Eric Poulin

1 Nephi 8:27

Great and spacious building

“And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.”

It would be easy to paint a picture here about the filthy rich scoffing at the pious and humble followers of Christ, but I think that is not a fair portrayal of the facts. Back in the early days of Christianity, there was an ideology that Christians took a vow of poverty and the idea that money was inherently bad. Some took their example from John the Baptist, who chose a very basic life eating and wearing just the basics. As a matter of interest, just in the recent October 2008 General Conference, Elder L. Tom Perry encouraged a return to a simple life.

But a simple life doesn’t mean poverty.

Remember, the Lord wants to bless us with wealth when we, as a people, keep the commandments. He’s promised that if we keep the commandments, we would prosper in the land and that after obtaining a hope in Christ, we would “obtain riches, if we seek them“. The description here of the people scoffing was not because they were necessarily more wealthy. More so, the property of these people having fine clothing is meant to cause jeolousy and shame to those partaking of the fruit. Like a uniform that makes us think of authority, fine clothing makes us think of success and power. Thus we see successful and powerful people making fun of those partaking of the fruit. This naturally causes shame, except to those who realize that fine clothes mean success or power only from a worldly viewpoint. In God’s eyes they mean nothing. Since so many of us are so much under the influence of the world, their scorns easily affect us. I think this is part of the reason we are encouraged to read scriptures daily – so we have a constant reminder that we are not to be of the world, and that we should ignore the mockings of the world.

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