Trials and Tribulation

Yesterday I went to Institute.  For those that do not know, Institute is a school of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is a place for those that are not a part of the Church to learn what 'Mormonism' is all about.  And it is a place for those that are a part of the Church to learn even more about 'Mormonism.'  While studying in the Book of Mormon yesterday someone pointed something out to me that I had not noticed before in this way.  We were reading in the book of Mosiah.

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The Background Story:
There are two groups of people at this time, the Lamanites and Nephites.  The Nephites in the north and the Lamanites in the south.  A number of people of the Nephites decided to try and get back one of their cities, called Lehi-Nephi, in the south that the Lamanites had taken over many years previous.  They made a truce with the Lamanites and began to live in Lehi-Nephi.

A generation passed by.  The first king of this small group of Nephites had died and his son, Noah, became the king.  King Noah was against everything religious.  When some of the people in his city began teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ King Noah sent his army to kill them, but they took off into the wilderness.  Just after that time the Lamanites returned to Lehi-Nephi and defeated the armies of Noah.  They agreed to spare the lives of Noah's people if the people would give the Lamanites half of everything they had.

In time the Lamanites came across the religious group of Nephites that had fled into the wilderness.  They then began to rule over these Nephites.

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And now to the point of it all:
Here are two groups of people that are now in bondage to the same people.  So let's now read the account as found in the Book of Mormon.  First one group, and then the other, and then we'll compare.

Group 1:
"And it came to pass that the people began to murmur with the king because of their affliction; and they began to be desirous to go against them to battle.  And they did afflict the king sorely with their complaints; therefore he granted unto them that they should do according to their desires.
"And they gathered themselves together again, and put on their armor, and went forth against the Lamanites to drive them out of their land.
"And it came to pass that the Lamanites did beat them, and drove them back, and slew many of them."

This account makes me think of the "fight or flight" theory.  They couldn't run because of the Lamanites surrounding their city, and so they fought back.  But in fighting back they lost many lives.  But their story continues.

"And it came to pass that their continual cries did stir up the remainder of the people of Limhi to anger against the Lamanites; and they went to battle, but they were driven back again, suffering much loss."

They decided they had to fight again.  They were desperate to get out of here and thought it must be done through war.  But they lost many lives again.  And now the story continues again.

"Yea, they went again even the third time, and suffered in the like manner; and those that were not slain returned again the the city of Nephi.
"And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies."

*This account was taken from the book of Mosiah chapter 21 verses 6-13.

Group 2:
"And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.
"And Amulon [the wicked ruler over them] commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.
"And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.
"And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying:  Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage."

*This account was taken from the book of Mosiah chapter 24 verses 10-13.

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Now the comparison:
Group one took the "fight or flight" state of mind, and because they couldn't run they attacked.  But the attacking did more harm than good for them.  The second group realized that there is a third option.  It is not simply "fight or flight," but "fight, flight, or pray."  The very same thing that happened to the first group happened to the second group.  But they prayed first and then went out and worked.

And now we must consider the outcomes, not just the way they went about things.  The first group lost many lives, possibly thousands, because their reaction was to fight against their oppressor.  The second group was saved from their situation by the hand of the Lord because they prayed for God's assistance and then did what the Lord told them to.

That is what this is all about.  These two great stories in the Book of Mormon show how to deal with rough situations.  We can fight back and face the damage that may happen to us, or we can pray for help and then do what the Lord tells us to do to get out of there.

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Back to the Beginning of 'Mormonism' - Prayer

When people hear the word 'Mormonism' they often think first of Joseph Smith.  That makes sense in a way, as Joseph Smith was the prophet that restored the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but we must remember how "Mormonism" started.  As a teenager Joseph, not of any church, wanted to know which church he was supposed to be a part of.  He found way to the answer through the words of the ancient apostle James:

"If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
-James 1:5,6-

More times than not, after this scripture is read people tend to move on to how Joseph prayed to know the truth and then the other things that came about from the Lord through Joseph Smith.  But, unlike most people, I'd like to stop here and focus on this scripture itself.  There are two verses, so lets take one at a time.

