23 January 2012

2 Nephi 2
I wonder how young Jacob and Joseph were at this time. Lehi gives them much more counsel before his death than he does his older sons. I’m not sure if it is because they are young or simply because they are younger. Perhaps because they are not yet married unlike their older brothers.

Korihor makes the claim that the church taught that the children were fallen because of the sins of the parents. I have always balked at that because I did not believe it was true nor did I believe that the church taught it. I see from what Lehi teaches here how the Nephites may have incorporated that idea as doctrine. The kernel of truth is that because of the fall all men are fallen in that they inherit immortality. Beyond that no child bears the sins of their parents although they are often taught to perpetuate the sins of their parents. Mormon corrects that doctrine toward the end of Nephite history declaring that little children are alive in Christ and do not need baptism.

This discourse was spoken in the presence of all his sons and Lehi did not mean it only for Jacob.


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