The Token of Peace and Some Thoughts on Culture

In the story of Amalickiah’s rise to prominence among the Lamanites, there’s the incident just before the Lamanite king got assassinated that caught my attention.

And it came to pass that the king put forth his hand to raise them, as was the custom with the Lamanites, as a token of peace, which custom they had taken from the Nephites.” (Alma 47:23)

Raising bowing people as a token of peace is a nice thing for a king to do, since underlings would be anxious to know they were in the king’s good graces and hadn’t displeased him. And a token of peace is a beautiful idea. It makes me ponder how Heavenly Father might bestow tokens of peace on us. Having the Holy Ghost to be with us is one token of peace we can look for and enjoy. Also, spiritual gifts would be other tokens of peace. It seems to me that we don’t have to just wait for tokens of peace; we can seek for them and ask for them. We can repent and qualify ourselves for them.

On a different note, it is interesting to me that Mormon calls attention to the fact that the Lamanites took this tradition from the Nephites. Even though the Lamanites so often wanted to destroy the Nephites, and though they considered Nephites “sons of a liar” (like King Lamoni’s father thought), they were aware of this old court custom. Who knows how, since they separated way before the Nephites started to have kings. But they liked it enough to adopt it themselves. Interesting how a culture they hated could still influence and affect them at such a high level as court etiquette.   I can’t help but wonder who they would have answered if someone had asked them about it. (“If you hate the Nephites, why do you imitate their practices?”)  But maybe they would have said, “We don’t care; it’s useful.”

This makes me think about the practice of adopting customs from other people. Is it purist or is it prejudice to refrain from adopting customs of peoples who are considered the enemy?  Bad customs are easily avoided (theoretically), but what if their good practices are useful and helpful and do great social good? Should they be avoided too?  Surely not.

I know there are people who get all offended and make accusations of cultural appropriation when other cultural practices are adopted, but it seems to me that customs usually have a social function. If it is good, then I don’t see why it shouldn’t be allowed to spread.  Or maybe it could be that “cultural appropriation” really means using a cultural sign for aggrandizement and status with little to no knowledge of the meaning, values, connotations and historical baggage that goes along with it. (I find myself wondering, “What would we Mormons say if we saw something LDS that had been “culturally appropriated?”)

Eh, this could turn into a can of worms…

At bottom, I think bits of culture have a social function. We like to preserve bits from the past sometimes because of nostalgia, but functionality helps determine if it endures through changes of technology and fashion and so on. 

I think Zion culture is meant to take the good from everywhere and leave the bad alone. (But sometimes it takes a lot of open-mindedness to be able to tell whether something is good or bad, when a blind spot in our home culture might initially prejudice us.)

Mormon’s analysis of the spiritual result of the Amlicite-Nephite battles

25 Now all these things were done, yea, all these wars and contentions were commenced and ended in the fifth year of the reign of the judges.

26 And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one.

 27 For every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey, and this according to the words of the spirit of prophecy; therefore let it be according to the truth. And thus endeth the fifth year of the reign of the judges. (Alma 3:25-27)

After all the messy battles with the Amlicites are over, Mormon gives us this sum-up statement.

What Mormon implies but doesn’t say is that this shows us how quickly people can meet their end. In one year these contentions started and brought on a war that expanded, and the Lamanites were drawn into it, and by the end, tens of thousands of people were dead, all of whom probably expected to live a full life.

Because death can come when it isn’t expected, it is best for us to repent day by day and live our lives righteously so that we are not caught unawares if it comes sooner than expected.  The Nephites had had quite a long stretch of peace, and yet, in that one year it all broke down.  Living in America, we’ve had a long stretch of civil peace, so we might think it couldn’t happen here, but can we say that we are better than the Nephites?  That peace could be shattered more easily than we think, so we are not so secure as we might think.

It is also interesting that Mormon mentions this concept of which spirit one lists to obey.  The archaic meaning of list is “want or like.”  If think what you list, then you think what you like. 

Another meaning of list is related to shipping.  If a ship lists, it leans to one side because of the weight put on that side of a boat.  So if you list to obey a particular spirit, you lean toward or have a preference for obeying that particular spirit because of the weight or importance you put on what it says.

It is worth thinking about the kinds of impulses we have a tendency to follow in life.  Are they angry?  Criticizing? Procrastinating? Punishing? Kind? Honest? Greedy?  Lustful?  Amusement-seeking?  Loving? Industrious?  Generous?

