In D&C
124:49-51, explaining why the temple was not built in Missouri (cf. D&C
84:3-5), we read:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I
give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and
those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform
that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them to
hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that
work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their
offerings. And the iniquity and transgression of my holy laws and commandments
so I will visit upon the heads of those who hindered my work, unto the third
and fourth generation, so long as they repent not, and hate me, saith the Lord
God. Therefore, for this cause have I accepted the offerings of those whom I
commanded to build up a city and a house unto my name, in Jackson county,
Missouri, and were hindered by their enemies, saith the Lord your God.
Some critics
of the Church (e.g., John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Behind the Mask of Mormonism) have argued that 1 Nephi 3:7 refutes
the appeal to this text as evidence of D&C 84:3-5 being conditional. The
text reads thusly:
And it came to pass
that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord
hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the
children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish
the thing which he commandeth them.
The text,
they argue, means that, as God will make a way possible for a work to be
accomplished, it will happen. However, this is a naïve, eisegetical reading of
the text. How so? Nephi does not say that, as God will provide a way, ipso facto, it will happen. Indeed, we
know this to be the case as he uses the subjunctive (conditional) may. Note how such is used elsewhere,
even in the context of 1 Nephi 3:7, to denote something that is possible, not
definitive:
And behold, it is
wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto
our children the language of our fathers; and also that we may preserve unto
them the words which they have been spoken of by the mouth of all the holy
prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God,
since the world began, even down unto this present time. (1 Nephi 3:19-20)
For the fulness of
mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved. (1 Nephi 6:4)
And at that day shall
the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that
they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to
the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of
their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they
shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his
doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved. (1 Nephi 15:14)
Indeed, as Webster's 1828
Dictionary notes, "may" (as a verb [subjunctive]) means "To
be possible. We say, a thing may be,
or may not be; an event may happen; a thing may be done, if means are not wanting."
So, no,
Nephi is not stating that if/when God gives a command, even if he makes a way
for it to be accomplished, it will happen, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Again, the reading by some critics is both naïve and eisegetical.
A parallel
text is that of D&C 114:1, a promise (not prophecy) that, if David Patten
were to settle up all his business, he "may perform a mission" for the Lord. On this, as well as
D&C 84:3-5, see: