[Artwork in this post by Wassily Kandinsky]

Previously in the Approaching Zion Series:

Childlike Consecration
Polygamy
Beauty and the Beast
The Doctrine of Christ
The Pure in Heart
One Heart and One Mind
A Refuge from the Storm
Go Ye Out of Babylon
The Seventh Seal
Watchmen and Waste Places
The Seven Heavens
The Kingdom of God on Earth
The Destiny of America

------

"Christianity is like quantum mechanics"

Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Rainy Day"

Who understands the atonement?

You'd think such an important doctrine would be something we could wrap our minds around. But after perusing the new book, Latter-day Saint Perspectives on Atonement (University of Illinois Press, 2024), I'm still baffled.

And the thing I am wrestling with is whether Christ's atonement should remain a mystery (a sacred secret), or should we try to unpack it and seek to comprehend the celestial mechanics behind God's redemptive work?

Confessing my befuddlement is not a promising start, I know. Whereas most people want to impress you with their knowledge, I merely show my ignorance.

But my intent was never to gain followers, but friends; I write with no ulterior motive other than to share this journey in good company.

I feel like Philip Goff who said, "Christianity is a little like quantum mechanics: nobody knows what on earth is going on."

Some say, "Tim, I don't need to look under the hood. It's enough for me to know that Jesus saved me."

I cannot argue with that; maybe experiencing the glow of divine love is half the answer. But I am like a little child who, standing beneath the Tree of Life and looking up at its fine branches, says to his friends, "Look! Let's climb it!"

Adults at some point stop climbing trees. (Why? Bad knees?) As adults we write treatises on trees from the park bench beneath the shade, away from the bugs and bark and bother of having to actually climb.

But do you remember what it felt like, as a child? The exhilaration of climbing a tree and reaching the top? Do you remember the view? It seemed as if we could see the whole world from our vaulted perch. And if you happened to discover a hidden nest, you felt like you were the richest person in the world.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is like the hidden nest protecting the precious eggs; if we wish to watch them hatch, we'll need to climb the Tree.

But let's not get carried away: jumping from limb to limb is not without peril; Satan fell from the branches and became spiritually paralyzed, the eggs he carried now cracked and spilt on the ground.

But since Christ told us to "become as a little child" (3 Nephi 11:38) ― and little children are, above all else, curious creatures ― let us dare to climb.

Let us ask the questions no one else asks.

The Stakes

   All houses wherein men have lived and died
   Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
   The harmless phantoms on their errands glide

​   ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Haunted Houses"

There is no rocket ship as worthy of exploration as the one made of cardboard and crayons.

The first thing we need for our grand adventure is better questions.  Because, let's be honest, our questions are lackluster.  They're unimaginative.  We're never going to slay any dragons (Rev. 12:7) with rote questions.

If our questions are poor, then so will be the answers we receive.

Philip Goff said:  "All Christians agree that Yeshua had some central role in the purpose of the universe.  But there is no officially agreed view on the mechanics of that." (Philip Goff, "My Leap Across the Chasm," Aeon, October 1, 2024.)

I am the sort of child who goes to God and asks where babies come from.  Please don't misunderstand: I love storks and the pageantry of Christmas reindeer who fly with glittery hoofs upon rooftops as much as the next fellow. 

For me, symbols and stories and fairytales become only more beautiful when we know the reality they're based on.

But this is a magicless world we find ourselves in, filled with doctrinal Scrooges "who are disposed to set up stakes for the Almighty. ... Men will set up stakes and say 'thus far we will go and no farther." (Joseph Smith, Discourse, 27 August 1843.)

Even the angels are stymied.  Is it any surprise we feel stuck? Darkened in our minds?  The angels don't progress further because they place limits on their faith.  "Why? Because of the tradition of them and their fathers in setting up stakes and not coming up to the mark."  Id.

That's the difference between God and angels ― God is always cutting the police tape and inviting us to walk all over the crime scene, seeing the blood and guts with our own eyes.

Angels have sensitive stomachs and can't tolerate such messiness (which is why God carries smelling salts, Eph. 5:2). 

