Thoughts on the varied Lamanite responses to prostrate individuals during Ammon’s mission

I was reading in the Book of Mormon about Ammon’s mission to the Lamanites and I got to the part where the king prayed and fell to the earth unconscious and Ammon prayed and fell unconscious with joy the servants prayed and fell unconscious and about how Abish went out to spread the news to everyone else about how the power of God was upon the king’s household.

17 Thus, having been converted to the Lord, and never having made it known, therefore, when she saw that all the servants of Lamoni had fallen to the earth, and also her mistress, the queen, and the king, and Ammon lay prostrate upon the earth, she knew that it was the power of God; and supposing that this opportunity, by making known unto the people what had happened among them, that by beholding this scene it would cause them to believe in the power of God, therefore she ran forth from house to house, making it known unto the people.

18 And they began to assemble themselves together unto the house of the king. And there came a multitude, and to their astonishment, they beheld the king, and the queen, and their servants prostrate upon the earth, and they all lay there as though they were dead; and they also saw Ammon, and behold, he was a Nephite. (Alma 19:17-18)

I thought it was very interesting to see the variety of responses from the Lamanite people and how they made meaning from it when they come in and see the Lamanite king, queen, and servants all lying around looking so dead, along with a Nephite. It think it shows that the Lamanites did not all believe the same thing, and sometimes they could be pretty critical of their own society.

The way they respond when they first get there, it almost seems as though they walk into the situation without any context whatever.  And yet the text says Abish went from house to house making known what had happened. Even though they were willing to go and observe, they didn’t see what Abish saw. Their first response was that it was a very bad thing that had happened. (This is rather humorous, because as readers we know it was a very good thing instead.)

19 And now the people began to murmur among themselves; some saying that it was a great evil that had come upon them, or upon the king and his house, because he had suffered that the Nephite should remain in the land.

Note the immediate prejudice. Blame the Nephite.

20 But others rebuked them, saying: The king hath brought this evil upon his house, because he slew his servants who had had their flocks scattered at the waters of Sebus.

Another group thinks the great evil—which I must assume refers to the prostrate, unconscious people—is because the king killed his servants who allowed the flocks to be scattered.  Very interesting—this segment is critical of the king’s justice and were ready to believe that whatever bad thing happened was deserved retribution.

Another interesting thing is that they all seem to see the mass unconsciousness as a bad thing.  Why would that be?  It is possible that it was their warlike culture of militarism that saw this mass of prostrate, inert people as great vulnerability.  (Just imagine how we might think if we heard that everyone in the capital building had inexplicably passed out from the power of God. We’d be concerned about their vulnerability too. “Anyone could sneak in there and mow them down and no one could stop them.”)

And then there’s the group angry at Ammon for the number of Lamanites he’d killed defending the king’s flocks, and the brother of their leader who was killed

21 And they were also rebuked by those men who had stood at the waters of Sebus and scattered the flocks which belonged to the king, for they were angry with Ammon because of the number which he had slain of their brethren at the waters of Sebus, while defending the flocks of the king.

22 Now, one of them, whose brother had been slain with the sword of Ammon, being exceedingly angry with Ammon, drew his sword and went forth that he might let it fall upon Ammon, to slay him; and as he lifted the sword to smite him, behold, he fell dead.

Angry brother decides to take advantage of Ammon’s defenselessness, but he’s struck dead right at the moment of lifting his sword to let it fall.

Up to this point, the Lamanites have been told that the power of God was responsible for what they saw, but they have not really seen it in action.  But when someone immediately dies for no apparent reason beyond his attempt to kill the Nephite, then all of a sudden they realize there is something supernatural going on, but they still have differences of opinion about what it all means.

Mormon (and the rest of us) know that it was a fulfillment of God’s promise to Mosiah that his sons would be spared, but the Lamanites don’t know that.  We’ve seen the story background, but if we didn’t know that, we might be just as puzzled as the Lamanites.

23 Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the Lord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah trusted him unto the Lord.

24 And it came to pass that when the multitude beheld that the man had fallen dead, who lifted the sword to slay Ammon, fear came upon them all, and they durst not put forth their hands to touch him or any of those who had fallen; and they began to marvel again among themselves what could be the cause of this great power, or what all these things could mean.

