Anti-Nephi-Lehies? 'Anti' Might Mean 'One Who is of a Different People'

   Not long ago, shuffling through listening to my Book of Mormon CDs, it again occurred to me that those Lamanites who were converted by Ammon and his brothren were given a seemingly contradictory name.
   Anti-Nephi-Lehies? The prefix "Anti" struck me as odd, for they were not against the Nephites in any way, and anti in this day and age implies you are opposed to something, you are on the opposite side of it.
   I thought how, if we only had access to the language of those Book of Mormon people, it would probably show that the meaning was different than what we use today. I wondered, too, what if this would be a topic for Book of Mormon scholars of Hebrew to study, as there might be a commonality in that language and how it is used in the Book of Mormon.
   I don't know that a week passed before I happened on a few passages in the New Testament, I John, to be exact. Can I share a couple? I John 2:12 says an antiChrist is one who denies the Father and the Son. So, in this context, an antiChrist is not necessarily an arch enemy of the Savior, but simply someone who is not of him. I John 4:3 says the antiChrist is simply someone who "is not of God," and I am left wondering if that means not that they are wicked, but simply that they have not joined the fold.
   This is very similar to the usage of "anti" in the Book of Mormon where it speaks of Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Here is does not mean they were opponents of the Nephites, simply that they were not of the same fold, not of the same people. Yes, it is true that the antiChrist might also be opposed to Christ, but it does seem that part of the meaning of the word is simply that they are not among the believers, they are a different people.
   To me, it is interesting to see the sameness in this word in the way it is used in the epistles of John and in the way it is used in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon.