1 Nephi 1:18-20 -- On Mockery

"Therefore, I would that ye should know, that after the Lord had shown so many marvelous things unto my father, Lehi, yea, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, behold he went forth among the people, and began to prophesy and to declare unto them concerning the things which he had both seen and heard.
And it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them; for he truly testified of their wickedness and their abominations; and he testified that the things which he saw and heard, and also the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world.
And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."
1 Nephi 1:18-20


What stuck out to me today about these verses was the mockery that Lehi encountered when he went out to warn the people and tell them what the Lord had shown him. Later, when we read about Lehi's dream we learn that the people in the great and spacious building were mocking the people going to the tree of life, and this mockery seems to precede violence on many occasions throughout the scriptures. It seems like one of the beginning steps in rebellion against God. It's almost dehumanizing, not in saying this is an alien or something, but in definitely setting the object of mockery aside as some group other than one's own. "Oh, look at those peculiar people over there..." that sort of thing. I guess it is good that we are supposed to be exactly that. :)

Today, let's try to listen to prophets rather than mock (or try to kill) them. Let's try not to set people apart from us as a method of ridicule. Let's work on love and kindness and finding ways to help.