Now Ammon said unto him: I can
assuredly tell thee, O king [Limhi], of a man that can translate the records;
for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of
ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters,
and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for
that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in
them, the same is called seer. (Mosiah 8:13)
The context for this verse is Ammon telling King Limhi that
there is a seer who can translate the gold plates that were found. It is neat to think that we have
prophets, seers, and revelators leading our church today, but I think there are
principles here that can apply in our
lives, particularly concerning our individual internet use and safety.
Note the danger that Ammon highlights—“lest he should look
for that he ought not and he should perish”. We don’t know how a seer might perish from wrong use of the
Urim & Thummim, but the same danger certainly applies for internet
use. There is the danger of looking
at things we ought not, as well as spending so much time looking at less
consequential things that one fritters away their life.
The principle implied for wise use of the Urim & Thummim
is to be purposeful about use, according to commandment. It doesn’t specify
whether it is God’s commandment or man’s commandment, but you get the idea that
since it is a gift from God, you would use it according to God’s commandment. I
think the same is true for use of the internet.
The situations seem a bit different in the frequency of use.
The Urim & Thummim seems like something that would be used rarely (except
we don’t have record of all the times it was used), whereas the internet is so
embedded in our society now. Still, the principle of purposeful use according
to God’s commandment (or following God’s commandments) is useful for keeping us
out of trouble when we use the internet today.
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