And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from the beginning, did dwindle.
After two centuries of peace and faithfulness for the Nephites, culture won out over discipleship. The people were more drawn to their ancient, virtually extinct cultural differences than they were to their shared faith. If we look at the United States today, do we not see a similar pattern? That which divides us is becoming more important than that which unites us. Our cultural loyalties are becoming more defining than our national loyalty. This point in the Book of Mormon chronicle exists for the same reason that Mormon included so many other details. He saw our day and drew parallels to his own national history. His country ground itself to pieces because of irreconcilable differences. We are on the same trajectory, just as Mormon knew we would be.
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