25 And it came to pass that there were many among them who said that Ammon was the Great Spirit, and others said he was sent by the Great Spirit;

26 But others rebuked them all, saying that he was a monster, who had been sent from the Nephites to torment them.

27 And there were some who said that Ammon was sent by the Great Spirit to afflict them because of their iniquities; and that it was the Great Spirit that had always attended the Nephites, who had ever delivered them out of their hands; and they said that it was this Great Spirit who had destroyed so many of their brethren, the Lamanites.

So the arguments begin again, and again there are all varieties of opinion.

There are the people who thinks Ammon is the Great Spirit based on the failure to kill him.  (If the king’s servants were conscious, they could have rebutted that one, since they heard Ammon disclaim godhood. Too bad they couldn’t.)

Another group thinks Ammon was sent by the Great Spirit. Perhaps he looked too manlike and they don’t understand why he would be so asleep and unaware if he were a god.

A third group thinks Ammon was sent by the Great Spirit as an instrument of affliction because of Lamanite wickedness and the Great Spirit had always saved the Nephites in the past and allowed the Lamanites to be destroyed.  It is interesting this group is so spiritually perceptive as to realize that the Lamanite defeats and Nephite victories came because the Great Spirit favored the Nephites. These people also are highly critical of Lamanite society and don’t think they are worthy of protection. But they still see Ammon as an instrument of punishment and not a means of divine mercy and blessing.

And yet another group believes Ammon was a monster sent by the Nephites to torment them. These people think, “The Nephites must have known this guy was trouble, and that’s why they sent him here, to cause trouble, and now see he’s incapacitated our rulers and their household!”  They are so convinced the Nephites intend malice to do them harm.  I have to wonder whether this was the tradition of their fathers, or whether this was the work of Nephite dissenters spreading misinformation.  Probably both.

All these views, even after a show of God’s power, are inaccurate. I think it is a case study of how limited the reasoning of man can be, failing to comprehend the deeper purposes of God. Like the Lamanites, who could only see the people lying in front of them, so often our vision is limited to what is happening to us right now, and we fail to see it in the bigger context of God’s love for us and His efforts to save us.  Even when His power is right in front of us, we can still miss it!

How important it is then to have prophets who can help us know and see the larger picture.  How important it is to keep an open mind and simply wait and endure. How important it is to keep a record of what is happening in our lives so that we can have more of the story to look back and reflect on.   It also shows us how our reasoning can’t account for God’s miracles and how odd they may look when viewed with an unbelieving, unregenerate mind.

 I've had hard experiences in my life that disappointed me at the time and which seemed like a bad thing, but when I look back at them from the perspective of years, I see that they were necessary refining experiences.  I'm sure you can say the same.

January First Presidency Message: The Best Time to Plant a Tree

I really liked the First Presidency message for this month by President Uchtdorf, so I want to comment on it. (My words in black, his in green.) It seems to me that one of President Uchtdorf’s great strengths as an apostle is his exuberant enthusiasm and hopefulness.    

In ancient Rome, Janus was the god of beginnings. He was often depicted with two faces—one looking back on the past, the other looking forward to the future. Some languages name the month of January after him because the beginning of the year was a time for reflection as well as planning.

Thousands of years later, many cultures throughout the world carry on a tradition of making resolutions for the new year. Of course, making resolutions is easy—keeping them is a different thing altogether.

One man who had made a long list of New Year’s resolutions felt pretty good about his progress. He thought to himself, “So far, I’ve stuck to my diet, I haven’t lost my temper, I’ve kept to my budget, and I haven’t once complained about the neighbor’s dog. But today is January 2 and the alarm just went off and it’s time I got out of bed. It’s going to take a miracle to keep my streak going.”

It’s SO TRUE!!  For some reason when we start a new resolution, it is pretty easy to do it for a day or two.. or three.  But at some point the shiny wears off and then it seems like a long, hard slog.  Or something comes up that gets in the way.  Or we slack off our effort because we think we don’t need to work as hard at it as we have. 

