Rebecca Burnham has served in various roles in the Primary, Sunday School, Relief Society, and Young Women’s organizations and currently serves as a temple ordinance worker, family history consultant and pianist. After her mission to Sao Paulo Brazil, she worked as a journalist until her first marriage, when she became a full-time homemaker. She is now a disability support worker by night and a community builder/entrepreneur/playwright and composer by day, who is recently launching Summit Stages, an initiative to build beloved community through the creation and promotion of musicals that lift and unite. She is passionate about building peace in an increasingly polarized world and writes about gospel topics at 4MutualRespect.

Enter Rebecca…

I’m a believing, prophet-sustaining member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also an egalitarian, deeply committed to the idea that we are all equals and it’s never okay to treat somebody as less than another. This creates tension because, while human equality is a fundamental doctrine of the Church that safeguards my covenants, some of its teachings and practices have seemed to be at odds with that ideal. Feeling that the Church should be the most-just institution in the world, I am challenged by the appearance of injustice within it. This has sent me on a quest for understanding. Lately, I’ve had a couple breakthroughs, both in my study of the interactions between the Nephites and their neighbours, and in my recent experience as a director casting a musical. I’m going to focus this post on my scripture study and save the theatrical director insights for another day.

My “Crazy” Theories

In order to set up my breakthroughs in the scriptures, I need to share one of what my children lovingly call my “crazy theories.” They have reason for using the word “crazy” – envisioning Abinadi as a time traveler will someday make a great musical, but it doesn’t enrich my credibility. Unlike that one, though, this theory is one I actually and actively believe, largely because it clarifies a bunch of things in the Book of Mormon narrative and because it resonates with some of the issues that trouble me today. I’m not asking you to believe that it’s true. I’m just inviting you to consider that it might be, and if so, what light it may shine on current struggles.

Possible Reservation of Leadership to Descendants of Nephi

Here goes: I believe that from the time of Nephi’s death around 544 BC (Jacob 1:9-13) to about 13 AD (3 Nephi 2:14-16), Nephites believed that only direct descendants of Nephi were qualified to lead as priesthood and government officers. The Lord had told Nephi,

“Thou shalt be a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren… and they shall have no power over thy seed” (1 Nephi 2:22-23).

I  believe that they understood that to mean that it was wrong for a non-Nephite to have power (or leadership) over a Nephite. So, the Mulekites, who were much more numerous than the Nephites, were barred from the high priesthood and from serving as kings or ruling judges. I think they were allowed to exercise leadership in their own communities, so they could be lower judges, but always subject to Nephite rule.

Would this have been galling to non-Nephites? Yes, to varying degrees and at various times. The Mulekite, King Zarahemla, yielded his throne to Mosiah I, so that gave his people a reason to accept the legitimacy of Mosiah’s reign. But there were still contentions and dissensions (Words of Mormon 1:12,16; Mosiah 2:32). King Benjamin used language aimed at dissolving the tension and uniting the people when he led them into a covenant with God and invited them to identify themselves with a new ancestry and name, that of Christ (Mosiah 5:7-11). This seems to have created peace for about a generation, but then contentions re-arose, especially during the reign of the judges.

Causes of Contentions and Dissensions

I think one cause for this recurring unrest was unrighteous dominion among some of the ruling class Nephites. While Alma had a servant’s heart and passed that legacy on to his descendants, power was now dispersed among many, and “it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion” (D&C 121: 39). There would be leaders among the Nephites who became more interested in protecting their ruling class status than they were in serving. They would hide their sins and begin acting in ways that brought them the support of their peers, to the disadvantage of others. While that would cut them off from their genuine authority and communion with God (D&C 121:36-38) it would still leave them in positions of institutional power, which they would abuse. Over time, the ruling class Nephites would become wealthier and better educated than others, while non-Nephites would be socialized to stay in their place. And all of this injustice would seem to be supported by a scriptural teaching that leadership was the God-given role of Nephi’s descendants.

A second cause of the unrest would be power-and-status-hungry individuals like Amlici, Nehor, Korihor, Amalekiah, Paanchi and Gadianton. They would exploit the situation for their own ends, stirring up mostly non-Nephites to anger against their rulers, and setting up rival churches or seeking political office, promising to turn things around when they were finally in charge. What they were really after was personal prominence, not justice. But the injustice that was already troubling the people gave them an instant following.

Ammonihah: A City of Mulekite Dissenters

With that background, I’m going to move on to my recent study of Alma’s and Amulek’s ministry in Ammonihah. First, I was struck by Amulek’s telling Alma, at first meeting, “I am a Nephite” (Alma 8:20). It occurred to me that, for that information to be worth communicating to Alma, it would need to be something Alma would not have expected. So ,it seems likely that Ammonihah was mostly inhabited by non-Nephites, that is, people under Nephite rule but not descended from Nephi. Who were they? The record gives some hints.