Gethsemane is not for the spiritually faint-of-heart.

The Bloodletting of Faith

   Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,
   Being too full of sleep to understand
   How far the unknown transcends the what we know

​   ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Nature"

​Strange to say, I have observed a general lack of spiritual curiosity among my peers.  (But in Elders Quorum if someone brings up sports ― well, then the room lights up.)

But Zion is dead-in-the-water without curiosity.  How else will learn to become Saviors on Mount Zion?

The heavenly curriculum is tailored for inquisitive minds; it remains "sealed" to those who display no curiosity.

Experimentation is the hallmark of a curious mind (Alma 32:27).

Christ is the great teacher who welcomes curious initiates into His Classroom.  If we desire divine instruction, then we shall have to ask the subject-matter Expert.

   For the Spirit searcheth
   ALL things,
   yea, the deep things
   of God.

(1 Cor. 2.:10)

Can anything be "deeper" than Christ's infinite and eternal sacrifice?

Experimenters say like Joseph Smith, "What I am after is the knowledge of God, and I take my own course to obtain it." (TPJS, 337).

What have I learned in my spiritual laboratory?  What results have my experiments produced?

Well, for starters, I have learned that the atonement was the greatest working of faith this world has ever seen.

Let me explain.  Here on earth, there are quarantine restrictions.  These restrictions can only be unlocked from the inside.  Meaning, divine law prevents higher-dimensional intervention except in response to the faith shown below.

   By faith
   ALL things
   are fulfilled.

(Ether 12:3)

In other words, "if there be no faith among the children of men, God can do no miracle among them" (Ether 12:12).

I do not think we have grasped the idea of what faith truly is, or what it can do.  Or what Christ's accomplished.

Faith literally is to dream ("hope") the unseen into existence.

To seek what is beyond our knowing is the essence of our nature.  To gaze over the horizon is the beckoning of God, calling, "Come hither, child."

Faith does not have a perfect knowledge, but she dreams the impossible dream, and gives life to those who dare to dream with her.

And what was Christ's dream (His hope)?

   To draw all men unto the Father (2 Nephi 26:24).

Every Thorn Has its Rose

A gentle face―the face of one long dead―
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light

​ ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Cross of Snow"
​
If I cut myself on a rose bush and shout, "Darn thorn!" ― now that rose knows itself a little better, through this interaction (and I am reminded of my short temper).

You see, one of the ways we come to know ourselves is through our interaction with the world outside of us. How does the world around us respond to our presence?

For, how can we truly know ourselves unless we can perceive the impact (negative and positive) our actions have upon the world?

The atonement is the blossoming of awareness to the point of infinite knowing. And what do we find at the edge of infinity? What mystery lies beyond its shore? What are the secrets held within endlessness?

To know ourself is to comprehend infinity itself: to know every thorn that has drawn blood; every heart that has bled sorrow; every hurt that has held hope.

In other words, to know ourselves means to know all others: for we are One.

In this way we see that the Law of Redemption is the knowing of oneself through other selves.

This "knowing" is predicated upon:

- The law of Relationality
- The law of Resonance
- The law of Reciprocity

Wherever there is agency, there is expanding awareness. They are flipsides of the same eternal coin: one to choose, and the other to experience fully the multi-incarnational consequences of those choices, worlds without end.

Agency is the spiritual womb in which we incubate universes unborn; Atonement is reconciliation of the ensuing individuation and adaptation that occurs.

One becomes a Creator through redemption, for creation is the act of making One from the many, and the Many from the One.

Who can show us the way? We have latent potential that needs kindling. Who bears the flame? The Christos (the Greek word for 'anointed one' or 'messiah') is the light that shines in the darkness. The Christos is what lies within each of us.

Who among us has experienced the Seven Dispensations of the Soul? When we have joined the infinite stream of consciousness we call the Logos, we shall realize that there was never "we" at all, but only I AM.

And the mystery? That I AM (what the Jewish mystics call "Ein Sof") is shed abroad in infinite forms: it shines in a plurality of gods which the mystics call the "Sefirot," or vessels of God.

