Of course they would

Something has always puzzled me about the attitude from other Christian religions to the Book of Mormon.  In the New Testament, Christ specifically says that he has other children to bring into His fold (John 10:16).  He says they shall hear his voice.

Now, if there were other people who heard Christ's voice, wouldn't they write it down?  Of course they would.  And if they wrote it down, wouldn't God help preserve such a record, as He did the Bible, so His children could read of His dealings with them?  Of course!

In that sense, it ought to be more surprising if there weren't another testament of Jesus Christ.

Old Testament: No time wasted on characters

I was challenged to read the Old Testament, under the theory that Mormons tend to ignore reading most of the Bible in favor of The Book of Mormon.  In my own defense, I've studied the bible and am very familiar with the stories, but have never read it cover-to-cover.

So I'm now mostly through Genesis and just getting to the good part.  I've read Genesis before, but it was as a teenager, and I don't remember much about it. I remember thinking how it was possible that so many people and so much of history--from Adam to Moses--was squeezed into that one fairly short book.

And now I know.  Genesis wastes no time in character development.  It's a book retelling events in very short order.  Cain and Abel get less than a chapter for their whole story.  Noah comes and goes in a single night's reading.  Abraham and Isaac get a few more pages, but again no time spent on letting us know much about them--just which kids they have and by whom.  (I'm exaggerating for effect--I know that the story of the sacrifice of Isaac is good drama and good character development.)

Jacob gets more time, especially his relationship with Laban, so far, and I know that his relationship with his sons is about to take center stage.  Joseph's story is really the most detailed of Genesis.

Plus, I know all the songs.

The messages of Christmas

Whatever contemporary fads are about the meaning of Christmas, the best source to look for what Christmas should mean to us is God.  He actually sent the message He had for His children on the first Christmas night.

When Christ was born, angels came from Heaven with three messages for man, and these messages define what Christmas means.

1. "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy."  Christmas is designed to celebrate the birth of the Savior, and should be a time of "great joy."  Regardless of what trials or unhappy situations we may find ourselves with more broadly, Christmas gives us reason to celebrate and be happy.  Why?  That's the second message.
2. "For unto you is born this day...a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."  Savior is the key word here.  Our salvation was born on this day.  That's a reason to celebrate, and also a reason to worship.  It's appropriate that Christmas is on Sunday this year, the day set aside to worship.  Christmas is a day to thank God for the gift of Salvation.  It's a day to reconcile ourselves to God.
3. Then the big choir of angels sings out, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Since I covered worship in point two, here the message is one of peace and good will for our fellow man.  Christmas is a time for forgiveness--a time to reconcile ourselves with our fellow man, and bring peace and good will into our lives.

Herald angels singing.

Merry Christmas.

Helaman 12

Most of Helaman chapter 12 is a downer.  It rings true, pierces a little close to home, and is kind of more depressing because of that.  The first few verses are all about how quick we are to do evil.  Men are "unsteady," "hard hearted," "foolish," "vain," and "proud" (v 1-5).  Yup.  Guilty as charged.

And because we are so foolish, slow to remember God and quick to do iniquity, we face trials that remind us of our "nothingness."  God is all powerful, as explained in verses 8 through 21.

And the point of all this?  That's in verse 22: "And wo unto him to whom he shall say this (thou art cut off from my presence), for it shall be unto him that will do iniquity, and he cannot be saved."  Ouch.  That's what's said to those who do iniquity?  But in the early part of the chapter we see that that's everyone, and that it's everyone pretty much all the time.

But verses 22 and 23 resolve that conflict for us. "Therefore, for this cause, that men might be saved, hath repentance been declared. Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved."

We are all bound to be cut off because of iniquity.  But who is saved?  Those that do iniquity and then repent.

This chapter, which for much of it kind of serves to remind us how doomed we are, contains the two verses that let us know that no matter who we are, no matter what we've done, and no matter how many times we've done it, repentance and salvation are available to us.