Mormon also says that every man receives wages of that spirit they list to obey.  So it is worth thinking about the wages we will receive from the particular spirit we follow.  What are the wages of procrastination and delay?  Lack of readiness and sloth and non-completion of tasks and a sense of non-efficacy.  What are the wages of industriousness?  A sense of power and satisfaction.  Enjoying the fruits of our labors, and so on. 

Today let’s determine to list away from those spirits that entice us to bad things and list to obey the Spirit of the Lord.

Why call Him “Prince of Peace”?

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6, emphasis added)

This bit about the Messiah being the “prince of peace” struck me recently, and I found myself asking why that title.  What does it teach us about Christ?

A prince rules over something or has charge of something.  If Christ is the prince of peace, then He has control over peace and over who gets it.  This peace is the kind individuals can have in their lives even in the hardest of circumstances.   Christ has the power to grant peace or not, and so, in order for us to have true peace in our lives, we must go to Him and make peace with Him.  We can have peace no other way.

The more people who have made peace with Christ and have reconciled themselves with God, the more our communities and nations can have peace.   That peace comes with unity and charity, not just as a ceasefire with hostility at the bottom.

(Bonus: Enjoy the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "For Unto Us a Child is Born")

Captain Moroni’s Impetus for Peace Covenants with the Lamanites

One of the things that is remarkable about Captain Moroni is how he frequently tries to bring battles with the Lamanites to a close by requiring the Lamanites to enter into a covenant that they won’t go to battle against the Nephites again.  This is very peculiar and refreshingly large-hearted and trusting.  How did he get the idea that he could do such a thing?

I suspect that he might have gotten the idea from the record of Zeniff and Limhi.  Zeniff is the first one that makes promises with Lamanites and we can see that at the beginning these promises did a pretty good job of allowing Lamanites and Nephites to live in fairly close proximity to each other without bloodshed.  Perhaps this was previously believed to be impossible.

Captain Moroni could have learned from Zeniff and Limhi’s records that the Lamanites had a culture that took their promises, oaths, and covenants very seriously, and this made him willing to try using that factor to build peace between the Nephites and Lamanites.

We can also make agreements requiring nonaggression from our enemies.  Conficts happen, but if there is a promise not to fight, then that keeps fighting from happening except in really serious conflicts.

The Different Ways the Lord Delivered Israel in 1 Samuel 7

After the Lord helped Israel win against the Philistines by thundering and confusing the enemy, the text also includes a list of other ways the Lord helped deliver Israel.

13 ¶So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. (1 Samuel 7:13-15)

1. The Philistines were subdued.  They didn’t want to fight as much as they had in the past.

2. They came no more into the coasts of Israel.  Incursions across borders, which must have been a source of irritation and trouble, stopped.

3. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.  This sounds like the Philistines discovered they had a bunch of their own problems they had to worry about that kept them busy so there wasn’t time or energy or resources to spare on fighting the Israelites.

4. The cities the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored.  This sounds like voluntary concession of territory, which would be pretty amazing.

5. The coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines.  This sounds like Israel had a few more successful battles with the Philistines and liberated some of their own people.

6. There was peace between Israel and the Amorites.  This is kind of unspecific, but at its most basic sense, it is an end to hostilities and violence with the other Canaanites living around them.  It may not have included accord and treaties and trading… or it may have. 

I love that all those different conditions were described so carefully and briefly.  I think this block of verses teaches the principle that when we are repentant and righteous as a people, the Lord gives the whole nation peace among our neighbors.  These verses give us a sense of what that looks like.

When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)

Re-examining Omni (continued)

As I've been thinking about Omni, I started asking myself, what is actually there in his words that I can notice and learn from?

1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Omni, being commanded by my father, Jarom, that I should write somewhat upon these plates, to preserve our genealogy—

 2 Wherefore, in my days, I would that ye should know that I fought much with the sword to preserve my people, the Nephites, from falling into the hands of their enemies, the Lamanites. But behold, I of myself am a wicked man, and I have not kept the statutes and the commandments of the Lord as I ought to have done.

 3 And it came to pass that two hundred and seventy and six years had passed away, and we had many seasons of peace; and we had many seasons of serious war and bloodshed. Yea, and in fine, two hundred and eighty and two years had passed away, and I had kept these plates according to the commandments of my fathers; and I conferred them upon my son Amaron. And I make an end. (Omni 1:1-3)

I notice that the purpose of keeping the record on the small plates has changed by this time.  It is no longer kept as a repository of the most plain and sacred things, but it is kept to preserve the genealogy.  I checked earlier in the Book of Mormon and it seems that somehow the purpose changed when the plates came to Omni’s father Jarom because Jarom similarly states that he keeps the plates to keep their genealogy, although he adds as an afterthought that another intent is to benefit the Lamanites.  By the time the plates get to Omni, the desire to benefit the Lamanites seems to have been forgotten.  (Was Omni so used to fighting Lamanites by this time that he was ambivalent about writing to benefit them?)