There is something incredibly hopeful about a fresh start. I suppose at one time or another we have all wanted to start again with a clean slate.

I love getting a new computer with a clean hard drive. For a time it works perfectly. But as the days and weeks pass by and more and more programs get installed (some intentional, some not so intentional), eventually the computer begins to stall, and things it used to do quickly and efficiently become sluggish. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. Even getting it to start can become a chore as the hard drive becomes cluttered with miscellaneous chaos and electronic debris. There are times when the only recourse is to reformat the computer and start over.

Human beings can likewise become cluttered with fears, doubts, and burdensome guilt. The mistakes we have made (both intentional and unintentional) can weigh upon us until it may seem hard to do what we know we should.

In the case of sin, there is a wonderful reformatting process called repentance that allows us to clear our internal hard drives of the clutter that burdens our hearts. The gospel, through the miraculous and compassionate Atonement of Jesus Christ, shows us the way to cleanse our souls of the stain of sin and once again become new, pure, and as innocent as a child.

But sometimes other things slow us down and hold us back, causing unproductive thoughts and actions that make it hard for us to get started.

I’d say the experience with computers is a very useful metaphor here. (And I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I do.)

Along with repentance, we need grace (enabling power of God) to help us make it through life, but we can’t have it without giving our total effort and commitment to it.  And so often we would give that total effort except we have fallen prey to destructive thought patterns that in some way weaken us.  I love that Elder Uchtdorf teaches many principles (not just here but in other talks too) that help us discover destructive thought patterns and helps us replace them with helpful ones instead. 

I have a lot of troubles with doubts, fears, and perfectionism.  I feel like I’m always fighting it, so I appreciate principles that help me escape those unproductive patterns.

Setting goals is a worthy endeavor. We know that our Heavenly Father has goals because He has told us that His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

Our personal goals can bring out the best in us. However, one of the things that derail our efforts in making and keeping resolutions is procrastination. We sometimes delay starting, waiting for the right moment to begin—the first day of a new year, the beginning of summer, when we’re called as bishop or Relief Society president, after the kids get into school, after we retire.

You don’t need an invitation before you start moving in the direction of your righteous goals. You don’t need to wait for permission to become the person you were designed to be. You don’t need to wait to be invited to serve in the Church.

We can sometimes waste years of our lives waiting to be chosen (see D&C 121:34–36). But that is a false premise. You are already chosen!

I felt like this part really spoke to me.  Procrastination is one of my problems, though I don’t actually say to myself, “I’ll do it later.”  My procrastination has been in the form that Elder Uchtdorf has described above, the kind that wants to wait for the “right moment” and the kind that feels like it needs permission to do or become or start. 

My procrastination has to do with writing.  I am a writer.  So often I delay starting my writing because I’m waiting for the right moment.  But what does the right moment look like and how will I know I’ve come to it?  I keep waiting for a moment when I will feel inspired.  It is particularly insidious when it comes to working on this blog because I want to be inspired as I write about the scriptures.   The weird thing is, I’ve learned by experience that inspiration happens more while I’m working on it and rather than when I’m thinking about working on it.  So I just have to show up and start studying and writing and then it comes.

I’ve also seen some of my procrastination in the form of feeling like I need permission from someone.  One of the things I want to do is write fiction, write fabulous novels.  But I feel like I need permission!  I don’t know who from.  Maybe it’s because I have this deep-down notion that writing fiction is play, not real work.  It makes me think that just like you need mom to call the school to so you can go somewhere else during school, I need someone to call the “work police” and tell them that I have permission to write fiction for work instead of getting hired by someone else.   Maybe I need to write myself out a permission slip.  (I eventually did this.  It felt very freeing.)

I like that President Uchtdorf says our personal goals can bring out the best in us.  (Of course, he makes the implicit assumption that these goals are righteous.)  When you consider the effort that goes into working toward goals, you can see he’s right.  What else besides a goal makes you wrestle with the natural man?  Good goals always involve repentance at some level or stage.  A good goal that speaks to you fires your imagination, giving you vision.  It requires confidence and faith.  It requires you to commit and act courageously.  It requires analysis of skills and leads to learning more skills.  It leads to problem-solving.  It disciplines you and builds your perseverance.  And even when we fail, we practice repentance and re-commitment if we try again.

