Alma 60 - Will Ye Sit in Idleness?

In addition to what I wrote recently about Alma 60's lesson about not taking offense, another thought came to me recently about how I can apply this chapter to myself. While reading, I asked myself, "Why did Mormon choose to include this chapter? Despite his good intentions, Moroni was misguided and his accusations toward Pahoran weren't even legitimate. So why even keep the letter here?" I've read through the chapter probably dozens of times over the years, and only a few days ago did it finally hit me: Moroni may have been wrong about how Pahoran was handling the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites, but he was right about how you and I might be handling the spiritual war that's going on around us right now.

Next time you read Alma 60, replace all references to physical death with spiritual death, and then put yourself in Pahoran's shoes as the one being interrogated. If you're like me, that will probably send you on quite a spiritual guilt trip, but I've noticed that as long as you have the Holy Ghost as your companion, the guilt isn't overwhelming; it simply nudges you into action. So, here are some of the words of Moroni applied to us in our day. Brace yourself...

 5 Behold, great has been the [spiritual] slaughter among [this] people; yea, thousands have fallen [because of the trials and temptations of this world], while it might have otherwise been if ye had rendered unto [them] sufficient strength and succor. Yea, great has been your neglect towards us.

 6 And now behold, we desire to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state.

 7 Can you think to sit upon your [couches] in a state of thoughtless stupor, while [the devil and his servants] are spreading the work of [spiritual] death around you? Yea, while they are [spiritually] murdering thousands of your brethren—

 8 Yea, even they who have looked up to you for protection, yea, [and God has] placed you in a situation that ye might have succored them, yea, ye might have sent [help] unto them, to have strengthened them, and have saved thousands of them from falling [further from God.]

 11 Behold, could ye suppose that ye could sit upon your [couches]*, and because of the exceeding goodness of God ye could do nothing and he [the Deliverer] would deliver you? Behold, if ye have supposed this ye have supposed in vain.

*Sorry, couldn't come up with a better replacement for thrones!

 19 Or is it that ye have neglected us because ye are [caught up in the middle of your own comfortable lives] and ye are surrounded by security, that ye do not cause [spiritual nourishment] to be sent unto us, and also [your service] to strengthen [us]?

 20 Have ye forgotten the commandments of the Lord your God? Yea, have ye forgotten the [spiritual] captivity of [your past]? Have ye forgotten the many times [you] have been delivered out of [sin and sorrow through the power of the Atonement]?

 21 Or do ye suppose that the Lord will still deliver [you], while [you] sit upon [your couches] and do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for [you]?

 22 Yea, will ye sit in idleness while ye are surrounded with thousands of those, yea, and tens of thousands, who do also sit in idleness, while there are thousands round about [in your wards and neighborhoods and families] who are falling [from God], yea, [spiritually] wounded and bleeding?

 23 Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.

I'll stop there at Moroni's invitation: for each of us to "clean our inward vessel." For us to get up and get to work, first on ourselves and then on the rest of the world. When I looked at Alma 60 from this point of view, several questions came to mind, a kind of personal self-inventory:

• How often do I think about others in the world (thousands round about) who are struggling spiritually and physically?
• Am I content to just sit back and focus on my own spiritual and physical well-being?
• Do I assume that there are others who ought to be helping instead of me?
• Have I forgotten the miraculous role of the Atonement in my life, and therefore, what that Atonement could mean for others?
• What are the means which the Lord has provided for me to make use of in serving and lifting those around me?
• What can I do to fight the evil in the world and serve God's children?

The answers to those questions will be different for everyone, but I encourage you to think about them. Think about what you can do in your sphere of influence to bless the lives of those around you instead of sitting in idleness while this war takes its toll. Each of us can be an instrument in the hands of God to "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees" (D&C 81:5), and He (like Moroni) expects us to do so.