In Omni, I also notice that in verse 3 there are two difference statements about how many years had passed away.  First, 276 years had passed away.  Very soon afterward, “in fine, two hundred and eighty and two years had passed away” showing there was a gap of six years between when the verse was started and finished.  I will venture to speculate that Omni began writing while laid up from war wounds.  Perhaps he was not sure he would survive and wanted to get something down before it was too late.  The way he starts out, it is as if he is about to introduce additional material, but then gives up.  I wonder if the narrative task intimidated him or if the difficulty of engraving on plates was too much.  Perhaps he felt like he didn’t have anything of significance to say that drove him to write. 

and we had many seasons of peace; and we had many seasons of serious war and bloodshed – This seemed curious to me for some reason. It is as if peace and war are conditions that change with the seasons of the year.  (John L. Sorenson argues this was the case in his article “Seasons of War, Seasons of Peace in the Book of Mormon”)  As I was pondering this bit of information and trying to see if there was anything of a spiritual nature that could be gleaned from it, I realized that if seasons of peace and seasons of war have a pattern, then that means they are predictable.  And if they are predictable, then that means we can plan around them both to prepare and to cope better.  (Two quick application questions: How do you think we can plan around the season of political war associated with national elections?  If there is a pattern of contention in our homes, how do we plan around this to strengthen our families?) 

Another thing I notice is that Omni said there were many of these seasons of peace and war.  The very nature of a cycle that repeats is that there is opportunity for learning to take place.  If we can learn something beneficial from each trip through the cycle, then it can become a refining process for us.  But if we learn nothing, then it is just another instance of suffering that leads to bitterness.  And too, who says the cycle has to continue? 

At the end of Omni’s little account, he says this, “I had kept these plates according to the commandments of my fathers..”  Well, when we compare the quality and quantity of Omni’s writings to those of his predecessors, his underperformance is obvious to us.  If he is cheeky enough to call this miniscule scrawl “according to the commandments of [his] fathers,” we may well wonder if this is a desperate self-deception or if this is a sample of the type of obedience he exhibited at other times.  It also causes me to examine my own life and think about what commandments I may claim I am obedient to but actually underperform in.

As you can see, my opinion of Omni swings back and forth.  I want to see good in him from his record, but there is so little record to see!  What do you think?

The chastisement of our peace was upon him

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

he was bruised for our iniquities:

the chastisement of our peace was upon him;

and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

 I was always puzzled by the line “the chastisement of our peace was upon him,” which testified of Christ’s suffering; I wondered how our peace would be a chastisement to Him.  An experience I had in my college years while visiting my family during the summer gave me some insight. 

We were all at the dinner table and somehow my brothers got in an argument.  As their older sister, I wanted to make peace between them, but one of my brothers didn’t want to recognize that what he had done was wrong.  This made me sad to see that he was at peace with what he had done and didn’t want to do better.  I felt like it was a chastisement of me for my efforts to settle the problem.  I suppose that in the same way, Christ is hurt when we are at peace with the sins we have committed and don’t want to repent. 

We can interpret that line in a different way if we substitute of with for.

The chastisement for our peace was upon him.

This continues the pattern of parallelism set up by the first two lines of the verse.  If you notice, the first two lines speak of paying for sins, but the third line builds in the possibility of achieving peace.  This makes even clearer that he took the chastisement that we would suffer for our sins so that we could have peace in our hearts. 

I can’t help but mention one other line from this verse.

with his stripes we are healed – I love this image; it captures the miracle of the atonement.  When I read this, I envision a whip scoring Christ’s back and another man’s wounds miraculously healing with each blow.  I envision Christ watching that healing take place and enduring His beating so that the healing can be completed.  Now although that isn’t in the New Testament, I feel sure that as Christ endured His scourging He was thinking of this scripture and envisioning the healing of the countless numbers of people who had relied on Him and would rely on Him far into the future.

Isaiah 53 has some beautiful imagery about Christ’s atonement.  What lines from it have you worked hard to appreciate and understand?  What have you learned?  Please share in the comments, or write a blog post on it and share the link with us!