At times in my life I have spent sleepless nights grappling with issues, worries, or personal sorrows. But no matter how dark the night, I am always encouraged by this thought: in the morning the sun will rise.

With every new day, a new dawn comes—not only for the earth but also for us. And with a new day comes a new start—a chance to begin again.

This view of the new day as the chance to begin trying again is a big thing that gives me hope.  I’ve lived a few months when I was depressed and felt that I had no hope of anything better.  When I’ve struggled with a bad habit for so long and failed so many times, it is easy to think that there is no hope of change and that the future will get worse and worse and I should just give up and drift as the current takes me.  I’ve learned to fight this by seeing each new day as a gift of a small time that I can concentrate my efforts in.  We learn from living the commandment of keeping the Sabbath Holy that it is possible to make one day different from every other day of the week, more focused on serving God.  So we can use that same principle during the week.  Each new day we can try again to break bad habits.  Also, taking it one day at a time helps me focus on the present moment rather than worrying about the future. 

Sometimes the thing that holds us back is fear. We might be afraid that we won’t succeed, that we will succeed, that we might be embarrassed, that success might change us, or that it might change the people we love.

I’ve feared all those things at one time or another.  When fears are paralyzing, I’ve found I have to write down what I’m afraid of and try to get to the root of what is bothering me.  (I have an example of how I do this in my post about confronting myfears of introducing my neighbors to the missionaries.

It’s usually not just one fear, it is a network of fear, or a pyramid of fear, fears stacked on top of each other.  You have to pin down the fear, drag it squealing out into the day, and then talk back to it before you can kill it.

Another thing we need to remember when it comes to setting goals is this: We almost certainly will fail—at least in the short term. But rather than be discouraged, we can be empowered because this understanding removes the pressure of being perfect right now. It acknowledges from the beginning that at one time or another, we may fall short. Knowing this up front takes away much of the surprise and discouragement of failure.

When we approach our goals this way, failure doesn’t have to limit us. Remember, even if we fail to reach our ultimate, desired destination right away, we will have made progress along the road that will lead to it.

And that matters—it means a lot.

Even though we might fall short of our finish line, just continuing the journey will make us greater than we were before.

Falling short and failure is a not an end destination.  It is merely a stage in our progression. 

When I apply this to myself about my writing process, I can understand perfectly well that my first draft is not going to be a masterpiece.  It’s going to be crud.  But I can learn from it and revise.  My first novel likewise is going to fall short as well, but I’ll learn from it and revise it and my next novel will be better (although the first draft can be crud all over again.)  I can allow myself to write badly at first so I can learn from it.  (I suppose I’ll have to write myself a permission slip for that too.  ;-))

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

There is something wonderful and hopeful about the word now. There is something empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward at this very moment.

Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be—not only 20 years from now but also for all eternity.

Sometimes it takes years for us to figure out that we really want what’s good for us.  And then we wish we’d started way earlier.  I’ve heard some converts wishing they’d found the gospel earlier in life.  I imagine we all have something like that. 

At least the present moment remains for making a beginning, right?

So what experiences have you had in which you learned more from the process than you did from the outcome?

Molting insects and putting off the natural man

I was reading about insects yesterday and I ran across a fabulous picture of an insect molting and it seemed to me that it was a great metaphor and image for putting off the natural man.

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

A number of insects molt because they have to grow and their exoskeleton does not grow with them. So, they have to break through the crusty bounds of what they once were. The split in their exoskeleton that allows them to break out happens because of an increase of pressure from their hemolymph. (Hemolymph is to insects what our blood is to us.) Essentially, they expand from within. Their souls expand.

See from these verses how the word of God and the Holy Ghost acts spiritually on us in this very same way, bringing us gradually to put off the natural man:

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me….

34 And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand. (Alma 32:28-34, emphasis added)

And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. (Alma 5:9, emphasis added)

We see from Alma 5:9 that when our souls expand, just as the insect escapes their old exoskeleton, we escape "the bands of death" and "the chains of hell."

