1. Now having little success amongst
them, this man went over to the land of Jershon also, to preach among my
people, the people of Ammon, who are the people which came out from among the
Lamanites.
2. But behold my people were more
dogmatic than many of the Nephites; for they took him, and bound him, and
carried him before Ammon, who was a high priest over that people.
3.
And it came to pass that Ammon would not bring him to trial within the
courts. For Ammon understood that a man
must not be convicted for his beliefs.
It was righteousness to allow a man to think and speak according to the
persuasions of his own conscience.
4. Therefore, Ammon released him,
saying: Friend, though I shall never
agree with your teachings, nevertheless it is by allowing ye the freedom to
speak as ye please that I receive the authority to speak as I please. Should I censor another, then would it not be
justice that some greater power shall burden me with censorship as well? I expect that ye shall have no success
amongst my people, nevertheless ye are free to go and speak as ye will.
5. And it came to pass that Ammon’s words
were verified, and he found no success among our people, wherefore their silent
response did carry him out of the land.
And he came over into the land of Gideon, and began to speak unto them
also; and here he did not have much success, for he was taken and bound and
carried before the high priest, and also the chief judge over the land.
6. And it came to pass that the high
priest said unto him: Why do ye go about
perverting the ways of the Church? Why
do ye teach this people that the prophets shall lead them astray, to interrupt
their comfort and rejoicings? Why do ye
speak against the prophecies of the holy prophets?
7. Now the high priest’s name was
Giddonah. And Korihor said unto him: I
did not say the prophets shall lead the people astray. Rather, I said that the prophets might lead
the people astray. And I said this
because I recognize the fallacy of placing trust exclusively upon any leader;
especially one who has been established at the head based solely on tradition
and not on merit.
8. And I said it because I mourn for
the people who bind themselves down under the ordinances and performances which
are laid down by a long hierarchy of priests who demand perfect obedience to
their authority as if they have the power of God. Yet these priests offer no greater knowledge nor
power of any kind, save that which is had among all people of every
persuasion. Wherefore these priests
usurp power and authority over them, to keep them in ignorance, fearful that
they shall lose their families and their eternities, if they do not do
according to their words.
9.
Ye say that this people is a free people.
Behold, I say ye have placed them in bondage. Ye say that those ancient prophecies are
true. Behold, I say that ye have written
the prophecies of specific events after the events occurred.
10. It is obvious in the record for
those who can read the scripts of ancient writ that thou hast taken the former
writings and rewritten into the record that which supports thy cause. And from the record, thine opponents’ voices
hath been censored. Thy prophecies forecast
future events so vague and so ambiguous that any situation may be made to
support thine claim.
11. Behold, has there not been
earthquakes, tempests, floods and fires from the beginning of earth’s
creation? To say that these will happen
again is no prophecy. Behold, has there
not been wars and bloodshed from the beginning of man? To say that these will happen again is no prophecy. And behold,
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has there not been
many unions of peace and moments of freedom among the nations? To say that this will happen again is easy
for even a child to foresee.
12. If there is a war, ye say it was
prophesied. If there is peace, ye say it
was foretold. Methinks it is most
convenient indeed. A new star in the heavens, a new wonder in the skies,
disease, famine, plagues, healing, bounties, abundance, a nation falls, another
rises; these come and go as they always
have and you speak as if ye have the wisdom of omniscience because you have
talked about that which has always been.
There is no true prophet among you; though ye boast openly of the
title.
13. You say that this people is a
guilty and a fallen people, because of the transgression of a parent. Behold, I
say that a child is not guilty because of its parents. And I say that a soul is
not guilty because of the nature by which God hath created it. These people are earnest and sincere and
though they stumble here and fall there, their errors are not worthy of the
eternal beatings and never-ending lashings that ye deliver upon them. Their fear of a yet to come life beyond the
grave is not given unto them by the source of their creation, rather it springs
forth from the inflammation of your sermons, which sermons are designed to
manipulate their greatest hopes and worst fears.
14. And ye also say that a Savior shall
come. But behold, ye do not say that
such a Savior hath made Himself known unto you by tangible introduction. Nay, rather ye say that this being speaks
within your heart. Ye demand the honor
of Moses but ye lead by the spirit of Eli.
15. Behold, what offer you more than
any other man who doth walk by his own conscience and is guided by the moral
compass from within? Ye say ye offer
Eternity, nevertheless thy claims cannot withstand the scrutiny. Thou hast ignored the questions of reason and
instead hath spewed words of anger and poured out insults upon we who
seek to question thine authority.
16. And thus ye lead away
this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according to your
own desires; and ye keep them down, even as it were in bondage, that ye may
glut yourselves with the labors of their hands, that they durst not look up
with boldness, and that they durst not enjoy their rights and privileges.
17. Yea, they durst not make use
of that which is their own lest they should offend their priests, who do yoke
them according to their desires, and have brought them to believe, by their
traditions and their dreams and their whims and their visions and their
pretended mysteries, that they should, if they did not do according to their
words, offend some capricious being, who they say is God—a being whom they, the
priests, have never seen or hath never made itself known unto them; yea, by
their own words they never acknowledge the actual visitation of any such
being. Yet they say whatsoever they may
speak is a representation of the words of that being.
18.
Now when the high priest and the chief judge saw the solidity of his
argument, yea, when they saw that he would expose even their most cherished
traditions under the light of reason and persuasion, they would not make any
reply to his words; for their method was to persuade fully by emotion and to convince
by appeal unto their authority.
19. Yet they would give no answer to
any question that did challenge their authority. He would offer no obeisance unto them and
therefore they caused that he should be bound; and they delivered him up into
the hands of the officers, and sent him to the land of Zarahemla, that he might
be brought before Alma, and the chief judge who was governor over all the land.
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