, and there are times when self-defense is appropriate, but given our mandate to be like Christ, what kinds of thoughts and feelings should we be having?

Those will affect our actions.