I was reading the arguments and reasoning of Korihor in Alma 30:23-28. In verse 53 he confesses that his arguments, which came from the devil disguised as an angel, were pleasing to the carnal mind. That’s why he had success. And when you look at what he taught it’s the same old same old stuff that people argue today. Some people never learn. But his arguments are really slick. If I were carnally minded I would believe him, too.
- Foolish ordinances and performances are meant to usurp power over the people and keep them ignorant.
- People are not free, they are in bondage(because of the commandments).
- The ancient prophecies are false.
- We are all guilty because of a single parent’s transgression(not taught by the prophets)
- No one knows that Christ will come.
- The prophets and priests were leading the people away because of foolish traditions and their own desires so that they could live off of their labors and keep them from enjoying their rights and privileges.
- They were using foolish traditions, dreams, whims, visions, pretended mysteries to keep people afraid of offending an seen and unknown god.
My sister said she was watching George Carlin on Youtube and he made the exact same arguments. Carnally, this is common sense. I saw a video on Youtube where a former member of the church said he left the church because of tithing. He claimed we need our money more than the church does, that he got sick and tired of paying tithing and he is all the more richer for leaving the church and keeping all of his money. Carnally, the making and keeping of sacred covenants through sacred ordinances in temples sounds secret society-ish or even cultish. Carnally, anybody with charisma can get up and claim to be a prophet of God and know of future events and convince people to follow them. But spiritually we know that through the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things. He said he had a lot of success.
What this tells me, I’m only speaking for myself, is that the church members who believed Korihor and followed him were not using their gift of the Holy Ghost to learn God’s truth. Either they were not fully converted unto Christ in the first place or they followed the prophet just because he said so and never sought any confirmation from the Holy Ghost. At that time they were living the Law of Moses which required many animal sacrifices. I can see how that could get old fast especially when they had to give their best first born animals that they could keep for themselves. But the Anti-Nephi-Lehis were so much more firm in the gospel than the Nephites.
When we use our gift of the Holy Ghost to learn truth from error God becomes our anchor. If an anti-Christ comes along and starts preaching we can know he is false by the power of the Holy Ghost. If the prophet tells us something we can know whether or not it is true by the power of the Holy Ghost. Otherwise we just believe the next good-sounding thing, being tossed to and fro with the wind. Or am I missing something?