Showing posts with label Book of Mormon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book of Mormon. Show all posts
Friday, January 17, 2020
Friday, January 19, 2018
How a Mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in Mexico—and ended up losing his faith By Lizzie Wade
Link to article below, but copied to this blog to ensure access to the full article is retained for the duration of the existence of this blog.
How a Mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in Mexico—and ended up losing his faith
Thomas Stuart Ferguson lay in his hammock, certain that he had found the promised land. It had been raining for 5 hours in his camp in tropical Mexico on this late January evening in 1948, and his three campmates had long since drifted off to sleep. But Ferguson was vibrating with excitement. Eager to tell someone what he had seen, he dashed through the downpour to retrieve paper from his supply bag. Ensconced in his hammock's cocoon of mosquito netting, he clicked on his flashlight and began to write a letter home.
"We have discovered a very great city here in the heart of ‘Bountiful’ land," Ferguson wrote. According to the Book of Mormon, Bountiful was one of the first areas settled by the Nephites, ancient people who supposedly sailed from Israel to the Americas around 600 B.C.E. Centuries later, according to the scripture, Jesus appeared to the Nephites in the same region after his resurrection. Mormons like Ferguson were certain that these events had happened in the ancient Americas, but debates raged over exactly how their sacred lands mapped onto real-world geography. The Book of Mormon gave only scattered clues, speaking of a narrow isthmus, a river called Sidon, and lands to the north and south occupied by the Nephites and their enemies, the Lamanites.
After years of studying maps, Mormon scripture, and Spanish chronicles, Ferguson had concluded that the Book of Mormon took place around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico. He had come to the jungles of Campeche, northeast of the isthmus, to find proof.
As the group's local guide hacked a path through the undergrowth with his machete, that proof seemed to materialize before Ferguson's eyes. "We have explored four days and have found eight pyramids and many lesser structures and there are more at every turn," he wrote of the ruins he and his companions found on the western shore of Laguna de Términos. "Hundreds and possibly several thousand people must have lived here anciently. This site has never been explored before."
Ferguson, a lawyer by training, did go on to open an important new window on Mesoamerica's past. His quest eventually spurred expeditions that transformed Mesoamerican archaeology by unearthing traces of the region's earliest complex societies and exploring an unstudied area that turned out to be a crucial cultural crossroads. Even today, the institute he founded hums with research. But proof of Mormon beliefs eluded him. His mission led him further and further from his faith, eventually sapping him of religious conviction entirely. Ferguson placed his faith in the hands of science, not realizing they were the lion's jaws.
But that night, lying in his hammock listening to the rain and the occasional roar of a jaguar in the distance, Ferguson felt surer than ever that Mesoamerican civilizations had been founded by migrants from the Near East, just as his religion had taught him. Now, he thought, how would he convince the rest of the world?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) doesn't take an official position on where the events in the Book of Mormon occurred. But the faithful have been trying to figure it out practically since 1830, when church founder Joseph Smith published what he said was a divinely inspired account of the ancient Americas. Smith said an angel had led him to buried ancient golden plates, which he dug up and translated into the Book of Mormon. Smith's account of buried wonders was one of many in the United States at the time. As white settlers moved west, they encountered mounds filled with skeletons and artifacts, including beautiful pottery and ornaments. Newspapers, including those in Smith's hometown of Palmyra, New York, buzzed with speculation about who the "mound builders" were and how they came by their refined culture. Many settlers, blinded by racism, concluded that the mound builders—now known to be indigenous farming societies—were a lost people who had been exterminated by the violent ancestors of Native Americans. The Book of Mormon, with its saga of righteous, white Nephites and wicked, dark-skinned Lamanites, echoed these ideas.
The Book of Mormon also spoke of sprawling ancient cities, none of which had been identified in the United States. So in the 1840s, Mormons, including Smith himself, took notice of a U.S. explorer's best-selling accounts of visits to the ruins of Mayan cities in Mexico and Guatemala. In 1842, as editor of a Mormon newspaper, Smith published excerpts from a book about the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque in Mexico, with the commentary: "Even the most credulous cannot doubt … these wonderful ruins of Palenque are among the mighty works of the Nephites—and the mystery is solved."
But non-Mormons continued to doubt, and church authorities gradually retreated from explicit statements about Book of Mormon locations. By the 1930s, when Ferguson learned about Mesoamerican civilizations as an undergraduate at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, the matter had been largely ceded to amateurs who pored over maps and the Book of Mormon looking for correspondences.
Ferguson wasn't impressed by their efforts. "The interested and inquiring mind of the modern investigator is not satisfied with explanations which are vague, unsound, and illogical," he wrote in an article in a church magazine in 1941. By then he was a law student at UC Berkeley and intrigued by the idea of scientifically testing Smith's revelation. In a later letter, he wrote, "It is the only Church on the face of the earth which can be subjected to this kind of investigation and checking." And in another, to the LDS leadership, he declared, "The Book of Mormon is either fake or fact. If fake, the [ancient] cities described in it are non-existent. If fact—as we know it to be—the cities will be there."
Tall and handsome, with a lawyer's practiced authority, Ferguson trusted that the tools of science could persuade the world of the truth of the Book of Mormon. Soon after he finished college, he began searching for clues in colonial documents that recorded some of Latin America's indigenous traditions. One, written around 1554 by a group of K'iche' Mayan villagers in the Guatemala highlands, stated that their ancestors—"sons of Abraham and Jacob"—had sailed across a sea to reach their homeland. The K'iche' were defeated by Spanish conquistadors in 1524, and the biblical references were likely the product of contact with Catholic priests, who enthusiastically converted allies and former foes alike.
But Ferguson, who had grown up in a Mormon family in Idaho, eagerly took such syncretism as proof that Israelites had once settled in the Americas. He was also taken by the myth of Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent deity that some colonial priests described as a bearded white man. Ferguson concluded that he was Jesus, appearing in Bountiful after his resurrection just as the Book of Mormon recorded. His library research spurred his first hunt for archaeological evidence, in Campeche in 1948.
Ferguson realized, however, that colonial sources represented circumstantial evidence at best. Nor was it enough to find ruins of past civilizations in more or less the right location, as he had done in Campeche. To persuade and convert outsiders—a priority for Mormons—he sought objects mentioned in the Book of Mormon that archaeologists hadn't found in Mesoamerica: horses, wheeled chariots, steel swords, and, most important, Hebrew or Egyptian script. "The final test of our views of Book of Mormon geography will be archaeological work in the ground itself," Ferguson wrote in 1951 to his friend J. Willard Marriott, the wealthy founder of the Marriott hospitality chain and a powerful figure in the church.
Ferguson's idea that Mesoamerican societies were seeded by Western ones is widely recognized as racist today. But it fit right into the archaeological thinking of the time, when Mesoamerican archaeologists were consumed by the question of whether civilizations had evolved independently in the Americas or had roots elsewhere. "In the 1940s and 1950s, these were the questions everyone was investigating," says Robert Rosenswig, an archaeologist at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Albany.
Ferguson never received a formal education in archaeology. He practiced law to support his growing family—he eventually had five children—as well as his research. But in 1951, he recruited leading archaeologists to explore the origin of Mesoamerican civilization as part of a new institution, the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF). First on board was renowned researcher Alfred Kidder of Harvard University and the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. Kidder thought Mesoamerican civilizations had developed independently, but he and Ferguson had met at a museum in Guatemala City in 1946 and struck up a correspondence.
Kidder "is recognized as the best [Mesoamerican] archaeologist of the 20th century," says archaeologist John Clark of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, who directed NWAF from 1987 to 2009. To get Kidder on the project, Clark says, "There's no question that Ferguson had to be some charismatic guy." Also recruited was Gordon Ekholm, an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who thought that Mesoamerican civilizations had their roots in advanced Asian cultures.
Their timing was good. Radiocarbon dating had just been invented, and Ferguson immediately recognized its potential for tracing the origins of Mesoamerican cultures. "This is the greatest development since the beginning of archaeology," he wrote to LDS leadership. "I am of the personal opinion that the Lord inspired [radiocarbon dating] that it might be used effectively in connection with the Book of Mormon."
Yet the first years of NWAF were a desperate scramble for money. Ferguson contributed thousands himself and raised funds from wealthy Mormons and the audiences of his lectures about Book of Mormon geography. In 1952, NWAF managed to send a handful of U.S. and Mexican archaeologists to survey the drainage basin of the Grijalva River in Tabasco and Chiapas, which Ferguson believed to be the Book of Mormon's River Sidon.
By this point, Ferguson had become more discerning about time periods than he had been in the jungles of Campeche. The ruins he found there were likely Classic or post-Classic Mayan, from between 250 C.E. and the Spanish conquest—much too late to be Mesoamerica's earliest civilization or the period mentioned in the Book of Mormon, believed to be about 2200 B.C.E. to 400 C.E. "We'll never solve pre-Maya origins by digging up more Mayas," Ferguson wrote to Kidder in April 1953. They needed Formative period sites, dating from about 2000 B.C.E. to 200 C.E., roughly matching the dates associated with the Book of Mormon.
In May 1953, Ferguson arrived in Chiapas to lend a hand. "He was rather alarmed that we hadn't found anything notable, because he felt he had to have something pretty spectacular to go and get more money for another year," recalls John Sorenson, then a master's student in archaeology at BYU (and a Mormon). To jump-start the search, Ferguson chartered a small plane, and he and Sorenson flew over the lush lowlands of central Chiapas. Fifteen kilometers southeast of the state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, they spotted the mounds and plazas of the ancient site of Chiapa de Corzo—which was then unknown to archaeologists. Later NWAF excavations dated the city to the Formative period.
Back on the ground, Ferguson and Sorenson set out by jeep for a 10-day survey to see what else they could find. "We'd go from site to site, town to town, asking ‘Are there any ruins around here?’" says Sorenson, who went on to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from UC Los Angeles (UCLA) and is now a professor emeritus at BYU. Ferguson also asked locals whether they had found figurines of horses—unknown in ancient Mesoamerica—or sources of iron ore, which Sorenson found naïve. But his own archaeological training paid off, and at some sites he was able to identify the polished, monochrome pottery and hand-sculpted, irregular human figurines of the Formative period, so different from the intricate but standardized figurines the Classic Maya had made from molds. In all, Sorenson and Ferguson surveyed 22 sites on that journey and collected an astounding number of Formative artifacts. "In my humble opinion there is little or no question about it—they are Nephite making," Ferguson wrote to his church funders.
In 1954, LDS authorities granted NWAF $250,000 for 5 years of work. Intensive excavations at Chiapa de Corzo uncovered stone pyramids and tombs, and a wealth of pottery that impressed University of Pennsylvania anthropologist John Alden Mason, then working with NWAF. "Since pre-Classic pottery is not very common anywhere, and that of this region is entirely new, it is of course a very great scientific contribution," Mason wrote to Ferguson. Eventually, archaeologists reported that the site was settled around 1200 B.C.E., likely by people connected to the Olmec, an early civilization that dominated the gulf coast of Mexico from 1200 B.C.E. to 400 B.C.E., centuries before the Classic Maya arose.
Then, in the early 1960s, NWAF archaeologists became the first to extensively excavate at Izapa, near the Chiapas coast and the Guatemalan border. They were drawn to the site in part because of a monument that apparently depicts a myth involving a tree; Ferguson's friend and founder of BYU's archaeology department, M. Wells Jakeman, argued that the carving shows visions received in a dream by the Mormon prophet Lehi. NWAF archaeologists, some of whom were Mormon, later soundly rebuffed that interpretation. But Izapa turned out to be a key site in the Soconusco, the Pacific coast region from which every Mesoamerican political power, from the Olmec in 1200 B.C.E. to the Aztec empire in the early 1500s C.E., sourced key luxury goods such as cacao and quetzal feathers. NWAF spearheaded excavations throughout this region. Pottery finds and dates from Izapa and elsewhere formed the basis of the ceramic chronologies for the Formative period that are still used by every archaeologist working in central and coastal Chiapas today.
"They were working in a part of Mesoamerica that was really unknown," says Michael Coe, an influential Mesoamerican archaeologist and professor emeritus at Yale University who, at the time, was surveying Formative sites just over the border in Guatemala. "NWAF put it on the map."
But even as NWAF grew in scientific stature, and was finally assured continued existence when BYU took it over in 1961, Ferguson was quietly becoming frustrated. The smoking gun he had been certain he would find—Egyptian or Hebrew script—proved elusive. He once had promised that archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon would be found within 10 years of NWAF starting excavations. But in 1966 he wrote, "My number one goal of establishing that Christ appeared in Mexico following the crucifixion will never be achieved until significant ancient manuscript discoveries are made. I hope it happens during our lifetimes."
When an ancient manuscript discovery did come, however, it was from a different quarter of the world—and it shook Ferguson's faith to its core.
In the summer of 1835, Joseph Smith had received a curious visitor in Kirtland, Ohio, then the headquarters of his burgeoning LDS church: a traveling showman, with four Egyptian mummies and some hieroglyphic texts in tow. The church bought the mummies and texts, and Smith said he translated the hieroglyphics, resulting in the Book of Abraham, which lays out Smith's cosmic vision of the afterlife. (Although Egyptian hieroglyphics had been deciphered in France in 1822 with the help of the Rosetta Stone, the news had barely reached U.S. shores.) As Smith and his followers moved around the Midwest, often fleeing angry mobs, they carried the mummies and papyri with them. After Smith's death at the hands of one of those mobs in Nauvoo, Illinois, they were sold by his family.
The fate of the mummies remains a mystery. But in 1966, a University of Utah professor examining artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City came across 11 Egyptian papyri with an 1856 certificate of sale signed by Smith's widow, Emma. The professor realized he was looking at the Book of Abraham papyri, and the documents were returned to the Mormon church.
Ferguson learned the news from a frontpage article in the newspaper Deseret News on 27 November 1967. Within days, he wrote to a friend in the church leadership, begging to know whether the papyri would be studied. Hearing that no studies were planned, Ferguson, as ever, took matters into his own hands. He received photos of the documents from the church and hired Egyptologists at UC Berkeley to translate them. He told the scholars nothing about the religious significance of the papyri. "He was conducting a clearly blind test," Clark says.
The results started coming in 6 weeks later. "I believe that all of these are spells from the Egyptian Book of the Dead," UC Berkeley Egyptologist Leonard Lesko wrote to Ferguson. Three other scholars independently gave Ferguson the same result: The texts were authentic ancient Egyptian, but represented one of the most common documents in that culture.
After decades of stressing the importance of the scientific method and using it to shore up his own faith, Ferguson now found himself at its mercy. "I must conclude that Joseph Smith had not the remotest skill in things Egyptian-hieroglyphics," he wrote to a fellow doubting Mormon in 1971. What's more, he wrote to another, "Right now I am inclined to think that all of those who claim to be ‘prophets’, including Moses, were without a means of communication with deity."
This doubt ultimately spread to Ferguson's archaeological quest. In 1975, he submitted a paper to a symposium about Book of Mormon geography outlining the failure of archaeologists to find Old World plants, animals, metals, and scripts in Mesoamerica. "The real implication of the paper," he wrote in a letter the following year, "is that you can't set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere—because it is fictional."
Although open about his doubts in his private letters, Ferguson didn't discuss his loss of faith with his family. He continued attending church, singing in the choir, and even giving blessings. "[Mormons] are so immersed in that culture … [that] to lose your faith, it's like you're being expelled from Eden," Coe says. "I felt sorry for him."
Ferguson continued to visit Mexico and from time to time stopped by NWAF headquarters in Chiapas, where he spoke frankly with Clark in 1983. "He resented that he spent so much time trying to prove the Book of Mormon. He said it was a fraud," remembers Clark, who is Mormon. The next month, Ferguson died of a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 67.