The image of an insect molting from its old skin is a powerful way to help us understand the need to have our souls expand and put of the natural man. Isn't it cool that the Lord gave us these little lessons as part of our beautiful world?

Image: Insect Exoskeletons, http://www.backyardnature.net/exoskelt.htm, retrieved 2/14/12.

Fresh Lessons from Nephi Getting the Brass Plates

I’ve read the story of how Nephi got the brass plates so many times that I didn’t feel like there was anything more I could get from it. I’m sure you know that feeling. I’m now learning that when I feel that way as I start reading a scripture story, I must pray and ask for the Lord to teach me. I’m finding that He answers those prayers.

One of the main features of this story that cannot be avoided is that Nephi kills Laban. Today I asked myself, Just what can I learn from this? It was a tough question, and it needed to be asked. And the answer needed to be something good because we all know better than to interpret it as a message to kill people that get in our way when we’re trying to keep the commandments. It had to be something I could really apply in my life. I finally realized that it is a great message about the necessity of killing our own natural man or woman.

For the natural man [and woman] is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

Laban is a prime example of what the natural man or woman is like; instead of submitting, he resists. Further, the crimes that Laban committed against Nephi and his brothers are exactly the same as the crimes that our natural man commits against our spiritual man. “I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property” (1 Nephi 4:11). The natural man tries to kill the spiritual man. He doesn’t listen or obey the commandments of God. And he tries to usurp the privileges, riches, and inheritance of the spiritual man for his own nefarious use. No compromise is possible in our war with our natural man. Our natural man must die. Laban is the natural man in all of us.

In this story, we can see Nephi as the spiritual man in all of us. Nephi’s focus was on obtaining the brass plates (the word of God) and keeping God’s commandments, and our spiritual man has that same desire to be good. (How different Nephi’s focus is from Laban’s focus on and lust after the things of the flesh!) Just like Nephi is the one who kills Laban, the spiritual man in us must kill the natural man in us.

The way that Laban was killed is very much like the process of killing our natural man. Just like Laban was beheaded, killing our natural man involves cutting off our evil thoughts. Laban was killed with a sword. The sword has been used in the scriptures as a metaphor for the Spirit and the word of God. “And take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Helaman 4:12). When our spiritual man wields the word of God and the Spirit and submits to it, the natural man begins to be beheaded.

Image from What to Mormons Believe?, "thou shalt not kill?", http://www.whatdomormonsbelieve.com/2008/07/shalt-thou-kill/

What Natural Man Is There That Knoweth These Things?

When Ammon glories in the Lord after the great success he and his brothers had teaching the Lamanites, he looks back at what he had been before his own conversion and shudders at what might have happened to them.

17 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?
18 Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroy his church.
19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?
20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.
21 And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent. (Alma 26:17-21)

I often wondered why Ammon said that no natural man could know these things. What things were he referring to? I recently realized that he was referring to the mercy of God, pointing it out as a mystery of godliness that no one could know unless they had experienced it.

This is not to say that they did not experience any taste of the justice of God because on the contrary, they did. Alma the younger had his soul harrowed up to the greatest degree and wracked with all his sins and wished that he could cease to exist so that he would not be brought to judgment for them. It was this preliminary view of what they would have to suffer that convinced them of their need for redemption and that view was part of the manifestation of the mercy of God. It was shown to them before it was too late so they could repent. The other part of the mercy of God was that rather than cast them off forever, God had seen fit to redeem them, to take away their sins, and save their souls, once they had called on Him for salvation.

None but the penitent could know this mysterious and godly mercy. The natural man might hear of it and reject it or assume there was no need for it. The natural man might be inclined to think that some people, if they had gone too far, would be rejected by God, no matter how repentant they were. The natural man might take the mercy of God as a license to sin more, thinking they could always repent later. But the penitent know what they have been saved from and recognize the magnitude of God’s mercy and forgiveness and the miracle of God’s salvation.

I know what I’ve been saved from and every time I remember that, I can’t help but thank God for His mercy.

