Book of Mormon Lesson
# 34 Helaman 6–12
How Could You Have Forgotten Your God?
Introduction
Last week we saw the devastating effect internal division
and strife can have on a nation, but it can also have the same effect on much
smaller units like a community or a family. This week we are reading about what
we perhaps dismissively call the Nephite Pride Cycle: Righteousness and
Prosperity èPride and
WickednessèDestruction
and SufferingèHumility
and Repentance. Three things came to mind as I was pondering how to escape this
cycle and stay on a straight path leading alongside humility and repentance.
Firstly, constantly in my mind is President Monson’s injunction or maybe plea
for us to choose the harder right over the easier wrong. Along with that goes
our discussion two weeks ago on how keeping covenants enables us to have the
Spirit with us which leads us to Christ.
I exercise with a couple of friends my age a few times a
week. On Thursdays we have the tradition of walking against the lazy river in
the Provo rec center. I remember years ago, again I think it was President
Monson, telling us that we had to stand against the mainstream. Walking against
the lazy river, especially on the outer rim is difficult, but it is worth it in
terms of benefits to our physical well-being. Choosing the harder
right—struggling against the world, is difficult but worth it in terms of
benefits to our spiritual well-being.
Provo’s mayor, John Curtis, published an open letter to the
citizens of Provo bemoaning the angry, hurtful, and even vicious rhetoric that
has entered into civic dialogue of late. Especially notable is that taking the
lead from the vituperative social media blasts from the top as it were, such
attacks have filtered down to a city that should be known for its civility.
Such is indicative to my mind, of the progression from pride to wickedness to
destruction. And therefore the title of this week’s lesson is very apt.
Finally, this month’s Ensign
has a very thought-provoking article on the effect media has on our thoughts,
feelings, and actions. You can find that here:
https://www.lds.org/ensign/resources/updating-media-to-your-advantage?lang=eng.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/resources/updating-media-to-your-advantage?lang=eng.
So reading this week’s chapters from Helaman, what can we
learn that applies directly to our own lives?
1. The people are righteous and
are blessed with peace and prosperity. Helaman 6:1–14
In a reversal of the norm, for a time, the Lamanites are
more righteous than the Nephites. Michael T. Ringwood gives us some insights on
this:
As I pondered what
caused this mighty change in the hearts of these Lamanites, I came to realize
this easiness and willingness to believe in the word of God comes from a
softness of heart. It comes from having a heart that is sensitive to the Holy
Ghost. It comes from having a heart that can love. It comes from having a heart
that will make and keep sacred covenants. It comes from a soft heart that can
feel the power of the Atonement of Christ.[1]
To the credit of the Nephites and their softened hearts, and
together with Nephi and his brother Lehi, the Lamanites and their preaching the
gospel were well accepted among the Nephites. Such peace and harmony had not
been enjoyed possibly since Lehi and his extended family reached the promised
land. But it was shortlived.
2. The Nephites become proud and
wicked. Nephi calls them to repentance. Helaman
6:15–10:1.
The Institute Manual has a lesson for us here:
President
Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency taught that worldliness is an
obstacle to inspiration and spirituality: “God is forgotten out of vanity. A
little prosperity and peace, or even a turn slightly for the better, can bring
us feelings of self-sufficiency. We can feel quickly that we are in control of
our lives, that the change for the better is our own doing, not that of a God
who communicates to us through the still, small voice of the Spirit. Pride
creates a noise within us which makes the quiet voice of the Spirit hard to
hear. And soon, in our vanity, we no longer even listen for it. We can come
quickly to think we don’t need it” (Ensign,
Nov. 2001, 16).
Regarding pride, most of you were not born when President
Benson gave his landmark talk on pride as he opened the 1989 April Conference.
Here is an excerpt:
The proud make
every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth,
talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of
C. S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of
having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you
proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition
has gone, pride has gone.” (Mere
Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.) . . . When pride has
a hold on our hearts, we lose our independence of the world and deliver our
freedoms to the bondage of men’s judgment. The world shouts louder than the
whisperings of the Holy Ghost. The reasoning of men overrides the revelations
of God, and the proud let go of the iron rod.[2]
Can we relate to this today? Perhaps more than when Pres.