On a recent afternoon at NWAF headquarters here, scholars wander among buildings, sheltered patios, and a courtyard brimming with flowers and citrus trees. UCLA archaeologist Richard Lesure sorts through ceramics he excavated 27 years ago at Paso de la Amada on the Chiapas coast, home to Mesoamerica's first known ball court and elite residences. With NWAF support, Lesure has spent nearly 3 decades studying why mobile, egalitarian hunter-gatherers settled down here and created the oldest complex society in Mesoamerica around 1900 B.C.E., before even the Olmec rose to power.
Upstairs, Claudia García-Des Lauriers, an archaeologist at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, watches as an undergraduate student carefully positions an opossum-shaped ceramic whistle in the thin red laser beams of a 3D scanner. The researchers are creating a digital version of the ritual object, which García-Des Lauriers discovered at the Classic period site of Los Horcones on the Chiapas coast. Meanwhile, in the backyard, Clark leads an impromptu flint knapping lesson, using obsidian nodules strewn about the lawn.
"It's such a stimulating place to work," says Janine Gasco, an archaeologist at California State University in Dominguez Hills, who began working with NWAF in 1978. "It's been a force in my life."
In the years after Ferguson drifted away from the church and the foundation, NWAF continued to lead excavations, fund graduate students, publish an impressive amount of raw data, and store archaeological collections. Thanks to its work, a region that once seemed an archaeological backwater compared with the nearby Classic Mayan heartland in the Yucatán, Guatemala, and Belize has been revealed as the birthplace of Mesoamerican civilization and an economic and cultural hot spot, where people from all over the region crossed paths. "We wouldn't know anything about [central and coastal] Chiapas if it wasn't for [NWAF]," García-Des Lauriers says.
"Their work set the stage for everything I've done," says SUNY Albany's Rosenswig, who led recent excavations at Izapa to study the origins of urban life in Mesoamerica. When his graduate student Rebecca Mendelsohn, now a postdoc at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City, excavated in Izapa in 2014, NWAF's original map of its mounds and monuments served as a vital field reference. "I've been surprised at how sound the work from the 1960s still is," she says.
NWAF is still run by BYU, which means its funding comes from the Mormon church and all its directors have been Mormons. But aside from a ban on coffee at headquarters, the archaeologists who work here barely notice its religious roots. "There aren't conversations about religion," Gasco says. "The archaeological community has a lot of respect for the work done here."
Ferguson had hoped the Chiapas coast would turn out to be a crossroads not just for Mesoamerica, but the world. But the more NWAF and its collaborators excavated and analyzed sites in the region, the more they confirmed that Mesoamerican civilization sprang up from entirely New World origins. For archaeologists today, that makes the field all the more exciting. "That's one of the most amazing things about studying Mesoamerican archaeology—it's one of a half-dozen or so cases of independent development of agriculture, development of complexity, development of cities," Rosenswig says.
It is hard to know whether Ferguson would have shared that excitement. For all his trust in science, his goal was to serve his faith. Some believing Mormons still read his books and trust his early, enthusiastic ideas about Mesoamerica. Others who came to doubt their religion also found hope in his story. His loss of faith gave them conviction and strength as they began their own journey down a difficult road, as shown by many who wrote him anguished letters in his later years.
But it is his scientific legacy, long unrecognized, that is perhaps most significant. "Facts are facts and truth is truth," Ferguson once wrote about the archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon that he was sure was about to be discovered in southern Mexico. His belief in that principle never wavered.
How a Mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in Mexico—and ended up losing his faith
Thomas Stuart Ferguson lay in his hammock, certain that he had found the promised land. It had been raining for 5 hours in his camp in tropical Mexico on this late January evening in 1948, and his three campmates had long since drifted off to sleep. But Ferguson was vibrating with excitement. Eager to tell someone what he had seen, he dashed through the downpour to retrieve paper from his supply bag. Ensconced in his hammock's cocoon of mosquito netting, he clicked on his flashlight and began to write a letter home.
"We have discovered a very great city here in the heart of ‘Bountiful’ land," Ferguson wrote. According to the Book of Mormon, Bountiful was one of the first areas settled by the Nephites, ancient people who supposedly sailed from Israel to the Americas around 600 B.C.E. Centuries later, according to the scripture, Jesus appeared to the Nephites in the same region after his resurrection. Mormons like Ferguson were certain that these events had happened in the ancient Americas, but debates raged over exactly how their sacred lands mapped onto real-world geography. The Book of Mormon gave only scattered clues, speaking of a narrow isthmus, a river called Sidon, and lands to the north and south occupied by the Nephites and their enemies, the Lamanites.
After years of studying maps, Mormon scripture, and Spanish chronicles, Ferguson had concluded that the Book of Mormon took place around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico. He had come to the jungles of Campeche, northeast of the isthmus, to find proof.
As the group's local guide hacked a path through the undergrowth with his machete, that proof seemed to materialize before Ferguson's eyes. "We have explored four days and have found eight pyramids and many lesser structures and there are more at every turn," he wrote of the ruins he and his companions found on the western shore of Laguna de Términos. "Hundreds and possibly several thousand people must have lived here anciently. This site has never been explored before."
Ferguson, a lawyer by training, did go on to open an important new window on Mesoamerica's past. His quest eventually spurred expeditions that transformed Mesoamerican archaeology by unearthing traces of the region's earliest complex societies and exploring an unstudied area that turned out to be a crucial cultural crossroads. Even today, the institute he founded hums with research. But proof of Mormon beliefs eluded him. His mission led him further and further from his faith, eventually sapping him of religious conviction entirely. Ferguson placed his faith in the hands of science, not realizing they were the lion's jaws.
But that night, lying in his hammock listening to the rain and the occasional roar of a jaguar in the distance, Ferguson felt surer than ever that Mesoamerican civilizations had been founded by migrants from the Near East, just as his religion had taught him. Now, he thought, how would he convince the rest of the world?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) doesn't take an official position on where the events in the Book of Mormon occurred. But the faithful have been trying to figure it out practically since 1830, when church founder Joseph Smith published what he said was a divinely inspired account of the ancient Americas. Smith said an angel had led him to buried ancient golden plates, which he dug up and translated into the Book of Mormon. Smith's account of buried wonders was one of many in the United States at the time. As white settlers moved west, they encountered mounds filled with skeletons and artifacts, including beautiful pottery and ornaments. Newspapers, including those in Smith's hometown of Palmyra, New York, buzzed with speculation about who the "mound builders" were and how they came by their refined culture. Many settlers, blinded by racism, concluded that the mound builders—now known to be indigenous farming societies—were a lost people who had been exterminated by the violent ancestors of Native Americans. The Book of Mormon, with its saga of righteous, white Nephites and wicked, dark-skinned Lamanites, echoed these ideas.
The Book of Mormon also spoke of sprawling ancient cities, none of which had been identified in the United States. So in the 1840s, Mormons, including Smith himself, took notice of a U.S. explorer's best-selling accounts of visits to the ruins of Mayan cities in Mexico and Guatemala. In 1842, as editor of a Mormon newspaper, Smith published excerpts from a book about the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque in Mexico, with the commentary: "Even the most credulous cannot doubt … these wonderful ruins of Palenque are among the mighty works of the Nephites—and the mystery is solved."
But non-Mormons continued to doubt, and church authorities gradually retreated from explicit statements about Book of Mormon locations. By the 1930s, when Ferguson learned about Mesoamerican civilizations as an undergraduate at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, the matter had been largely ceded to amateurs who pored over maps and the Book of Mormon looking for correspondences.
Ferguson wasn't impressed by their efforts. "The interested and inquiring mind of the modern investigator is not satisfied with explanations which are vague, unsound, and illogical," he wrote in an article in a church magazine in 1941. By then he was a law student at UC Berkeley and intrigued by the idea of scientifically testing Smith's revelation. In a later letter, he wrote, "It is the only Church on the face of the earth which can be subjected to this kind of investigation and checking." And in another, to the LDS leadership, he declared, "The Book of Mormon is either fake or fact. If fake, the [ancient] cities described in it are non-existent. If fact—as we know it to be—the cities will be there."
Tall and handsome, with a lawyer's practiced authority, Ferguson trusted that the tools of science could persuade the world of the truth of the Book of Mormon. Soon after he finished college, he began searching for clues in colonial documents that recorded some of Latin America's indigenous traditions. One, written around 1554 by a group of K'iche' Mayan villagers in the Guatemala highlands, stated that their ancestors—"sons of Abraham and Jacob"—had sailed across a sea to reach their homeland. The K'iche' were defeated by Spanish conquistadors in 1524, and the biblical references were likely the product of contact with Catholic priests, who enthusiastically converted allies and former foes alike.
But Ferguson, who had grown up in a Mormon family in Idaho, eagerly took such syncretism as proof that Israelites had once settled in the Americas. He was also taken by the myth of Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent deity that some colonial priests described as a bearded white man. Ferguson concluded that he was Jesus, appearing in Bountiful after his resurrection just as the Book of Mormon recorded. His library research spurred his first hunt for archaeological evidence, in Campeche in 1948.
Ferguson realized, however, that colonial sources represented circumstantial evidence at best. Nor was it enough to find ruins of past civilizations in more or less the right location, as he had done in Campeche. To persuade and convert outsiders—a priority for Mormons—he sought objects mentioned in the Book of Mormon that archaeologists hadn't found in Mesoamerica: horses, wheeled chariots, steel swords, and, most important, Hebrew or Egyptian script. "The final test of our views of Book of Mormon geography will be archaeological work in the ground itself," Ferguson wrote in 1951 to his friend J. Willard Marriott, the wealthy founder of the Marriott hospitality chain and a powerful figure in the church.
Ferguson's idea that Mesoamerican societies were seeded by Western ones is widely recognized as racist today. But it fit right into the archaeological thinking of the time, when Mesoamerican archaeologists were consumed by the question of whether civilizations had evolved independently in the Americas or had roots elsewhere. "In the 1940s and 1950s, these were the questions everyone was investigating," says Robert Rosenswig, an archaeologist at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Albany.
Ferguson never received a formal education in archaeology. He practiced law to support his growing family—he eventually had five children—as well as his research. But in 1951, he recruited leading archaeologists to explore the origin of Mesoamerican civilization as part of a new institution, the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF). First on board was renowned researcher Alfred Kidder of Harvard University and the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. Kidder thought Mesoamerican civilizations had developed independently, but he and Ferguson had met at a museum in Guatemala City in 1946 and struck up a correspondence.
Kidder "is recognized as the best [Mesoamerican] archaeologist of the 20th century," says archaeologist John Clark of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, who directed NWAF from 1987 to 2009. To get Kidder on the project, Clark says, "There's no question that Ferguson had to be some charismatic guy." Also recruited was Gordon Ekholm, an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who thought that Mesoamerican civilizations had their roots in advanced Asian cultures.
Their timing was good. Radiocarbon dating had just been invented, and Ferguson immediately recognized its potential for tracing the origins of Mesoamerican cultures. "This is the greatest development since the beginning of archaeology," he wrote to LDS leadership. "I am of the personal opinion that the Lord inspired [radiocarbon dating] that it might be used effectively in connection with the Book of Mormon."
Yet the first years of NWAF were a desperate scramble for money. Ferguson contributed thousands himself and raised funds from wealthy Mormons and the audiences of his lectures about Book of Mormon geography. In 1952, NWAF managed to send a handful of U.S. and Mexican archaeologists to survey the drainage basin of the Grijalva River in Tabasco and Chiapas, which Ferguson believed to be the Book of Mormon's River Sidon.
By this point, Ferguson had become more discerning about time periods than he had been in the jungles of Campeche. The ruins he found there were likely Classic or post-Classic Mayan, from between 250 C.E. and the Spanish conquest—much too late to be Mesoamerica's earliest civilization or the period mentioned in the Book of Mormon, believed to be about 2200 B.C.E. to 400 C.E. "We'll never solve pre-Maya origins by digging up more Mayas," Ferguson wrote to Kidder in April 1953. They needed Formative period sites, dating from about 2000 B.C.E. to 200 C.E., roughly matching the dates associated with the Book of Mormon.
In May 1953, Ferguson arrived in Chiapas to lend a hand. "He was rather alarmed that we hadn't found anything notable, because he felt he had to have something pretty spectacular to go and get more money for another year," recalls John Sorenson, then a master's student in archaeology at BYU (and a Mormon). To jump-start the search, Ferguson chartered a small plane, and he and Sorenson flew over the lush lowlands of central Chiapas. Fifteen kilometers southeast of the state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, they spotted the mounds and plazas of the ancient site of Chiapa de Corzo—which was then unknown to archaeologists. Later NWAF excavations dated the city to the Formative period.
Back on the ground, Ferguson and Sorenson set out by jeep for a 10-day survey to see what else they could find. "We'd go from site to site, town to town, asking ‘Are there any ruins around here?’" says Sorenson, who went on to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from UC Los Angeles (UCLA) and is now a professor emeritus at BYU. Ferguson also asked locals whether they had found figurines of horses—unknown in ancient Mesoamerica—or sources of iron ore, which Sorenson found naïve. But his own archaeological training paid off, and at some sites he was able to identify the polished, monochrome pottery and hand-sculpted, irregular human figurines of the Formative period, so different from the intricate but standardized figurines the Classic Maya had made from molds. In all, Sorenson and Ferguson surveyed 22 sites on that journey and collected an astounding number of Formative artifacts. "In my humble opinion there is little or no question about it—they are Nephite making," Ferguson wrote to his church funders.
In 1954, LDS authorities granted NWAF $250,000 for 5 years of work. Intensive excavations at Chiapa de Corzo uncovered stone pyramids and tombs, and a wealth of pottery that impressed University of Pennsylvania anthropologist John Alden Mason, then working with NWAF. "Since pre-Classic pottery is not very common anywhere, and that of this region is entirely new, it is of course a very great scientific contribution," Mason wrote to Ferguson. Eventually, archaeologists reported that the site was settled around 1200 B.C.E., likely by people connected to the Olmec, an early civilization that dominated the gulf coast of Mexico from 1200 B.C.E. to 400 B.C.E., centuries before the Classic Maya arose.
Then, in the early 1960s, NWAF archaeologists became the first to extensively excavate at Izapa, near the Chiapas coast and the Guatemalan border. They were drawn to the site in part because of a monument that apparently depicts a myth involving a tree; Ferguson's friend and founder of BYU's archaeology department, M. Wells Jakeman, argued that the carving shows visions received in a dream by the Mormon prophet Lehi. NWAF archaeologists, some of whom were Mormon, later soundly rebuffed that interpretation. But Izapa turned out to be a key site in the Soconusco, the Pacific coast region from which every Mesoamerican political power, from the Olmec in 1200 B.C.E. to the Aztec empire in the early 1500s C.E., sourced key luxury goods such as cacao and quetzal feathers. NWAF spearheaded excavations throughout this region. Pottery finds and dates from Izapa and elsewhere formed the basis of the ceramic chronologies for the Formative period that are still used by every archaeologist working in central and coastal Chiapas today.
"They were working in a part of Mesoamerica that was really unknown," says Michael Coe, an influential Mesoamerican archaeologist and professor emeritus at Yale University who, at the time, was surveying Formative sites just over the border in Guatemala. "NWAF put it on the map."
But even as NWAF grew in scientific stature, and was finally assured continued existence when BYU took it over in 1961, Ferguson was quietly becoming frustrated. The smoking gun he had been certain he would find—Egyptian or Hebrew script—proved elusive. He once had promised that archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon would be found within 10 years of NWAF starting excavations. But in 1966 he wrote, "My number one goal of establishing that Christ appeared in Mexico following the crucifixion will never be achieved until significant ancient manuscript discoveries are made. I hope it happens during our lifetimes."
When an ancient manuscript discovery did come, however, it was from a different quarter of the world—and it shook Ferguson's faith to its core.