On struggling for a willingness to believe

34 And thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief, and grow in wickedness and abominations, while the Lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God; yea, they did begin to keep his statutes and commandments, and to walk in truth and uprightness before him.
35 And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts.
36 And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words. (Helaman 6:34-36, emphasis added)

I really liked Elder Ringwood’s talk (“An Easiness and Willingness to Believe”, October General Conference 2009) about easiness and willingness to believe because I ran across that same phrase he highlighted and it too made me pause and ponder. Here are some of the things he said that I felt were most helpful.

Believing examples help us

"This easiness to believe comes from the example of others who have soft hearts and who model this easiness to believe, such as Nephi and Lehi."

The generosity and great words of others can prepare our hearts to believe

“After Ammon simply requested that the king allow Lamoni to worship as he desired in his own kingdom, the generosity and greatness of Ammon’s words caused the king to be troubled in mind and heart”

Lamoni’s father allowed Ammon’s words to trouble him to the point that it humbled him and he became willing to seek for instruction and to repent.

Prayer can help us believe

“We are blessed with others in the scriptures who teach us how we can obtain an easiness and willingness to believe. Nephi, son of Lehi, is one example. His first act when he heard his father teach about the destruction of Jerusalem was to cry unto the Lord till his heart was soft and he believed all the words spoken by his father”

Hungering for truth helps us believe

“From Enos we learn the importance of allowing the words of God to sink deep into our hearts till we hunger for truth. An easiness to believe will come when the word of God is etched into our hearts.”

Also implicit in Elder Ringwood’s words is that we have to ponder the words of God often to get them to sink down into our hearts. When they have penetrated deeply enough, they will be etched on our hearts and we will find it easy to believe them because they will have actually become a part of our very identity that we act on.

Life circumstance can prepare us to want to believe

“Periods of significant change, such as marriage or the birth of a child; periods of intense service from a new calling or a mission; periods in our youth with a wonderful bishop, youth leaders, and seminary teachers; periods of trials; and periods of growth from learning for the first time about the gospel are all periods of an easiness to believe.”

We can allow our experiences and trials to humble us so that we become willing to believe. One of the best ways to use our circumstances as a springboard to belief is to carefully keep a journal and spend a little time each day writing about how we have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives that day, as Elder Eyring recommended several general conferences ago.

Commitment to living the gospel helps us believe

“If you are like me, you will find what really brought an easiness and willingness to believe were not the circumstances but the commitment to live the gospel during these periods of life.”

If it were truly the circumstances that determined our level of belief, then we would not truly be free agents. Rather it is how we act (not react) that makes the difference.

Obedience helps us believe

“I witness that this easiness and willingness to believe will come from doing those seemingly insignificant things taught to us repeatedly since our youth. Obedience will bring soft hearts and an easiness to believe in the word of God. I bear witness that an easiness to believe will bring an outpouring of the Spirit.”

Those Sunday school answers—pray, read the scriptures, go to church, keep the commandments—will change us if we do them with zeal and not complacency. Something I have noticed in my own life is that when I am truly zealous I find myself praying more often, reading the scriptures more often, and more intent upon doing my duty. And I notice that I’m not doing it with thoughts of “I’m so righteous; look how much I’m doing this” but because I find that I NEED to and WANT to. It becomes as necessary to me as breathing and I feel like I will wither and die without it. Belief becomes perfectly easy and natural.

Like Nephi told his brothers:

…if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth...(1 Nephi 16:3)

This seems to show us that willingness to believe is part of what brings easiness to believe. I have found this to be true in my own life. But if you are having troubles finding willingness to belief in your heart, often an experience of opposition can help you. When I was recently going through a stage of wishy-washy-ness, I found myself faced with a school assignment that I found morally repugnant. I finally just said to myself, “I am NOT going to do this. Whatever happens, I’m not doing this.” Taking my stand with determination took me beyond realm of belief into faith (belief + action). Further, it galvanized me to try to exert a good influence on others.

31 Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
32 I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
33 Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above. (D&C 58:31-33)

This scripture tells us that belief is very much attached to our obedience. We normally think that belief is required for obedience, but Elder Ringwood pointed out too that the reverse is just as true. Obedience is required in order to believe too. Obedience leads to belief, which leads to obedience, which leads to belief, etc.