Mosiah 19: Covenants and promises are necessary for peace

Mosiah 19 is the chapter where all heck breaks loose on King Noah and his people. There is contention among the Nephites, Gideon tries to kill King Noah, the Lamanites invade, the Nephites run away, the women and children are left behind with whatever men will not leave, King Noah is killed by his own followers, the Lamanites are persuaded not to kill the Nephites, and the Nephites are put under Lamanite tribute.

I noticed that while the previous chapter (Mosiah 18) contains the covenants made with the Lord, in Mosiah 19, all those who didn’t come into a covenant with the Lord and who didn’t escape with Alma find themselves having to make all kinds of oaths to try to get peace back. There are four oaths in Mosiah 19, and some of them aren’t very good:

1. Gideon swears in his wrath that he will slay King Noah (v4) (He breaks this oath.)
2. The people who run off with King Noah and leave their families behind swear in their hearts that they will return to their families and seek revenge if they find them dead (v19). (They keep the first part, and happily are not required to keep the second part, since they find their families alive.)
3. The Lamanites, having subjected the Nephites, make an oath to not kill them (v25). (They keep this oath until provoked by Nephite kidnapping of Lamanite women.)
4. The Nephites, having been subjected, make an oath to pay tribute of half their possessions and to deliver King Noah over to the Lamanites (v26). (They keep the tribute part, but are unable to keep the second part, King Noah having already been executed.)

I suppose there might be a lesson here that entering into a covenant with God does the job of a whole mass of other promises. Without a covenant with God, people will still find themselves needing the stability of the expectations and duties that are brought by covenants, and they will need to make promises anyway. In this case, those promises weren’t very pleasant and some of them were just plain wrong-headed.

I think a covenant with God to serve Him is infinitely to be preferred.

Peace like a river, righteousness like waves

18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. (Isaiah 48:18-19)

These verses are both easy and hard to understand. It is easy to see that if we keep the Lord’s commandments, we’ll have peace and righteousness. But it is hard to see why Isaiah compares the peace we will have to a river, and why he compares the righteousness we will have to waves of the sea. Is he just doing it because it sounds pretty? It is easy to think so. I thought that was his intention, until recently, when I started to realize that Isaiah made these comparisons to teach gospel principles.

[T]hen had thy peace been as a river - I was always somewhat puzzled by this phrase, because I never thought of a river being very peaceful, since it is always moving. But then I remembered something about keeping the commandments that made it clear. Obeying a commandment brings a certain blessing. We know that from Doctrine & Covenants 130:20-21. But not only do we get a blessing, we also get a feeling of peace. So what happens if you obey a bunch of commandments? You get a bunch of blessings and feel a bunch of peace, right? Right. Then what happens if we are continually obedient to the commandments? We’ll get a constant stream of blessings and feelings of peace from God, right? That’s peace flowing to us like a river. You’ve just learned from Isaiah that peace flows to us like a river when our obedience continually flows like a river.

[T]hy righteousness as the waves of the sea - What qualities of waves can be compared with righteousness?

They both wear down barriers over long periods of time. The more you keep the commandments, the more of an example you are to the people around you, and the more people will become curious about the gospel because of how they have seen you act. Their barriers to the gospel will be slowly broken down by your righteous influence.

Also, just like one wave follows another onto a beach, one godly character trait after another will come to us when we continually keep the commandments. That’s righteousness coming to us in waves.

If we want peace and righteousness (both very much like happiness) we must keep the commandments. I know this is true. The more obedient to the commandments I am, the happier I am.

Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof – I used to pass over this part thinking that I already knew what it meant. It immediately evoked in my mind the words that were used in Genesis when the Lord promised Abraham that he would have posterity as innumerable as the sand of the sea or the stars in the sky. But recently I found yet an additional way of understanding this line and it was related to the previous idea of having peace as a river when we keep the commandments continually. When we keep the commandments, it doesn’t just affect us, it affects everyone around us. When we have children, our obedience to the commandments will create an environment of peace and righteousness for them and they will be immersed in it, just like sand and gravel in the river bottom are immersed in the river water that flows around it. That’s a beautiful image and a wonderful promise, isn’t it? Isaiah was teaching us that if we always keep the commandments, our children will have a wonderful environment to learn from.

In what ways do you feel you benefitted from an upbringing like that? In what ways do you feel you have done this for your children? What is something you can do differently to give this gift to your children? Share with me.