In the summer of 1835, Joseph Smith had received a curious visitor in Kirtland, Ohio, then the headquarters of his burgeoning LDS church: a traveling showman, with four Egyptian mummies and some hieroglyphic texts in tow. The church bought the mummies and texts, and Smith said he translated the hieroglyphics, resulting in the Book of Abraham, which lays out Smith's cosmic vision of the afterlife. (Although Egyptian hieroglyphics had been deciphered in France in 1822 with the help of the Rosetta Stone, the news had barely reached U.S. shores.) As Smith and his followers moved around the Midwest, often fleeing angry mobs, they carried the mummies and papyri with them. After Smith's death at the hands of one of those mobs in Nauvoo, Illinois, they were sold by his family.
The fate of the mummies remains a mystery. But in 1966, a University of Utah professor examining artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City came across 11 Egyptian papyri with an 1856 certificate of sale signed by Smith's widow, Emma. The professor realized he was looking at the Book of Abraham papyri, and the documents were returned to the Mormon church.
Ferguson learned the news from a frontpage article in the newspaper Deseret News on 27 November 1967. Within days, he wrote to a friend in the church leadership, begging to know whether the papyri would be studied. Hearing that no studies were planned, Ferguson, as ever, took matters into his own hands. He received photos of the documents from the church and hired Egyptologists at UC Berkeley to translate them. He told the scholars nothing about the religious significance of the papyri. "He was conducting a clearly blind test," Clark says.
The results started coming in 6 weeks later. "I believe that all of these are spells from the Egyptian Book of the Dead," UC Berkeley Egyptologist Leonard Lesko wrote to Ferguson. Three other scholars independently gave Ferguson the same result: The texts were authentic ancient Egyptian, but represented one of the most common documents in that culture.
After decades of stressing the importance of the scientific method and using it to shore up his own faith, Ferguson now found himself at its mercy. "I must conclude that Joseph Smith had not the remotest skill in things Egyptian-hieroglyphics," he wrote to a fellow doubting Mormon in 1971. What's more, he wrote to another, "Right now I am inclined to think that all of those who claim to be ‘prophets’, including Moses, were without a means of communication with deity."
This doubt ultimately spread to Ferguson's archaeological quest. In 1975, he submitted a paper to a symposium about Book of Mormon geography outlining the failure of archaeologists to find Old World plants, animals, metals, and scripts in Mesoamerica. "The real implication of the paper," he wrote in a letter the following year, "is that you can't set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere—because it is fictional."
Although open about his doubts in his private letters, Ferguson didn't discuss his loss of faith with his family. He continued attending church, singing in the choir, and even giving blessings. "[Mormons] are so immersed in that culture … [that] to lose your faith, it's like you're being expelled from Eden," Coe says. "I felt sorry for him."
Ferguson continued to visit Mexico and from time to time stopped by NWAF headquarters in Chiapas, where he spoke frankly with Clark in 1983. "He resented that he spent so much time trying to prove the Book of Mormon. He said it was a fraud," remembers Clark, who is Mormon. The next month, Ferguson died of a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 67.
On a recent afternoon at NWAF headquarters here, scholars wander among buildings, sheltered patios, and a courtyard brimming with flowers and citrus trees. UCLA archaeologist Richard Lesure sorts through ceramics he excavated 27 years ago at Paso de la Amada on the Chiapas coast, home to Mesoamerica's first known ball court and elite residences. With NWAF support, Lesure has spent nearly 3 decades studying why mobile, egalitarian hunter-gatherers settled down here and created the oldest complex society in Mesoamerica around 1900 B.C.E., before even the Olmec rose to power.
Upstairs, Claudia García-Des Lauriers, an archaeologist at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, watches as an undergraduate student carefully positions an opossum-shaped ceramic whistle in the thin red laser beams of a 3D scanner. The researchers are creating a digital version of the ritual object, which García-Des Lauriers discovered at the Classic period site of Los Horcones on the Chiapas coast. Meanwhile, in the backyard, Clark leads an impromptu flint knapping lesson, using obsidian nodules strewn about the lawn.
"It's such a stimulating place to work," says Janine Gasco, an archaeologist at California State University in Dominguez Hills, who began working with NWAF in 1978. "It's been a force in my life."
In the years after Ferguson drifted away from the church and the foundation, NWAF continued to lead excavations, fund graduate students, publish an impressive amount of raw data, and store archaeological collections. Thanks to its work, a region that once seemed an archaeological backwater compared with the nearby Classic Mayan heartland in the Yucatán, Guatemala, and Belize has been revealed as the birthplace of Mesoamerican civilization and an economic and cultural hot spot, where people from all over the region crossed paths. "We wouldn't know anything about [central and coastal] Chiapas if it wasn't for [NWAF]," García-Des Lauriers says.
"Their work set the stage for everything I've done," says SUNY Albany's Rosenswig, who led recent excavations at Izapa to study the origins of urban life in Mesoamerica. When his graduate student Rebecca Mendelsohn, now a postdoc at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City, excavated in Izapa in 2014, NWAF's original map of its mounds and monuments served as a vital field reference. "I've been surprised at how sound the work from the 1960s still is," she says.
NWAF is still run by BYU, which means its funding comes from the Mormon church and all its directors have been Mormons. But aside from a ban on coffee at headquarters, the archaeologists who work here barely notice its religious roots. "There aren't conversations about religion," Gasco says. "The archaeological community has a lot of respect for the work done here."
Ferguson had hoped the Chiapas coast would turn out to be a crossroads not just for Mesoamerica, but the world. But the more NWAF and its collaborators excavated and analyzed sites in the region, the more they confirmed that Mesoamerican civilization sprang up from entirely New World origins. For archaeologists today, that makes the field all the more exciting. "That's one of the most amazing things about studying Mesoamerican archaeology—it's one of a half-dozen or so cases of independent development of agriculture, development of complexity, development of cities," Rosenswig says.
It is hard to know whether Ferguson would have shared that excitement. For all his trust in science, his goal was to serve his faith. Some believing Mormons still read his books and trust his early, enthusiastic ideas about Mesoamerica. Others who came to doubt their religion also found hope in his story. His loss of faith gave them conviction and strength as they began their own journey down a difficult road, as shown by many who wrote him anguished letters in his later years.
But it is his scientific legacy, long unrecognized, that is perhaps most significant. "Facts are facts and truth is truth," Ferguson once wrote about the archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon that he was sure was about to be discovered in southern Mexico. His belief in that principle never wavered.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Helaman 11
July 31, 2007 - Original Post
Famine and Fasting
Nephi pleads with the Lord that the people don’t die by the sword rather that they die by hunger. In essence, Nephi is forcing the people to collectively fast. Whenever I truly fast, I am greatly humbled. I have found that I am more passive and willing to submit myself to the will of God when I fast. Not only am I more submissive, but I grow closer to the Spirit. My mind is quieter.
As we fast and grow closer to the Savior, we must strive to always remember His sacrifice. After spiritual experiences, we must be wary of temptations. We must avoid what the Nephites did time and time again. They humbled themselves and then studied the scriptures, only to fall away again. Why did they fall away? They fell because they did not follow the counsels of the prophets.
Contentions Concerning Doctrine
In Helaman 11:22, it says they contended over some points of the doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets.
What does this mean? It means that at some point in time before, the prophets clarified some points of the doctrine. Even today we will hear prophets counsel us again and again about points of the doctrine. Many times they are explicit about what we are to understand. They explain to us how we are to interpret the doctrine. They are the living oracles who see further and clearer than we.
The prophets then, as the prophet today, can settle contentions because they receive revelation. During this time in the Nephite history, the prophets were "having many revelations daily." (Helaman 11:23)
How different the Book of Mormon would have been if the Nephites would have followed the prophets!
Regarding contention, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said this, "It is noteworthy that the Savior did not limit his teaching about disputations and contention to those who had wrong ideas about doctrine or procedure. He forbade disputations and contention by everyone. The commandment to avoid contention applies to those who are right as well as to those who are wrong.” (Book of Mormon Symposium Series, 4 Nephi – Moroni, p. 177)
The Nephite Cycle in a Chapter
One time while reading this chapter, I noted what went on in the Nephite history in one decade. Chapter 11 is a perfect example of the Nephite cycle in one decade. The chapter begins in the Nephite year 72.
In year 73, Nephi asks the Lord to bring a famine to the land. Note that it only took one verse for Nephi to ask this of the Lord. Then for the next two years the Nephites suffer. Finally in year 75 the people ask Nephi to ask the Lord to stop the famine. This time, it takes Nephi seven verses to ask the Lord to stop the famine. In year 76, the famine ends.
For four years, the Nephites prosper and have peace. Then in year 80 the dissentions begin again and the GR are reborn. Basically, the GRs are terrorists as verse 32 points out. The Nephites and Lamanites send their armies to destroy the GRs twice, but fail both times. The chapter ends in year 85 with the people “ripening again for destruction.”
So in the space of 13 years (from year 72 to year 85) we see in this one chapter the Nephites go from being wicked, to being humbled, to having prosperity and peace, to dissentions, to war and finally to wickedness again. It took the Nephites thirteen years for one complete cycle.
September 13, 2012 - Addition
A curious thought crossed my mind this morning while reading Helaman 11:10.
The person speaking is Nephi - a prophet of God. A few years earlier, he was granted the sealing power of the priesthood - whatever he sealed on earth would be sealed in heaven. He then used that power, after seeing the desctruction of the war, to plead with God to not let the people be destroyed by war, but by famine. The famine came; the people repented.
In Helaman 10:10, Nephi begins his plea to God to save them from the famine. He tells God that the band of Gadianton has been swept away and has become extinct. This is crucial - there are no Gadianton robbers anymore - they have been wiped out ... as verse 10 states, "they have become extinct." Now comes the curious statement: "they have concealed their secret plans in the earth." Nephi knows they (the people who wiped out the Gadianton robbers) concealed the robbers' plans. But my question is: why did the people or Nephi allow the secret plans to be buried? Why not destroy the plans too?
As we find out in Helman 11:26, the band of robbers is resurrected and then goes on to "search out all the secret plans of Gadianton."
Famine and Fasting
Nephi pleads with the Lord that the people don’t die by the sword rather that they die by hunger. In essence, Nephi is forcing the people to collectively fast. Whenever I truly fast, I am greatly humbled. I have found that I am more passive and willing to submit myself to the will of God when I fast. Not only am I more submissive, but I grow closer to the Spirit. My mind is quieter.
As we fast and grow closer to the Savior, we must strive to always remember His sacrifice. After spiritual experiences, we must be wary of temptations. We must avoid what the Nephites did time and time again. They humbled themselves and then studied the scriptures, only to fall away again. Why did they fall away? They fell because they did not follow the counsels of the prophets.
Contentions Concerning Doctrine
In Helaman 11:22, it says they contended over some points of the doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets.
What does this mean? It means that at some point in time before, the prophets clarified some points of the doctrine. Even today we will hear prophets counsel us again and again about points of the doctrine. Many times they are explicit about what we are to understand. They explain to us how we are to interpret the doctrine. They are the living oracles who see further and clearer than we.
The prophets then, as the prophet today, can settle contentions because they receive revelation. During this time in the Nephite history, the prophets were "having many revelations daily." (Helaman 11:23)
How different the Book of Mormon would have been if the Nephites would have followed the prophets!
Regarding contention, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said this, "It is noteworthy that the Savior did not limit his teaching about disputations and contention to those who had wrong ideas about doctrine or procedure. He forbade disputations and contention by everyone. The commandment to avoid contention applies to those who are right as well as to those who are wrong.” (Book of Mormon Symposium Series, 4 Nephi – Moroni, p. 177)
The Nephite Cycle in a Chapter
One time while reading this chapter, I noted what went on in the Nephite history in one decade. Chapter 11 is a perfect example of the Nephite cycle in one decade. The chapter begins in the Nephite year 72.
In year 73, Nephi asks the Lord to bring a famine to the land. Note that it only took one verse for Nephi to ask this of the Lord. Then for the next two years the Nephites suffer. Finally in year 75 the people ask Nephi to ask the Lord to stop the famine. This time, it takes Nephi seven verses to ask the Lord to stop the famine. In year 76, the famine ends.
For four years, the Nephites prosper and have peace. Then in year 80 the dissentions begin again and the GR are reborn. Basically, the GRs are terrorists as verse 32 points out. The Nephites and Lamanites send their armies to destroy the GRs twice, but fail both times. The chapter ends in year 85 with the people “ripening again for destruction.”
So in the space of 13 years (from year 72 to year 85) we see in this one chapter the Nephites go from being wicked, to being humbled, to having prosperity and peace, to dissentions, to war and finally to wickedness again. It took the Nephites thirteen years for one complete cycle.
September 13, 2012 - Addition
A curious thought crossed my mind this morning while reading Helaman 11:10.
The person speaking is Nephi - a prophet of God. A few years earlier, he was granted the sealing power of the priesthood - whatever he sealed on earth would be sealed in heaven. He then used that power, after seeing the desctruction of the war, to plead with God to not let the people be destroyed by war, but by famine. The famine came; the people repented.
In Helaman 10:10, Nephi begins his plea to God to save them from the famine. He tells God that the band of Gadianton has been swept away and has become extinct. This is crucial - there are no Gadianton robbers anymore - they have been wiped out ... as verse 10 states, "they have become extinct." Now comes the curious statement: "they have concealed their secret plans in the earth." Nephi knows they (the people who wiped out the Gadianton robbers) concealed the robbers' plans. But my question is: why did the people or Nephi allow the secret plans to be buried? Why not destroy the plans too?
As we find out in Helman 11:26, the band of robbers is resurrected and then goes on to "search out all the secret plans of Gadianton."
Monday, June 04, 2012
Alma 36
June 29, 2007 - Original Post
Chiasmus
Below is an excerpt from John W. Welch, "A Masterpiece: Alma 36," in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, ed. J.L. Sorenson and M.J. Thorne, Deseret Book Comp., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1991.
(a) My son, give ear to my WORDS (1)
(b) KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of God and ye shall PROSPER IN THE LAND (2)
(c) DO AS I HAVE DONE (2)
(d) in REMEMBERING THE CAPTIVITY of our fathers (2);
(e) for they were in BONDAGE (2)
(f) he surely did DELIVER them (2)
(g) TRUST in God (3)
(h) supported in their TRIALS, and TROUBLES, and AFFLICTIONS (3)
(i) shall be lifted up at the LAST DAY (3)
(j) I KNOW this not of myself but of GOD (4)
(k) BORN OF GOD (5)
(l) I sought to destroy the church of God (6-9)
(m) MY LIMBS were paralyzed (10)
(n) Fear of being in the PRESENCE OF GOD (14-15)
(o) PAINS of a damned soul (16)
(p) HARROWED UP BY THE MEMORY OF SINS (17)
(q) I remembered JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD (17)
(q') I cried, JESUS, SON OF GOD (18)
(p') HARROWED UP BY THE MEMORY OF SINS no more (19)
(o') Joy as exceeding as was the PAIN (20)
(n') Long to be in the PRESENCE OF GOD (22)
(m') My LIMBS received their strength again (23)
(l') I labored to bring souls to repentance (24)
(k') BORN OF GOD (26)
(j') Therefore MY KNOWLEDGE IS OF GOD (26)
(h') Supported under TRIALS, TROUBLES, and AFFLICTIONS (27)
(g') TRUST in him (27)
(f') He will deliver me (27)
(i') and RAISE ME UP AT THE LAST DAY (28)
(e') As God brought our fathers out of BONDAGE and captivity (28-29)
(d') Retain in REMEMBRANCE THEIR CAPTIVITY (28-29)
(c') KNOW AS I DO KNOW (30)
(b') KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS and ye shall PROSPER IN THE LAND (30)
(a') This is according to his WORD (30).
Keep the Commandments and Prosper in the Land
Since the chapter is a chiasmus, the beginning and end of the chapter contains this counsel: keep the commandments and you will prosper in the land. This is a repeating theme throughout the Book of Mormon. Alma and the rest of the people who keep the commandments are proof that this promise is true. As the Nephites kept the commandments, they prospered. As they disobeyed, their riches and quality of lift greatly diminished.
