Episode 17: 3 Nephi 1-7

Shiloh and Ben move into talking about the fulfillment of Samuel's prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus Christ. Nephites who were baptized into the Church because they had seen signs did not experience deep conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nephites and Lamanites combine forces to thwart the Gadianton Robbers. While Mormon explains that "it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy" and that "Gidgidoni was a great prophet" (3 Ne 3:19), there is still ample evidence that the depth of the Nephite "righteousness" may not be as deep as perhaps we generally read into it. Ben brings up, once again, a rather poignant possibility that the Nephites/Lamanite duo had a great missed opportunity (once again) of how to reclaim the Gadianton's prior to the seemingly necessary need to kill them. The Nephites and Lamanites triumph over the Gadiantons but ultimately everything crumbles into tribalism, as the Reign of the Judges comes to an end just prior to the destruction of the land.