Apply these words to Christ:

And the vessel
that he made of clay
was marred
in the hand of the potter:
so he made it again
another vessel,
as seemeth good
to the potter
to make it.

(Jeremiah 18:4)

Nephi calls this "the doctrine of Christ" (2 Nephi 31:21).

What is the Doctrine of Christ? Is it baptism? Repentance? Endure to the end? Those are aspects of it, but not its heart.

The only and true
doctrine of the Father . . .

There is only one doctrine? What is it?

[There] is one God.

(2 Nephi 31:21)

Now, please don't misunderstand: there are many Personages (whom we may consider Gods), but they all of them make but One God.

There are many aspects to behold; I should not be content until I had seen God in all His parts, in all His ways.

But my favorite face of God is the one I find at the break of day, just before the sunrise, when the world holds its breath in anticipation, and I sense that same Christos ― that shines in the sun and moon and stars ― even the Spirit that shone in Jesus like a supernova ― shining within myself as well (D&C 88:49-50).

David's Star

Our pleasures and our discontents,
Are rounds by which we may ascend

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Ladder of St. Augustine"​

​Physicist Fred Wolf said, "God (or whatever name you want to call it) transforms consciousness into matter. Once this happens, matter inherently acts as a kind of reflection or mirror of the intelligence from which it sprung.

"As matter modifies itself over time, new information and intelligence is reflected in an ever-evolving universe."

(Fred Wolf, The Soul and Quantum Physics, 1998.)

That's my favorite explanation for "the glory of God" that I have found.

But this leaves the question open, "Why? Why was the atonement necessary?"

I think we have all been taught that we cannot be exalted alone, separate. Not even Christ could, alone. He needs us as much as we need Him.

But why? Why this focus on family? On kindred? On "my people" (2 Nephi 29:14)?

As I understand things, in order to be exalted, it requires a form of collective consciousness, a soul-group-consciousness that transcends our current carnal nature. This is hinted at in the scriptures with the promise that we shall "see as we are seen, and know as we are known."

The spiritual energy (intelligence or glory) that emerges from this type of group-soul generates a divine reaction, if you will, a creative expression that pierces into higher dimensions.

Christ serves as a kind of nuclear reactor in which we are made to burn as One, producing the spiritual energy needed for emergence (a form of exaltation that I have never heard described in the Church).

Christ is the Prime Meridian that binds our past and future selves together into a cohesive whole as we transition into a greater reality, preventing our spiritual dissolution as we are recreated into a new heaven in a state that might seem strange to us: a celestial unity consciousness.

Think of the symbolism of the Star of David, the two triangles joined together, one pointing up and the other pointing downward.

"[The Star of David] represents, among things, the descent of spirit into matter, and the ascension of matter to spirit, which is continually taking place within the circle of eternity.

"Six points are seen in the star, but the seventh cannot be seen; nevertheless the seventh point must exist unmanifested, it not having become manifest; because without a center there could be no star, nor any other figure existing."

(Frank Hartmann, 1888)

In a way, we are each the Star of David. We each possess an Invisible Center. There is within us the hidden Seventh center point around which the entire Star is balanced.

Following Christ means following that invisible center point. People think God is "up" as if higher dimensions are contained in the celestial north, as though the heavens were above the earth.

But that's not quite right: for the further out into outer space we climb, the farther apart things become as they spread through the cosmos.

Eden is eastward, which is to say, the higher dimensions are located inward: they are found in the subatomic planes which are more expansive, and greater, than anything we see manifested outwardly in the physical plane.

I personally take Christ literally at His word when He said the Kingdom is within us.

It is a Kingdom we share.

Mr. Merrill Goes to Washington

   Experience hath shewn
   that mankind are more disposed
   to suffer, while evils are sufferable,
   than to right themselves
   by abolishing the forms
   to which they are accustomed.

     ― Declaration of Independence

Last week I traveled to Washington D.C. for work.  On Friday night I sat alone on a park bench overlooking the Washington Monument (see photo above; all of the photos in this post are from my trip).