Delivered from Bondage
The rest of the chapter provides examples of people who were in physical or spiritual bondage, who put their trust in God and were consequently delivered. This is another repeating theme in the Book of Mormon. Alma reminds Helaman of the Israelites bondage and how they were delivered. He also reminds Helaman of his own spiritual bondage and his conversion. Lastly Alma reminds Helaman of how Lehi and his family were delivered as well as the bondage of the people of Alma the Senior.
"Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 36:3)
He later testifies, "I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me." (Alma 36:27)
What types of bondage and troubles and afflictions and trials do we face today? Are we burdened with sin? Do our families suffer from troubles and afflictions and trials? Does it seem that we are fighting an uphill battle? We may struggle on our own to overcome, but whether we succeed or fail, God will always be there to support us and help us if we but put our trust in him and ask for his succor. More than likely, if we try to overcome our own troubles without God's help, we will fail or unnecessarily toil. We should seek God's help and put our trust in him.
One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
I have experienced the hand of the Lord in my life. I know that when I put my trust in him, he delivers me.
June 4, 2012 - Addition
Alma 36:22 really stood out to me today ... especially the last seven words of that verse. Alma talks about the torment he experienced until he called on Jesus Christ to save him. Immediately, Christ relieved the pain Alma was in. Then Alma was filled with joy as equally powerful as the pain he felt. Then he saw God sitting on his throne, surrounded by angels who were "in the attitude of singing and praising their God."
And then Alma says this, "my soul did long to be there."
There are 18 years between my older brother and me. He and his wife came to visit us one summer ... I must have been about 9 or 10 years old. It was a wonderful time. I'm sure we had bbqs, played basketball and talked a lot. I honestly don't remember much of that. Rather, what I remember is a very intense pain when they were leaving. I still vividly remember sitting on the porch step in the garage and watching my brother and his wife pull out of the drive way and drive off back to their home. I was extremely sad to see them leave. I bawled as I watched them leave ... I longed to be with them.
Now I'm sure Alma's longing was a bit more intense than mine, but I'm grateful for the bit of perspective that I do have on that feeling of longing.
Chiasmus
Below is an excerpt from John W. Welch, "A Masterpiece: Alma 36," in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon, ed. J.L. Sorenson and M.J. Thorne, Deseret Book Comp., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1991.
(a) My son, give ear to my WORDS (1)
(b) KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of God and ye shall PROSPER IN THE LAND (2)
(c) DO AS I HAVE DONE (2)
(d) in REMEMBERING THE CAPTIVITY of our fathers (2);
(e) for they were in BONDAGE (2)
(f) he surely did DELIVER them (2)
(g) TRUST in God (3)
(h) supported in their TRIALS, and TROUBLES, and AFFLICTIONS (3)
(i) shall be lifted up at the LAST DAY (3)
(j) I KNOW this not of myself but of GOD (4)
(k) BORN OF GOD (5)
(l) I sought to destroy the church of God (6-9)
(m) MY LIMBS were paralyzed (10)
(n) Fear of being in the PRESENCE OF GOD (14-15)
(o) PAINS of a damned soul (16)
(p) HARROWED UP BY THE MEMORY OF SINS (17)
(q) I remembered JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD (17)
(q') I cried, JESUS, SON OF GOD (18)
(p') HARROWED UP BY THE MEMORY OF SINS no more (19)
(o') Joy as exceeding as was the PAIN (20)
(n') Long to be in the PRESENCE OF GOD (22)
(m') My LIMBS received their strength again (23)
(l') I labored to bring souls to repentance (24)
(k') BORN OF GOD (26)
(j') Therefore MY KNOWLEDGE IS OF GOD (26)
(h') Supported under TRIALS, TROUBLES, and AFFLICTIONS (27)
(g') TRUST in him (27)
(f') He will deliver me (27)
(i') and RAISE ME UP AT THE LAST DAY (28)
(e') As God brought our fathers out of BONDAGE and captivity (28-29)
(d') Retain in REMEMBRANCE THEIR CAPTIVITY (28-29)
(c') KNOW AS I DO KNOW (30)
(b') KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS and ye shall PROSPER IN THE LAND (30)
(a') This is according to his WORD (30).
Keep the Commandments and Prosper in the Land
Since the chapter is a chiasmus, the beginning and end of the chapter contains this counsel: keep the commandments and you will prosper in the land. This is a repeating theme throughout the Book of Mormon. Alma and the rest of the people who keep the commandments are proof that this promise is true. As the Nephites kept the commandments, they prospered. As they disobeyed, their riches and quality of lift greatly diminished.
Delivered from Bondage
The rest of the chapter provides examples of people who were in physical or spiritual bondage, who put their trust in God and were consequently delivered. This is another repeating theme in the Book of Mormon. Alma reminds Helaman of the Israelites bondage and how they were delivered. He also reminds Helaman of his own spiritual bondage and his conversion. Lastly Alma reminds Helaman of how Lehi and his family were delivered as well as the bondage of the people of Alma the Senior.
"Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 36:3)
He later testifies, "I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me." (Alma 36:27)
What types of bondage and troubles and afflictions and trials do we face today? Are we burdened with sin? Do our families suffer from troubles and afflictions and trials? Does it seem that we are fighting an uphill battle? We may struggle on our own to overcome, but whether we succeed or fail, God will always be there to support us and help us if we but put our trust in him and ask for his succor. More than likely, if we try to overcome our own troubles without God's help, we will fail or unnecessarily toil. We should seek God's help and put our trust in him.
One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
I have experienced the hand of the Lord in my life. I know that when I put my trust in him, he delivers me.
June 4, 2012 - Addition
Alma 36:22 really stood out to me today ... especially the last seven words of that verse. Alma talks about the torment he experienced until he called on Jesus Christ to save him. Immediately, Christ relieved the pain Alma was in. Then Alma was filled with joy as equally powerful as the pain he felt. Then he saw God sitting on his throne, surrounded by angels who were "in the attitude of singing and praising their God."
And then Alma says this, "my soul did long to be there."
There are 18 years between my older brother and me. He and his wife came to visit us one summer ... I must have been about 9 or 10 years old. It was a wonderful time. I'm sure we had bbqs, played basketball and talked a lot. I honestly don't remember much of that. Rather, what I remember is a very intense pain when they were leaving. I still vividly remember sitting on the porch step in the garage and watching my brother and his wife pull out of the drive way and drive off back to their home. I was extremely sad to see them leave. I bawled as I watched them leave ... I longed to be with them.
Now I'm sure Alma's longing was a bit more intense than mine, but I'm grateful for the bit of perspective that I do have on that feeling of longing.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Alma 1
April 10, 2007 - Original Post
The Gospel Warrior
V1 – “having warred a good warfare, walking uprightly before God.” I remember in the October 2003 General Conference, at the very beginning President Hinckley spoke. After he spoke, he called Elder David Haight to come up and wave at the audience. Elder Haight was the oldest apostle ever to live since the Gospel was restored. As President Hinckley was commenting on this, he mentioned that Elder Haight was a great warrior in the Gospel. Elder Haight died in 2004. He truly was a warrior of the Lord … he fought for the Gospel truth all his life.
I hope that I can war a good warfare all my life. I need to be steadfast in keeping the commandments and in doing good.
On a related note, I was thinking the other day about how much life is like chess. We must live with purpose and we must limit mistakes in order to get to the endgame and have a fighting chance to win the battle. In chess, one of the levels of play a player must reach is being able to play with no tactical mistakes. If he can reach this level, then he prepares himself to move on to greater challenges of strategy. I think life is the same way. If we (I) can simply rid myself of the small mistakes and omissions, then I would be a position to receive greater understanding of the mysteries of God. I would serve with greater conviction. For example, if I could consistently read and study the scriptures every day and consistently pray every day, then I would be getting somewhere. If I could achieve 100% home-teaching every month and have FHE every week, then I would be accomplishing something. To not forget these commandments and to shun sin … this is what I need to work on.
Priest Craft
Nehor introduced priest craft among the Nephites. Priest craft, from what I understand, is teaching the gospel (or purported gospel truths) for the gain of money. I am unsure of some of these “conferences” and seminars that some members go to. In order to listen to the speakers at these conferences and seminars, people must pay money.
Elder Oakes said the following regarding priestcraft:
2 Nephi 26:29 has this to say about priest crafts, "He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion."
Nehor not only preached for riches, but he mixed scripture with the philosophies of men. The lies he taught – that all mankind should be saved, meaning eternal life, regardless of having sinned or not. He taught that we need not repent. The truth he mixed in was that the Lord created all men. This was the one truth amidst all the lies.
Thus a whole church was based on the “vain things of the world” (v. 16). We will see that this church hardened many Nephite hearts against the truth.
The proper attitude for teaching the Gospel is to have "faith, hope, charity and love with an eye single to the glory of God." (D&C 4:5) If the teacher strives for these things, then he will teach the true and pure doctrine of Christ.
Persecution
Persecution … it is a word that is used a lot within the Church. There are a couple of definitions from Webster’s on-line dictionary. The first is, “to harass in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically: to cause to suffer because of belief.” The second is, “to annoy with persistence or urgent approaches (as attacks, pleas, or importunities).” I think the whole reason for persecuting someone for his or her beliefs is to make that person change or leave. For example, Laman and Lemuel constantly persecuted Nephi. They did not want Nephi to act the way he did because it made them feel uncomfortable … they didn’t want to have to live up to Nephi’s standard of living, so instead of raising their standards, they wanted to lower Nephi’s.
The pioneer Saints were persecuted for various reasons. Some of the persecutors were former members. These former members were usually offended in some manner and wanted to get their revenge on the members of the church. I think most of these members were angry in one-way or another with Joseph Smith. They ultimately killed the Prophet. The martyrdom of Joseph did not stop the persecution. The Saints were driven from Nauvoo across the plains to Utah. For a season they were not persecuted, but once the Civil War ended, the federal government focused on the Mormons again. I don’t know all the reasons why the early Saints were persecuted, but I think a lot of it has to do with former members who were offended in one way or another.
Even today, there are those who will do anything to speak evil of the Church. If you go and look at that person’s history, you will more than likely find that that person did not strive to cultivate a true testimony. They probably had doubts and never resolved to truly address those doubts. I think it was Elder Maxwell who said that there are those who leave the church, but for whatever reason, they can’t leave the church alone.
As for members persecuting others … we are commanded to not persecute anyone. It seems that the members had problems persecuting non-members (if you will) in Book of Mormon times. They were commanded to not persecute anyone … within the church or without the church. President Hinckley gave a similar warning to members in a General Conference.
Steadfast and Immovable
Another verse that I really love from this chapter is v.25, “they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God.” My true heart’s desire is to be steadfast and immovable. To me, this means that I am an anchor when it comes to keeping the commandments of God. I need to remain steadfast and constant. This is my hope: that I become a rock in my loyalty to God. I need to be more diligent in reading the scriptures, obeying the commandments and magnifying my callings. I need despise sin in all forms and shun that which is evil. I hope I can become like those few saints described here in Alma 1.
Because the saints were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments, they prospered. And instead of becoming wicked (and thus beginning the so-called Nephite cycle), these saints "got it." They did not become prideful because of their prosperity. Rather they "did not set their hearts upon riches" and they were "liberal to all." (Alma 1:30). And because they were liberal to all, the Lord prospered them even more and they became "far more wealthy than those who did not belong to their church." (Alma 1:31)
Did Indulge Themselves
I think that Alma 1:32 perfectly sums up the world in which we live today. All those who were not steadfast and immovable "did indulge themselves." In other words, they did not check their natural desires in the least bit. Rather than feast on the word of God, the indulged themselves in the things of the world.
April 10, 2012 - Addition
Another Look at Nehor's Teachings
Alma 1:3-4 are the core of Nehor's teaching. Let's examine them line by line to see if they are philosophies of men or if they are scripture.
First off, Nehor claimed his teachings were "the word of God". How do we know when someone is teaching the word of God as opposed to a philosophy of men? This topic alone can take up an entire post. But to be quick, I would say the burden is on the individual. We must each, on our own, gain a testimony of each General Conference talk; each Ensign article; every Sunday School lesson; every theory proposed by man; every proposed leader. We have the gift of the Holy Ghost to filter out the false and to allow the true.
Next, he "[bore down] against the church" Just to make it clear, "bear down" means "to advance in a threatening manner" or "to apply maximum effort and concentration" Similarly, "to bear down on" means to "effect in a harmful or adverse way" (link). In other words, Nehor was aiming to bring the church down - to bring about its fall. Further reading of the book of Alma shows that Nehor's teachings were widely successful in their intent. How do we prevent from "bearing down" against the Church today? I would say that each of us ought to focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we focus on learning, studying and living the Gospel, we will not go astray.
Nehor's next principle is "every priest and teacher ought to become popular." I think it is fairly safe to say this is a philosophy of men. Bishops, Stake Presidents, Sunday School teachers, seminary teachers, Church-sponsored university professors, General Authorities, Apostles ... all of them should be keenly aware that they should not focus on becoming popular. I think almost all of these people have a clear intent not to become popular - that that is not their main focus. But sometimes, do we, the congregation - the receivers of the word - do we make them popular? Do we idolize them? There is a very subtle slippery slope here. Again, I think the answer to this problem lies in focusing on the message and not the person. If we use our spiritual antennae to detect truth and to detect lies, we will not get caught up in the "favorite apostle" or "favorite general authority" or "favorite teacher" game - and thus begin the false doctrine of popularity in preaching the word of God. Another way to look at this in a succinct matter is to turn Nehor's teaching upside down to get this: "every priest and teacher ought not to become popular."
Nehor next teaches that our priest and teachers "ought not to labor with their hands, but that they ought to be supported by the people." Wow! Let's break this down. What does "labor with their hands" mean? To me, it means to work for a living. In today's terms, it means that our Church leaders should support themselves. Elder Oaks just gave a talk in the April 2012 General Conference. In it he talked about the sacrifice of our local leaders and congregation members. As for our top leaders - the General Authorities - there is a lot of discussion on that - with lots of varied opinions. A search in the LDS Bloggernacle is probably a good starting place. So is this Nehor teaching a philosophy of men or is it scripture or is it mingled? Personally, I think it is a philosophy of men. At the core (strip everything else away that is not needed), what the Church provides that is of utmost importance to me is the Priesthood and sealing power. I was baptized, bestowed the Priesthood, endowed and sealed to my wife and children and I did not have to pay for any of that.
Now we get to the grit of Nehor's message - the part that everyone is quick to point out. He says, "all mankind should be saved at the last day." Let's use the "flip method" and turn that statement upside down. "All mankind should not be saved at the last day." If you take away the need to repent - to change and make better you life - then you change one's perspective on life. If there is no need to be kind, to serve, to be good and we are left with nothing but our base desires, civilization would revert to the jungle - to anarchy. And this is the teaching that was so dangerous in Alma's mind. To be truly sanctified, we have to overcome all our natural desires. That is at the core of Christ's teachings. We each have an instinct to choose the wrong in so many ways. But if we can fight to overcome those instincts, we sanctify ourselves - we purify ourselves - we strip out all that is useless. And what we have left is beautiful. Indeed, this philosophy of men that Nehor taught was and is dangerous. This one thought caused the destruction, both spiritual and temporal, of thousands of Nephites and Lamanites. This one thought deceives millions of people today. This one thought is what makes Nehor an anti-Christ because this teaching stands in violent rebellion of what Christ taught.
He goes on by teaching that people "need not fear nor tremble." This is where the mingling begins. We are not to live our lives in constant fear and trembling. We are to let the realities sink deep within our hearts. In other words, if we truly know what will happen to us if we do not keep the commandments, we ought to fear and tremble unto repentance. But once we've done that and once we are on constant guard, we can focus on the joy and the abundance of the Gospel. Nehor would have us believe that we have to always be in a state of fear and tremble. But if we live and love the Gospel, I just don't think that would be the case. I can't see a sanctified person fearing and trembling all the time - rather, I see them looking forward to eternal bliss.
