Biase of friends

Nephi writes 1st and 2nd Nephi with clear bias, and if you are aware of the authorship the leanings are evident throughout the auto-biographic work. But that isn’t cause for bold-faced rejection of what he has said; we have the opportunity to recognize his voice and some of his bias and yet still value what he chooses to teach us; we can have friends who exhibit faults and yet are still our friends, and still bring value to our lives. Perhaps we can in fact better value them for truly understanding the facets, both rough and smooth, of their voices.

Some of the passages from Nephi’s first book which demonstrate both his biase and his character are these:

1 Nephi 6:4 For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

1 Nephi 7:6 And it came to pass that as we journeyed in the wilderness, behold Laman and Lemuel, and two of the daughters of Ishmael, and the two sons of Ishmael and their families, did rebel against us; yea, against me, Nephi, and Sam, and their father, Ishmael, and his wife, and his three other daughters.

1 Nephi 15:8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

1 Nephi 15:9 And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

1 Nephi 15:5 And it came to pass that I was overcome because of my afflictions, for I considered that mine afflictions were great above all, because of the destruction of my people, for I had beheld their fall.

1 Nephi 17:0 Irreantum or many waters–The Lord commands Nephi to build a ship–His brethren oppose him and are confounded.

1 Nephi 22:31 Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen.

Nonetheless, for all his apparent aloneness for much of his early life as a disciple of Christ, he has a courage and intrepid spirit that I hope to develop myself.