Not that team

Satan is the captain of his team.  His team is powerful, and they win a lot.  (I was about to make a joke about the Yankees, here, but I'll forbear.)  Helaman 6 describes the adversary as "that being" who did the following:

• Entice Adam and Eve to take the forbidden fruit (v 26)
• Plot with Cain to kill his brother (v 27)
• Plot with Gadianton to carry on the works of secret murder (v 29)
• Is the author of all sin (v 30)

I look at that list, and other evils not on the list, and I'm sure I don't want to be on his team.  But the Nephites of Helaman 6 were on his team, were "building up and supporting" the earthly captains of it.

My prayer for myself is that I always recognize that when the Spirit withdraws from me because of my own actions, I'm building up and supporting my adversary.  If I recognize that my sins empower my greatest enemy, one who seeks my total destruction, then sin in stupid.

The manner of my conversion

Because of great trials, I've been drawn to turn more to God this year.  It's too bad it took great trials to get my efforts increased to where they are now.  And it's probably too bad that even now, my efforts aren't better and more consistent.  Yet I've seen the results of that closeness with God.  As I've turned over more of my will to Him, He has been an increasing presence for me, providing great strength and peace in troubled times.

My Patriarchal Blessing talks a lot about missionary work.  Maybe that's common in blessings. I'm not familiar with anyone's but my own.  It talks about my skills with words, with the application of the gospel to peoples' lives, and how I will be able to convince others of the truthfulness of the gospel. Unfortunately, my own actions prevented me from serving a mission as a young man.

As I invited the Spirit more in my life, it was clear that I needed to do more to spread the gospel.  This blog is one result.  I also felt impressed to write to missionaries and ask them for advice on how to be a better member missionary.  I taught fourth grade ten years ago, and my former students are now mission age.  At least six are out now.  One replied that I should read the scriptures for a half hour each day and pray for opportunities to share the gospel, and that such opportunities would come.  I haven't missed a day of reading the scriptures since.

I never learned the skills of a missionary--to be able to talk to total strangers about my most personal and intimate thoughts, beliefs, and feelings.  I've been praying for many, many nights to be able to find and recognize someone with whom I can share, that I'd recognize that opportunity for what it was, and that I'd be able to share the good news effectively.

Tonight, Helaman 6:4 struck me: "And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people of the Nephites the manner of their conversion, and did exhort them to faith and repentance."  There's a scriptural example of missionary work.  Tell the story of your conversion, and exhort those you tell to faith and repentance.  That I think I can do.

And the thing is, the manner of my conversion is based entirely on faith and repentance. Every time.  (I--like the Nephites in the Book of Mormon--have been converted more than once. It doesn't always take the first time.)  But recently, just after my divorce, I really needed conversion again, and that's what I'll count as the conversion that counts.

I don't know whom I'll be able to share this with, but following the example of the converted Lamanites from Helaman 6, here's the manner of my conversion, as recorded in my journal on Easter of this year, about eight weeks after my ex-wife said that she would be filing for divorce.

So, on Sunday night, when the trip was about over, I asked Adam (my friend of 20 years) for a blessing. Instead of just saying yes, he asked what I hoped to get from a blessing. Well, out came eight weeks of hopelessness and emptiness.

What do I want? I want comfort! I can accept that no matter how righteous I am (only so-so), and no matter how much I try and make spiritually directed right decisions, no right thing will ever be more right than another person’s ability to choose something else. And when you’re in a partnership, every decision made affects the partner. So, I don’t expect God to force her to choose me, even if it would have been the right thing to do.

But where did He go? Why at my most vulnerable, when I most need to feel His love and support, why is it then that I feel empty? Why do prayers bounce off the ceiling? I can remember so many times when I have felt that love and warmth, so why withhold it now? Now is when I’m most vulnerable. Is this when I get abandoned and left to my own strength to deal with the most painful part of my life, when I have a repeated history of weakness and failure? What do I need? I need hope and comfort! Where are you, Father?

And suddenly, there you are, in the laid-on-hands of one of my longest friends. In the power of the priesthood.  In the memory of mercies past and the promise of more to come. In the forgiveness of past and current sins. In His patience with my impatience. In family who love all parts of me, even the dark and sinister parts that come out at times like this. And in the tears that fall as I write this in such gratitude for the healing power of the Atonement made manifest in me. Again.

