Alma 62:15-32

When the Nephites were fighting the Lamenites and they would not kill anyone who promised not to hurt them anymore, why did they believe them? Enough to send them to live with the people of Ammon who were basically defenseless. And did they send them to live there out of racism, or separatism? Or was it, as someone once theorized, because of their righteousness they were the best missionaries? Did they let them go home and get their families first? Or was sent them to live with the Ammonites really code for some kind of prison there?

It is interesting that the Lamenites didn’t have guards around the whole wall if it was climbable. I am sure there are lessons here about making sure all parts of our lives our guarded, but I also feel like there is a lesson about doing your own work. The Lamenite army had not designed and built the fortifications, and all that back work and planning and effort is what made them more useful to the Nephites. I feel like they would have known to guard the wall. There is strength in struggle and work that is difficult to replicate. Can it be replicated? Do I need to allow my own children to struggle more? Not dangerously, but work things out themselves for greater understanding. It is probably like testimonies, also. Relying for a time on others does offer some protection, but nothing like the deep understanding and strength that comes from your own effort and confirmation.

Here again, the Lamenites that said they wanted to be free were allowed to join the people of Ammon. The Nephites definitely tempered their politics and fear with compassion and human dignity. All the prisoners chose to go work hard and be reformed. Would more people choose that given that opportunity now? I wonder about the practicalities. How did they get land? Where did the live when they first got to the city of Ammon. Did the people there take them into their homes and give up their land? How did they eat, and get the implements to start farming? Just being sent there wouldn’t have been enough, there must have been some kind of life restarting help?

Alma 62:15-32

Alma 62:1-14

What does it mean that Moroni’s heart took courage? How do I feel when my heart needs courage?  Is that what anxiety and stress are? Moroni sounded so sure in the previous letter, but if his heart needed to take courage, perhaps he was not? I appreciate the description of his great joy and great sadness existing together at the same time. I wonder what the records said that Mormon abridged it to this? It must have been a very emotional moment.

With no internet, no tv, no media, I wonder if the people Mormon met on his march even knew someone was trying to overthrow their government before he came through? Did they flock to him because they just found out, or because they were excited to have a way to face the problem? Sometimes I feel like we all just sit around and fret about the things that are wrong, but take no action to do anything. Maybe that explains why people are flocking to Trump (which seems unexplainable to me) because he makes them feel like he will do something about the things they hate, and by voting for him they are able to “act instead of being acted upon”. I think it is an important leadership lesson, to not only have a message about what is good and bad, but a way for people to take action. Why to care and HOW to care.

And then we get into execution of traitors. Mormon editorializes that it was necessary to execute them for the safety of the country. So they couldn’t incite further rebellion? To discourage further rebellion? Did they really all have to be killed? Why were they so stubborn knowing the consequence that they wouldn’t recant and help fight the Lamenites? Or perhaps they were never given that chance? Or maybe it was fear that they would cause more problems again, even as soldiers? Would this happen now, or have we found other ways to deal with things? It seems like the narrative for the other side would be that Pahoran and Moroni were executing political enemies, where is the freedom in that? Although this wasn’t really a voting situation, since they overthrew the government by force as well. Perhaps in times of war, surrounded by violence, the violence becomes easier to advocate?

Alma 62:1-14

Alma 61:14-21

Pahoran says “let us resist evil” and says that when we cannot resist evil with our words we must fight. I think that there are two points here. One that fighting is only for when words won’t work, but also, that there are some evils where words are not the appropriate response. I suppose like not negotiating with terrorists. It seems like words should always work, but sometimes hearts are too hard, I suppose. Pure real evil is something I haven’t had a lot of experience with, and sometimes I forget how real the power of evil is in the world.

It’s also interesting that he says that the Spirit of God is also the spirit of freedom. That longing that all people have to be free comes from God. I also love how the Nephite leaders, when they are righteous always recognize constantly that their strength and power to overcome comes from God. I need to be more constantly and consistently humble in my life, in my thoughts. And I will always love how humble Pahoran was in his response. It would have been so easy to let offense cloud his judgement and not be able to work with Moroni to accomplish the good they did.  It reminds me of David Bednar’s talk about how being offended is a choice. It really struck me at the time, and has stayed with me. We often use it a sword to beat each other with when someone else is offended and we don’t think they should be. But it is useful if I really use to think about myself and my own reactions to things.