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James 1:5
"If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

In his mortal life Christ told us more than once to "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9).  The Lord does not want us to live in ignorance.  When we are in need of wisdom or guidance or any other assistance he would that we ask God.  James is plainly telling us here that we can pray to God for answers and will receive them.  Some have said something similar to:  "This was written two-thousand years ago and does not apply anymore."  To reply to this I go to the words of Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews.  Paul writes:

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
-Hebrews 13:8-

If Christ could do it in the past, he can do it in the present.  If he can do it in the present, he will be able to do it in the future.  That is what Paul is trying to teach here.  And so, applying this to James' scripture we know that God can answer any prayer, liberally and without upbraiding (reproach), just as he has done in the past, and just as he will in the future.

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James 1:6
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

To gain the needed wisdom mentioned in the previous verse we need to ask with faith that we will receive our answer.  But how does a person receive the faith necessary to do this?  This is a common question, and a good one.  I will answer this, in part, using words from the Book of Mormon.  Alma and Amulek, two prophets of the Book of Mormon, tried to teach this very same thing.  Here is a portion of their words:

"Now, as I said concerning faith - that it was not a perfect knowledge - even so it is with my words.  Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.  But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
-Alma 32:26,27-

No one is expected to have perfect faith to begin with.  As Alma spoke, "even if ye can no more than desire to believe" then work with that.  He goes on to compare faith to a seed, something that Christ has done in the New Testament.  Faith is very similar to a seed.  Begin with a desire and work with that.  As you gain a testimony from that desire, as small as it may be, you then have something bigger to work with.  And as the seed of faith grows your ability to work with faith grows, until you can do what James has written:  "ask in faith, nothing wavering."

Summing it all up, we can see that God will answer our prayers and give us the needed guidance and wisdom, so long as we ask in faith.

"Let Brotherly Love Continue"

Today, rather than writing as I normally do, I'd like to share my favorite biblical scripture and then expound upon it.  I may use additional scriptures from the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenant or Pearl of Great Price.  I may expound upon some Mormonism teachings or I may simply share personal thoughts.

My favorite scripture in the Holy Bible is found in the book of Hebrews, chapter thirteen and verse one:
"Let brotherly love continue."

Whenever I hear or speak these words what comes to mind is the question a certain lawyer in the Meridian of Time asked Jesus Christ.  This experience can be found in the record of St. Matthew, chapter 22 verses 35-40:
"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment."

Why is the greatest commandment to love the Lord?  Why does this take precedence above all other commands?  I have spent much though on this and can give my best guess.  We are told to love the Lord with "all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."  This is not saying, "Think of God every Sunday," or, "Pray to the Lord when you feel like it."  If a person loves God as that scripture says to, then that person would not want to do anything to disappoint God.  Loving someone with all our souls is a love that would do anything for them.  We would never intentionally hurt someone we love that much.

If we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and soul and mind, then we will, as just mentioned, we will do our best to not disappoint or hurt the Lord.  This may lead us to ask, "What would hurt the Lord?"  I think this is a simple question to answer.  When the children of Israel were led out of Egyptian bondage they were given commandments that he wanted them to follow.  I'd imagine when the Israelites followed these commandments the Lord was very pleased.  And when they did not follow these commandments I think the Lord was hurt by it.  What were these commandments?  Exodus chapter twenty reveals the answer:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet.

These ten things are what the Lord asked the children of Israel to follow, now referred to as the Ten Commandments.  Taken one at a time, or all together, these are all things that any person who loves the Lord with all their hearts, souls and mind would do without needing to be asked.

If we love the Lord completely and thoroughly will we need or even want to worship another god?  Especially a man-made one. If we do not want to worship another god would we bother making a graven image?  If we do not want another god then we do not want a graven image of one.  What comes next is vainly using the Lord's name.  If we love God with all our hearts would we not treat his name with reverence?  The Sabbath day, often called the Lord's day, is just that.  Following the previous three commandments and moved with love towards him, we would want to have a day set apart for worship, to stay away from the worldly things.

The remaining commandments do not seemingly have to do with God as the previous ones do, but when looked at closer we can see that they do as well.  Going back to the lawyer and Christ we read next in the record:
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

What does this second commandment have to do with the first?  Why do all the law and the prophets hang upon it?  And what does it have to do with the remaining ten commandments?  Just as we would do our best to help out and refrain from hurting the Lord when we have a deep love for him, so we would treat our neighbors should we hold the same love for them.  This is doubly so when we know that all people are God's children and therefore we should respect them as we would respect Him.