Carefully patrolling our thoughts and feelings is also necessary to maintaining strong belief.

Elder Robert D. Hales said:

“[W]e must be careful not to constrain [the Holy Ghost’s] influence. When we do not do what is right or when our outlook is dominated by skepticism, cynicism, criticism, and irreverence toward others and their beliefs, the Spirit cannot be with us. We then act in a way that the prophets describe as the natural man.” (“Seeking to Know God, Our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ”, October General Conference 2009)

There have been times when I have been in church meetings listening to a talk or a song and I have been feeling the Spirit and then I start thinking critical or cynical thoughts. Too much of it, and then I feel the Spirit leave and I feel so empty. That’s when I realize what I did and I have to pray for forgiveness and then apply myself to listening more carefully, to receiving what is said, and to mentally assenting to every truth I hear. And eventually the Spirit returns.

Elder Tad R. Callister said:

“…some are willing to set aside the precious gospel truths restored by Joseph Smith because they get diverted on some historical issue or some scientific hypothesis not central to their exaltation, and in so doing they trade their spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. They exchange the absolute certainty of the Restoration for a doubt, and in that process they fall into the trap of losing faith in the many things they do know because of a few things they do not know. There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite, but likewise there will always be the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration to cling to, which will provide the rock foundation upon which our testimonies may be built.” (“Joseph Smith—Prophet of the Restoration”, October General Conference 2009)

If I were to paraphrase Elder Callister, I would probably say something like, “A testimony in hand is worth two doubts in the bush.” That being said, I think there is a difference between doubts and questions. Doubts don’t really do anything for me except paralyze me. Questions? I have many questions of my own, but I have never lost sleep over them. I know that if I frame my questions with faith, eventually the Lord will answer them for my edification when I am spiritually prepared. Many posts on this blog represent questions I have had that have been answered.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:

“The Savior warned that in the last days even those of the covenant, the very elect, could be deceived by the enemy of truth….In Lehi’s dream an already difficult journey gets more difficult when a mist of darkness arises, obscuring any view of the safe but narrow path his family and others are to follow. It is imperative to note that this mist of darkness descends on all the travelers—the faithful and the determined ones (the elect, we might even say) as well as the weaker and ungrounded ones. The principal point of the story is that the successful travelers resist all distractions, including the lure of forbidden paths and jeering taunts from the vain and proud who have taken those paths. The record says that the protected “did press their way forward, continually [and, I might add, tenaciously] holding fast” to a rod of iron that runs unfailingly along the course of the true path….Remember this declaration by Jesus Himself: “Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived”—and in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you.” (“Safety for the Soul”, October General Conference 2009)

How will having an easiness and willingness to believe help us in a time when Satan is working so hard to deceive? Will having an easiness and willingness to believe make us more vulnerable? I don’t think easiness to believe is about believing everything you’re told by everybody unconditionally. I think that the key is to treasure up the word of the Lord as given by the scriptures, the church leaders, and personal revelation and measure everything by that standard. We know that by the power of the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Unbelief can also be a product of pride, when our spirits are presented with greater knowledge from God but prefer to think that we already know best and prefer to discard it. In this case we are left to ever learn but never come to a knowledge of the truth.

26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward….
29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. (D&C 58:26,29)

This scripture suggests to me that unbelief tends to stop our progress and we become unwilling to do good on our own impetus. And unfortunately that leads to being unwilling to do good even when commanded.

So…

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days. (D&C 64:34)

Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe. (Alma 32:16)

He that receiveth of God, let him account it of God; and let him rejoice that he is accounted of God worthy to receive. (D&C 50:34)

The final word on the matter:

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed. (D&C 123:17)

New Blog Templates and the Mighty Change of Heart

I spent a lot of Thursday through Saturday working on adding this new template to my blog. It was a lot of hard work, and when I finished it last night, I was so excited! (I’m sure my husband felt I was bouncing off the walls about it. He said it was making him tired just watching me. Of course, we already were fasting, so he may have been in energy conservation mode.)

