Mormon 2

In Mormon 2, Mormon is appointed to lead the Nephite army at age 16.  They fought long and hard.  They won and lost battles.  Mormon say in verse 8 that "there was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land."  Finally, the people begin to lament and mourn  what is happening.  Mormon says that he began to rejoice when he saw this because he knows the wonderful mercy of the Lord, but then in verses 13 and 14 he says:

"But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.  And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God..."

Those verses are very interesting to me.  Sorrow for sin needs to be sorrow because we realize we have done what is contrary to that which is right.  We should sorrow because we have chosen to act in defiance to God's will.  Therefore, we have separated ourselves from his fold.  It is a slightly different way of thinking about it than being sorry because wickedness often does bring with it consequences that cause us no end of sorrow and trouble.

Mormon

From 4 Nephi we move onto Mormon.  Mormon tells us how he became the one chosen to abridge the plates of Nephi.  He was chosen when he was ten years old.  No pressure, Mormon, just observe this people until your around 24 years old and then go find the plates of Nephi, which are stored with all the records in a hill, and write what you have observed.  I truly admire Mormon.  The pressure would have gotten to me.

I also admire him for living the gospel when all others around him were not.  He said the people had rebelled against their God and therefore he was not even allowed to preach to them the things that he knew.  For some reason that struck me today.  We live in a pretty wicked time.  With people labeling wickedness and good and good as wickedness, but we are urged emphatically by the prophet and the apostles to preach the gospel to all people, to find those that are ready.  That means there are those out there that don't know about the gospel, that haven't had a chance to accept or reject it.  That means there is hope.  Hope is a very good thing.

Unity and the Good Shepard

Mormon 5:17 reads:  "They were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father."

I love this scripture because it contains so much, and yet is put so simply.  I have to admit that for years I missed most of the meaning it contains, but I always knew it's message was bittersweet.  It is part of what Mormon wrote to "the remnant of the house of Jacob" (v. 12) about his people before the Lamanites wiped out the Nephites.

I have always heard Christ likened to a shepherd, and I recognized that in that analogy I was a sheep that would do well to follow him.  I knew also that my fellow human beings were cast in the role of the other sheep that chose to follow him or not.  However, I didn't recognize that this analogy spoke of Unity.  The need for unity is much talked of in the church, but how to be a part of  a unified people I could not decipher even though I sought answers in the scriptures.  Most scriptures which contain the word "unity" are speaking of the need to be unified, not how to do it or so I thought as I studied.  So I said a prayer that Heavenly Father would help me to understand how to be unified with so many that were so very different from me.  We all have different upbringings, different talents, different interests, different struggles.  We come from many different lands and nations.  There are so many lovely, and not so lovely, ways of looking at things and getting things done, how can we be united?

As the answer to my prayer came to me, I drew this in my scripture journal:

I suddenly understood that when we try to all be like each other, it is a frustrating and ultimately impossible project.  We have wonderful differences in us that can and should be celebrated.  We unite, not by trying to conform to each other, but by all at once striving to become as Jesus would have us be.  As we look to Jesus, we become one.

I taught a lesson once that required me to illustrate this concept to younger people, so I likened my drawing to a part in Toy Story 3.  When all the toys get dumped into the trash truck, all is dark except for parts of Buzz Lightyear that glow.  Woody's voice can be heard trying to locate everyone and then he says: "Everyone go to Buzz."  The friends all obey and are quickly re-united.  In my analogy Woody was the prophet and Buzz represented Jesus.  I was excited to teach what I had been taught, and yet as I wove scriptures into my lesson along with this drawing and the Toy Story analogy, I did not catch on that when the scriptures spoke of Jesus as the Good Shepherd this is what it had been teaching for thousands of years.  How did I miss that by following the Good Shepherd we become united?  One fold.  One Shepherd.

4 Nephi--To the Ideal and Back Again

After Jesus Christ's visit to the Nephites there comes a time when everyone in the land is converted.

