I Came to Fulfill the Law

One of the things that Jesus accomplished by His mission, atonement, death, and resurrection was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.  The Law of Sacrifice was fulfilled in His perfect sacrifice and was no more to be practiced by the Church.  It was replaced by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.  The Law of Circumcision was also fulfilled in Him and, while still used in the infancy of the Christian Church in Jerusalem, it was deemed unnecessary, particularly for gentile converts, after the first Jerusalem Council.

The same thing happened among the Nephites.  When the Resurrected Christ visited them, He taught them that the Law was fulfilled in Him.  The wide-spread conversion throughout the area led to huge changes in religious practice favoring the worship of Jesus Christ rather than the Law of Moses, which the righteous Nephites had been practicing prior to Christ's visit.  We read: And they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord. (4 Nephi 1: 12)

It also supplanted, for a time, the idol worship of the pagan cults such as that of the jaguar and of the secret combinations.

If this was the case, then the archaeological evidence from this period (called the proto-classic Mayan period) should reflect these changes - and they do.  Quoting Sorenson:

A shift in ritual equipment and practices I seen at about the time of Christ.  Some old practices quite suddenly were given up.  Certain old incense burners went out of use or changed form, and the use of little clay figurines [idols?] which probably had some sort of religious significance, was abandoned in many places.  Both those features, the burners, and the figurines, had parallels in Palestine, where they represented religious practices either of a folk nature [pagan] or connected with Mosaic orthodoxy. [1]

Another change involved dated stone monuments.  Building these monuments had begun around 35 B. C. and grew throughout the area.  Examples stated in Sorensen included Chiapa de Corzo (Sidom), San Isidro (Aaron,) Piedra Prada, Tres Zapotes, and El Baul. [2] Hundreds of these monuments were destroyed about the same time.  Sorensen says: This enigmatic gap in dated monuments seems to have begun at about the time when many ealier cared stones were battered and some intentionally buried, as if a religious revolution of some sort had taken place.  At Chalchuapa, El Salvador, one of these inscribed monuments was said to have been smashed in a ritual of destruction at the moment of the great volcanic eruption near the time of Christ.  Its fragments were covered by ash fall.  Among the sites where vigorous monument smashing is in evidence are Kaminaljuyu/Nephi and Chiapa de Corao/Sidom. [3]

Of course, there are always other possibilities to explain this massive change, but I choose to believe that after the massive destruction and the visit of the Resurrected Jesus, the people were most anxious to rid themselves of any semblance of idol worship and the old cults.  New religious artifact appeared at the time that seem to center around the worship of the Precious Serpent, the bearded, white God who taught His religion of peace and love.

[1]John L. Sorensen, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pp. 330-331
[2] Ibid. p. 331
[3] Ibid

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Peter and Paul at the Jerusalem Council from www.youtube.com

Pre-classical incense burner from www.bridgemanart.com

Pre-classic Mayan idol from www.librarythinkquest.org

Proto-classic Mayan incense burner with a bearded, Semitic-looking man's face from www.ocamindidea.blogspot.com