As I previously wrote in The Constitution Shall Hang by a Thread: Part 1, "America was to be a prototype of Zion, where people would learn to govern themselves."  How are we doing?

If you have read this blog at any length, you know I care deeply about America.  With the same scalpel I take to religion, I analyze surgically the affairs of our country.

I try to govern myself according to liberty's laws ― which is to say, to be a follower of truth (John 8:32).  For there is no genuine freedom outside of truth, in which it abides.

So last Friday night I wandered over to the park bench after visiting the Lincoln Memorial ("With malice toward none, with charity for all").

Jupiter perched in the sky over the left shoulder of the obelisk, brighter than I have ever seen it before.  There was hardly anyone around as I pondered the future of our nation.

Sitting in our nation's capital, I felt a range of emotions as I contemplated all that America has been blessed with ("Where much is given, much is required").  She had such promise, and continues to have much potential.

But at the same time, what would it take for America to "repent?"  What does "repentance" even mean, in a national context?

I thought of the "just and holy principles" that undergird the Constitution (D&C 101:78).  And mostly, I pondered on the destiny of this land, called by the Lord "choice" and "promised."

As you know, the future is not fixed.  The pillars of prophecy bend multi-dimensionally according to the interplay of man's agency and the overarching purposes of God.

This is the reason scriptural prophecy is not static.  Prophecy is typological.  Like rolling ocean waves, prophecy cycles through multiple iterations and re-creations, reshaping the shoreline ("The first shall be last and the last shall be first").

But nothing stirs a favorable wind more than faith.

That is why, more than any other barometer of our country's spiritual health, I look to faith.  Do we have faith in God's promises (see 2 Nephi 1:7)?  Do we treasure His word?  Do we believe God can yet use America as an ensign?

And not just the United States: for all of North and South America shall become ― after much tribulation ― the land of "Zion."

There, sitting on the park bench beneath the stars, I prayed for her and her people.  Our mortal lives are so fleeting; our time here is but a drop in the ocean.  But a drop can send ripples rippling across generations.

Looking up at the Washington Monument, I asked, "God, what can I do?  What time do we have left?  What can be done for America?"
​
And Jupiter, watching, was silent; and the waxing moon listened from her exalted station, and was silent.  And the heavens ― usually so chatty ― looked down in silence.

"From Where the Sun Now Stands"

   Whenever any form
   of government
   becomes destructive
   to these ends,
   it is the right of the people
   to alter or abolish it.

      ―​ Declaration of Independence

In 1877 the United States government broke the Walla Walla Treaty it had made with the Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, leading to the Nez Perce War.

Hoping to avoid being relocated by the federal government to an Indian Reservation in Idaho, the Nez Perce fled over 1,170 miles with their women and children.  They hoped to find sanctuary with the Lakota tribe who had gone to Canada under Sitting Bull.

The U.S. Army pursued the Nez Perce in an attempt to arrest their retreat to Canada.  The final battle was fought at Snake Creek in Northern Montana, at the base of the Bears Paw Mountains ― just 40 miles from the Canadian border.

Chief Joseph (the leader of the Nez Perce), seeing the survivors among his people who were freezing and starving, finally surrendered.

Chief Joseph laid down his weapons of war and surrendered to General Oliver Otis Howard of the U.S. Army on October 5, 1877.  In his immortal speech, Chief Joseph said:

"Hear me, my chiefs.  I am tired.  My heart is sick and sad.  From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
​
I share this not by way of history, but prophecy.  I prophesy that the ground upon which Chief Joseph stood and surrendered is holy, and has been divinely hallowed and consecrated for future use by the Lord's people.

   -----

I flew into D.C. on Wednesday and the first thing I did was take the Metro to the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence is housed (channeling my best Nicolas Cage).

Emerging from the subway onto Pennsylvania Avenue, I saw a remarkable statue of a woman (see photo below).  She was seated with an enormous book open in her lap, and I wished I were tall enough to see what was written upon its pages.  The statue was sculpted by Robert Aitken and is called "Future."