"...the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them and every man did deal justly one with another.  And they had all things in common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." (4 Nephi 1:2-3)

This is the ideal.  I think it is what people imagine when they think of world peace.  The hard thing about it is, it cannot come without first all people having that change of heart--that conversion wherein their faith and hope in Christ is their guiding light.  It is a conversion in which they nurture charity instead of judgement and selfishness.  The people remained in such a state for over 150 years because as 4 Nephi 1:15 says "...there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people."  4 Nephi 1:17 says, "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."

It does sound so very peaceful.  And then in verse 20 it mentions that there is still peace in the land except a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon themselves the name of Lamanites.  In the two hundred and first year from the coming of Christ things start to go south.  The main culprit mentioned is pride.  By 4 Nephi1:41 it says, "And they did still continue to build up churches unto themselves..."  So very sad.  By the end of 4th Nephi the people are wicked again.

Wouldn't it be lovely if only we could all realize the true way to the ideal and not fail to keep these things in our hearts?

3 Nephi 28:37--Made Manifest Unto Me

I love the examples in the scriptures that show us how the prophets learn through prayer.  I love it the most when they, in the process of writing come upon something they don't know, like in 3 Nephi 28:17 when Mormon says (speaking of the three Nephites):

"...whether they were mortal or immortal, from the day of their transfiguration, I know not..."

Then in verse 37 he writes:

"...since I wrote, I have inquired of the Lord and he hath made it manifest unto me that there must needs be a change wrought upon their bodies, or else it needs be that they must taste of death..."

He goes on to say that he was told that the three Nephites did have their bodies changed but not to the degree to which they will be changed at "the judgement day of Christ."  So in asking, he received an answer and I think it is so cool that we have a front row seat to how prophets learn as they go.  What a great example to us!  It is awesome to know that we too can employ prayer to gain knowledge and get our questions answered.  I don't know where I would be without my Father in Heaven's guidance.  Even when I read and listen to great apostles and prophets I don't really learn that much until I say a prayer that He will help me to understand and know how I can apply the true principles that they teach in my own life.  The wonderful thing is that Heavenly Father knows us so well that he can teach us in just the way that we need to really understand.  It is sooo exciting!

3 Nephi 27:19 and Redemption

3 Nephi 27:19 says:

"...no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom..."

I taught a lesson in Relief Society recently that was based on Elder Christofferson's General Conference address given this last April (2013) entitled "Redemption."  That talk had some very interesting footnotes in it and this scripture in 3 Nephi reminded me of one of them.  (It is footnote #4 if you are interested in looking up the talk yourself.)  It reads:

  It is with respect to our own sins that the scriptures speak of some not receiving the benefit of redemption: “The wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death” (Alma 11:41). “He that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption” (Alma 34:16). If a man rejects the Savior’s Atonement, he must redeem his debt to justice himself. Jesus said, “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I” (Doctine and Covenants 19:16–17). An unredeemed individual’s suffering for sin is known as hell. It means being subject to the devil and is described in scriptural metaphors as being in chains or a lake of fire and brimstone. Lehi begged his sons to choose Christ’s Redemption “and not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom” (2 Nephi 2:29). Even so, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, hell has an end, and those who are obliged to pass through it are “redeemed from the devil [in] the last resurrection” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:85). The relatively few “sons of perdition” are “the only ones on whom the second death shall have any [lasting] power; yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:32, 37–38).

This is a gospel of hope.  I'm so grateful for the Atonement, and I plan to strive to take advantage of the Savior's gift everyday.

"Future Generations"--That's us!

In 3 Nephi 26:2, Christ says:

"...These scriptures, which ye had not with you, the Father commanded that I should give unto you; for it was wisdom in him that they should be given unto future generations."

It touches me to think of the centuries full of effort and sacrifice that have gone into the scriptures that I hold in my hands today.  When I really stop and think about it, I am in awe that the people in the time they were written didn't benefit from them as we do now.  They didn't have printing presses to churn out pages.  Therefore, so very many people were not able to hold these wonderful words and read them for themselves.  I am certainly grateful for all those who wrote things down for "future generations" because I just don't know what I would do without them.