Here King Mosiah teaches his sons about the sacred record on
the brass plates:
And he also taught them concerning
the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I
would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain
these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even
at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God. (Mosiah 1:3)
That bit about how we must have suffered in ignorance struck
me recently. It made me think about how I’ve made so many good choices in my
life because of what I’ve learned from the scriptures. I’ve been able to resist
many temptations and keep out of trouble because of what I’ve learned from the
scriptures. If I hadn’t had the scriptures or the influence of the church in my
life I really would have suffered so
much because of all the mistakes I would have made in ignorance. There have
been many pivot points when a scriptural principle I’ve learned has come back
to me, and acting on instead of giving in to temptation or taking a lower way
has brought blessings and safety to me.
I can’t deny I’ve also had some suffering arise out of
following good scriptural principles, but it has been sanctified suffering, and
knowing from the scriptures that I was right helped me persevere.
One major way we would suffer in ignorance from not knowing
the mysteries of God is suffering the load of accumulated guilt for sin.
Because no matter how the world will try to deny it, guilt is there. It piles
up and you can’t get out from it without Christ and without repenting. The
scriptures tell us about how we can escape guilt and sin and lay hold on
salvation through Christ.
What a mystery of God repentance and faith is! That a God
would become man and suffer for everyone’s sins to give us a chance to repent!
That our belief in this God and efforts to change and prayers for forgiveness
are efficacious! To a tangibly focused, material-evidence-oriented mind that
would seem beyond belief. But it’s
real!
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