My eyes were drawn to the inscription at the feet of the woman ― a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest (and an appropriate perspective on the work that lies ahead as the Lord reshapes the fates of mankind).

   "What is Past is Prologue."

Going Bananas

​   A design to reduce them
   under absolute despotism.

​     ― Declaration of Independence

What do you think is the greatest threat to America?

Is it global warming?  Hyper-inflation?  Urbanization?  Nuclear war?  Korean K-pop bands?  (Looking at you, Gangnam Style.)

No, it is something far worse than that.  Let me tell you a story about bananas.

In the 1950s the dominant specie of bananas was the Gros Michel.  Unfortunately the global banana supply became infected with the Panama Disease ― a fungal pathogen that destroyed the entire worldwide crop of bananas.

The best scientific minds in the world attempted to save the banana.  But despite their best efforts, they were helpless in the face of the disease.  There was no cure, no way to save the household banana.

So we pivoted and made the conscious decision to abandon the specie entirely, which became extinct by 1965.

That's right: the bananas we buy at Walmart today are not the same as the bananas children used to take to school during the era of Howdy Doody.

During the 1960s, banana growers around the world searched for a new genetic line, one that was resistant to the fungus.  They chose the Cavendish Cultivar, which is the banana we know and love today (Bananas Foster, anyone?).

The Cavendish specie was chosen because it was immune to the Panama disease.

But in the process, there was a devil's bargain struck.  The Cavendish came from a monoculture with no genetic diversity.

You see, the Cavendish fruit is sterile and seedless.  New plants are cloned from existing ones (this is why all bananas are identical).

If a new disease infected the Cavendish, it would infect them all.

And this brings us back to my original question.  The greatest threat that America faces, in my opinion, is extinction.

It is my current understanding that, due to a number of contributing factors, the human population shall be diminished to the point they "shall be few, that a child may write them" (Isaiah 10:19) (by comparison, compare how few people survived the global cataclysm of the Flood).

But I am less concerned with demographics as I am with the spiritual well-being of the Lord's people.

One of the greatest spiritual threats we face is analogous to the Cavendish banana, by which I mean, a lack of spiritual diversity.

Monopolies and Monocultures

   We hold these truths
   to be self-evident,
   that all men are created equal.

      ― Declaration of Independence

I visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and passing between the chasm I saw inscribed on the side of the wall, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

In order to weather the coming storm, we must not create a monoculture; we need the spiritual diversity of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation.

Just as Noah gathered two of every kind, we need to preserve all the diversity and wildness that God has cultivated among us (the allegory in Jacob 5 is a good description of the cross-pollination that is necessary for the vineyard's fruit to be preserved).

​Zion is the promised heritage of all peoples ― it is the restoration and reconciliation of all past technologies, histories, philosophies, traditions, and truths ― into one great whole.

This is what the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times is about.

   And it shall come to pass
   in the last days, that the
   mountain of the Lord’s house
   shall be established
   in the top of the mountains,
   and shall be exalted
   above the hills;
   and all nations
   shall flow unto it.

(Isaiah 2:2)

These words have been co-opted by the Church's neo-conservative temple theology.  But the Church is not the predecessor-in-interest of Zion: the remnant of Jacob is (and from there, to all the peoples of the earth).

This includes the Hindus, and the Buddhists, and the Muslims, and the New Age folks, and all persons of goodwill who are willing to flee Babylon.

They shall come together to create something quite different than anything we have yet seen ― and it will certainly not resemble the hierarchy of the Church (which has made itself into a Cavendish religion, a monoculture).

​Lance Weaver wrote, "The LDS Church was never intended to be the stone cut out of the mountain.  We were merely the catalyst; an Ensign to the nations; a harbinger of the Father commencing His work which is so much larger, and broader, and grander than anything the Church teaches."

The great division to come is not between different beliefs, but different political philosophies on how people should be governed.

It will be between freedom and authoritarianism, between might and meekness, supremacy or service to the least of them.

If you want to find God, go searching among those who you think are least deserving; look among the groups you believe to be furthest from Him; search in the midst of those you think warrant His wrath most.