Just five years earlier, Amlici had risen up in opposition to the chief judge, demanding to be established as king and promising to overthrow the Church. Because he amassed such a following, I’m guessing his followers thought he had legitimate grounds for claiming the throne – which would make sense if he was a descendant of Zarahemla. But his claim would be contrary to the doctrine of Nephite rule, so that would be why he wanted to overthrow the Church. When he and his followers rebelled and took up arms, they were defeated and scattered west and north of the river Sidon (Alma 2:37). Now, five years later, the city of Ammonihah stood in the same area (Alma 8:3;6). Its people were studying to destroy the liberty of the Nephites. All of this and their treatment of Alma suggests that Ammonihah was a city filled with people who were angry with the Nephite ruling class and who experienced their own status as infuriatingly unjust.

Insights into Amulek

It also identifies Amulek as someone who cared a great deal about justice, so much so that he had thrown in his lot with those who were barred from the privileges he enjoyed. I find myself admiring his commitment at the same time that I am struck by his self-assessment:

“I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and marvelous power… I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God”.

Was Amulek someone who had dissented away from the Church because he couldn’t stand the way that it was treating his brethren as less than himself? Could he be saying here that his preoccupation with injustice, however sincere, had led him out of relationship with God, blinded him to saving truths, and cut him off from godly power? I find myself rejoicing that he was nonetheless able to hear an angel’s invitation to care for Alma and that this brought him to reestablish his connection with God. Amulek’s example means that it’s possible to care deeply about justice, to be bothered by injustice in the Church, and to be faithful, covenant-keeping and fully engaged in gathering Israel.

Alma’s (Familiar) Explanation for Priesthood Exclusion

The next thing that strikes me, and painfully, is Alma’s explanation for why some people are called as high priests and others not. This occurs in Alma 13, which is one of my very favourite chapters, so I am saddened to taste something bitter nestled in doctrine that I find so sweet. But here it is: Alma says some men were “called and prepared [to be ordained priests] from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works… while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren” (Alma 13:3-4). It sounds like he’s telling the non-Nephites of Ammonihah that they weren’t born into a line that were eligible for the priesthood because the Lord knew they were going to be hard-hearted and they would blind their minds against Him.

I am reminded of the justification incorrectly given in my lifetime for excluding Black men from priesthood ordination because they were supposedly less valiant in the premortal life. If it were true, that would mean the 2,000 stripling warriors were born into non-Nephite families because they fell short on the necessary faith and good works to be eligible for the priesthood, which seems ludicrous. And if the Lord foreordained people to the priesthood according to His foreknowledge of their faithfulness, there wouldn’t be any priesthood holders going astray and abusing their positions of authority. This was clearly not the case among the Nephites, nor has it been the case since the Restoration.

Yet, I can relate to Alma’s frustration with the Ammonihahites, given their virulent resentment and how it had given Satan “great hold upon [their] hearts” (Alma 8:9). I can see him standing before a simmering multitude who were heckling and spitting at him, while complaining about being treated as inferior because they are barred from leadership positions. It might occur to him that their behaviour proves their ineligibility. Then it could occur to him that God knew how they would be even before they were born, leading to the conclusion that this is why they weren’t foreordained to the high priesthood.

Why Did the Lord Permit This?

This seems to be an honest mistake. But why did the Lord allow it to happen? Not just here, but at any point between 544 BC and 13 AD? Why did He allow a culture of Nephite supremacy to develop and be defended in His name, to be a cause of suffering and oppression, continual offense, contentions, and just about every war the Nephites fought from Alma’s judgeship until the time of Jesus Christ? Why didn’t He just tell his prophets that the Nephites weren’t any better than the non-Nephites and that personal preparedness, not lineage, is what makes one eligible for priesthood leadership? Even if my speculations about Nephite history are out to lunch, the question matters because it also applies to modern inequities, like the 126-year priesthood ban for Black men in the Church, the historic teachings from my formative years about wives being subject to their husbands and responsible to obey them, and other apparent inequities that continue today.

Somehow, these questions are less threatening when I apply them to a situation in the ancient past, in a record that I know to be sacred because of how it has brought me closer to God. My perspective broadens and my fears become more manageable, allowing me to see principles that can help me with today’s issues. I have several thoughts that occur to me.

Possible Redemptive Reasons

First, the Lord may have had a redemptive reason for reserving priesthood ordination to a smaller group of people at that time. Nephi declares, “And the time cometh that he shall manifest himself unto all nations, both unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles; and after he has manifested himself unto the Jews and also unto the Gentiles, then he shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” (1 Nephi 13:42). Such scriptures seem to indicate that the Lord has different seasons for offering all the blessings of the gospel to different peoples. I might have difficulty understanding what His wise reasons for that might be, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. What I do feel assured of is that all His reasons are good, they are not about certain categories of people being “better” or “more valiant” than others, and He does not play favourites. I really don’t have any idea what possible redemptive reasons there might have been for reserving leadership status to descendants of Nephi for a time. I have, however, spent a great deal of thought and study on possible reasons for reserving priesthood ordination to men in my day. I’m not going to explore that issue here, but I recommend these posts. (The Two Trees: An LDS Revisiting of the Garden of Eden and Satan’s War on Women.)