13:6
How complicated is Christ’s example? It is actually very simple. At its core, it is two key principles: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance. These two principles will allow us to progress eternally and eventually inherit all that God has. These two principles lead to the other principles and ordinances of the gospel. It will also prevent us from destruction. Samuel the Lamanite taught the Nephites this principle. “Yea, heavy destruction awaiteth this people, and it surely cometh unto this people, and nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, who surely shall come into the world, and shall suffer many things and shall be slain for his people.” Samuel is talking to all of us. We must continue to exercise our faith and repent. Our faith and repentance leads to making covenants. We must truly and fully receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. This is the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
13:17
Can punishments be blessings? Of course. “And behold, a curse shall come upon the land, saith the Lord of Hosts, because of the people’s sake who are upon the land, yea, because of their wickedness and their abominations.” The “cursing” that was given to Adam and Eve for partaking of the fruit were ultimately for their sake. In Genesis, we read, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; In toil thou shall eat of it All the days of thy life.” Their cursing was for their sake.
When a child misbehaves, is a punishment mercy? In a very real way, yes. You are attempting to train and mold them into a good person. That is the merciful thing to do as a parent. Our parent is also merciful and part of his mercy is enacting cursings or punishment to train and mold us.
If we received blessings for wickedness, we wouldn’t become who we are destined to be.
13:22
“Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.” How many of us are this way? How many of us think about things money-related more than we do our God and Jesus Christ and their plan?
If we ask ourselves, “Hey Eric, do you worship money?” - what would my answer be? Of course it would be NO! But, if someone was watching my behavior all week, what would be the answer? Would it be obvious that I am worshipping God? I’d like to think so - but it’s challenging because we spend so much of our time during the week earning money. It’s easy to be distracted and twist our priorities around.
13:25-26
“And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out. Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.” We read this story about how Samuel is teaching that the Nephites are just as wicked as the people they proclaim to NOT be like. “Of course we wouldn’t persecute and murder the prophets.” They just didn’t look at themselves that way. It was probably hard to hear that Samuel said that they were worse than the wicked people of old.
Of course, we read this and think “How clueless are those Nephites.” But, could it be that we are worse than they are? It may not be you who is reading this but this nation is starting to persecute anyone who is speaking the truth. If you say that you believe marriage should only be between a man and a woman or that men shouldn’t be allowed to use girls’ bathrooms, you are considered a bigot.
Pay attention folks, this type of persecution is going to become stronger. If we keep the standards of the church, there will be those who will “seek all manner of ways to destroy” us.
13:27-28; 14:10; 15:3
There is a type of preacher who is becoming more popular. He or she becomes very popular if he makes people feel completely comfortable with who they are right now. “But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet. Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him.”
I’ve listened to the very popular Joel Osteen teach. He says things that are very close to this. His message could be considered the gospel of “nice.” He takes principles that are true and mixes it up with his own wisdom. For example, “God loves you exactly how you are.” Of course this is true! God loves all of us! However, God does not love our disobedience. He wants us to progress. He is not content with the person we currently are but is doing everything possible to make us the person we can become. So, yes, God loves us but he desperately wants us to repent. He is not happy with the sin we are doing - just like any parent would.
Preachers like Joel are taking this principle of unconditional love and twisting it to help people feel very comfortable of the sin they are in. As a result, these preachers get contributions to the point that Joel and others like him have multiple homes and private jets and luxury cars. It’s amazing how similar our day is in comparison to the time of the Nephites.
People respond in an opposite way to criticism. Samuel later says, “And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have cast me out from among you.” People hate to be criticized. It can make them feel bad which they don’t like. None of us like to feel bad about ourselves. It’s human nature to want compliments above criticisms.
If we had a coach who was helping us prepare for the Olympics, we would want correction. If he let us eat candy all day and not do any training, he wouldn’t be much of a coach. We would want a coach who corrects our mistakes and shows us what to do and gives us encouragement and love along the way. “Yea, the people of Nephi hath he loved, and also hath he chastened them; yea, in the days of their iniquities hath he chastened them because he loveth them.” A good God and a good church leader will offer chastening when we need it.
13:38
“But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head.” Samuel is speaking about the destruction of their nation. He is also teaching a point about the entire plan of salvation.
The principles of this life being a “probation” and that “now” is the time to repent and that none of us should procrastinate the day of our repentance. Why can’t we all just repent in the next life and get on with it?
I believe it is MUCH harder to truly repent and progress in the next life. Let me attempt to explain why. First, consider how many opportunities there are to struggle and make bad choices here in mortality. I can, today, commit most of the sins warned against in the scriptures. The very fact that I have the opportunity to sin and I don’t take that opportunity is a wellspring of growth. By avoiding sin, I am shaping my will God’s. This process of submitting to God’s will strengthens me and proves me. I am progressing spiritually.
Now, imagine if most of those temptations are suddenly unavailable to me. Let’s say I’m placed in a room where I cannot do almost any of the sins that were available to me in mortality. I can’t fornicate or steal or deceive or murder or anything. It’s just me and my thoughts. In that situation, I cannot sin if I wanted to.
The question is: how much am I progressing because I am not able to make bad choices? How much am I able to shape my will to God’s? Without the opportunity for temptation, how am I being tested or proved? How can I genuinely repent when I can’t do the sin anyway? How is my character strengthened in that situation?
I don’t think my character is growing in any way. It’s just like a criminal being locked up in prison. Sure, he isn’t committing crime but it’s because he doesn’t have the opportunity. He isn’t progressing through resisting the temptations that surround him. It could be, the moment he’s released, that he goes right back to doing what he was doing before.