For what I have learned is that God awaits us ― "hidden" as it were ― where we least expect, among those we find most cringeworthy.  That's the point.  For, if we can find Him there (with "them"), then we can find Him in ourselves.

Christ taught this principle by fellowshipping with publicans and prostitutes; He invited us to find Him in prison (Matt. 25:36) and among prodigals (Luke 15:20).

Look for the Standard of Truth among those you believe to be in error; hoist the Title of Liberty foremost in your own heart.

"Be Still"

​   We mutually pledge to each other
   our Lives, our Fortunes,
   and our sacred Honor.

​      ― Declaration of Independence

The first Person to pledge their "sacred Honor" was Christ.  He said:

   Father, thy will be done,
   and the glory be thine
   forever.

(Moses 4:2)

If you began reading this post hoping to hear about Ezra's Eagle or something ― I am sorry.  There is something more important I wish to end with.

There is a Taoist saying that goes, "Power gathers where there is stillness."

In a coming frantic day when "all things shall be in commotion," we can spot the true followers of Christ by their "stillness."

   Let your hearts be comforted
   concerning Zion;
   for all flesh is in mine hands;
   Be still and know
   that I AM
   God.

(D&C 101:16)

As I rose from the park bench Friday night, I felt stillness.  Stillness holds tension: the tension of past and future, good and bad, and the hurt of hope.  Stillness wraps it all together in peace.

If there is one thing America needs, it is the peace of God.  She is a boiling cauldron of contention.  She will face greater trials than she has yet known.

As we navigate the coming tribulation, we may rely on Christ's promise of peace (John 14:27).

Peace comes from harmony; but harmony is not unison; oneness is not sameness.

Peace arises simply from acceptance.

Acceptance is the precondition to genuine understanding; and understanding is the key to loving one another.  Love is the primary giver of peace, which passeth all understanding.

On the other hand, the law of fear is simply rejection.

​Rejection leads to separation, and separation leads to alienation.  We cannot be reconciled to God while we are alienated from each other, and from our own divine nature.

When we go against the Savior's counsel and try to "resist evil" (Matt. 5:39), we shall discover it only strengthens it.  But accepting evil?  Understanding it?  It will have nowhere to hide and no one to fight.

Evil cannot be quarantined; isolating evil only multiplies it.  Evil cannot be destroyed.  But it can be healed.

Jesus showed us the way to heal evil is to apply pure love and charity.

Are we ready to follow Chief Joseph's example?  Are we ready to follow the Savior's?

​​The world dreams of a utopia where peace and plenty will fill the earth through societal reforms, government programs, welfare states and manifestos ― not realizing that Zion cannot be brought to pass by regulation and social engineering.

It is the province of the meek and pure in heart to find paradise, even those who are the weak things of the earth.

   I call upon the weak things
   of the world, those who are
   unlearned and despised,
   to thresh the nations
   by the power of my Spirit;

   And their arm shall be my arm,
   and I will be their shield
   and their buckler.

(D&C 35:13-14)

And one day, when the lion lies down with the lamb, it will be "a little child [who] shall lead them" (Isaiah 11:6) ― a promise quoted by the angel to Joseph Smith in 1823.

​The thing that keeps the world from a paradisiacal state is enmity, which is the opposite of charity.

Do you want to be Zion?  Then lead the way to a new earth that is enmity-less.

   And in that day
   the enmity of man,
   and the enmity of beasts,
   yea, the enmity of all flesh,
   shall cease from before my face.

(D&C 101:26)

Looking forward we see on the horizon a holy city waiting to be built in this Promised Land.

As Mormon showed us, the greatest adventure of our lives will be learning to love the unlovable (Mormon 3:12).

Xoxo, Tim

Part 1: The Sword of Laban

Angels and Answers

I am the sort of person who, when an angel appears, asks to speak to their supervisor.

When I receive a spiritual prompting, I always triple-check the math and ask the Spirit to show its work.

It's not because I lack faith or have a doubting heart.  No, the reason I am a stickler is because I want to know whether something comes from God or not.

