I'm stunned by Erika Kirk's statement of forgiveness today. It's an impressive demonstration of following Christ. Blessed are the peacemakers!
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What does Anti-Nephi-Lehi mean? I have seen several interpretations guessing why the people of Ammon chose that name. Here is a less-common theory that makes sense to me: it could mean "Lehi, not Nephi".
Why? Remember that the context is that they wanted "to be distinguished from their brethren" Alma 23:16. So they didn’t want to be called Lamanites or Nephites. It is logical then that they would want to claim Lehi as their principal ancestor, but not from the line of Nephi since Nephi was not their ancestor.
But why use "Anti-Nephi-Lehi"? Doesn't anti mean opposed or against? Yes, but consider the phrase Antichrist. An "Antichrist" is against Christ, but it has also been especially understood to mean someone who pretends to be Christ but is NOT Christ. So a possible interpretation is to read anti in this sense, such that "anti-nephi-lehi" means (not-nephi)-Lehites, or in other words: Lehites (people from Lehi) who are not from Nephi.
This logically fits the context, where the people no longer wanted to be called Lamanites and wanted to be distinguished from Lamanites and Nephites, thus the logical response was then to say we are Lehites but not Nephites: Anti-Nephi-Lehis.
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Faithful Latter-day Saint exploration of Native American history and connecting it to The Book of Mormon. Uncovering Nephite and Lamanite sites. Investigating the geography, culture, DNA evidence and Native American accounts. Promoting faith in the historicity of The Book of Mormon and in the historicity of Biblical accounts.
22 October 2023