The mingling continues, "but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice." Again, as I noted above, we ought to let the fear of God work within us to repentance. But once we've entered into the straight and narrow path, we ought to continue in repentance, but we can then begin to look forward to a better life. God wants us to lift up our heads and rejoice - but with the proper base of repentance and faith on Christ and baptism.
Now Nehor inserts pure scripture, "for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men." All those statements, by themselves, are true.
But he completely goes astray again by saying, "all men should have eternal life." Instead, he should have said, "all men should have immortality." Maybe he mis-understood this scripture - I don't know. But all men will not live in God's presence for eternity. Many men will receive a lesser degree of glory because they won't be able to abide the presence of God. Men not living in the presence of God is not necessarily an act of punishment, but rather an act of mercy.
The Gospel Warrior
V1 – “having warred a good warfare, walking uprightly before God.” I remember in the October 2003 General Conference, at the very beginning President Hinckley spoke. After he spoke, he called Elder David Haight to come up and wave at the audience. Elder Haight was the oldest apostle ever to live since the Gospel was restored. As President Hinckley was commenting on this, he mentioned that Elder Haight was a great warrior in the Gospel. Elder Haight died in 2004. He truly was a warrior of the Lord … he fought for the Gospel truth all his life.
I hope that I can war a good warfare all my life. I need to be steadfast in keeping the commandments and in doing good.
On a related note, I was thinking the other day about how much life is like chess. We must live with purpose and we must limit mistakes in order to get to the endgame and have a fighting chance to win the battle. In chess, one of the levels of play a player must reach is being able to play with no tactical mistakes. If he can reach this level, then he prepares himself to move on to greater challenges of strategy. I think life is the same way. If we (I) can simply rid myself of the small mistakes and omissions, then I would be a position to receive greater understanding of the mysteries of God. I would serve with greater conviction. For example, if I could consistently read and study the scriptures every day and consistently pray every day, then I would be getting somewhere. If I could achieve 100% home-teaching every month and have FHE every week, then I would be accomplishing something. To not forget these commandments and to shun sin … this is what I need to work on.
Priest Craft
Nehor introduced priest craft among the Nephites. Priest craft, from what I understand, is teaching the gospel (or purported gospel truths) for the gain of money. I am unsure of some of these “conferences” and seminars that some members go to. In order to listen to the speakers at these conferences and seminars, people must pay money.
Elder Oakes said the following regarding priestcraft:
Another illustration of a strength that can become our downfall concerns charismatic teachers. With a trained mind and a skillful manner of presentation, teachers can become unusually popular and effective in teaching. But Satan will try to use that strength to corrupt teachers by encouraging them to gather a following of disciples. A Church teacher, Church Education System instructor, or Latter-day Saint university professor who gathers such a following and does this “for the sake of riches and honor” (Alma 1:16) is guilty of priestcraft. “Priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Ne. 26:29).I am a leery of the practice of merchandising the Gospel. I love the fact that the Church has done almost everything in its power to make available the conference talks and past articles from Church publications. Practically every conceivable document in recent history is found on the lds.org website. I love to be able to search on Gospel subjects (such as this one) and find exactly what the Apostles think of the subject. The Church truly “impart[s] the word of God …. without money and without price (v. 20).
Teachers who are most popular, and therefore most effective, have a special susceptibility to priestcraft. If they are not careful, their strength can become their spiritual downfall. They can become like Almon Babbitt, with whom the Lord was not pleased, because “he aspireth to establish his counsel instead of the counsel which I have ordained, even that of the Presidency of my Church; and he setteth up a golden calf for the worship of my people” (D&C 124:84). (Dallin H. Oaks, “Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Ensign, Oct 1994, 11)
2 Nephi 26:29 has this to say about priest crafts, "He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion."
Nehor not only preached for riches, but he mixed scripture with the philosophies of men. The lies he taught – that all mankind should be saved, meaning eternal life, regardless of having sinned or not. He taught that we need not repent. The truth he mixed in was that the Lord created all men. This was the one truth amidst all the lies.
Thus a whole church was based on the “vain things of the world” (v. 16). We will see that this church hardened many Nephite hearts against the truth.
The proper attitude for teaching the Gospel is to have "faith, hope, charity and love with an eye single to the glory of God." (D&C 4:5) If the teacher strives for these things, then he will teach the true and pure doctrine of Christ.
Persecution
Persecution … it is a word that is used a lot within the Church. There are a couple of definitions from Webster’s on-line dictionary. The first is, “to harass in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically: to cause to suffer because of belief.” The second is, “to annoy with persistence or urgent approaches (as attacks, pleas, or importunities).” I think the whole reason for persecuting someone for his or her beliefs is to make that person change or leave. For example, Laman and Lemuel constantly persecuted Nephi. They did not want Nephi to act the way he did because it made them feel uncomfortable … they didn’t want to have to live up to Nephi’s standard of living, so instead of raising their standards, they wanted to lower Nephi’s.
The pioneer Saints were persecuted for various reasons. Some of the persecutors were former members. These former members were usually offended in some manner and wanted to get their revenge on the members of the church. I think most of these members were angry in one-way or another with Joseph Smith. They ultimately killed the Prophet. The martyrdom of Joseph did not stop the persecution. The Saints were driven from Nauvoo across the plains to Utah. For a season they were not persecuted, but once the Civil War ended, the federal government focused on the Mormons again. I don’t know all the reasons why the early Saints were persecuted, but I think a lot of it has to do with former members who were offended in one way or another.
Even today, there are those who will do anything to speak evil of the Church. If you go and look at that person’s history, you will more than likely find that that person did not strive to cultivate a true testimony. They probably had doubts and never resolved to truly address those doubts. I think it was Elder Maxwell who said that there are those who leave the church, but for whatever reason, they can’t leave the church alone.
As for members persecuting others … we are commanded to not persecute anyone. It seems that the members had problems persecuting non-members (if you will) in Book of Mormon times. They were commanded to not persecute anyone … within the church or without the church. President Hinckley gave a similar warning to members in a General Conference.
A holier-than-thou attitude is not becoming to us. I am in receipt of a letter from a man in our community who is not a member of the Church. In it he says that his little daughter has been ostracized by her schoolmates who are Latter-day Saints. He sets forth another instance of a child who, it is alleged, had a religious medal ripped from his neck by an LDS child. I hope this is not true. If it is, I apologize to those who have been offended.Those who would detract from the Church are always quick to point out mistakes made by members. Persecuting others does no good. It is not Christ-like nor does it advance the work of the Lord.
Let us rise above all such conduct and teach our children to do likewise. Let us be true disciples of the Christ, observing the Golden Rule, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us strengthen our own faith and that of our children while being gracious to those who are not of our faith. Love and respect will overcome every element of animosity. Our kindness may be the most persuasive argument for that which we believe." (Gordon B. Hinckley, “We Bear Witness of Him,” Ensign, May 1998, 4)
Steadfast and Immovable
Another verse that I really love from this chapter is v.25, “they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God.” My true heart’s desire is to be steadfast and immovable. To me, this means that I am an anchor when it comes to keeping the commandments of God. I need to remain steadfast and constant. This is my hope: that I become a rock in my loyalty to God. I need to be more diligent in reading the scriptures, obeying the commandments and magnifying my callings. I need despise sin in all forms and shun that which is evil. I hope I can become like those few saints described here in Alma 1.
Because the saints were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments, they prospered. And instead of becoming wicked (and thus beginning the so-called Nephite cycle), these saints "got it." They did not become prideful because of their prosperity. Rather they "did not set their hearts upon riches" and they were "liberal to all." (Alma 1:30). And because they were liberal to all, the Lord prospered them even more and they became "far more wealthy than those who did not belong to their church." (Alma 1:31)
Did Indulge Themselves
I think that Alma 1:32 perfectly sums up the world in which we live today. All those who were not steadfast and immovable "did indulge themselves." In other words, they did not check their natural desires in the least bit. Rather than feast on the word of God, the indulged themselves in the things of the world.
April 10, 2012 - Addition
Another Look at Nehor's Teachings
Alma 1:3-4 are the core of Nehor's teaching. Let's examine them line by line to see if they are philosophies of men or if they are scripture.
First off, Nehor claimed his teachings were "the word of God". How do we know when someone is teaching the word of God as opposed to a philosophy of men? This topic alone can take up an entire post. But to be quick, I would say the burden is on the individual. We must each, on our own, gain a testimony of each General Conference talk; each Ensign article; every Sunday School lesson; every theory proposed by man; every proposed leader. We have the gift of the Holy Ghost to filter out the false and to allow the true.
Next, he "[bore down] against the church" Just to make it clear, "bear down" means "to advance in a threatening manner" or "to apply maximum effort and concentration" Similarly, "to bear down on" means to "effect in a harmful or adverse way" (link). In other words, Nehor was aiming to bring the church down - to bring about its fall. Further reading of the book of Alma shows that Nehor's teachings were widely successful in their intent. How do we prevent from "bearing down" against the Church today? I would say that each of us ought to focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we focus on learning, studying and living the Gospel, we will not go astray.
Nehor's next principle is "every priest and teacher ought to become popular." I think it is fairly safe to say this is a philosophy of men. Bishops, Stake Presidents, Sunday School teachers, seminary teachers, Church-sponsored university professors, General Authorities, Apostles ... all of them should be keenly aware that they should not focus on becoming popular. I think almost all of these people have a clear intent not to become popular - that that is not their main focus. But sometimes, do we, the congregation - the receivers of the word - do we make them popular? Do we idolize them? There is a very subtle slippery slope here. Again, I think the answer to this problem lies in focusing on the message and not the person. If we use our spiritual antennae to detect truth and to detect lies, we will not get caught up in the "favorite apostle" or "favorite general authority" or "favorite teacher" game - and thus begin the false doctrine of popularity in preaching the word of God. Another way to look at this in a succinct matter is to turn Nehor's teaching upside down to get this: "every priest and teacher ought not to become popular."
Nehor next teaches that our priest and teachers "ought not to labor with their hands, but that they ought to be supported by the people." Wow! Let's break this down. What does "labor with their hands" mean? To me, it means to work for a living. In today's terms, it means that our Church leaders should support themselves. Elder Oaks just gave a talk in the April 2012 General Conference. In it he talked about the sacrifice of our local leaders and congregation members. As for our top leaders - the General Authorities - there is a lot of discussion on that - with lots of varied opinions. A search in the LDS Bloggernacle is probably a good starting place. So is this Nehor teaching a philosophy of men or is it scripture or is it mingled? Personally, I think it is a philosophy of men. At the core (strip everything else away that is not needed), what the Church provides that is of utmost importance to me is the Priesthood and sealing power. I was baptized, bestowed the Priesthood, endowed and sealed to my wife and children and I did not have to pay for any of that.
Now we get to the grit of Nehor's message - the part that everyone is quick to point out. He says, "all mankind should be saved at the last day." Let's use the "flip method" and turn that statement upside down. "All mankind should not be saved at the last day." If you take away the need to repent - to change and make better you life - then you change one's perspective on life. If there is no need to be kind, to serve, to be good and we are left with nothing but our base desires, civilization would revert to the jungle - to anarchy. And this is the teaching that was so dangerous in Alma's mind. To be truly sanctified, we have to overcome all our natural desires. That is at the core of Christ's teachings. We each have an instinct to choose the wrong in so many ways. But if we can fight to overcome those instincts, we sanctify ourselves - we purify ourselves - we strip out all that is useless. And what we have left is beautiful. Indeed, this philosophy of men that Nehor taught was and is dangerous. This one thought caused the destruction, both spiritual and temporal, of thousands of Nephites and Lamanites. This one thought deceives millions of people today. This one thought is what makes Nehor an anti-Christ because this teaching stands in violent rebellion of what Christ taught.
He goes on by teaching that people "need not fear nor tremble." This is where the mingling begins. We are not to live our lives in constant fear and trembling. We are to let the realities sink deep within our hearts. In other words, if we truly know what will happen to us if we do not keep the commandments, we ought to fear and tremble unto repentance. But once we've done that and once we are on constant guard, we can focus on the joy and the abundance of the Gospel. Nehor would have us believe that we have to always be in a state of fear and tremble. But if we live and love the Gospel, I just don't think that would be the case. I can't see a sanctified person fearing and trembling all the time - rather, I see them looking forward to eternal bliss.
The mingling continues, "but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice." Again, as I noted above, we ought to let the fear of God work within us to repentance. But once we've entered into the straight and narrow path, we ought to continue in repentance, but we can then begin to look forward to a better life. God wants us to lift up our heads and rejoice - but with the proper base of repentance and faith on Christ and baptism.
Now Nehor inserts pure scripture, "for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men." All those statements, by themselves, are true.
But he completely goes astray again by saying, "all men should have eternal life." Instead, he should have said, "all men should have immortality." Maybe he mis-understood this scripture - I don't know. But all men will not live in God's presence for eternity. Many men will receive a lesser degree of glory because they won't be able to abide the presence of God. Men not living in the presence of God is not necessarily an act of punishment, but rather an act of mercy.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
About This Blog
September 19, 2006 - Original Post
I kept a Book of Mormon journal while I was a missionary. In it, I provided personal commentary and insights to my reading of the Book of Mormon. It continues to be a work in progress. There is so much to ponder and to apply from the teachings found in the Book of Mormon.
I could only place part of Elder Maxwell's quote regarding the Book of Mormon in my blog subtitle. The entire quote captures how I feel about studying the Book of Mormon:
This blog will share my insights that I have gathered from reading this scripture over the past 10 or so years of my life.
I invite anyone who reads this blog to share their thoughts and experiences regarding the teachings found in The Book of Mormon.
January 7, 2012 - Addition
It's been a few years since I finished a focused reading and commentary of the Book of Mormon. As I read the Book of Mormon this year and as we study it in Sunday School class, I will be resiving posts. I'll note the date of the original post as well as revisions. I'll also republish those posts I update with the most current date so they "float" to the top of the blog.
Feel free to leave comments. Comment moderation is turned on, so spam and hardened-opinon comments won't appear. I'd prefer to approve comments that are honest; thought-provoking or faith-building.
Thanks for stopping by.
I kept a Book of Mormon journal while I was a missionary. In it, I provided personal commentary and insights to my reading of the Book of Mormon. It continues to be a work in progress. There is so much to ponder and to apply from the teachings found in the Book of Mormon.
I could only place part of Elder Maxwell's quote regarding the Book of Mormon in my blog subtitle. The entire quote captures how I feel about studying the Book of Mormon:
"For my part, I am glad the book will be with us "as long as the earth shall stand." I need and want additional time. For me, towers, courtyards, and wings await inspection. My tour of it has never been completed. Some rooms I have yet to enter, and there are more flaming fireplaces waiting to warm me. Even the rooms I have glimpsed contain further furnishings and rich detail yet to be savored. There are panels inlaid with incredible insights and design and decor dating from Eden. There are also sumptuous banquet tables painstakingly prepared by predecessors which await all of us. Yet, we as Church members sometimes behave like hurried tourists, scarcely venturing beyond the entry hall to the mansion" (Neal A. Maxwell, The Book of Mormon: A Great Answer to "The Great Question" December 31, 2003 link to entire talk).
This blog will share my insights that I have gathered from reading this scripture over the past 10 or so years of my life.
I invite anyone who reads this blog to share their thoughts and experiences regarding the teachings found in The Book of Mormon.
January 7, 2012 - Addition
It's been a few years since I finished a focused reading and commentary of the Book of Mormon. As I read the Book of Mormon this year and as we study it in Sunday School class, I will be resiving posts. I'll note the date of the original post as well as revisions. I'll also republish those posts I update with the most current date so they "float" to the top of the blog.
Feel free to leave comments. Comment moderation is turned on, so spam and hardened-opinon comments won't appear. I'd prefer to approve comments that are honest; thought-provoking or faith-building.
Thanks for stopping by.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Moroni 10
July 27, 2007 - Original Post
The Book of Mormon Challenge
Moroni begins his final chapter with a challenge. He asks us to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men” from the time of Adam to his day. He asks us to ponder in our hearts the mercy of the Lord and “these things” meaning the writings of Mormon and Moroni.