None of us wants to be deceived.  That is why, if an angel were to tell me my clothes were on fire, I would politely thank them and seek a second opinion.

For remember, we do not follow angels or spiritual impressions: we follow God.

The worst form of delusion is to believe we are led by God, when in fact we are being influenced by our own desires and/or false spirits.

Nephi's Wrestle

​Several years ago I wrote The Sword of Laban and said, "How can we make sense of Nephi killing Laban?"  Just because it's been two years, don't think I've forgotten!  I have continued to seek for an answer.

Perhaps things would have gone differently for Nephi if he had applied the teaching from 1st John when the voice of the Spirit prompted him to slay Laban:

   Beloved, believe not
   every spirit,
   but try the spirits
   whether they are of God.

(1 John 4:1)

I am aware that some people interpret the words "smote off his head" to mean Nephi didn't behead Laban.

But that's not really the issue.  The record states Nephi was instructed by the Spirit to "slay" Laban, and Nephi did so (1 Nephi 4:26).  So whether death occurred by decapitation or by blunt force trauma (or some other means), it doesn't matter.

Instead, let's focus on what's important: not the manner of Laban's death, but the lesson the Spirit taught Nephi ― which can be summarized, I think, as "the end justifies the means."

Is that a correct principle?

   And it came to pass
   that the Spirit said unto me
   again: Slay him . . .
   [for] it is better
   that one man
   should perish than that
   a nation should dwindle
   and perish in unbelief.

(1 Nephi 4:12-13)

Nephi was young; he had a lifetime before him to learn the doctrine of Christ.  At this formative stage, Nephi's spiritual worldview was still governed by the Law of Moses. 

So it shouldn't surprise us that the Spirit spoke to him in very Mosaic terms.  Nephi's brain was not wired to think in terms other than 'the Law.'

But you and me?  We do not take counsel from Moses, or from a law of carnal commandments.

So whenever the spirit speaks to us in terms of the lesser law ― the law God gave the Israelites, remember, as a consequence of their hard hearts, swearing they would NOT (!) enter into His rest (i.e., presence) (D&C 84:24) ― we should probably move on and get another opinion.

Anytime I feel myself channeling a spirit that resonates with the Law of Moses, I take a step back and ask myself if there isn't a better, more excellent way.

People who rely upon the Law of Moses to justify their worldviews are like those who rub their hands together trying to create heat from friction; I prefer to warm my hands by the light of the Lord's fire.

And so, since the time I wrote The Sword of Laban two years ago, I have continued to ponder this problem (yes, I know, I know; I am glad you have better things to do with your time!).

But for me, Nephi's killing of Laban presents a big doctrinal goose egg.  Today, members of the Church commit all kinds of mischief in the belief that "the Spirit told me to."

The Subjectivity of Spiritual Matters

While it is wise to trust our spiritual experiences, I do not believe we should cling too tightly to them.  Better to hold them loosely so we are prepared to let them go when something greater comes along.

I worry about people who are so committed to their versions of truth that they fail to realize that those truths were never final; they were merely stepping stones.

Our spiritual experiences are incremental and educative, never fully-fleshed.

Nobody talks about the fact that spiritual knowledge is subjective.  Revelation is contingent upon the capacity and beliefs of the person who receives it.

With our designed mortal limitations, most everything we receive from heaven is watered-down so our finite minds can grasp it.

That is why whenever God speaks, something is lost in translation.  Heaven bends to our capacity to understand.  Spiritual visions, visitations, and impressions are communicated only imperfectly due to our difficulties with spiritual comprehension.

And so whatever we think we have received from God, know that there is more.  All that we have been given will either be (1) refined or (2) replaced as we continue along the path.

Bit by bit, our minds can become expanded and enlightened to consider new dimensions and possibilities.  Then:

   Their wisdom shall be great,
   and their understanding
   reach to heaven;
   and before them
   the wisdom of the wise
   shall perish,
   and the understanding
   of the prudent shall come
   to naught.

(D&C 76:9)

In other words, if you saw Jesus today, and continued to grow in further light and truth, I should expect Him to look different to you tomorrow.

