Nephi felt bad, and his brothers were glad that he felt bad. It is typical of the fallen man to rejoice in a righteous person’s sadness. The wicked use name-calling, labels, and false accusations.
“And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world” (D&C 121:34–35). “We might have enjoyed our possessions,” they lamented. Of course. Life could have been more comfortable and more pleasurable—and shorter! They might have been facing imminent death or exile back in Jerusalem. They were short-sighted indeed. The same attitude that afflicted the citizens of Jerusalem also blinded Laman and Lemuel: “What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” (Jeremiah 16:10). Laman and Lemuel probably acquired their attitude from the Jerusalemites of their day.
Laman and Lemuel denounced Nephi: You have unjustly accused our friends back home. They are strictly observant; they are meticulous observers of the Mosaic rituals, and you and our father are guilty of misjudging them.