38 And he leadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the wicked he destroyeth, and curseth the land unto them for their sakes.
When does a nation become so wicked that the Lord destroys it
and curses the land? Is it 80%? 90%? 100%? In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah
Abraham bargained with the angels that they would not destroy the cities if
there were 10 righteous people there, so we know there was less than 10 in
those cities (see Genesis 18:23–33). Alma and Amulek told the people of
Amonihah that it was because of the prayers of the righteous that they weren’t
destroyed, and if they cast out those righteous the Lord would not stay his
hand (see Alma 10:22–23). Samuel
the Lamanite told the people of Zarahemla that “when [they] shall cast out the
righteous from among [them], then shall [they] be ripe for destruction”
(Helaman 13:13–14). I wonder how bad the United States will need to get before
it’s our turn to be destroyed. I hope that we will be spared due to the
millions of members of the Church who are righteous, and good people of other
faiths as well.
I think Nephi is likely talking about physical lands here,
but really, this also applies to our eternal rewards as well. The Lord takes
the righteous to “precious lands,” eternal life with Him in His kingdom (see
John 14:2). Those who are wicked are not worthy of this reward so they are
“destroyed” spiritually, or locked out of Father’s company into a “cursed land.”
