Mosiah 28

It strikes me that the sons of Mosiah were asking the equivalent of going on a mission to the Taliban, a people of another religion whose religion taught them to hate the Nephites. It makes me wonder if the all those extremists are reachable, or some of them anyway. Their desire to be done with contention makes me think about in President Monson biography about how he and President Hinckley talked about sacrificing for peace and how desirable peace was. 

Even though the sons of Mosiah felt prompted to go to the Lamenites, they still followed the pattern of authority requested permission. It’s hard for me to be that humble. I just want to do it my way if I think I’m right, and don’t want to have to ask. Yet somehow, it must matter to follow that chain of command, so to speak.

As I read about King Mosiah handing down the plates and records, it occurs to me how blessed I am to have access to the scriptures and records at my fingertips. It was so complicated for them to keep track of these sacred things, and so easy for us. I want to appreciate my access to sacred words and be more diligent about using them. It also seems like a great responsibility the Lord has given us in these latter days. By giving us access us he has given as the opportunity, and thus the responsibility to search and ponder and understand for ourselves, instead of relying on teachers to tell us everything. And yet, we still have teachers and prophets, too. He really does just keep trying to help and bless us all along the way, if we’ll just listen.

Mosiah 28

Mosiah 27

It is interesting to me that what made them about in the grace of God was treating each other as equals and everyone working for their own support unless they absolutely couldn’t. Sometimes the gospel all seems to come down to a few simple things. Love each other and live your taking responsibility for your choices. Almost everything seems to fit into those two things.

The story of Alma the younger and the sons of King Mosiah remind me  of something I’ve been thinking about lately. We tend to take such a small view of the world and our problems, and on other peoples problems. I bet Alma and Mosiah’s hearts were broken over their children’s choices. But eternally, they came out stronger in faith on the other side. I need to remember that when I am teaching my children, instead of getting mad and going crazy, that my job right now is to teach. When I am freaking out I am taking such a short view of the situation. I pray for an eternal perspective and the peace in the moment to remember this and be able to hold onto it. 

It also makes me think of the talk I read a while back about how father’s natural inclination is to cling to their children, but what they need to do is cling to the Savior and then their children will be safe. 

I’ve never noticed before that the angel said that Alma’s father had prayed with great faith before. Always in my mind I imagined desperate heart-broken pleading. But that’ wasn’t the case. The angel came because of his faith, not his worry. That is so important!

At the end, the angel still gave Alma his agency to be cast off himself if he would. It’s an example of hoe God can answer the prayers for protection of the righteous while still honoring the agency of the wicked, which is something it’s been hard for me to philosophically understand before.

Alma talking about the pain and torture in his repentance is a good one for illustrating why is it better to never have sinned. Not only do you miss the blessings you otherwise could have had, but it is no easy process to return to the fold of God. To really repent of those serious sins, you have to hate the choices you made and be filled with unspeakable sorrow at them.

Even after the amazing heavenly appearance and transformation of Alma, he was still persecuted by the unbelievers. I’m sure they thought he was a sell-out. It’s amazing how hard our hearts can become.

It is such a beautiful part of the story that the rebels then spent their time zealously trying to repair all the damage they had done and publishing peace. And I love that the chapter concludes with “how blessed they are.” No condemnation anymore, but forgiveness and the blessings. That is how the atonement works!

Mosiah 27

Mosiah 26

The rising generation that didn’t believe the traditions of their father’s reminds me of the gifts of the Spirit I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I appreciate that it is a gift for some to bear testimony and for some to believe the testimony of others. Christina and I have talked about this a lot when lately. It’s always been really easy for her to just believe. She doesn’t struggle with every doubting the way some of us do. The gift to be able to just believe the testimony of others is something I really admire in other people.

I think verse 4 is the key here, though. The remained forever in their carnal state because they refused to call upon the Lord. Even for those who need their own confirmation and testimony, that don’t just believe the testimony of others, the Lord offers that testimony. If they had wanted to believe, or been willing to try and find out if it might be true, they would have known it was. They never knew because they didn’t want to know.