Alma 61:14-21

Alma 61:1-13

As I read about the trouble Pahoran had when he was driven out by the king-men, I am reminded of the tweet I read recently about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, and how they were the only people in the Book of Mormon to really have the courage to be completely pacifist. And how their commitment to not fight actually was a powerful tool in softening hearts and converting their brothers. I have been thinking a lot lately about how loving each other is really what we are supposed to do in this world. And being completely pacifist fit with that idea. Because people are generally not inherently evil, slaughtering innocents did soften with Lamenite hearts. But I suppose, as I read this, that some people perhaps are evil enough to take advantage of the pacifism. The first commandment has to be to love God. To love and serve Him and follow His will above all else. Commitment to any other idea, even loving people, even pacifism, ends up being a false God. Loving people can end up being very complicated the more responsibility you have, anyway, because people often have competing needs, and you must choose the greater good. Loving God, staying close to His Spirit, is the only way to truly know what the greater good is. That is why Pahoran was so comofoted by Moroni’s spiritual conviction that withholding the supplies from the warriors was wrong and had to be stopped by force if force was required.

As I have followed the news this past week, with police shooting and police being shot, Black Lives Matter, and All Lives Matter and all the arguing that goes on, it strikes me that people want the surety of an uncomplicated position. No one wants to deal in nuance and complication and grey areas, and competing needs. But the truth is always a complicated thing, changed by perspective and detail and feelings. Truth, with a capital T, would have to encompass all those different feelings and needs and experiences and perspectives. The more we are willing to complicate the issue the closer to Truth we can get. It feels scary when everything becomes relative. The only sure foundation truly can be found in Jesus Christ, in revelation of God’s will. Eternity is a hard concept to understand, to comprehend. I think Truth is like that, too, overwhelming expansive. But I think trying to get to real complete truth is worth the effort, and an important part of the growth we are supposed to accomplish in this life. Like all growth, which is change, it is hard and scary.

Alma 61:1-13

Alma 60:23-36

Mormon starts talking about the sin of doing nothing in the face of suffering and wrong, and says we must repent and be up and doing. Anxiously engaged, I guess. It is hard to know how and when, when there is so much suffering all around. Sometimes I avoid problems because I don’t know how to begin to deal with them. I went to Sacrament meeting in Fernando’s ward yesterday, and one of the speakers talked about becoming a Zion people partially means there are no poor among us. Sometimes, helping people seems so overwhelming because there seems to be no end. It isn’t a task to accomplish and finish sometimes, sometimes it is ongoing needed help into forever. For my task oriented mind that is so difficult and stressful to even think about, let alone do. But as I heard him talking about it I realized that the justification I tell myself about not helping people who aren’t trying, or won’t help themselves, are really that, just prideful justifications. I suppose, like everything, it comes back to being spiritually in-tune and knowing which things are your things to do, because no one can do everything. But I do love his call to “begin to be up and doing.”

Moroni’s threatening letter also reminds me of another truth I have been trying to learn for several years. I feel like I have to know the perfect answer and do the perfect thing before becoming involved or trying. But here, he knew what his goal was, and he was trying to accomplish it imperfectly, and he was totally wrong. But he was in there trying. I don’t have to be afraid of being wrong. That is a hard lesson for me to learn deep inside where decision making happens.

I also love that Moroni was not afraid of power or opinion of others in following what he knew God wanted him to do. He knew that he had been commanded on this fight the Lamenites course of action, so he was all in. I do no often have that sense of surety of purpose, but when I do I need to have that kind of courageous faith.

Moroni’s letter also shows the folly of judging other people’s intentions. He assigns meaning and value to situations and other people’s actions that are completely wrong. We all do this. It is good to remember when I am getting angry.

It also shows how we can misinterpret revelation. Moroni felt God tell him that he did not want his army to starve. He may have even felt like it was revelation that he would have to fight for that food. But how he tried to apply that revelation was not accurate. However, God is so great that he took Moroni’s trying and made it work how it needed to. Even though Moroni misunderstood and was completely wrong, he was doing the best he could to follow revelation and the will of the Lord, and the Lord used his grace to magnify those efforts. Another reason never to make choices based on fear, even fear of being wrong. No FEAR!

Alma 60:23-36