Theosis in Book of Mormon (Val Larsen 5/5)

Dr Val Larsen concludes this conversation with a discussion of theosis in the Book of Mormon. We'll also discuss his upcoming projects. Check out our conversation...



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Theosis

Val  00:29  Now I'm going to go on to a shorter description now of probably what is the most explicit theosis story in the scriptures. Let's finish with a final, and in many respects, the best example of theosis in the Book of Mormon, the second Nephi, the second person named Nephi. The discussion here is shorter. It's all pretty explicit. This Nephi provides the clearest example of theosis in scripture. He becomes the chief judge at the death of his father, Helaman. In that purely human role, he's not a success. Almost all the Nephite lands are lost during his judgeship, and then only half of what's lost is regained. He's the main politician. He's the head of state. Few politicians could survive as a leader in the wake of a military collapse of that magnitude. Unsurprisingly, this second Nephi loses his position as Chief Judge. The text blames the people for this loss.



Val  01:28  The Book of Mormon is, among many other things, a sympathetic history of Alma family rule. I've got a whole theory about that, that the Book of Mormon is a handbook, a governance handbook for the Alma family that got repurposed at the very end. I'm going to have that written up at some point. But one of the things it does is it never frames the Alma family as doing anything wrong. I mean it does initially, when they deviate from Christ, and it shows that's the key part of the handbook: Don't ever turn away from Christ. It doesn't matter how much talent, success you have, you're a disaster unless you have Christ. That actually illuminates the book a lot to think of it that way. Anyway, even though the Book of Mormon is letting Nephi off the hook here, the people wouldn't have. You don't get to lose half your country, as head of state. It's very unlikely that his resignation was voluntary. The other political party, we see them take over. "You lost half our country. All right, goodbye." No longer the Chief Judge, Nephi takes it upon himself to preach the Word of God all the remainder of his days. We get the great story about Nephi and Lehi in the same prison where Abinadi was imprisoned, having experiences like Abinadi that are described in words that echo Abinadi's story. Nephi and Lehi are transformed into beings of light, like Abinadi was, and all the people they have ministered to become members of the Divine Council. If listeners want to know the details, they can read them in a 2023 Interpreter article that Newell and I wrote, "Theosis in the Book of Mormon."



GT  03:18  Not Newell Bringhurst.



Val  03:20  What's that?



GT  03:20  Not Newell Bringhurst.



Val  03:22  Newell Wright and I.



GT  03:22  Okay.



Val  03:23  Yes, my co-author. So let's move on to the apotheosis of Nephi, who is given all God's power to move within and affect the world. The predicate for this conferral of power is the alignment of Nephi's mind with the mind of God. God speaks to Nephi using the same words Lamoni used when he equated his wife with divine beings, "Blessed art thou." That's what he says to his wife after he comes up and he has that vision. So here's the quote,