Now, getting a new blog template also has some perils that I’m recently discovering. For instance, there’s the “Fear-of-not-being-able-to-write-anything-as-cool-as-the-blog-looks” peril, closely followed by the “Fear-that-everyone-will-be-freaked-out-by-the-sudden-change-and-stop-visiting-the-blog” peril. Of course, you know what this means. I just need to write something and post it no matter what, and the stupider the post, the better, so that I can just get over this hump and be normal again. (grin)

But anyway, I started thinking over the blog-template-changing process, and I realized that there are some spiritual parallels between it and seeking for a change of heart.

I was pretty content with the way my blog was before until I was looking around online and I saw some blog templates that were really neat.

Similarly one of the best impetuses (impetii? impetium? impetusata?) of inner change in our lives is when we discover someone who is so good that we want to become like that. Ultimately, the template we want to adopt is Christ, but good people in our lives can help us see how those attributes look in real life.

I realized that it might be difficult to change my blog template to something new. I didn’t know much about the process, and I realized that if I did it wrong, I might lose the content in my sidebar, which had taken me a while to collect in the first place.

Similarly, we don’t know too much about the process of changing to become something we haven’t been before. When we change, we need to make sure that we don’t lose what good traits we have already acquired. Change can be a turbulent process.

Once I decided I wanted to change my blog’s template, I realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to change all at once. I sensed that I needed to test the template first and find out if it really had what I wanted before I adopted it. So I created another blog as a test. I created one that looked somewhat like my other one and then tried to switch to my new template in it to see what it would look like.

As it happened, the first sight of my new template was terrible. It needed a lot of tweaking. To make it look as advertised, I needed to put in a lot of extra work, more than I expected, in fact. It didn’t have a number of features that I valued on my previous blog. In order to get it working the way I wanted, I needed to look at the HTML and CSS code and study it to figure out what pieces of code did what. This meant I needed previous knowledge of HTML to study the code. Thankfully, I had taken a web programming class… about six years ago. My memories were fuzzy, but I remembered enough to avoid making some silly mistakes.

Similarly, in my life, whenever I have made some significant changes in my life, my first attempts are usually somewhat feeble because I underestimate the amount of effort required. I find I have to do some serious thinking and planning ahead how I should act or react. And often experiences from my deeper past provide just enough working knowledge of how to proceed.

I looked online for help in adding the blog features that I wanted. I found people who had faced the same problem and had figured out how to solve it. I also looked for people who were helping others fix their blog the same way I wanted to fix mine.

Similarly, one way that we get help when we are trying to change is by asking other people we trust how they have made the change in their lives that we want. We can also ask Heavenly Father, who knows all things.

I wanted to add the date to my blog entries, but the template didn’t do that. I finally figured out that there was code that was missing from my template.

In the scriptures, sometimes it doesn’t always say how we can get from point A to point B. We need to get additional knowledge through personal revelation, from the prophet and apostles, or from our leaders.

As I worked on my template, I also found that there were things in there that I didn’t want, which weren’t supposed to be there. I was able to find parts of the code that I didn’t want and get rid of them.

In the scriptures, we can find descriptions of people who chose to disobey the commandments, and it is important that we try to remove from our lives the same negative faults that they had.

I made notes of everything I did as I made all the different changes to the blog template. This really came in handy when the template suddenly got really messed up and I didn’t know what had happened. I had to start all over with a fresh version of the template and redo everything I did before, and my extensive notes of pieces of code that I had used or removed helped me do that really fast so that I didn’t have to start looking for all the information on the internet again.

Similarly, our journals can be a record we keep of what we are doing so that we can go back and see where we may have gone wrong. I have used my journal this way.

When I finally got to the point that the blog template looked just as it should in my test blog, I took the plunge and implemented in this blog. It’s hard to describe my feelings of trepidation as waited for it to load (and it loaded soooo slowly that I was sure something had gone terribly wrong). And when it was finally saved and I viewed my new blog.. YAAAAAAY!!!! Epic WIN!!

The fruits of our careful righteous labors, whether temporal or spiritual, are certainly sweet, especially positive changes we make. Like I said previously, I was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement yesterday after a mere three days of work on this template. I can only imagine how happy I will be when I’ve fully implemented the template of Christ on my life.