I had to look this up

It’s late. 11:20. I should be in bed. But I heard this quote today and was thinking about it as I went up the stairs. I had to find the source and read the exact quote.

From President (then Bishop) Eyring’s talk “To Draw Closer to God” May 1991 Conference talk, quoting President Benson.

“Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.”

He is our Father. We lived with him. He loves us and wants us to return to him. Us being here is his plan for us. This is His plan for providing a way for us to grow, and learn, and experience for ourselves. He knew we would make mistakes…in fact, it is crucial for us to make mistakes, so we could learn good from evil. These mistakes would keep us from returning to Him, but he prepared a way to overcome that too. He sent His perfect Son, a God, to suffer and to atone; to meet the demands of justice so mercy can be extended to us.

I look forward to that day, when I get to return home… to see my Father. And to thank my Savior, for making it possible for me to return.

Two men of opposite character

It’s interesting to compare the difference between Moroni and Amalickiah. Moroni, at 25 became the chief captain of the Nephite army. Amalickiah had become the leader of the Lamanites. Amalickiah spent his time stirring up hatred and contention among the Lamanites. He appointed men to stand on towers and speak against the Nephites, “hardening the hearts of the Lamanites and blinding their minds, and stirred them up to anger…” While Amalickiah created this hostility in the minds of the Lamanites, Moroni taught his people to be faithful unto the Lord their God. He did other things, he fortified the cities, prepared the armies, but that wasn’t the first thing, or even the most important, he started by teaching them to be faithful to God.

There is more we learn about Moroni and the sharp contrast of what we know of Amalickiah. Moroni was a man of “perfect understanding”, he was full of gratitude, he “did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.” He was firm in the faith of Christ.

No description of Moroni’s character can compare with Alma 48:17, “…if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.”

Oh how I wish I could have that kind of character…

psst…the seed isn’t ‘faith’

After Alma and his brethren return from teaching the Lamanites, they set about re-teaching their own people. The Zoramites had become apostate, had built the Rameumptom, and the wealthy had kicked out the poor from the synagogues. When Alma met these poor, he saw they were sufficiently humble and he and Amulek began teaching them.

We’ve all read chapter 32 in Alma, most people probably recognize the teaching by recognizing the reference. Alma teaches a discourse on the topic of faith, “…not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” He then goes on to talk about the experiment. “…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.”

“Now we will compare the word unto a seed.”

The word. Of course the word he was talking about just a minute ago was ‘faith’ so clearly he’s going to teach us about how to build our faith, right? He compares the word to a seed, teaches us to plant it, nourish it, no neglect it, not allow our ground to be barren…do these things and be diligent and patient, and we’ll pluck the fruit which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and we’ll feast on it until we are filled that we will never hunger or thirst.

He continues in chapter 33 telling us that prayer is crucial to growing this fruit. He quotes Zenos for 8 versus, relating to us Zenos’ experience with prayer. He then tells us to study the scriptures and asks a great question, “I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?” He follows up a few verses later, “… begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead. which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.”

“Plant THIS word in your hearts…and it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. AND THEN may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son.”

So the ‘word’ isn’t faith, the word is “The Word” as in, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (see JST to make more sense of that) and we know lots about the seed, and the tree, and the fruit that it bears…Lehi and Nephi both described it in detail in 1 Nephi, chapters 8 and 11. Go read them for a refresher.

And thus we see…

That this isn’t going to happen every day!

I’ve fully entered the war chapters in Alma. When the most wicked of the Lamanites saw the change happening in the those who were willing to listen to the message of the Gospel (these Lamanites changed their name to the Anti-Lehi-Nephi) they did not approve. They would rather kill their own people then watch them change. Mormon put all these war chapters in for a reason. It’s hard to read the details of these wars and not feel the dedication of these converts and see how much they would give to keep their covenants. It’s also remarkable to see how wicked the Lamanites were and what length they would go to to fight righteousness.

Mormon had some specific reasons to put these chapters in and to make sure we got the message, he outlined some of these reasons at the end of Chapter 28 and 30.

“And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil.”

“And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord”

“And thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing – sorrow because of death and destruction among me,, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.”

“And thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.”