Come Follow Me (Alma 32-35)
The cancel culture seems terribly au courant because it hit so fast and almost feels like it came out of nowhere, but there's truly nothing new under the sun. Cancel culture was alive and well and living in Zarahemla in 74 B.C.
Well. Alive and well and living not far from Zarahemla, where the Zoramites had settled when the predominant religious teachings offended them. After removing themselves from the main body of Nephites, they took the loveliest parts of the teachings - the salvation of man - and gave them a comfortable carnal twist, removing all those pesky commandments which may draw self-reflection and recognition of a need to change. (See Alma 31)
When Alma begins to teach the rejected Zoramites, the unhip crowd who gauchely shopped at discount stores and didn't fit into the opulence of the Zoramite synagogues... wouldn't you think the hip crowd would have been relieved? "Phew! Now they have a place to be away from us - we can be well rid of them!" they might have said to themselves, congratulating themselves on their campaign of condescension and derision.
But this is where human nature is a bit of a head scratcher. Indeed - why do some belief systems insist on more than simply separating themselves from those they've deemed odious and offensive? Why is it never enough to simply coexist in different air space?
A pattern plays out whenever the hubris of humans gets the better of them, and a group of them decides their erudite ways must be protected from the unenlightened, the uninformed, unbelievers, or the uncool.
They separate themselves: "Now the Zoramites were dissenters from the Nephites..." (Alma 31:8)
They exclude any deemed "less than" or "other": "... the poor class of people... were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel - Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as filthiness; therefore they were poor; yea, they were esteemed by their brethren as dross; therefore they were poor as to things of the world; and also they were poor in heart." (Alma 32:2-3)
They constantly take the temperature of public opinion so they can use their power and influence to stay ahead of any deviations: "... after the more popular part of the Zoramites had consulted together concerning the words which had been preached unto them, they were angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft;... Now their rulers and their priests and their teachers did not let the people know concerning their desires; therefore they found out privily the minds of all the people." (Alma 35:3, 5)
The technical term today is focus group. And "destroy their craft" - wow. That phrase reveals so much: I've come to believe that phrase describes people who have too much invested in their lifestyles to ever consider changing. Next time you read about the Pharisees in Jesus' day, look at their actions through the lens of how Jesus' teachings - if truly from God - would "destroy their craft" - completely dismantling the world they'd built for themselves.
Exclusion from exclusive spaces becomes insufficient; complete expulsion from the community is the only recourse left: "... after they had found out the minds of all the people, those who were in favor of the words which had been spoken by Alma and his brethren were cast out of the land; and they were many; and they came over also into the land of Jershon. And it came to pass that Alma and his brethren did minister unto them." (Alma 35:6-7)
And the piece de resistance is truly stunning:
"Now the people of the Zoramites were angry with the people of Ammon who were in Jershon, and the chief ruler of the Zoramites, being a very wicked man, sent over unto the people of Ammon desiring them that they should cast out of their land all those who came over from them into their land." (Alma 35:8)
Say, what? You don't even want them to be able to exist peaceably somewhere out of your myopically corrupt eyesight, where they can't bother you in the least? You're offended that another community is willing to take them in and help them become reestablished?
But wait. Just when you think people can't get any goofier, or more arrogant or self-centered...
"Now this did stir up the Zoramites to anger against the people of Ammon, and they began to mix with the Lamanites and to stir them up also to anger against them. And thus the Zoramites and the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of Ammon, and also against the Nephites." (Alma 35:10-11)
Sigh. There is so very much "stirring up" in this book. Must humans always take their umbrages elsewhere and serve them up to someone else in order to not just create an ally, but also create a common enemy?
Cancel culture isn't new. Focus group polling isn't new. Exclusion, expulsion, and propaganda to create common enemies isn't new. Every wretched thing we see in the human condition isn't new, because it all comes not from a Creator - but from a destroyer and an imitator. Satan can only retool his message and methods over and over across the generations - like Orcs being retooled beneath Middle Earth.
I'd love to think humans could recognize the patterns in those messages and methods, and be wiser than previous generations. But then I read the news.
If it weren't for the redeeming message of Jesus Christ, the drearily predictable cycles would depress me. But these books of scripture teach me the patterns, and remind me we have a kind Father in Heaven. He carefully lays out His plan for us, as well as the enemy's, so we can recognize the counterfeit and not fall for it.
And because of these books, I know who ultimately wins. (Spoiler alert: it's Jesus. The answer is always Jesus.)
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