That feeling is a gift from God that anyone can have if they exercise faith.  I was in a horrible state--depressed, angry, unworthy.  But the act of asking for peace and comfort and believing it will come is the act of faith that entitles us to the very peace and comfort we seek.  Trials don't disappear, but they come with reassurance of the Love of a Father in Heaven who watches over and comforts us.

And with that, I exhort you to try asking for what you need with faith, believing that it's possible to receive.  As the scriptures say, "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 32:27).

You'll be warmly aware of how loving God is, and how much he wants you to feel the peace and comfort you desire.

"Their preservation was astonishing"

The story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors teaches a valuable lesson for anyone who has suffered, which is everyone.  Because aren't these young men the very model of righteousness?  How righteous were they?  "They did perform every command with exactness" (Alma 57:21). "They are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong" (Alma 58:40).

That's a lot more than I do. I'm not exact in keeping commandments. And if there's anything I do "continually" it's make mistakes, fall back, continually struggling to be "exact," and never quite making it.  Is it any wonder that the 2,000 Stripling Warriors were so miraculously preserved?  They deserved and got blessings that we're not entitled to because of our weakness, right?

I'm thinking no.  Their preservation was miraculous, but I think no more miraculous than the Lord's preservation of me through my trials, or others through theirs.  Did the Warrior escape hardship?  Heavens no.  In  major battles, "there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood...and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds" (Alma 57:25).

They suffered, and suffered plenty.  And not because of anything they did.  They were victims of an aggressive enemy who sought to take away their liberty.  And that enemy made them suffer.

In life, we often suffer as a result of our own choices.  When our choices are more in line with God's will, our choices bring less suffering, but that doesn't mean we suffer any less, we just suffer for the choices of others or because life is a hardship and things happen.

Yet, as the Stripling Warriors were preserved, we can also be miraculously preserved with God's support. God dis not allow these young men to be destroyed because of their strong faith, and neither will he let us be destroyed.  He will allow us to suffer, yes, but in that suffering he will bear us up.

I can bear personal testimony of that.  My own preservation through recent trials is nothing short of miraculous, so that I shout, as Helaman, "And behold, I am again delivered out of the hands of my enemy. And blessed is the name of my God; for behold, it is he that has delivered me; yea, that has done this great thing for me" (Alma 57:35, with my edits).

Supposing that God would strengthen us

I have a new candidate for my favorite scripture.  Alma 56:8, which is Helaman's response to the people of Ammon who talk about taking up arms to defend their liberty and their allies in war against the Lamanites:

But I would not suffer them that they should break this covenant which they had made, supposing that God would strengthen us, insomuch that we should not suffer more because of the fulfilling the oath which they had taken.

I take great comfort in that, if I can suppose that God with strengthen me in my endeavors as I keep the covenants I have made.  I've sure seen evidence of that this year.  Later in the chapter, the sons of those Ammonites make the same point as they are faced with the prospect of war:  "Behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go" (v. 46).

Again, they have confidence in the support of their God because they are engaged doing the right thing.  Living righteously can give you tremendous and justified confidence in your endeavors.

Road Trip Sunday School

I drove home from a weekend getaway today, doing my best to keep the Sabbath Day holy by listening to Christmas music, conference talks, and having a Road Trip Sunday School lesson with my travelling buddy.

He read 1 John while I drove, and we'd talk about it.  He read a little introduction from a manual of some kind (iPhones are awesome) and then read all five chapters out loud.

As with most scripture, the frame of mind of the reader (or listener) can make different truths stand out.  Today, what stood out to me was the repeated warning to the Saints about dishonest people who profess righteousness but are liars.  (Seven of the twelve instances of "liar" are used by St. John, five of them in this epistle.)

1 John 1:5-105 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have anot sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

And more from Chapter 2:

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a We live in a time when we are surrounded by much that is intended to entice us into paths which may lead to our destruction. To avoid such paths requires determination and courage. I recall a time—and some of you here tonight will also—when the standards of most people were very similar to our standards. No longer is this true.liar, and the truth is not in him.

