As for the articles, I have read many articles discussing the killing of Laban, and I have no problem with Nephi’s actions. You are correct that I am probably projecting my own feelings, but the BoM clearly says it was very difficult for Nephi to kill another person, and we see evidence that Nephi was a good person, prone to question his own actions, so it is not completely unreasonable to think he may have had doubts during his life. This does not mean the doubts overcame the assurance he received from the Spirit — it just means he, as a good person, had doubts. We all have doubts about a lot of things — that’s a normal, human response.

If you want to have a calm, reasoned discussion with somebody on this blog or another blog, you may want to consider not starting out your comment with a claim that the person you are dealing with needs to “brush up” on their reading. You did not like it when I made the comment to you — and the point of doing so was to show how it feels when somebody else questions your reading of the scriptures. Doesn’t feel too great, does it?

As to Nephi’s psalm, my reading of the text is that he laments getting angry at his enemies/brothers. Nothing indicates (to me, at least) that he regret killing Laban or the many others he killed in defense of his people. I do keep up on my BOM reading, I’m well familiar with what you reference, specially since I just taught a lesson on it.

I’m assuming you have not read the suggested articles, as you make no mention of them, but they point out excellent justifications for Laban’s slaying. I do recommend you read them.

Were I Nephi I don’t think I would regret it. I’m a combat veteran, and although I didn’t directly kill anyone, I did indirectly (long story). I also have a (female!) LDS friend who killed in self-defense while we were in Iraq. Neither one of us has any regrets about taking those lives.

I will agree with you, however, that it is pure speculation as to how Nephi felt about it. Perhaps we both project our own psychological make-up on Nephi.

2 Nephi 4
17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.
19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.

This does not mean Nephi was not a good man — good men are more aware of their many failings. It is truly bad men who don’t ever question themselves. So, Nephi, being a good man, may, and I emphasize the word may because we don’t really know, have been haunted by his decision.

Carlos, you really need to brush up on your BoM reading.

Geoff, you need to brush up on your BOM reading.

1 Nephi 17

32 And after they had crossed the river Jordan he did make them mighty unto the adriving out of the children of the land, yea, unto the scattering them to destruction.
33 And now, do ye suppose that the children of this land, who were in the land of promise, who were driven out by our fathers, do ye suppose that they were righteous? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.
34 Do ye suppose that our fathers would have been more choice than they if they had been righteous? I say unto you, Nay.
35 Behold, the Lord esteemeth all aflesh in one; he that is brighteous is cfavored of God. But behold, this dpeople had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity; and the fulness of the wrath of God was upon them; and the Lord did curse the land against them, and bless it unto our fathers; yea, he did curse it against them unto their destruction, and he did bless it unto our fathers unto their obtaining power over it.

As an aside, my personal belief is that once Nephi knew that killing Laban was right, he never regreted doing it.

I recommend 2 articles from BOM studies:

“Killing Laban- The Birth of Sovereignty in the Nephite Constitutional Order”

and John W. Welch’s “Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban

Then consider the impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, authored by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and the second best-selling book after the Bible. UTC was thought to have been the fuel of the abolitionist fire in the 1850s. In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States alone. The book’s impact was so great when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln is often quoted as having declared, “So this is the little lady who made this big war.

I have wondered for the non-Abolitionist yankee solider what the reasoning was for fighting and dying for the North. I know the southerners were big on “states rights” and notion that home needed protection, and for “glory”. Southerners are big on glory btw. “Glory of the South and the honor of our Confederate Dead” is still mentioned with tears in the corner of some people’s eyes.

My ancestor is Ira Allen one of the principal characters in the Mountains Meadows Massacre. When I look at his picture I marvel that such a sweet looking demeanor could have done the atrocities he was reported to have done. Grandpa Ira had such a strong faith and was willing to do what was asked. He arrived with his family from Michigan, he brought with him the proceeds from selling both his Michigan farm and his New England farm as well. Brigham Young asked him to consecrate all of his money to the church to help pay for outfitting the wagons of the poor saints in Nauvoo. He did just that becoming a poor saint himself, as his children walked barefooted to Utah.

I wonder if his strength in obedience was ultimately his downfall in the Mountains Meadows tragedy. Grandpa Ira is an example to me that you must not blindly follow and beware of “wolves in sheep’s clothing”
even amongst the saints.

“Occurrences like this astonish us because they conflict with the image we have of man in harmony with himself, coherent, monolithic; and they should not astonish us because that is not how man is. Compassion and brutality can coexist in the same individual and in the same moment, despite all logic; and for all that, compassion itself eludes logic.”