Alma 60-61 - Not Taking Offense

There are two important lessons I've learned from Alma 60 and 61. The lesson I'll write about in this post is the idea of not taking offense. To quickly summarize the story and lesson, here are the words of Elder Bednar from his talk, "And Nothing Shall Offend Them":

During a perilous period of war, an exchange of letters occurred between Moroni, the captain of the Nephite armies, and Pahoran, the chief judge and governor of the land. Moroni, whose army was suffering because of inadequate support from the government, wrote to Pahoran “by the way of condemnation” (Alma 60:2) and harshly accused him of thoughtlessness, slothfulness, and neglect. Pahoran might easily have resented Moroni and his message, but he chose not to take offense. Pahoran responded compassionately and described a rebellion against the government about which Moroni was not aware. And then he responded, “Behold, I say unto you, Moroni, that I do not joy in your great afflictions, yea, it grieves my soul. … And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart” (Alma 61:2, 9).

One of the greatest indicators of our own spiritual maturity is revealed in how we respond to the weaknesses, the inexperience, and the potentially offensive actions of others. A thing, an event, or an expression may be offensive, but you and I can choose not to be offended—and to say with Pahoran, “it mattereth not.”

The thing I love about Pahoran is his ability to put the words of Moroni through a kind of "intention filter." Instead of focusing on what Moroni actually said, which included terms like "thoughtless stupor" and a threat to come after him and smite him with the sword, Pahoran focused on what Moroni meant. This is evident in Alma 61:9 and Alma 61:19-20 when he says, "I rejoice in the greatness of your heart" and "I do joy in receiving your epistle, for I was somewhat worried concerning what we should do." Yes, Moroni threw accusations and condemnation at Pahoran, but he was motivated by love, righteousness, and a deep concern for the welfare of his people, and that is what Pahoran chose to focus on and even learn from. He also took into account the fact that Moroni's response was due to his lack of information, and so instead of giving an emotional response ("How dare you criticize me when I'm not even at fault here?!"), Pahoran chose to simply and calmly make Moroni aware of the troubling situation he was in.

How often in our relationships (especially within our families) do we run across similar situations? Are we or others sometimes motivated by good intentions but express it imperfectly, leading to offense? Next time your spouse or friend or family member says or does something that offends you, take a moment to ask yourself, "Alright, that's what they said (or did), but what did they mean?" (In other words, take everything and sift it through the intention filter.) More often than not, you'll notice that deep down, motivations are usually good; we don't usually want to hurt or offend others. And then, like Pahoran, we can react to their positive intentions rather than their negative actions, and we can also calmly share our point of view, information that they (like Moroni) may have been completely unaware of. Perhaps the trick is not just to communicate in order to understand one another, but to over-communicate in order to not misunderstand each other.

It takes a lot of personal awareness and emotional self-control to not be offended by the mistakes and imperfect behavior of others, and it's certainly not something I'm perfect at, but I'm confident that by following Pahoran's example and choosing not to take offense, we will find much greater happiness in our personal and family lives.

Alma 56 - The Sabbath and Family History

Some random spiritual thoughts I had when reading Alma 56:

1) Alma 56:8 (about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies) - "But I would not suffer them that they should break this covenant which they had made, supposing that God would strengthen us, insomuch that we should not suffer more because of the fulfilling the oath which they had taken."

When I read this, I thought about Sabbath day observance, and how sometimes we're tempted to work or get important temporal things done because we're afraid of what will happen if we don't. But like this verse indicates, we would be better to not break this commandment (a covenant really), and if we keep the Sabbath day holy, we can suppose that God will strengthen us and that we ultimately will not suffer because of our choice to give that time to God.

2) Alma 56:47 (about the stripling warriors) - "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives."

When I read this verse, I thought about temple work for our ancestors. We can follow the example of these righteous young men if we think more about the spiritual liberty of our ancestors that have gone beyond the veil and are waiting for sacred ordinances to free them from spiritual death, rather than simply thinking about our own lives and all of the many, many things we need to get done. Whether it's actually attending the temple, doing genealogy, indexing, or anything else related to temple work, we should make time in our lives to do it. Also, the stripling warriors' fathers were unable to fight for themselves, just like our deceased ancestors are helpless to receive gospel ordinances on their own. The responsibility, then, lies upon us.

And all that from a war chapter!