Goodbye to the "Ites"

Reading:   4 Nephi 

I owe Xander a short one (blog that is)...and I am completely taxed from my, yet to end, Atlanta road trip, so a brief thought it shall be.  I enjoyed this verse immensely...

4 NEPHI 1:17

17    There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. 

The people were still descendants of Nephi, Laman, Jacob, Zoram, Ishmael, etc., but they no longer classified themselves as such; Nephites, Lamanites, Jacobites, Zoramites, "...nor any manner of -ites," is that great or what?  This change, most likely not even noticed among the people, was a result of their ensuing righteousness after the well-recorded visit from Jesus.  The need for classification or personal comparison is lost - they were "one" in Jesus Christ, one in purpose.

260-years pass before a faction breaks off and brings back the ite, calling themselves Lamanites. Not too long after that the Gadianton robbers return with their secret combinations and then the evils of pride really kick in and the people are lost in wickedness again (320 years after The Savior's visit, 4 generations, as prophesied by Jesus, Samuel, and many others).

~Kipling

*Revised and updated after reading it the following day - thoughts were quite disjointed and confusing.  My apologies to the two of you that read it in its original form.