And when we “receive these things,” then we must ask our Heavenly Father “if these things are not true.” And if we ask in the name of Christ, having faith in Christ and with a sincere heart and real intent, then the Holy Ghost will manifest the truth of the Book of Mormon to us.
For me, I’ve always felt the Book of Mormon is true. It is ingrained within me and is a part of me. I can’t imagine what my life would be without it. I truly love the Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding these facts, I’ve felt the desire to pray about the Book of Mormon. I still feel a desire to pray about the Book of Mormon every time I finish reading it. Each time I do so, my testimony of it grows stronger. I think of all the lessons and spiritual experiences I’ve had while reading and pondering the Book of Mormon. And when I think of those things, my testimony grows.
While I was a missionary in the MTC, I finished reading the Book of Mormon and desired to have the Holy Ghost manifest to me the truth of the Book of Mormon before I embarked on a mission to Guatemala. Early in the morning, I got up and went out in the hallway to have some time to myself. I read Joseph Smith’s history that morning and then prayed about the Book of Mormon. After I finished praying, I simply knew it … I was just happy. Everything seemed to fall into place and I simply knew at that moment that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that Joseph was a true prophet and that the Church is the true church of Christ today. It was a happy moment in my spiritual life.
Spiritual Gifts
The Spirit of God to teach the word of wisdom (Moroni 10:9, 1 Cor. 12:8, D&C 46:17)
Elder Oaks describes this gift as the gift to wisely apply knowledge or the gift of judgment. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Spiritual Gifts,” Ensign, Sep 1986, 68)
Teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit (Moroni 10:10, 1 Cor. 12:8, D&C 46:18)
The D&C elaborates on this gift by adding, “that all may be taught to be wise and have knowledge.” I have seen many Sunday School teachers and seminary teachers and others exercise this gift. My parents have this gift. I have always sought this gift and feel that I have had it while teaching others on my mission as well as training missionaries in the MTC.
Exceedingly great faith (Moroni 10:11, 1 Cor. 12:9)
We have seen many of the Book of Mormon have this gift. The first example that comes to my mind is the old Lamanite king who Aaron taught. The old king believed Aaron’s words and exercised faith and was converted. (see Alma 22)
The gifts of healing (Moroni 10:11, 1 Cor. 12:9, D&C 46:19-20)
In the first area I served as a missionary (Pinares del Norte, Guatemala City), the sister who cooked our meals had this gift. Almost every morning while I ate her breakfast, some woman would bring her child over to this hermana to have the child be healed. I asked the hermana about this and she told me she has the gift of healing. She doesn’t know how it came to be, but that she just knows what ails a person and can heal them with remedies. I knew I was in good hands after I saw her heal these children.
Work mighty miracles (Moroni 10:12, 1 Cor. 12:10, D&C 46:21)
Miracles are all around us. What we need is to see them and recognize them. Just this evening, the kids and I read out of the Friend a story about a little boy who had pneumonia and meningitis and was hospitalized. The ward and even his little friends fasted for him. The doctors and his parents did not know if he would survive. But the faith of those fasting and praying for him miraculously healed him. (Susan Denney, “Jake’s Miracle,” Friend, Oct 2007, 16–17)
Gift of prophesy (Moroni 10:13, 1 Cor. 12:10, D&C 46:22)
Who can really dispute the gift of prophesy that President Hinckley possesses. He has forewarned and warned us of many things. He counseled us to get our homes in order. He taught us time and time again of the importance of the family and how the world attacks it. At least in my mind, I see his counsel and warnings as the gift of prophesy. He truly is able to lead us away from danger far before it is imminent.
Beholding of angels and ministering of spirits (Moroni 10:14, 1 Cor. 12:10)
Nephi and Alma and many others of the Book of Mormon had this gift. Joseph Smith seemed to have this gift too as he was taught by many different angels. I think that many who are close to the Spirit can have this gift when we do work for others in the temple. In counseling me to regularly attend the temple, my patriarchal blessing teaches me “that the veil between this life and the spirit world is thin.” I know I am not the only one who truly knows that truth.
Interpretation of tongues (Moroni 10:15-16, 1 Cor. 12:10, D&C 46:24-25)
How could the work of the Lord roll forward without this gift? Many missionaries and interpreters have received this gift and have used it as it was intended. The Book of Mormon and other Church publications are translated into dozens of languages. Just the General Conference page has almost 70 different language options.
Come Unto Christ
The clarion call of the Book of Mormon is that Christ lives and that we must come unto him. Moroni teaches us to come unto Christ “and be perfected in him.” (Moroni 10:32)
We must deny ourselves of ungodliness. We cannot expect to be God’s people if we do not strive to be like him. We must be different from the world. We must be the light and we are required to lead by example.
We must love God with all our might, mind and strength. In all that we do and in all that we think, we must exert the maximum effort in order for God’s grace to be sufficient.
If we do these things, then we are sanctified (Moroni 10:33) and our sins are remitted. Then we are holy and without spot.
As missionaries, we were often told that we had two years to work and the rest of our lives to think about it. The intent of that counsel was to help us to never tire of working … we were to squeeze every ounce out of our time. The same is true with lives. This life is too short and we have too much to accomplish in that short span. We must give God our all.
Moroni’s words are quite an inspiration and pep talk to go out and get to work.
Carry on, carry on, carry on (Hymn 255).
November 30, 2011 - Addition
I wanted to make Moroni 10:32 a little more meaningful and "down-to-earth"
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him"
To me, this means 'seek Christ; learn of Christ and strive to be like him.'
"deny yourselves of all ungodliness"
To me, this means we need to examine our lives and find those actions, words and thoughts that are not in alignment with the gospel of Christ and then seek to de-emphasize them in our lives - to work toward ridding them from our life - to deny them existence in our actions, words and thoughts - to suffocate 'the bad'
"love God"
Mosiah 2:17 - to love God means to love our neighbor. To love our neighbor means to serve them.
"with all your might, mind and strength"
To me, this implies we have to "lay it all on the line" - we have to "do our best" - we have to "care" Some fear having their hearts hurt by being offended and instead of confronting that fear, they choose to dis-engage - they choose to not be hurt. But if we don't "care/do our best/lay it all on the line" then we will miss out on valuable lessons; essentially we circumvent the growing process. Doing your best is not just a Boy Scout motto - it is a critical ingredient to our eternal salvation. Without it, we will not attain the grace of God.
Only after we seek Christ and deny ungodliness in our life and give it our all is his grace sufficient for us.
The Book of Mormon Challenge
Moroni begins his final chapter with a challenge. He asks us to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men” from the time of Adam to his day. He asks us to ponder in our hearts the mercy of the Lord and “these things” meaning the writings of Mormon and Moroni.
And when we “receive these things,” then we must ask our Heavenly Father “if these things are not true.” And if we ask in the name of Christ, having faith in Christ and with a sincere heart and real intent, then the Holy Ghost will manifest the truth of the Book of Mormon to us.
For me, I’ve always felt the Book of Mormon is true. It is ingrained within me and is a part of me. I can’t imagine what my life would be without it. I truly love the Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding these facts, I’ve felt the desire to pray about the Book of Mormon. I still feel a desire to pray about the Book of Mormon every time I finish reading it. Each time I do so, my testimony of it grows stronger. I think of all the lessons and spiritual experiences I’ve had while reading and pondering the Book of Mormon. And when I think of those things, my testimony grows.
While I was a missionary in the MTC, I finished reading the Book of Mormon and desired to have the Holy Ghost manifest to me the truth of the Book of Mormon before I embarked on a mission to Guatemala. Early in the morning, I got up and went out in the hallway to have some time to myself. I read Joseph Smith’s history that morning and then prayed about the Book of Mormon. After I finished praying, I simply knew it … I was just happy. Everything seemed to fall into place and I simply knew at that moment that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that Joseph was a true prophet and that the Church is the true church of Christ today. It was a happy moment in my spiritual life.
Spiritual Gifts
The Spirit of God to teach the word of wisdom (Moroni 10:9, 1 Cor. 12:8, D&C 46:17)
Elder Oaks describes this gift as the gift to wisely apply knowledge or the gift of judgment. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Spiritual Gifts,” Ensign, Sep 1986, 68)
Teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit (Moroni 10:10, 1 Cor. 12:8, D&C 46:18)
The D&C elaborates on this gift by adding, “that all may be taught to be wise and have knowledge.” I have seen many Sunday School teachers and seminary teachers and others exercise this gift. My parents have this gift. I have always sought this gift and feel that I have had it while teaching others on my mission as well as training missionaries in the MTC.
Exceedingly great faith (Moroni 10:11, 1 Cor. 12:9)
We have seen many of the Book of Mormon have this gift. The first example that comes to my mind is the old Lamanite king who Aaron taught. The old king believed Aaron’s words and exercised faith and was converted. (see Alma 22)
The gifts of healing (Moroni 10:11, 1 Cor. 12:9, D&C 46:19-20)
In the first area I served as a missionary (Pinares del Norte, Guatemala City), the sister who cooked our meals had this gift. Almost every morning while I ate her breakfast, some woman would bring her child over to this hermana to have the child be healed. I asked the hermana about this and she told me she has the gift of healing. She doesn’t know how it came to be, but that she just knows what ails a person and can heal them with remedies. I knew I was in good hands after I saw her heal these children.
Work mighty miracles (Moroni 10:12, 1 Cor. 12:10, D&C 46:21)
Miracles are all around us. What we need is to see them and recognize them. Just this evening, the kids and I read out of the Friend a story about a little boy who had pneumonia and meningitis and was hospitalized. The ward and even his little friends fasted for him. The doctors and his parents did not know if he would survive. But the faith of those fasting and praying for him miraculously healed him. (Susan Denney, “Jake’s Miracle,” Friend, Oct 2007, 16–17)
Gift of prophesy (Moroni 10:13, 1 Cor. 12:10, D&C 46:22)
Who can really dispute the gift of prophesy that President Hinckley possesses. He has forewarned and warned us of many things. He counseled us to get our homes in order. He taught us time and time again of the importance of the family and how the world attacks it. At least in my mind, I see his counsel and warnings as the gift of prophesy. He truly is able to lead us away from danger far before it is imminent.
Beholding of angels and ministering of spirits (Moroni 10:14, 1 Cor. 12:10)
Nephi and Alma and many others of the Book of Mormon had this gift. Joseph Smith seemed to have this gift too as he was taught by many different angels. I think that many who are close to the Spirit can have this gift when we do work for others in the temple. In counseling me to regularly attend the temple, my patriarchal blessing teaches me “that the veil between this life and the spirit world is thin.” I know I am not the only one who truly knows that truth.
Interpretation of tongues (Moroni 10:15-16, 1 Cor. 12:10, D&C 46:24-25)
How could the work of the Lord roll forward without this gift? Many missionaries and interpreters have received this gift and have used it as it was intended. The Book of Mormon and other Church publications are translated into dozens of languages. Just the General Conference page has almost 70 different language options.
Come Unto Christ
The clarion call of the Book of Mormon is that Christ lives and that we must come unto him. Moroni teaches us to come unto Christ “and be perfected in him.” (Moroni 10:32)
We must deny ourselves of ungodliness. We cannot expect to be God’s people if we do not strive to be like him. We must be different from the world. We must be the light and we are required to lead by example.
We must love God with all our might, mind and strength. In all that we do and in all that we think, we must exert the maximum effort in order for God’s grace to be sufficient.
If we do these things, then we are sanctified (Moroni 10:33) and our sins are remitted. Then we are holy and without spot.
As missionaries, we were often told that we had two years to work and the rest of our lives to think about it. The intent of that counsel was to help us to never tire of working … we were to squeeze every ounce out of our time. The same is true with lives. This life is too short and we have too much to accomplish in that short span. We must give God our all.
Moroni’s words are quite an inspiration and pep talk to go out and get to work.
Carry on, carry on, carry on (Hymn 255).
November 30, 2011 - Addition
I wanted to make Moroni 10:32 a little more meaningful and "down-to-earth"
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him"
To me, this means 'seek Christ; learn of Christ and strive to be like him.'
"deny yourselves of all ungodliness"
To me, this means we need to examine our lives and find those actions, words and thoughts that are not in alignment with the gospel of Christ and then seek to de-emphasize them in our lives - to work toward ridding them from our life - to deny them existence in our actions, words and thoughts - to suffocate 'the bad'
"love God"
Mosiah 2:17 - to love God means to love our neighbor. To love our neighbor means to serve them.
"with all your might, mind and strength"
To me, this implies we have to "lay it all on the line" - we have to "do our best" - we have to "care" Some fear having their hearts hurt by being offended and instead of confronting that fear, they choose to dis-engage - they choose to not be hurt. But if we don't "care/do our best/lay it all on the line" then we will miss out on valuable lessons; essentially we circumvent the growing process. Doing your best is not just a Boy Scout motto - it is a critical ingredient to our eternal salvation. Without it, we will not attain the grace of God.
Only after we seek Christ and deny ungodliness in our life and give it our all is his grace sufficient for us.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Elder Richard G. Scott Quote on Book of Mormon
In his October 2011 General Conference talks, Elder Richard G. Scott said,
"those who consistently read the Book of Mormon are blessed with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a greater resolve to obey His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the divinity of the Son of God."
Amen!
"those who consistently read the Book of Mormon are blessed with an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a greater resolve to obey His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the divinity of the Son of God."
Amen!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Articles on the Book of Mormon by the Prophets
This is an old post (first published February 2007), but I just updated it to include the link to Elder Holland's powerful testimony regarding the Book of Mormon. I'll reference the Ensign article once it is published here in a week or so. I've also updated the date of the post to bump it to the top of the blog.
********
There are numerous articles that cite the Book of Mormon. What I am trying to capture here, however, are articles about the Book of Mormon. I'll continue to add to this list as I come accross articles from the prophets.
Testimonies
"We Add Our Witness" Ensign, March 1989, 5 : Testimonies of the Prophet and Quorum of the Twelve.
"Testimonies of the Book of Mormon" Ensign, Jan 2004, 7-9 : more testimonies from prophets.
"A Consistent Prophetic Call" Ensign, Aug 2005, 7 : prophets' call to read the Book of Mormon
Marion G. Romney
“The Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Aug 2005, 8–11
Ezra Taft Benson
"The Keystone of Our Religion" Ensign, Jan 1992, 2
"The Book of Mormon is the Word of God" Ensign, Jan 1988, 2
"Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon" Ensign Oct 2005, 60-62
“A New Witness for Christ,” Ensign, Nov 1984, 6
Neal A. Maxwell
“‘By the Gift and Power of God’,” Ensign, Jan 1997, 36
Gordon B. Hinckley
"The Power of the Book of Mormon" Ensign, Jun 1988, 2
“A Testimony Vibrant and True,” Ensign, Aug 2005, 2–6
Thomas S. Monson
James E. Faust
"Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon" Ensign, Jan 1996, 2
“The Keystone of Our Religion,” Ensign, Jan 2004, 2–6
“The Keystone of Our Religion,” Ensign, Nov 1983, 9
Boyd K. Packer
“The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Plain and Precious Things,” Ensign, May 2005, 6
“The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, Nov 2001, 62
L. Tom Perry
“Blessings Resulting from Reading the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Nov 2005, 6
"The Power of Deliverance," Ensign May 2012
Russell M. Nelson
“A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, Jul 1993, 61
“A Testimony of the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Nov 1999, 69
“Scriptural Witnesses,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 43–45
Dallin H. Oaks
'"Another Testament of Jesus Christ’,” Ensign, Mar 1994, 60
“All Men Everywhere,” Ensign, May 2006, 77–80
M. Russell Ballard
Joseph B. Wirthlin
“The Book of Mormon: The Heart of Missionary Proselyting,” Ensign, Sep 2002, 13
Richard G. Scott
“The Power of the Book of Mormon in My Life,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 7
Robert D. Hales
“Holy Scriptures: The Power of God unto Our Salvation,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 24–27
Jeffrey R. Holland
“Mormon: The Man and the Book, Part 1,” Ensign, Mar 1978, 15
“Mormon: The Man and the Book, Part 2,” Ensign, Apr 1978, 57
“‘For a Wise Purpose’,” Ensign, Jan 1996, 12
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Safety for the Soul,” Ensign, Nov 2009, 88–90
Henry B. Eyring
“The Book of Mormon Will Change Your Life,” Ensign, Feb 2004, 9
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
David A. Bednar
Quentin L. Cook
D. Todd Christofferson
Neil L. Anderson
“The Book of Mormon: The Great Purveyor of the Savior’s Peace,” Ensign, Jan 2008, 34–39
********
There are numerous articles that cite the Book of Mormon. What I am trying to capture here, however, are articles about the Book of Mormon. I'll continue to add to this list as I come accross articles from the prophets.