I think verse 5 is important, too. There weren’t very many unbelievers, but because of fighting in the church, and people getting offended, the numbers grew. It makes me think of so many things, but mostly, how easy it would be to be offended and fall away if you didn’t keep taking care of that testimony. You have to know it’s true to let some of the things go that other imperfect people in the church do. You have to know so that nothing else matters. 

I appreciate that Alma didn’t want to be the judge in this case. It would be a difficult responsibility to bare to be a “judge in Israel”. 

I love what the Lord tells Alma here about it is He that suffered for them and it is He that created them, and He who grants them Eternal Life at the end. Because there is a plan, I sometimes take for granted that if we follow the plan we get the prescribed blessings. I don’t always appreciate that God has the power to withhold anything He wants, because He has all power. But he won’t. I am forever relying on His mercy, and on His perfect love, even in following the plan.

It makes perfect sense to me when the Lord says He that will not hear my voice the same shall ye not receive into my church. It makes a mockery of it to say you are a member of the Lord’s church and one of His disciples if you won’t follow Him. It reminds me of when someone at church yesterday was reading a quote about people who sin now planning to repent later are making a mockery of the atonement. They can’t understand what He did for them, can they? 

Lately I understand the safety in the Lord’s command to pray without ceasing and to give thanks in all things. It keeps us remembering and feeling the Spirit to pray always, and keeps us humble to remember all things come from Him and we give thanks. Not only that, but we are constantly reminded of our blessings, and how much He loves us, His children.  I really think if I just did those two things really always, I would always be safe from temptation.

Mosiah 26

Mosiah 25

In all the emotions the Nephites went through when King Mosiah read the record of Zeniff and Alma, they never felt hate or revenge. That says a lot about the people. And about King Mosiah and how he presented it.

I love the description of many churches being one church. And I love that people talk about church that way, that anywhere you go to church it is always the same and you know what is going on. What a beautiful thought that you can find home anywhere in the world.

Mosiah 25

Mosiah 24

You can see the Lord laying the foundation for the missionaries that were coming in another generation as Amulon and the other priests taught the people to understand the Nephite language. I am sure to the Nephites then it didn’t look like spiritual progress, just as, to me, it looks like there is no progress on the gospel going to all the world. But I am sure there is, the Lord’s ways are not my ways and His time is not my time. I feel like in our struggles lately the Lord has told me that great things are coming. Part of having faith in that promise is that things are working together now for the greater good, even when it looks like no progress at all. I just need to be more patient

.

Why did Alma believing Abinidi still make Amulon mad? Why do people who are making worldly choices always feel mad about spiritual ones?

I’ve always found the contrast between this story and Daniel in the Lion’s Den interesting. Why did Daniel need to pray out loud but it was okay for Alma and his people to pray in their hearts? I get the pray in the hearts more than I get that Daniel needed to pray out loud. But I guess the stories are very different, because Daniel’s prayer softened the king’s heart, and helped a whole nation of believers. It seems unlikely that Amulon’s heart would have been similarly softened. I guess it all goes back to, again, needing to be able to hear and follow the Spirit rather than relying on pre-set rules in life.

Sometimes I feel like a whiner, but I desire to be the person that submits patiently and cheerfully to the all the will of the Lord.

The Lord was able to deliver them because of their faith. I am sure it took a lot of faith for them to gather their flocks and get ready to leave when they hadn’t gotten the Lamenites drunk or done anything themselves to make escape possible. Yet before they even knew how it could happen they trusted the Lord and made preparations. Do I exercise that kind of faith, or do I need to see how it will work first? I guess this move took that kind of faith. I am grateful for that reminder, that I’m not as bad as I sometimes think.

I also think, the Lord had to help them in this way for them to escape. For the other people who had fled, getting the Lamenites drunk had been an option. But now they knew that trick and it wouldn’t have worked again. The Lord lets us do the work we can do and helps us with what we can’t. I need to do be better about allowing my kids to do what they can do. I always want to step in and help before it is probably necessary. Though I do it because I love them, I feel like it’s not the best teaching and parenting I could be doing for them. I’ve been feeling that a lot lately, and this scripture story has made me feel and remember that again today. I need to act on this prompting.

Mosiah 24