2
Ne 10:3-5 there is none other nation on earth that
would crucify their God
Imagine
witnessing an individual heal a man with a withered hand. Then imagine that
this same individual looks upon a man who has been paralyzed with the palsy and
commands him to take up his bed and walk—and he does. Then imagine that this
individual casts the devils out of a man so wild that he can’t be restrained
with chains. Then imagine that this man heals lepers, opens the ears of the
deaf, makes the dumb to speak and the blind to see. After all this, imagine an
individual so powerful that he could raise from the dead a man who had lain in
the tomb for 4 days. After witnessing all these things, would you conclude that
he had done all these things by the power of the devil? Would you then seek
from him a sign of his power?
Imagine
listening to sermons taught which explain doctrines never before understood.
Imagine a man who could speak with the power and spirit of no individual before
him. Imagine an individual who could teach how to understand, comprehend, and
communicate with God. Imagine that this individual could, without the least
preparation, give an incredible sermon complete with well developed, profound
parables, references to Old Testament scriptures, and examples of how common
practices relate to the scriptures. Imagine that the wisest and most learned
people in the land set intellectual, doctrinal, and political traps for him and
yet he confounded them time after time after time. Would you then conclude that
he was unlearned, a winebibber, and nothing more than the son of a carpenter?
Imagine
that this individual exhibited love and charity for all mankind. Imagine that
he did all these things without seeking for power, authority, or recognition.
Imagine that this individual taught of God as his father, that he referred to
the temple as his father’s house, that he sought to do the will of his father
not his own will, and that he did nothing save his father had commanded him.
Would you then have him killed for asserting that he was the son of God?
Such
was the wickedness of the Jews in the meridian of time. As Jacob explains, For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations
they would repent, and know that he be their God. But because of priestcrafts
and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he
be crucified (v. 4-5). Not only were the Jews particularly wicked at
this time, but the Lord explained to Enoch that the inhabitants of this world
were more wicked than any of the other creations of God, among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been
so great wickedness as among thy brethren (Moses 7:36).
Joseph
Smith
“Hence
it was that so great a responsibility rested upon the generation in which our
Savior lived, for, says he, ‘That upon you may come
all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel
unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple
and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this
generation.’ (Matthew 23:35, 36.) Hence as they possessed greater
privileges than any other generation, not only pertaining to themselves, but to
their dead, their sin was greater, as they not only neglected their own
salvation but that of their progenitors, and hence their blood was required at
their hands.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 222-3)