Benson first delivered this oration. And now the Gadiantons rise again. And we
learn about secret combinations. It took me a long time to realize that in this
sense, combination has nothing to do
with locks—well maybe, but more to do with combining together in wickedness
against righteousness. Against God. I love the “and thus we see” verses in the
Book of Mormon and chapter 6 concludes with several. And the gulf between the
righteous Lamanites and the wicked Nephites widens. To the extent that Nephi,
like his ancient ancestor on the mountain in Bountiful, gets up on his tower,
having had little success among the Nephites in the north and finding this
woeful state of wickedness in Zarahemla.
Nephi’s eloquent preaching to the Nephites has an effect on
some, but not many. Nephi’s exposure of the murder of the chief judge by his
brother Seantum is memorable, but what does it teach us? Was anyone converted
as a result of this manifestation of seership? I think that it was a lesson to
the Gadiantons that there are no secrets from God. Secret combinations might
succeed in the short-term but will not endure.
3. The Lord gives Nephi the
sealing power. The unrepentant Nephites face warfare and famine. Helaman
10:2–19; 11:1–6.
The Lord has blessed us with many unfathomable gifts, not
least of which is the power to seal. Joseph Fielding Smith explains:
The Lord conferred
authority on some of his chosen servants and gave them exceptional powers. … In
this manner Elijah obtained the keys of power in the priesthood to raise the
dead, heal the sick, close the heavens that it did not rain only by his word,
and for more than three years there was no rain, and moreover he had the power
to call down fire from heaven to destroy the enemies of the Church. … The
Lord gave similar authority to Nephi, son of Helaman, who likewise had
authority to close the heavens and perform other mighty works, simply by his
faith and the commandment from the Lord [see Helaman 10:7].
This wonderful power has been bestowed on but a few of the servants of the Lord
(Answers to Gospel Questions, comp.
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 5 vols. [1957–66], 4:95).
The Lord trusted Nephi enough to bestow this power on him.
Is it possible that the Lord trust us enough to bless us with things we are not
currently asking for? Remember what Pres. Uchtdorf said,
Think of what a
glorious thing it is to reach beyond our earthly limitations, to have the eyes
of our understanding opened and receive light and knowledge from celestial
sources! It is our privilege and opportunity . . . to seek personal revelation
and to learn how to know the truth for ourselves through the sure witness of
the Holy Spirit. . . As we do these things, we will begin to live up to our
potential and privileges . . . , and we will be able to “do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth [us].”[3]
Because the heavens were sealed, the resulting famine
brought the Nephites to their knees, finally, in humility and repentance. For a
short period of time! Chapters 11 and 12 show a rapid progression through the
cycle. How do we break the cycle and overcome our pride? Here is Elder
Christofferson:
Let me tell you
what you can do to be converted. As a first step, you must lay aside any
feeling of pride that is so common in the world today. By this I mean the
attitude that rejects the authority of God to rule in our lives. This attitude
was described by the Lord to Joseph Smith when He said, “They seek not the Lord
to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after
the image of his own god.” You hear it expressed today in phrases such as “Do
your own thing” or “Right and wrong depend on what I feel is right for me.” That
attitude is a rebellion against God, just as Lucifer rebelled against God in
the premortal world. He rejected God’s right to declare the truth and establish
the law. Satan wanted, and still wants, the power to declare arbitrarily what
is right and wrong. Our beloved Creator does not force us to accept His
authority, but willingly submitting to that authority is the first step in
conversion.[4]
And finally a quote from Pres. Hinckley, “Seek for the real
things, not the artificial. Seek for the everlasting truths, not the passing
whim. Seek for the eternal things of God, not for that which is here today and
gone tomorrow. Look to God and live” (Teachings
of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 494).
Videos:
Nephi prophesies of the death of the
Chief Judge
The Cure for Forgetting God
No comments:
Post a Comment