Testimonies
"We Add Our Witness" Ensign, March 1989, 5 : Testimonies of the Prophet and Quorum of the Twelve.
"Testimonies of the Book of Mormon" Ensign, Jan 2004, 7-9 : more testimonies from prophets.
"A Consistent Prophetic Call" Ensign, Aug 2005, 7 : prophets' call to read the Book of Mormon
Marion G. Romney
“The Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Aug 2005, 8–11
Ezra Taft Benson
"The Keystone of Our Religion" Ensign, Jan 1992, 2
"The Book of Mormon is the Word of God" Ensign, Jan 1988, 2
"Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon" Ensign Oct 2005, 60-62
“A New Witness for Christ,” Ensign, Nov 1984, 6
Neal A. Maxwell
“‘By the Gift and Power of God’,” Ensign, Jan 1997, 36
Gordon B. Hinckley
"The Power of the Book of Mormon" Ensign, Jun 1988, 2
“A Testimony Vibrant and True,” Ensign, Aug 2005, 2–6
Thomas S. Monson
James E. Faust
"Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon" Ensign, Jan 1996, 2
“The Keystone of Our Religion,” Ensign, Jan 2004, 2–6
“The Keystone of Our Religion,” Ensign, Nov 1983, 9
Boyd K. Packer
“The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Plain and Precious Things,” Ensign, May 2005, 6
“The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, Nov 2001, 62
L. Tom Perry
“Blessings Resulting from Reading the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Nov 2005, 6
"The Power of Deliverance," Ensign May 2012
Russell M. Nelson
“A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, Jul 1993, 61
“A Testimony of the Book of Mormon,” Ensign, Nov 1999, 69
“Scriptural Witnesses,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 43–45
Dallin H. Oaks
'"Another Testament of Jesus Christ’,” Ensign, Mar 1994, 60
“All Men Everywhere,” Ensign, May 2006, 77–80
M. Russell Ballard
Joseph B. Wirthlin
“The Book of Mormon: The Heart of Missionary Proselyting,” Ensign, Sep 2002, 13
Richard G. Scott
“The Power of the Book of Mormon in My Life,” Ensign, Oct 1984, 7
Robert D. Hales
“Holy Scriptures: The Power of God unto Our Salvation,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 24–27
Jeffrey R. Holland
“Mormon: The Man and the Book, Part 1,” Ensign, Mar 1978, 15
“Mormon: The Man and the Book, Part 2,” Ensign, Apr 1978, 57
“‘For a Wise Purpose’,” Ensign, Jan 1996, 12
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Safety for the Soul,” Ensign, Nov 2009, 88–90
Henry B. Eyring
“The Book of Mormon Will Change Your Life,” Ensign, Feb 2004, 9
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
David A. Bednar
Quentin L. Cook
D. Todd Christofferson
Neil L. Anderson
“The Book of Mormon: The Great Purveyor of the Savior’s Peace,” Ensign, Jan 2008, 34–39
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
My Testimony
I finished posting the last commentary to the blog last night on October 9, 2007. The commentary and insights have come a long way since December 12, 1996 in Coban Guatemala. It has taken me many tries to complete this little project to my liking. And I'm sure that I will continue to revise it through the years. To me, it is a treasure and will help me more easily remember all that the Lord has taught me while I've read this sacred book.
Today was a beautiful north Texas fall day. I had to work the night shift last night and so when I came home from work, I fell asleep and then got up around 1:00pm. By then, it was clear and dry and 80 degrees outside. As usual, I went on my run … today's route would be four miles.
I hadn't had much time to myself, so I was looking forward to spending my time in prayer while I ran. As I started to run, my thoughts turned to my family. I began to say a prayer in my head. I thanked our Heavenly Father for my beautiful children and my lovely wife. I let my mind wander thinking of all the blessings we have received. Indeed I feel so blessed and sometimes wonder why I should deserve those blessings.
I asked for forgiveness of my sins and shortcomings. I expressed my gratitude for the feelings of goodness within my heart and how I wish I always had them with me to help me resist temptations. I asked for strength to always choose the right.
Then I began to pray about the Book of Mormon. I told Heavenly Father that I love the book and how it has brought me joy in my life. I told Him that I know that by reading the Book of Mormon and following its teachings, I have learned the true way to happiness. And then something extraordinary happened. I told our Father in Heaven that even if all the evidence in the world came out against the Book of Mormon and that it were proven to not be true without any doubt, I would still believe in the Book of Mormon … I would still read it and I would still love it; I would still follow the teachings found therein. I would never "trample" on (see 1 Nephi 19:7) the Book of Mormon. I simply could not do it; I love the book too much to ever turn my back to it.
Unexpectedly, while I was running, tears welled up in my eyes and my heart began to thump a little harder. It was if a curtain was lifted and I could see. I began to cry out loud. I felt the Holy Ghost tell me that what I had determined in my heart was what Heavenly Father desired of me. Immediately, the words of Mormon in 3 Nephi 6:14 came to my mind, "They were firm, and steadfast, and immovable." I felt at that moment that Heavenly Father was pleased with me and He told me that I was on the right path. It was such a peaceful and powerful feeling. It was real to me and I shall never forget it.
I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love it dearly. Because I know the Book of Mormon is from God, I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church on the earth today. I also know the prophet who leads the Church is a prophet of God. I know these things are true and knowing that makes me happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Today was a beautiful north Texas fall day. I had to work the night shift last night and so when I came home from work, I fell asleep and then got up around 1:00pm. By then, it was clear and dry and 80 degrees outside. As usual, I went on my run … today's route would be four miles.
I hadn't had much time to myself, so I was looking forward to spending my time in prayer while I ran. As I started to run, my thoughts turned to my family. I began to say a prayer in my head. I thanked our Heavenly Father for my beautiful children and my lovely wife. I let my mind wander thinking of all the blessings we have received. Indeed I feel so blessed and sometimes wonder why I should deserve those blessings.
I asked for forgiveness of my sins and shortcomings. I expressed my gratitude for the feelings of goodness within my heart and how I wish I always had them with me to help me resist temptations. I asked for strength to always choose the right.
Then I began to pray about the Book of Mormon. I told Heavenly Father that I love the book and how it has brought me joy in my life. I told Him that I know that by reading the Book of Mormon and following its teachings, I have learned the true way to happiness. And then something extraordinary happened. I told our Father in Heaven that even if all the evidence in the world came out against the Book of Mormon and that it were proven to not be true without any doubt, I would still believe in the Book of Mormon … I would still read it and I would still love it; I would still follow the teachings found therein. I would never "trample" on (see 1 Nephi 19:7) the Book of Mormon. I simply could not do it; I love the book too much to ever turn my back to it.
Unexpectedly, while I was running, tears welled up in my eyes and my heart began to thump a little harder. It was if a curtain was lifted and I could see. I began to cry out loud. I felt the Holy Ghost tell me that what I had determined in my heart was what Heavenly Father desired of me. Immediately, the words of Mormon in 3 Nephi 6:14 came to my mind, "They were firm, and steadfast, and immovable." I felt at that moment that Heavenly Father was pleased with me and He told me that I was on the right path. It was such a peaceful and powerful feeling. It was real to me and I shall never forget it.
I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love it dearly. Because I know the Book of Mormon is from God, I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church on the earth today. I also know the prophet who leads the Church is a prophet of God. I know these things are true and knowing that makes me happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Moroni 8 & 9
Mindful of you
One of my favorite scriptures is Moroni 8:3. My father would sometimes begin his letters to me by quoting this verse. “I am mindful of you always in my prayers.” Whenever I read those words, I think of my father kneeling by the kitchen table and humbly praying to our Father in Heaven for me. I often kept that image and thought in my mind when I was serving as a missionary.
Baptism
Mormon teaches that little children must not be baptized because they are innocent in Christ, meaning they cannot sin. When they reach the age of accountability, then they should be baptized. D&C 68:25-28 teaches us that the age of accountability is eight years of age. We also learn from D&C 68 that parents are to teach their children the doctrine of the gospel and to pray.
Labor Diligently
In Moroni 9:6, Mormon exhorts Moroni to never cease to labor teaching the Nephites to repent. We too must never cease to labor, but to diligently labor. We must not serve in spurts and then “rest” a bit. Rather, we must be steady in our service to others. I remember Elder Ballard discussing this topic recently in a General Conference. He taught, “While there may be times when our Church callings require more intense effort and unusual focus, we need to strive to keep things in proper balance. We should never allow our service to replace the attention needed by other important priorities in our lives. Remember King Benjamin’s counsel: “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27).” (M. Russell Ballard, “O Be Wise,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 17–20)
Mormon Chose to Hope
Despite mentioning all the horrendous things the Lamanites and Nephites were doing, Mormon still had hope. Mormon’s words to his son ring full of hope. “My son, be faithful in Christ … may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hop of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.” (Moroni 9:25)
One of my favorite scriptures is Moroni 8:3. My father would sometimes begin his letters to me by quoting this verse. “I am mindful of you always in my prayers.” Whenever I read those words, I think of my father kneeling by the kitchen table and humbly praying to our Father in Heaven for me. I often kept that image and thought in my mind when I was serving as a missionary.
Baptism
Mormon teaches that little children must not be baptized because they are innocent in Christ, meaning they cannot sin. When they reach the age of accountability, then they should be baptized. D&C 68:25-28 teaches us that the age of accountability is eight years of age. We also learn from D&C 68 that parents are to teach their children the doctrine of the gospel and to pray.
Labor Diligently
In Moroni 9:6, Mormon exhorts Moroni to never cease to labor teaching the Nephites to repent. We too must never cease to labor, but to diligently labor. We must not serve in spurts and then “rest” a bit. Rather, we must be steady in our service to others. I remember Elder Ballard discussing this topic recently in a General Conference. He taught, “While there may be times when our Church callings require more intense effort and unusual focus, we need to strive to keep things in proper balance. We should never allow our service to replace the attention needed by other important priorities in our lives. Remember King Benjamin’s counsel: “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27).” (M. Russell Ballard, “O Be Wise,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 17–20)
Mormon Chose to Hope
Despite mentioning all the horrendous things the Lamanites and Nephites were doing, Mormon still had hope. Mormon’s words to his son ring full of hope. “My son, be faithful in Christ … may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hop of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.” (Moroni 9:25)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Moroni 7
Peaceable Followers of Christ
Peaceable is a very interesting word. There are several synonyms for the word: serene, harmonious, calm, quiet, compliant. Each one of those synonyms represents what it means to follow Christ’s teachings. It seems that these saints to whom Mormon was talking demonstrated that they were really Christians by they way they treated other people.
In my mind, a true Christian does not cause discord. He serves quietly and anonymously. He does not speak loudly, but lives a reverent life. He complies with the commandments and willingly follows Christ’s teachings. He prays fervently and studies the scriptures diligently. I often think of my parents as peaceable followers of Christ. My Sunbeam teacher, Grace Nelson, was a true peaceable follower of Christ. There are many peaceable followers of Christ among us, but you must watch carefully for them, because they will not stand out in the world’s sense.
Pray With Real Intent
If we are praying aimlessly and giving no thought for what we are thankful for and what we stand in need of, then our prayers will not reach heaven. It will profit us nothing. When we pray, we must mean it. We must have a purpose to our words. They must be thoughtful. We ought to meditate when we pray and we ought to really search our souls for the things we are thankful for and the things we desire of our Father. If we do not pray with real intent, we are not really praying. We are just saying words.
The Devil Fights God Continually
The word that stands out in Moroni 7:12 is continually. The devil will never stop fighting that which is good. But opposite of the devil is God who also invites and entices us to do good continually. Galatians 6:9 counsels us to “not be weary in well doing.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13 gives similar counsel. We must endure to the end and never tire in striving to do good. As we strive to do good, our Father in Heaven will help us.
Judgment and Spirit of Christ
Each of us knows the difference between right and wrong. This is called the Spirit of Christ. Since we know wrong from right, we are given the change to judge between good and evil. The task is simple yet hard to complete. Anything that invites and entices to do good comes from Christ. Anything that persuades and entices us to do evil and to deny the Christ is of the devil. Therefore, we must choose the good and shun the evil. As we continually choose the good, our ability to choose the good becomes stronger and we become a child of Christ. (Moroni 7:19)
How Faith in Christ Began
Men began to have faith in Christ when God sent angels who in turn ministered to men. Just within the pages of the Book of Mormon we read of Nephi’s vision and how an angel ministered to him. (see 1 Nephi 11) King Benjamin was taught by an angel before he taught the Nephites. (see Mosiah 3:2) We also are very familiar with the story of Alma and the angel that visited him more than once. (see Mosiah 27; Alma 8:14)
Not only have angels ministered to men, but our Heavenly Father and Christ have taught men. We have just read about the brother of Jared and how Christ showed Himself to him hundreds of years before Christ was mortal. Thus these seeds are planted among men and we begin to have faith in Christ.
But what about those of us today … Christ has already appeared. How are we to exercise faith in Christ? My favorite part of an Apostle’s talk is his testimony. If you are tuned into the Spirit and listen closely, the Holy Ghost will testify in your heart the truthfulness of the words of the Apostles’.
I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again. One of the most powerful testimonies I’ve heard came from Elder Henry B. Eyring shortly after he was called to be an Apostle. He gave a talk at the MTC while I was training there. I do not remember the subject of his talk. But what has remained with me all these years is the spirit I felt when he bore his testimony. I know that he really knows that Christ lives. And as such, I know that Christ lives.
Angels Minister Today
Mormon taught that angels have not ceased to minister to men. (Moroni 7:29) He teaches that angels are subject to God and according to His command they show “themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.” (Moroni 7:30) Those who are taught by angels are taught the gospel of repentance. Those who are taught are then commanded to preach to men. They are to preach repentance and to teach men to fulfill the work of God. They are to bear testimony of Christ. Thus “the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ.” (Moroni 7:32)
Pre-requisites of Faith and Hope
Mormon teaches that in order for a man to have faith and hope, he must be meek and lowly of heart. In other words, he must be a peaceable follower of Christ.
He must also confess that Jesus is the Christ and he must have charity.
Charity
Suffereth long – to me, this means that when placed under a trail or persecution, we do not retaliate. We suffer or endure through the trail or persecution asking God what He wants us to learn from it. We are quick to praise God and slow to complain.
Kind – If we are kind to others, then we have charity. Are we kind to disobedient children? Are we kind to drivers who cut us off? Are we kind to those who offend us? Can we at least treat others with decent respect?
Envieth not – If we have envy, then we are jealous or spiteful or malicious. To have charity means we should not covet other’s possessions or status in life. If we are “keeping up with the Jones” then we do not have charity. If we are constantly comparing our lot in life to others’ then we do not have charity. If we experience scheudenfraude (happy about another’s demise or ill luck), then we probably don’t have charity.
Is not puffed up – being “puffed up” means that we’re flaunting ourselves. When we are pompous, it tends to put others down and that is not charity. Puffing yourself up implies that you are putting others down.
Seeketh not her own – this is similar to being puffed up. If we are constantly looking out for ourselves without regard for others, then we are seeking after our own.
Is not easily provoked – this one is similar to suffereth long. At times, others may try to make us angry … they are trying to aggravate and goad us into fighting back. But if we do not fall for this tactic, then we are beginning to have charity.
