The brass plates and the better question

18 And Lehi awoke and said: Let us depart for a season into the wilderness, that we may discover which of our walls are made of stone and which are made of words.

19 And some murmured, saying: There are mosquitoes in the wilderness.

20 And Lehi replied: This is correct.

21 Wherefore the record saith not that the wilderness is morally superior to the city, only that sometimes a different room maketh a hidden wall easier to see.

22 And I shit you not, they departed.

1 And Lehi said unto Nephi: Return unto the Jerusalem, the City of Names, for Laban keepeth the old records, and we should know what our people have said before us.

2 And Nephi answered: I will go and inquire, though I reserve the right to question the assignment.

3 And I shit you not, Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, and Sam came again unto Jerusalem.

4 And Laban, keeper of the records, said: These shelves are restricted.

5 And Nephi offered silver.

6 And Laban said: Still restricted.

7 And Nephi offered gold.

8 And Laban said: Thou hast now made this interaction suspicious.

9 And night came.

10 And Nephi found Laban asleep beside the archive, having drunk more wine than was profitable.

11 And a fierce thought arose within Nephi, saying: Take his sword. Take his keys. Surely the preservation of the record justifieth the act.

12 But Nephi answered the thought, saying: Absolutely not.

13 For behold, a voice within me may be urgent and vivid, yet urgency is not authority, and vividness is not innocence.

14 Yea, if I harm another, the consequences do not vanish merely because I have called the impulse sacred.