Look For a Third or Fourth or Fifth or Sixth Option (especially before smiting off someone's head)

​Nephi's adrenaline was through the roof.  He was under time constraints, wary of the guards.  He felt lots of pressure.  Clearly these were not ideal circumstances for him to calmly receive divine instruction.

I do not fault Nephi, but wish only to learn from his experience.

Nephi apparently believed he either had to kill Laban to get the plates, or leave Laban alone and fail in his mission.  But this was a false dichotomy.

Practice Pointer: Whenever we feel stuck between two options, take a step back.  Breathe.  There are always more possibilities, I promise.

Nephi mistook Laban as an obstacle; he was sore that Laban had stolen his father's treasure.  But other people are never the problem.  They serve as catalysts for us to exercise our agency.

Look carefully at what was going through Nephi's mind:

   1.  "I knew that [Laban] had sought to take away mine own life" (1 Ne. 4:11).

   2.  "He would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord" (1 Ne. 4:11).

   3.  "And he also had taken away our property" (1 Ne. 4:11).

Do you see what Nephi is doing?  He is listing charges.  He is making his case against Laban.  Why Laban deserved the death penalty.

By whose standard?  Christ's?  No, no no:

   4.  "I also knew that the law [of Moses] was engraven upon the plates of brass" (1 Ne. 4:16).

You see how Nephi was focused on "keep[ing] the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses" (1 Ne. 4:15).

But thanks to Christ, the Law of Moses has been fulfilled and has no power anymore over us (see, umm, anything written by Paul; see also, 3 Nephi 15:4-5, where Jesus says "the law in me is fulfilled; therefore it hath an end."

Laban was unconscious, so he posed no immediate threat.  Nephi's life was not imperiled at that moment.

If you'll forgive me taking some creative liberties, I'd like to present an alternate scenario of what could have happened.

I write the following to honor the man, Nephi, who would go on to become one of the great disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Nephi 4: Alternate Version
 
And it came to pass I did obey the voice of the Spirit, bowing myself to the earth, and placed my hand upon the hair of the head of Laban, and raising my right hand I cried, O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have mercy upon this son of Judah who has stumbled and lost his way, drunken upon the iniquity of his fathers!  For who is a God like unto you, even unto the pardoning of iniquity and passing over the transgression of thy people?  O God, turn aside thine anger; for thou art a God of justice, but thou delightest in mercy.

And having thus prayed, I, Nephi, arose and removed the garments from Laban as a mother would her child, leaving his underclothing to hide his shame; for naked had he entered the world, and I refrained from taking him out therefrom: for vengeance is mine, saith the Lord God.

And I took the garments and the sword of Laban, and put them upon mine own body; yea, every whit; and I did gird on his armor about my loins.  And this I did in recompense for the treasure he had taken of the possessions of my father.

And I went forth unto the treasury of Laban, being led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.  And as I went forth towards the treasury of Laban, behold, I saw the servant of Laban who had the keys of the treasury.

And I said unto him, Brother, the Lord God of Israel hath delivered your master into my hands this night.  Verily, I say unto you, that it is the commandment of God that I carry the engravings, which are upon the plates of brass, to my father beyond the walls of the city into the wilderness.

And the servant of Laban began to tremble, and was about to flee from before me.  But I called out, saying, Peace; I have spared the life of your master, who even now has fallen to the earth, drunken with wine.  Do you wish to serve such a man as he?  Rather serve God, who desireth that all men be free men.  Will you not come with me, my brother, and serve the God of our fathers?  For is it not better that one man should lose his servant, than for a nation to dwindle and perish in unbelief because of the traditions of their elders?

And now I, Nephi, being a man large in stature, and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore I did place my trust in God, and did lower myself to the earth, even to the dust thereof, and did speak an oath unto him, that he need not fear; that he should be a free man like unto us.

And it came to pass that Zoram did take courage at the words which I spake.  Now Zoram was the name of the servant; and he promised he would help me carry the engravings, which were upon the plates of brass, down into the wilderness.​