Planting Standards
We're all familiar with the story of the title of liberty:And it came to pass also, that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites. -- Alma 46:36The other night when I read this verse, I was impressed by the phrase "planted the standard." Obviously, the word "standard" in this verse means "flag." But it made me think about the meaning of the word "standard" that we use more frequently in the modern day and in the Church especially-- a guideline of morality. A principle of conduct that leads to a happier life. The next thought that came to me is, "How are we planting standards" around us?
Pre-revelatory Interviews
Alma is about to mysteriously disappear off the face of the earth, leaving the struggling Nephite Christian Church in the hands of his son Helaman. Before he transfers ownership of the scriptural records to Helaman, he holds a bit of an interview with him, grilling him a bit about his beliefs
Liberty which binds us
Yet another post about the battle of Captain Moroni v. Zerahemnah and friends. I can't seem to get out of these two chapters. I'm beginning to think I should have called this blog "Power in Alma 44." Anyways, here's the verse that caught my attention:And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us -- Alma 44:5
Finding the Atonement in a war chapter
I know most readers usually breeze through the war chapters, but there is a lot we can learn from them. For example, just the other day I found some really powerful lessons on the Atonement in Alma 44-- the second chapter of Moroni's battle with Zerahemnah and the Lamanites. First, let's recap what's going on:
To which we owe all our happiness
In a previous post, I talk about how one's word was paramount to the Nephites, using the battle of Moroni v Zerahemnah in Alma 44 as an example. This post also covers a lesson I've picked up from that battle.
The weight of a word
And it came to pass that Moroni caused that the work of death should cease again among the people. And he took the weapons of war from the Lamanites; and after they had entered into a covenant with him of peace they were suffered to depart into the wilderness. -- Alma 44:20Let's play pretend and put ourselves in the Nephites' shoes and "liken" it unto us. Suppose that an army of our nation's enemies invaded us. ISIS has entered US soil and started butchering our citizens. Even though we were greatly outnumbered (43:21), our armies relied on the strength of the Lord and somehow prevailed. Here is our chance to wipe out an enormous army bent on our annihilation. At the peak of our victory, when the enemy is down, our captain stops the fighting to offer them a chance to basically promise that they won't fight again and they can get away for free. When I read this, I am struck by the fact that promises are a really big deal to the Nephites. Captain Moroni is willing to let an entire army of bloodthirsty enemies who attacked them leave on nothing but their word.
Welcome to Power in the Book
The Book of Mormon is a big deal. I mean, look at what the Prophets and Apostles say about it:The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man [will] get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.-- Joseph SmithTake away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none.-- Joseph SmithOne cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work—and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times—until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon.-- Jeffrey R HollandThere is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. -- Pres. Ezra Taft Benson That last one—that's why I'm starting this blog. Each time I read the Book of Mormon, it gets better and better. After a few times through, you become familiar with the story, so you start to feel like you know the writers. At each juncture in the history, you know what's coming next, so you see it all in context. It's once you're familiar with it that the verses come alive in a way you never imagined possible. In addition to getting better and better, the reading also gets slower and slower. Our stake president set a goal for all of us to read the Book of Mormon as a stake in 2016, but I didn't even make it to Helaman. Why? Because there's just so much! I kept getting stuck highlighting and cross-referencing, getting excited about new discoveries in every other verse. A lot of chapters in my Gospel Library app have started looking like this:My Sunday School teachers warned me this would happen. They tried to tell me that serious reading would turn me into a Book of Mormon nerd. But I figured they were talking about people like my English teachers. People whose superpower is interpreting a whole lot of poignant meaning into really boring old literature. The ones who tell you that when the author made such-and-such a character disabled, it was actually a biting critique of the Gilded Age. As if the author couldn't just come out and say "This Gilded Age kinda stinks." But that's what's great about the Book of Mormon. It's nothing like high school lit classes. You don't have to strain and squint your eyes, looking for hidden meanings like you have to do for, say, Hemingway. In the Book of Mormon, it's all there right in front of you. Once I became familiar with the Book of Mormon, my reading changed. When I read one verse, other verses would start popping into my head—verses I had never thought of as being related until that moment. Half the time those verses would be linked already for me in the footnotes of the page, and I'd wonder why I never looked there before. The other half of the time, there wouldn't be any footnotes at all. And I'd wonder why they weren't there already. That's why I started this blog: to share my thoughts and insights as I continue to stumble across the Book of Mormon—the ones that aren't already in the footnotes at the bottom of the page. I doubt I'll post very frequently. I doubt any of my commentary will be terribly profound. But maybe someone can benefit from it. Also, because my wife is starting to get tired of me keeping her up until midnight excitedly flipping through Nephite history, I need a new nerd outlet. :) Enjoy!