A Choice Land and Solemn Responsibility

The Book of Mormon has a lot to say about America.  Its message regarding our nation and land seems to be twofold: (1) that this is a choice land and (2) that those who live here have a solemn responsibility to serve God.  Nephi was told by the Lord that the place his family was being taken was “choice above all other lands” (1 Nephi 2:20).  In his great vision the angel similarly said to Nephi as he saw the Americas in the last days including “the Gentiles who have gone forth out of captivity, and have been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations, upon the face of the land which is choice above all other lands“ (1 Nephi 13:30).  

                Lehi echoed the same sentiment about the land he was brought to by the Lord when he told his sons, “We have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed” (2 Nephi 1:5).  Lehi’s son Jacob also said, "It is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands” (2 Nephi 10:19).  The Jaredites learned the same thing; the brother of Jared was told by the Lord, “I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth” (Ether 1:42).  Moroni repeated this idea as he narrated their story: “This is a land which is choice above all other lands” (Ether 2:10).  At the end of the Jaredite civilization Ether taught, “After the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord” (Ether 13:2).  Over and over again the Book of Mormon repeats the notion that this is a promised and choice land.

                So what does it mean to be a choice land?  I’m not sure I understand it fully, but one thing is clear: being a choice land in the eyes of the Lord brings great responsibility to the inhabitants of the land.  The Book of Mormon repeatedly warns that those who dwell in this land are to serve God or be swept off.  Moroni wrote that the Lord “commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be destroyed when they were ripened in iniquity” (Ether 9:20).  He also said in his recounting of the Jaredite story: “Whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity” (Ether 2:9).  He continued with this emphasis: “Wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off” (Ether 2:10).  Lehi also alluded to the consequences of wickedness in the land of promise: “It shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever” (2 Nephi 2:7).  Jacob likewise taught the Nephites that the Lord required those who lived in the land to serve Him: “It is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me, saith God” (2 Nephi 10:19).  Moroni summarized it well by stating simply that those who dwell here are to “serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12). 

                The Book of Mormon clearly states that “all are alike unto God” and that “he denieth none that come unto him” (2 Nephi 26:33).  Those who do not live in the “choice land” of America have no spiritual disadvantage, but for some reason this nation as a whole has a special role to play in God’s plan for bringing to pass the salvation of the whole human family.  And that includes severe punishment if we become “ripened” in iniquity.  I don’t know how close we are to that, but we should not be surprised if such punishments come as we collectively turn away from the God of this land, even Jesus Christ.