And now we get to the remaining commandments, with that knowledge in mind.  Honor thy father and thy mother.  Parents should be given proper respect by their children.  With some unfortunate exceptions, parents have the wisdom that only comes with age and experience.  A mother or father that love the Lord will raise their children to do so.

Next comes the command to not kill.  I personally take this to mean someone should not kill anyone, including themselves   All people are the children of God, as mentioned before.  And all people have great potential.  No man or woman should have the right to take away the life from another man or woman.  "This life," as Alma teaches in the Book of Mormon, "is the time for men to prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32).  When a person is taken early from this preparatory life they lose that time.

God commands next to keep from committing adultery.  In the Sermon on the Mount Christ expands on this by saying, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)  Thoughts lead to actions and so our thoughts must be pure as well as our actions.  But if we love God, and love his children, we would show proper respect towards them, and not do these things with them.

The next two are quite similar:  Theft and false witness.  Theft, robbery, cheating, lying, stealing, plundering and robbery, as well as many other things, can all fall under these two great commandments.  Just a couple days ago I came across the following quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him.  But a day comes he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor.  Then all goes well."
When we show this Christ-like love towards our neighbors we will then not want to rob or lie to them, and when they see that we do not want to do such things to them they will likely not want to do such things back to us.  "Then all goes well."

We come finally to the tenth commandment:  Thou shalt not covet.  Most people now days would use the word 'jealousy' to explain this commandment.  Refrain from jealousy.  Becoming jealous of another person's possessions leads to thoughts of wanting to obtain those possessions, which then leads to the previous commandments.

How did all of this start?  I go back to the very beginning of this page, to my favorite Bible scripture:  Let brotherly love continue.  Only four words.

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Read also:
- Short Scriptures Have Great Power

If you'd like to know more about Mormonism, the Ten Commandments, the Holy Bible, or any other gospel topic, talk to a missionary about one:
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A Joyful Lesson From Alma Jr. - Mormonism Teaches Repentance

For the past little while I have shared some posts relating to Mormonism.  In brief, 'Mormonism' is a word some people use when talking about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or what the Church believes.  This particular post is on the topics of repentance and atonement.

"Repentance," as defined as LDS.org, "is one of the first principles of the gospel and is essential to our temporal and eternal happiness.  It is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoings.  It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about ourselves, and about the world."  Repentance, in short, is the process to change.  Big or small, whatever the sin, repentance is a gift to become a happier person.

The atonement is what makes this all possible.  Again using definitions from LDS.org, the atonement "to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God.  Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind.  Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life."

Due to the effects of the Fall of Adam, all people would fall short of the Celestial Kingdom without some sort of atonement to redeem them from this fall.  That is what the atonement does.  Christ has paid the atonement for mankind to rise above this fall, on condition that they follow him.  If they do so they will return to the kingdom of God.  (This is talked about in more detail in my previous post, here.)  But everyone makes mistakes, and repentance is the process to get past these mistakes.

The scriptures contain countless examples of repentance.  In the Bible there can be seen the conversion of the great missionary Paul, before named Saul.  But the example I wish to use is from the Book of Mormon.  This is the story of Alma Jr.  Alma, much like Saul of Tarsus, went around persecuting those that believed in Christ.  This is his story, as he himself told it to his son Helaman, found in Alma chapter 36:

6.  For I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to destroy the church of God; but behold, God sent his holy angel to stop us by the way.
7.  And behold, he spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did tremble beneath our feet; and we all fell to the earth, for the fear of the Lord came upon us.
8.  But behold, the voice said unto me:  Arise.  And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.
9.  And he said unto me:  If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.
10.  And it came to pass that I fell to the earth; and it was for the space of three days and three nights that I could not open my mouth, neither had I the use of my limbs.
11.  And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did not hear them; for when I heard the words - If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God - I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.
12.  But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
13.  Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14.  Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God di rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
15.  Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
16.  And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
17.  And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18.  Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart:  O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19.  And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20.  And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
21.  Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains.  Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
- Alma 36:6-21 -

When people follow the steps of repentance it is rarely through such a dramatic way as it was for Alma.  But the end result can always be the same:  Our "souls [can be] filled with joy as exceeding as was [our] pain!"

If you have questions on repentance or the atonement, you can ask someone here and they will be happy to answer your questions.