The point is that absence of temptation is not a very good arena for spiritual progression.
So, all of us are in a state of probation. We must not procrastinate our repentance. If we wait until the next life, we might find that conditions aren’t suited for spiritual progression. Melvin J. Ballard said the following:
"It is my judgment that any man or woman can do more to conform to the laws of God in one year in this life than they could in ten years when they are dead. It is much easier to overcome and serve the Lord when both flesh and spirit are combined as one. This is the time when men are more pliable and susceptible. We will find when we are dead every desire, every feeling will be greatly intensified. When clay is pliable it is much easier to change than when it gets hard and sets. This life is the time to repent. That is why I presume it will take a thousand years after the first resurrection until the last group will be prepared to come forth. It will take them a thousand years to do what it would have taken but three score years and ten to accomplish in this life.I grant you that the righteous dead will be at peace, but I tell you that when we go out of this life, leave this body, we will desire to do many things that we cannot do at all without the body. We will be seriously handicapped, and we will long for the body, we will pray for that early reunion with our bodies. We will know then what advantage it is to have a body. Then, every man and woman who is putting off until the next life the task of correcting and overcoming the weakness of the flesh are sentencing themselves to years of bondage, for no man or woman will come forth in the resurrection until they have completed their work, until they have overcome, until they have done as much as they can do."
He said what I’m saying but much better. :)
14:29-30
We often think of judgment as an external event that will happen to us. It’s not. Our judgment will come from ourselves. That doesn’t mean that we will be in a position to grade ourselves at the end and that will be that. It’s more about what we want or choose or are able to do for eternity.
Imagine I say that someone organizes a race that is a 100 mile run through the mountains. Everyone that finishes will win a million dollars. We have six months to train. I’d say a majority of us wouldn’t make it. Now, does it take a judge at the finish line to determine who crosses the finish line? No. The people have judged themselves whether they finish or not. The judgment actually happened during the six months of preparation. Those who took it seriously and trained would be able to finish. Those who procrastinated their preparation until the night before the race likely won’t finish. The judgment happens through the many, daily decisions we all made whether to train or eat properly or go on practice runs. In fact, there would be a healthy percentage of people who don’t even start the race, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to complete the race anyway.
I think that the judgment will be similar. In that day, it will be about what we are willing or able to do. What will determine that will be every choice we’ve made up to that point. Samuel understood this. “And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a righteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation. And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.”
We are essentially judging ourselves every day through our choices. The judgment is a point in time where we will decide for ourselves what we are willing and able to do in eternity. The good news is that the work of eternity is filled with joy and glory.
15:6
“Yea, I say unto you, that the more part of them are doing this, and they are striving with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth; therefore there are many who do add to their numbers daily.” Most of us, because we have lives filled with raising children or earning a living, aren’t striving with unwearied diligence to spread the gospel. Having said that, I’m assuming that the Lamanites had the same pressures of work and family. Could it be that they spent much more of their free time spreading the gospel rather than in leisure? Yeah. They probably did. That’s probably what this scripture is saying. I could be more like them today!
15:7
The scriptures are often the avenue of people’s journeys to spirituality and righteousness. It was that way with the Lamanites. “And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth, and to know of the wicked and abominable traditions of their fathers, and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them.” The scriptures lead to faith which leads to repentance which leads to a change of heart. This has been the case for me. As I study more and more, my faith grows and my desire to repent increases. I see that this process is, over time, causing a change of heart.
Who can overestimate the power of the scriptures. We should all study them more.
16: 15-18, 21-22
In chapter 16, we read about how the unbelievers rationalize their way out of believing. First, they believe in themselves rather than a higher power. “Nevertheless, the people began to harden their hearts, all save it were the most believing part of them, both of the Nephites and also of the Lamanites, and began to depend upon their own strength and upon their own wisdom, saying: Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken. And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying: That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come; if so, and he be the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, as it has been spoken, why will he not show himself unto us as well as unto them who shall be at Jerusalem?” Many people are attempting to reason among themselves and rely more on their own intellect than in faith. They say that it isn’t reasonable that Joseph Smith saw an angel. They say it isn’t reasonable how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. The problem is that they are relying on their own brains. Whatever they can logically conclude must be truth. It’s almost as they believe that their minds are the source of truth.
Critics of the church will often state that the leaders have ulterior motives of pride, power and money. They believe that leaders are promoting the gospel as a way of controlling people. The Nephites thought the same thing. “And they will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them, all the days of our lives.”
Again, we cannot rely on ourselves to determine what is true. If everyone did that, there would be about 8 billion different gospels as ever individual decided for themselves what was true. “And many more things did the people imagine up in their hearts, which were foolish and vain; and they were much disturbed, for Satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumors and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good and against that which should come.”
It is much better to determine through prayer, study and recognizing the fruits of the church’s works - whether the church is true. If the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph Smith was a prophet. If he was a prophet then Russell M. Nelson is currently the Lord’s prophet. If he’s the prophet, then I don’t need to figure out the meaning behind every bit of counsel that he gives. I don’t have to rely on my own wisdom. Sure, I must pray for confirmation and understanding and not just be a robot - but I shouldn’t question every statement. I don’t want to be a sheep but I do want to be a follower of Christ. I believe that Christ uses prophets to communicate to the people. That’s God’s process. I am not critical and I don’t question motives of our leaders.
I do understand that they are imperfect men and women. I give them grace when it comes to making mistakes. I don’t expect them or any other past prophet to be perfect. Thank the Lord that that isn’t the expectation for any of us!
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