Thinketh no evil – a person who does not think evil is pure in heart. A child does not think evil.
Rejoiceth not in iniquity – There are those who glory in their sinful life. They take delight in exercising their agency to the full extent.
Rejoiceth in the truth – On the other hand, there are those who love the truth and who want to be happy and seek true happiness for others. These rejoice in the truth.
Beareth all things – I think in this definition, we are to bear the trials and tribulations the Lord places on us. I don’t think the Lord expects us to tolerate all kinds of sin and iniquity. We are to allow others the use of their agency, but we can use our agency to exhort others to repentance. I am reminded of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he was in jail; he had to endure all kinds of taunting and vile talk. One night in the Richmond Jail, as guards in “dreadful blasphemies and filthy language” boasted of their participation in the Saints’ persecution, Joseph rebuked them in the name of Jesus Christ in a “voice of thunder”: “SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. … Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!” The “quailing guards … begged his pardon.” Parley wrote, “Dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.” (Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (1985), 179–80 see also Matthew J. Grow, “The Extraordinary Life of Parley P. Pratt,” Ensign, Apr 2007, 56–61)
Believeth all things – Along the same lines of bearing all things, we are to believe all things the Lord teaches us. Obviously we are not to believe the lies Satan and his angels would have us believe. Rather, we ought to believe that Christ lives and we are to believe all that Christ has taught and we are to believe in his prophets and apostles. We are to be as a little child and be “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)
Hopeth all things – We must always have hope. We hope for a better world. We hope our children will choose the right when they are on their own. We hope they will marry in the temple. We hope they will serve and be faithful all their lives. We hope we will be a family forever. We hope that all the gospel offers us and our family will be realized. We must always hope. Without hope, we’d be in constant despair.
Endureth all things – Not only are we to endure what this life throws at us, but we are to endure it well. There are so many people who are bitter about their lot in life. We may not be able to choose what will happen to us, but we can always choose how we will react to it.
Pray for Charity
Charity is a gift from God. We can do our best to practice charity, but ultimately we must diligently pray for it. And we must pray with all our heart that God bestows this gift on us.
Peaceable is a very interesting word. There are several synonyms for the word: serene, harmonious, calm, quiet, compliant. Each one of those synonyms represents what it means to follow Christ’s teachings. It seems that these saints to whom Mormon was talking demonstrated that they were really Christians by they way they treated other people.
In my mind, a true Christian does not cause discord. He serves quietly and anonymously. He does not speak loudly, but lives a reverent life. He complies with the commandments and willingly follows Christ’s teachings. He prays fervently and studies the scriptures diligently. I often think of my parents as peaceable followers of Christ. My Sunbeam teacher, Grace Nelson, was a true peaceable follower of Christ. There are many peaceable followers of Christ among us, but you must watch carefully for them, because they will not stand out in the world’s sense.
Pray With Real Intent
If we are praying aimlessly and giving no thought for what we are thankful for and what we stand in need of, then our prayers will not reach heaven. It will profit us nothing. When we pray, we must mean it. We must have a purpose to our words. They must be thoughtful. We ought to meditate when we pray and we ought to really search our souls for the things we are thankful for and the things we desire of our Father. If we do not pray with real intent, we are not really praying. We are just saying words.
The Devil Fights God Continually
The word that stands out in Moroni 7:12 is continually. The devil will never stop fighting that which is good. But opposite of the devil is God who also invites and entices us to do good continually. Galatians 6:9 counsels us to “not be weary in well doing.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13 gives similar counsel. We must endure to the end and never tire in striving to do good. As we strive to do good, our Father in Heaven will help us.
Judgment and Spirit of Christ
Each of us knows the difference between right and wrong. This is called the Spirit of Christ. Since we know wrong from right, we are given the change to judge between good and evil. The task is simple yet hard to complete. Anything that invites and entices to do good comes from Christ. Anything that persuades and entices us to do evil and to deny the Christ is of the devil. Therefore, we must choose the good and shun the evil. As we continually choose the good, our ability to choose the good becomes stronger and we become a child of Christ. (Moroni 7:19)
How Faith in Christ Began
Men began to have faith in Christ when God sent angels who in turn ministered to men. Just within the pages of the Book of Mormon we read of Nephi’s vision and how an angel ministered to him. (see 1 Nephi 11) King Benjamin was taught by an angel before he taught the Nephites. (see Mosiah 3:2) We also are very familiar with the story of Alma and the angel that visited him more than once. (see Mosiah 27; Alma 8:14)
Not only have angels ministered to men, but our Heavenly Father and Christ have taught men. We have just read about the brother of Jared and how Christ showed Himself to him hundreds of years before Christ was mortal. Thus these seeds are planted among men and we begin to have faith in Christ.
But what about those of us today … Christ has already appeared. How are we to exercise faith in Christ? My favorite part of an Apostle’s talk is his testimony. If you are tuned into the Spirit and listen closely, the Holy Ghost will testify in your heart the truthfulness of the words of the Apostles’.
I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again. One of the most powerful testimonies I’ve heard came from Elder Henry B. Eyring shortly after he was called to be an Apostle. He gave a talk at the MTC while I was training there. I do not remember the subject of his talk. But what has remained with me all these years is the spirit I felt when he bore his testimony. I know that he really knows that Christ lives. And as such, I know that Christ lives.
Angels Minister Today
Mormon taught that angels have not ceased to minister to men. (Moroni 7:29) He teaches that angels are subject to God and according to His command they show “themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.” (Moroni 7:30) Those who are taught by angels are taught the gospel of repentance. Those who are taught are then commanded to preach to men. They are to preach repentance and to teach men to fulfill the work of God. They are to bear testimony of Christ. Thus “the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ.” (Moroni 7:32)
Pre-requisites of Faith and Hope
Mormon teaches that in order for a man to have faith and hope, he must be meek and lowly of heart. In other words, he must be a peaceable follower of Christ.
He must also confess that Jesus is the Christ and he must have charity.
Charity
Suffereth long – to me, this means that when placed under a trail or persecution, we do not retaliate. We suffer or endure through the trail or persecution asking God what He wants us to learn from it. We are quick to praise God and slow to complain.
Kind – If we are kind to others, then we have charity. Are we kind to disobedient children? Are we kind to drivers who cut us off? Are we kind to those who offend us? Can we at least treat others with decent respect?
Envieth not – If we have envy, then we are jealous or spiteful or malicious. To have charity means we should not covet other’s possessions or status in life. If we are “keeping up with the Jones” then we do not have charity. If we are constantly comparing our lot in life to others’ then we do not have charity. If we experience scheudenfraude (happy about another’s demise or ill luck), then we probably don’t have charity.
Is not puffed up – being “puffed up” means that we’re flaunting ourselves. When we are pompous, it tends to put others down and that is not charity. Puffing yourself up implies that you are putting others down.
Seeketh not her own – this is similar to being puffed up. If we are constantly looking out for ourselves without regard for others, then we are seeking after our own.
Is not easily provoked – this one is similar to suffereth long. At times, others may try to make us angry … they are trying to aggravate and goad us into fighting back. But if we do not fall for this tactic, then we are beginning to have charity.
Thinketh no evil – a person who does not think evil is pure in heart. A child does not think evil.
Rejoiceth not in iniquity – There are those who glory in their sinful life. They take delight in exercising their agency to the full extent.
Rejoiceth in the truth – On the other hand, there are those who love the truth and who want to be happy and seek true happiness for others. These rejoice in the truth.
Beareth all things – I think in this definition, we are to bear the trials and tribulations the Lord places on us. I don’t think the Lord expects us to tolerate all kinds of sin and iniquity. We are to allow others the use of their agency, but we can use our agency to exhort others to repentance. I am reminded of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he was in jail; he had to endure all kinds of taunting and vile talk. One night in the Richmond Jail, as guards in “dreadful blasphemies and filthy language” boasted of their participation in the Saints’ persecution, Joseph rebuked them in the name of Jesus Christ in a “voice of thunder”: “SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. … Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!” The “quailing guards … begged his pardon.” Parley wrote, “Dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.” (Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (1985), 179–80 see also Matthew J. Grow, “The Extraordinary Life of Parley P. Pratt,” Ensign, Apr 2007, 56–61)
Believeth all things – Along the same lines of bearing all things, we are to believe all things the Lord teaches us. Obviously we are not to believe the lies Satan and his angels would have us believe. Rather, we ought to believe that Christ lives and we are to believe all that Christ has taught and we are to believe in his prophets and apostles. We are to be as a little child and be “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)
Hopeth all things – We must always have hope. We hope for a better world. We hope our children will choose the right when they are on their own. We hope they will marry in the temple. We hope they will serve and be faithful all their lives. We hope we will be a family forever. We hope that all the gospel offers us and our family will be realized. We must always hope. Without hope, we’d be in constant despair.
Endureth all things – Not only are we to endure what this life throws at us, but we are to endure it well. There are so many people who are bitter about their lot in life. We may not be able to choose what will happen to us, but we can always choose how we will react to it.
Pray for Charity
Charity is a gift from God. We can do our best to practice charity, but ultimately we must diligently pray for it. And we must pray with all our heart that God bestows this gift on us.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Moroni 6
Determination to Serve Christ to the End
After we are baptized, we must endure to the end. We can never give up or forsake our commitments. Elder Hales gave a wonderful talk in the April 1998 General Conference. He said, “We learn to endure to the end by learning to finish our current responsibilities, and we simply continue doing it all of our lives. We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now.” (Robert D. Hales, “‘Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure’,” Ensign, May 1998, 75)
Nourished by the Good Word of God
If ever there were a scripture for fellowshipping and home teaching and visiting teaching, Moroni 6:4 would be it. The pattern for a new member entering the Gospel is for him to repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and then endure to the end. To help him endure to the end, the members must nourish him with the good word of God … in other words, he must have home teachers and he must be fellowshipped at church. By having the members help this new convert, the convert is kept in the right way and is watched. We as home and visiting teachers must exhort him or her to continually pray and study the scriptures. The bishop ought to extend the convert a calling to keep him or her active in the ward. President Hinckley’s 1999 talk discusses what we as members need to do (see Gordon B. Hinckley, “Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep,” Ensign, May 1999, 104)
Manner of Conducting Meetings
In the days of the Nephites, meetings were conducted “after the manner of the workings of the Spirit.” (Moroni 6:9) If the Sprit directed them to sing, they would sing. If the Spirit directed them to preach, they would preach. Today our meetings are much more structured. But that does not mean the bishop or whoever is presiding over the meeting cannot call upon someone to bear testimony or to alter the course of the meeting.
I think the concept here is that we follow the Spirit in our meetings. This can apply to us individually when we are giving a talk or lesson. If we’ve prepared something but later during the lesson or talk we feel we should say it differently or to say something else or hold something back, then we should follow the promptings of the Spirit. I’ve had this happen to me many times. Something might pop into my head and it fits perfecting into what I’m trying to convey … so I’ll say it. We never know when someone will be touched by what we say.
In the last General Conference (April 2007), President Monson noted the following event while he was giving a talk, “During the message I delivered at general conference in October 1975, I felt prompted to direct my remarks to a little girl with long, blonde hair, who was seated in the balcony of this building. I called the attention of the audience to her and felt a freedom of expression which testified to me that this small girl needed the message I had in mind concerning the faith of another young lady.
“At the conclusion of the session, I returned to my office and found waiting for me a young child by the name of Misti White, together with her grandparents and an aunt. “As I greeted them, I recognized Misti as the one in the balcony to whom I had directed my remarks. I learned that as her eighth birthday approached, she was in a quandary concerning whether or not to be baptized. She felt she would like to be baptized, and her grandparents, with whom she lived, wanted her to be baptized, but her less-active mother suggested she wait until she was 18 years of age to make the decision. Misti had told her grandparents, “If we go to conference in Salt Lake City, maybe Heavenly Father will let me know what I should do.”
“Misti and her grandparents and her aunt had traveled from California to Salt Lake City for conference and were able to obtain seats in the Tabernacle for the Saturday afternoon session. This was where they were seated when my attention was drawn to Misti and my decision made to speak to her.
“As we continued our visit after the session, Misti’s grandmother said to me, “I think Misti has something she would like to tell you.” This sweet young girl said, “Brother Monson, while you were speaking in conference, you answered my question. I want to be baptized!”
“The family returned to California, and Misti was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through all the years since, Misti has remained true and faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fourteen years ago, it was my privilege to perform her temple marriage to a fine young man, and together they are rearing five beautiful children, with another one on the way.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Tabernacle Memories,” Ensign, May 2007, 41–42)
After we are baptized, we must endure to the end. We can never give up or forsake our commitments. Elder Hales gave a wonderful talk in the April 1998 General Conference. He said, “We learn to endure to the end by learning to finish our current responsibilities, and we simply continue doing it all of our lives. We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now.” (Robert D. Hales, “‘Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure’,” Ensign, May 1998, 75)
Nourished by the Good Word of God
If ever there were a scripture for fellowshipping and home teaching and visiting teaching, Moroni 6:4 would be it. The pattern for a new member entering the Gospel is for him to repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and then endure to the end. To help him endure to the end, the members must nourish him with the good word of God … in other words, he must have home teachers and he must be fellowshipped at church. By having the members help this new convert, the convert is kept in the right way and is watched. We as home and visiting teachers must exhort him or her to continually pray and study the scriptures. The bishop ought to extend the convert a calling to keep him or her active in the ward. President Hinckley’s 1999 talk discusses what we as members need to do (see Gordon B. Hinckley, “Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep,” Ensign, May 1999, 104)
Manner of Conducting Meetings
In the days of the Nephites, meetings were conducted “after the manner of the workings of the Spirit.” (Moroni 6:9) If the Sprit directed them to sing, they would sing. If the Spirit directed them to preach, they would preach. Today our meetings are much more structured. But that does not mean the bishop or whoever is presiding over the meeting cannot call upon someone to bear testimony or to alter the course of the meeting.
I think the concept here is that we follow the Spirit in our meetings. This can apply to us individually when we are giving a talk or lesson. If we’ve prepared something but later during the lesson or talk we feel we should say it differently or to say something else or hold something back, then we should follow the promptings of the Spirit. I’ve had this happen to me many times. Something might pop into my head and it fits perfecting into what I’m trying to convey … so I’ll say it. We never know when someone will be touched by what we say.
In the last General Conference (April 2007), President Monson noted the following event while he was giving a talk, “During the message I delivered at general conference in October 1975, I felt prompted to direct my remarks to a little girl with long, blonde hair, who was seated in the balcony of this building. I called the attention of the audience to her and felt a freedom of expression which testified to me that this small girl needed the message I had in mind concerning the faith of another young lady.
“At the conclusion of the session, I returned to my office and found waiting for me a young child by the name of Misti White, together with her grandparents and an aunt. “As I greeted them, I recognized Misti as the one in the balcony to whom I had directed my remarks. I learned that as her eighth birthday approached, she was in a quandary concerning whether or not to be baptized. She felt she would like to be baptized, and her grandparents, with whom she lived, wanted her to be baptized, but her less-active mother suggested she wait until she was 18 years of age to make the decision. Misti had told her grandparents, “If we go to conference in Salt Lake City, maybe Heavenly Father will let me know what I should do.”
“Misti and her grandparents and her aunt had traveled from California to Salt Lake City for conference and were able to obtain seats in the Tabernacle for the Saturday afternoon session. This was where they were seated when my attention was drawn to Misti and my decision made to speak to her.
“As we continued our visit after the session, Misti’s grandmother said to me, “I think Misti has something she would like to tell you.” This sweet young girl said, “Brother Monson, while you were speaking in conference, you answered my question. I want to be baptized!”
“The family returned to California, and Misti was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through all the years since, Misti has remained true and faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fourteen years ago, it was my privilege to perform her temple marriage to a fine young man, and together they are rearing five beautiful children, with another one on the way.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Tabernacle Memories,” Ensign, May 2007, 41–42)
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