9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

And there's more like this.  John seems to me to be drawing a contrast between righteousness and pretended righteousness.  It seems like a warning to the Saints not to be taken in by those who would dilute  the message of the Gospel by pretending you can pick and choose the parts of it you like.

I think that's what I focused on because earlier in the care we listened to President Monson's talk from the most recent Priesthood Session of Conference.

We live in a time when we are surrounded by much that is intended to entice us into paths which may lead to our destruction. To avoid such paths requires determination and courage. I recall a time—and some of you here tonight will also—when the standards of most people were very similar to our standards. No longer is this true.

Pres. Monson goes on to ward of celebrities and others who occupy the Great and Spacious Building who would lie to us and ridicule us.  One of those "paths which may lead to our destruction" is believing that God's word just doesn't apply in our day, or to me in this situation, or it does apply, but not so much that part.

We should be striving to live the whole Gospel, and not just the convenient parts or in convenient times.

Guard the entrance

Building off the last post, there is more in Moroni's experience that teach us about how to defeat the adversary in our war.  Earlier chapters were about the armor we wear, and Alma 49 is about recognizing our weak points.

Moroni spends time between battles rebuilding and strengthening the Nephite cities.  But he didn't just rebuild them, he significantly strengthened them, with ridges and high walls, and in chapter 50, timbers and watchtowers.

I'm figuring this is like repentance.  When we lose battles, or suffer losses to the adversary, we can rebuild, and not only rebuild, but strengthen ourselves against future attacks.

Yet there will remain weak spots.  In Alma 49, the great weakness of the Nephite cities are at each's "place of entrance."  That makes sense for cities--Moroni's armies have to get in and out, after all, and so it can't be impassable like the rest of the city.  That makes it more susceptible to attack.

In the same way, we will always face temptation, and the adversary is smart enough to target our areas of weakness--or place of entrance.  We have weaknesses for a reason--so we will be humble and reliant on the Lord.  Our weaknesses can become strong, as the Nephite cities did.  But, where is your place of entrance?  Where are you most susceptible to the adversary?

We need to guard our places of entrance carefully.

Victory by stratagem

I thought it was funny in Alma 43:29-30 when Moroni

"knew the intention of the Lamanites, that it was their intention to destroy their brethren, or to bsubject them and bring them into bondage that they might establish a kingdom unto themselves over all the land; And he also knowing that it was the only desire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and their liberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem; therefore, he found by his spies which course the Lamanites were to take."

Because the Lamanites were trying to do bad things, it was okay for Moroni to, er, cheat.

That's not cheating.  It's war after all, and all's fair there.  It's what his stratagem was that I'm writing about today.  Moroni was in a war with a strong adversary--one that outnumbered him greatly.  The adversary was out to enslave and destroy him.  Moroni knew this was their intention.  We are also at war with a similar adversary, and I believe that the lesson from these two chapters (43 and 44) of Alma is to teach us how to win.

Elder Holland, in the most recent General Conference, said, "We are at war, and for these next few minutes, I want to be a one-man recruiting station. Do I need to hum a few bars of 'We Are All Enlisted'? You know, the line about 'We are waiting now for soldiers; who’ll volunteer?'”

The first thing Moroni does to fight this war: Armor.  Moroni's soldiers covered the "vital parts of the body" with "breastplates, armplates, and headplates" (v 38).  This is a brief blog post, so I won't define what all that is, just that it's important to us to win.  Here's a talk from N. Eldon Tanner on putting on Armor, and here's a fairly cheesy and very dated video from lds.org.



Second, Moroni seeks and follows the guidance of the prophet.  "And Moroni, also, knowing of the prophecies of Alma, sent certain men unto him, desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord whither the armies of the Nephites should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites" (v 23--in v 25, he follows the counsel he gets). This guidance is available to us at the links I've placed above, and at other obvious places.

And finally, Moroni strategically places his armies at the places where he knows the adversary will attack.  If we've lived for any length of time we ought to know by now how and where our adversary will attack us--what temptations he places in our way.  To win the victory, we need to guard such places strongly.

Armor, counsel, placement.  Following Moroni's example can help us win our individual war.