9 How is it that ye have not hearkened unto the word of the Lord?
10 How is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen an angel of the Lord?
11 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in delivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record?
When Nephi got after his brothers about giving up the mission to retrieve the brass plates he cited Moses’ experience of helping the children of Israel escape the Egyptian army. This time they have had their own experiences with the Lord that they can remember, and that is what Nephi reminds them of. I don’t suppose Laman and Lemuel had really forgotten these experiences, but they sure weren’t thinking about them when they rebelled this time. Here is evidence that miracles or signs don’t necessarily convert. In 3 Nephi chapter 1 we read about the signs of Christ’s birth and how as soon as those signs were shown Satan sent “lyings” forth among the people, “to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen” (3 NE 1:22; emphasis added). Satan had fertile ground with which to work in Laman and Lemuel. They were all too willing to forget or disregard their own experiences with the Spirit. That’s a dangerous attitude to take with the Lord. Our very salvation depends on remembering His workings with the children of men. (See Moroni 10:3 for the importance of remembering)
- 3 Nephi 1:22
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