As I thought about how to share my thoughts with you I
kept coming back to a blog with a short text from it so you can choose how much
you want. Read just the text, read a portion of the blog or all of it, it’s
your choice. I hope you are finding time to study on your own and with your
family. There is such peace in the scriptures, in the spirit that accompanies
them and the words themselves, the stories of the past where there was trouble
and the Lord was there for His people.
I already had a blog set up that I’ve never really
used so I’m going to just use this space as hopefully this is a temporary
thing. As always, please share your thoughts here or in our group text, we really
do love to hear from you.
Last week and this week are the story of Zeniff’s
people. This is where I start to get my stories mixed up. Anybody with me? Here
we have King Noah and Abinadi and Alma, but wait, I thought Alma was with
Mosiah wasn’t he? Yep, you are right, but how does he get there? Mosiah
contains the records of 2 other people (all Nephites but in different areas)
that were all happening at the same time. There are a lot of timelines and maps
available but in my short search I didn’t find the setup I really wanted. So, I
created my own. Sometimes there is so much great doctrine mixed in to the
stories we lose track of the story by the time we get back to it and sometimes
as we study doctrine found in the Book of Mormon we jump around in the stories
and that can make it a little confusing, so hopefully this clarifies things.
Once you have the story straight you can get lost in the wonderful doctrine and
know where you are in the story.
Now on to the doctrine!
One thing to think about as you read the story of Noah
and Abinadi, who are the Noah’s and Abinadi’s in your life? Who is influencing
you to do wickedly and who is encouraging repentance and righteousness? And
who are you going to listen to?
Another thing that I hadn’t realized is, this people
hadn’t been wicked for generations as we might assume from how wicked they
sound at the time of Noah, they were a righteous people not long ago. Zeniff,
King Noah’s father, was a righteous king. When King Noah took over and replaced
the righteous priests with his buddies that were, “lifted up in the pride of
their hearts.” (Mosiah 11:5) and “did speak flattering things unto them.”
(Mosiah 11:7) the people listened to them and “became idolatrous, because they
were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests” (Mosiah
11:7)
How much those around us can change us and how important is it to
surround ourselves with people who respect our values and choices rather than
ridicule our beliefs and try to push us to disobey the Lord. Are there those in
your life that “speak flattering things” to try and get you to disobey? “It
doesn’t really matter what you do,” “Your parents just want to control you,” “It’s
more fun to….” Have you heard any of these? Have you listened? Sometimes we do
listen, we think it does sound fun. Like Alma we can always choose to listen
again to the Abinadi’s in our life. The last chapter in this study section we
learn, “But there was one among them whose name was Alma, he also being a
descendant of Nephi. And he was a young man, and he believed the words which
Abinadi had testified against them; therefore he began to plead with the King
that he would not be angry with Abinadi, but suffer that he might depart.”
Another part of this story that I love to pull
examples from for my life is when Limhi’s people try to find Zarahemla again.
They came from Zarahemla 2 generations ago, but it must have been very hard to travel
this area because people were always getting lost and finding other lands. So
King Limhi sends 43 people out to find Zarahemla that they, “might appeal unto
our brethren to deliver us out of bondage.” They wander in the wilderness for
many days and hard as they might try they never find it. Instead they find a
land, “covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with
ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been
peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel.” There they
also found a record of those people and brought it back with them. We learn
later this was the land of the Jaredites and their record is included in the Book
of Mormon as the Book of Ether, named for the last Jaredite prophet, abridged
by Moroni.
In The Book of Mormon Study Guide general
editor Thomas R. Valletta it says of this story, “It is quite probable that
those forty-three men returned to King Limhi thinking they had failed because
they had not accomplished their intended mission, which was finding Zarahemla.
It is also quite possible, however, that the Lord had a very different mission
in mind, finding the Jaredite record, and in that they were very successful.
Have there been times in your life when, despite your best efforts, everything seemed
to go wrong? Is it possible that the Lord had a different direction in mind for
you, or other lessons He wanted you to learn, that would bless your life or the
lives of others more than what you had in mind would do?” (344)
To that I would like to add. Their goal was not lost
in the Lord. He knew Ammon was coming.
Now my favorite point of the gospel, the changing of
hearts!
Mosiah 13:11 “And now I read unto you the remainder of
the commandments of God, for I perceive that they are not written in your
hearts;”
Mosiah 13:27 “And now ye have said that salvation
cometh by the law of Moses. I say unto you that it is expedient that ye should
keep the law of Moses as yet; but I say unto you, that the time shall come when
it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses.”
Mosiah 13:28 “And moreover, I say unto you, that
salvation doth come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement, which
God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they
must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses.”
Mosiah 13:32 “And now, did they understand the law? I
say unto you, Nay, they did not understand the law; and this because of the
hardness of their hearts; for they understood not that there could not any man
be saved except it were through the redemption of God.”
“The ordinances and performances were teaching
instruments of the law” and “It was to help them to get a handle on their lives
so they could begin to focus on the basic fundamentals that would lead them to
Christ.” (Brandt, “The Law of Moses and the Law of Christ,” 136).
Are the commandments “written in your hearts?” Are you
following the law but not understanding the purpose of the law? Are you
allowing your actions in following the law to change your heart? Is your focus
on the things that will lead you to Christ?
One more quick point, because this confused me.
Mosiah 15 Those first few verses sound a lot like the
trinity don’t they? But we know Heavenly Father and Jesus are separate, so what’s
this talking about?
My Book of Mormon Study Guide says, “Which
member of the Godhead was Abinadi referencing? (15:1) Jesus Christ was the God
of the Old Testament and was known as Jehovah. When Abinadi taught that ‘God
himself shall come down among the children of men,’ he was referring to Jehovah
and His mortal ministry (see 1 Nephi 11:16-33, 19:10).
“What does it mean that the Savior subjected the flesh
to the will of the Father? (15:2) This phrase means that ‘the will of the Son
was swallowed up in the will of the Father. That is, the flesh became subject
to the Spirit, the mortal subject to the immortal. ‘I seek not mine own will,’
Jesus explained, ‘but the will of the Father which hath sent me’ (John 5:30). Further,
‘I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me’ (John 6:38)…. Jesus did what Elohim would have him to do: he carried
out to the full extent the terms and conditions of the plan of the Father’
(McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary, 2:229-30)” (370)
That clears things up, no wonder people are so
confused. I’m so grateful for the restored gospel and a living prophet along
with the spirit so we do not have to rely on our own understanding.
