Why didn't Laman and Lemuel's faith increase after they saw an angel?

 Q: Why didn't Laman and Lemuel's faith increase after they saw an angel?


A: After loosing all their wealth to Laban, Laman and Lemuel became very angry with Nephi and Sam. And why shouldn't they be angry? After all, their entire fortune was gone, and with nothing to show for it. They were now poor. After hiding in a cave, they started hitting their younger brothers with a long stick, beating on them for having lost their all. At this critical moment, something amazing happened: the Lord intervened.

An angel appeared in front of them. He told them to stop hitting their younger sibling--meaning Nephi--because the Lord had chosen him over them because of his willingness to obey and do God's will. Then he said, "Go back to Jerusalem. The Lord is going to deliver Laban into your hands." The angel then disappeared.

Unbelievably, as soon as the angel left, Laman and Lemuel started saying things like, "How is God going to help us get the plates from Laban? He's a very powerful man, and can kill lots of people when he wants to. So why won't he just kill us?" We may think it astounding that, after seeing an angel with their own eyes and hearing him speak directly to them, they should doubt in the least the ability of the Lord to help them overcome Laban. But the experience they had just had didn't come because of their faith; they apparently had little, if any. For them, seeing an angel was just like seeing a man on the street; it had no impact on their faith, because there was none there.

With his two oldest brothers still voicing their doubts, Nephi crept back into the city. His brothers waited for him outside the walls. It was now dark, and he didn't know what he was going to do. He was relying on the Holy Ghost to guide him. Before long, he came upon a man lying in the street--drunk and out cold. It was Laban. Indeed, the Lord had delivered the mighty Laban into his hands by simply letting Laban indulge in one of his bad habits.