Comments on 2 Nephi 32

     Nephi continues the theme from the preceding chapter of
enduring to the end.  But, he is specifically targeting people
who don't really want to endure to the end (v. 1-8d).  Rather,
they ignore what Nephi says about what they should do (v. 2) and
choose "unbelief...wickedness...ignorance" instead (v. 7).  They
have abandon prayer (v. 8e-g) when this really is how they would
find out what they should do (v. 9).

     I would arrange verses 1-8d as an inverted parallelism,
which differs somewhat from Lynn's arrangement.  My arrangement
requires mixed antithetical and synthetical parallelisms while
Lynn's is more strictly synthetical.  My arrangement is as
follows:

     1 And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye
     ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye
     should do after ye have entered in by the way.  But, behold,
     why do ye ponder these things in your hearts?

          2 Do ye not remember [?] 

               that I said unto you that after ye had received
               the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of
               angels? And now, how could ye speak with the
               tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?

                    3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy
                    Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of
                    Christ.  Wherefore, I said unto you, feast
                    upon the words of Christ; for behold, the
                    words of Christ will tell you all things what
                    ye should do.

                         4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken
                         these words, if ye cannot understand
                         them it will be because ye ask not,
                         neither do ye knock; 

                              wherefore, ye are not brought into
                              the light, 

                              but must perish in the dark.

                         5 For behold, again I say unto you that
                         if ye will enter in by the way, and
                         receive the Holy Ghost, it will show
                         unto you all things what ye should do.

                    6 Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and
                    there will be no more doctrine given until
                    after he shall manifest himself unto you in
                    the flesh.  And when he shall manifest
                    himself unto you in the flesh, the things
                    which he shall say unto you shall ye observe
                    to do.

               7 And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit
               stoppeth mine utterance, 

          and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the
          wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness
          of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor
          understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them
          in plainness, even as plain as word can be.

     8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder
     still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak
     concerning this thing.

The focus of the text is v. 4-5 where Nephi tells them plainly
that their deliberate ignorance of his words are leading them off
towards spiritual death.  

     The parallelism of v. 3 and 6 suggests the core doctrinal
issue is receipt of personal revelation regarding the doctrine of
Christ.  Those who receive the personal revelation (v. 3) accept
and adhere to the doctrine of Christ (v. 6), while those who do
not end up wandering aimlessly off into the dark (v. 4-5).  
     The underlying principle of human psychology here is one we
grapple with today, one of personal testimony.  You can preach at
a person all day long, as Nephi has done to the Nephites, but
those intellectual and theological principles don't bear any
weight until the person hearing them has a spiritually convicting
experience.  And a person can't have a spiritually convicting
experience unless they want to.  
     Its up to the individual, and here Nephi states that is
clearly the case, and he washes his hands of the matter.  But, in
doing so, laments over the fact that so many choose this route
(v. 7).

v2 "speak with the tongue of angels", see my comments on 31:13-14
above.

v9 "pray always", I would assume by this Nephi means we should
pray formally and informally in a consistent fashion over time. 
Such as "Always pray daily" or "Always have personal prayer in
the morning and evening" or "Always pray over your food".  We
obviously cannot be literally praying always.



Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller <kurtn@cybcon.com>.  All rights 
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