In Nephi we find that his father his mother and 3 brothers must flee Israel because his father had a vision of its destruction because of the stiffneckedness of the Israeli people and their wickedness in ignoring god's laws. (which is interesting why we can suddenly ignore them now?)
Nephi was the only son of Lehi to take him seriously as the other sons murmured to their father frequently. Apparently on this expedition Nephi and his brothers Laman and Lamuel must go back and acquire brass plates(which are important cause they have the family tree on them and some of god's laws) from Labam. Labam tells them to leave his house and calls them thieves and threatens their lives. Nephi recommends they aquire the property they left behind and use that to acquire the plates. Labam steals the property and kicks them out of Jerusalem. Now Nephi is going to try one last time and this is where I find things to really get troubling.
Nephi 4:
7 Nevertheless I went forth, and as I came near unto the house of Laban I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me, for he was drunken with wine.
8 And when I came to him I found that it was Laban.
9 And I beheld his sword, and I drew it forth from the sheath
10 And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.
11 And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.
12 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;
17 And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.
18 Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.
19 And after I had smitten off his head with his own sword, I took the garments of Laban and put them upon mine own body; yea, even every whit; and I did gird on his armor about my loins.
This I find troubling for several reasons
1. Nephi did not want to kill Labam yet the Spirit of the lord continued to press him to do it.
2. This is murder to attain property that is not yours.
Additionally I have heard of this kind of dialogue before.
http://www.schizophrenic.com/content/sc ... ing-voices
Command hallucinations
Another fairly common experience with regards to the voices is that they tell the schizophrenic to do certain things. Clinically, these are referred to as “command hallucinations�, and in some cases they can cause significant problems. The voices may tell the schizophrenic to harm or kill himself/herself or to harm someone else. Because the voices seem very real, they can be very compelling, making it difficult for the schizophrenic to resist acting on the commands
It is troubling to me because the story of Nephi has some characteristics of Schizophrenia and it is celebrated as a good thing
Now Nephi being a righteous man unto the lord caught a servant fleeing
30 And it came to pass that when the servant of Laban beheld my brethren he began to tremble, and was about to flee from before me and return to the city of Jerusalem.
31 And now I, Nephi, being a man large in stature, and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore I did seize upon the servant of Laban, and held him, that he should not flee.
32 And it came to pass that I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth, and as I live, even so that if he would hearken unto our words, we would spare his life.
and see how merciful Nephi is he spared him his life if he agreed to be kidnapped.38 And it came to pass that we took the plates of brass and the servant of Laban, and departed into the wilderness, and journeyed unto the tent of our father.
This is just the beginning and there are more troubling stories to come. This one stands out on many levels.
Question for debate:
Is the story of Nephi and Labam a troubling story?