The covenant of peace realigned Lamanite loyalties

In Alma 44:11 when Captain Moroni and the Nephites have Zerahemnah and the Lamanites at their mercy, Captain Moroni requires a covenant of peace to let them go. The covenant of peace will actually require the Lamanites to align themselves with the Nephites; it has that practical effect. To keep this oath, when they go home, they will have to stay disengaged from any popular Lamanite movements of aggression, and this will put them in opposition to any Lamanite royal command to muster for battle. If they wanted to keep their oath, they would have been much better off getting their families and going to live with the Nephites because if they continued to live with the Lamanites, people would look askance at their pacifism and even try to force them to arms.

When Amalickiah defected to the Lamanites and first started his rabble-rousing, it may have been those very people who had taken the peace oath at Zerahemnah’s battle who reacted with fear to the prospect of fighting the Nephites, rebelled against the Lamanite king’s call to arms, fled to the place Onidah to the hill Antipus led by Lehoni, and were “fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites” (Alma 47:6). The sad thing is, Amalickiah, through his treachery and trickery, snookered these people into doing what they were bound by oath not to do.

I think this has an important lesson. If we make covenants, it isn’t very smart to stay around people who we know will want us to break those covenants, especially if we have a choice of who we can be with. If we’re smart, we will align with and join those who share the values that we covenanted to uphold because that close association makes us stronger and helps us keep our covenants.

In what way are peacemakers blessed?

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

I was pondering this recently, wondering why peacemakers would be the children of God. A peacemaker is one who tries to reconcile two disagreeing parties and bring them into unity with each other. I realized that in a sense, a peacemaker is another type or shadow of Christ, who has worked out the At-one-ment whereby He can bring us into reconciliation with Heavenly Father. When we act as peacemakers, we do in a small way the same type of thing that Christ has done for the whole world, so that certainly makes us a child of God in deed.

Lessons from the Morianton-Lehi land war

Recently in my scripture study I ran across the story of the contention between the people of Morianton and the people of Lehi. It seemed so bald and straightforward to me that I found myself wondering just why Mormon included it. It didn’t seem to have any particular lesson to it. We don’t get any “and thus we sees” to help us navigate it and make sense of it.

Just so that you have it clear in your minds what this story is, I’m including it here:

25 And it came to pass that in the commencement of the twenty and fourth year of the reign of the judges, there would also have been peace among the people of Nephi had it not been for a contention which took place among them concerning the land of Lehi, and the land of Morianton, which joined upon the borders of Lehi; both of which were on the borders by the seashore.
26 For behold, the people who possessed the land of Morianton did claim a part of the land of Lehi; therefore there began to be a warm contention between them, insomuch that the people of Morianton took up arms against their brethren, and they were determined by the sword to slay them.
27 But behold, the people who possessed the land of Lehi fled to the camp of Moroni, and appealed unto him for assistance; for behold they were not in the wrong.
28 And it came to pass that when the people of Morianton, who were led by a man whose name was Morianton, found that the people of Lehi had fled to the camp of Moroni, they were exceedingly fearful lest the army of Moroni should come upon them and destroy them.
29 Therefore, Morianton put it into their hearts that they should flee to the land which was northward, which was covered with large bodies of water, and take possession of the land which was northward.
30 And behold, they would have carried this plan into effect, (which would have been a cause to have been lamented) but behold, Morianton being a man of much passion, therefore he was angry with one of his maid servants, and he fell upon her and beat her much.
31 And it came to pass that she fled, and came over to the camp of Moroni, and told Moroni all things concerning the matter, and also concerning their intentions to flee into the land northward.
32 Now behold, the people who were in the land Bountiful, or rather Moroni, feared that they would hearken to the words of Morianton and unite with his people, and thus he would obtain possession of those parts of the land, which would lay a foundation for serious consequences among the people of Nephi, yea, which consequences would lead to the overthrow of their liberty.
33 Therefore Moroni sent an army, with their camp, to head the people of Morianton, to stop their flight into the land northward.
34 And it came to pass that they did not head them until they had come to the borders of the land Desolation; and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east.
35 And it came to pass that the army which was sent by Moroni, which was led by a man whose name was Teancum, did meet the people of Morianton; and so stubborn were the people of Morianton, (being inspired by his wickedness and his flattering words) that a battle commenced between them, in the which Teancum did slay Morianton and defeat his army, and took them prisoners, and returned to the camp of Moroni. And thus ended the twenty and fourth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
36 And thus were the people of Morianton brought back. And upon their covenanting to keep the peace they were restored to the land of Morianton, and a union took place between them and the people of Lehi; and they were also restored to their lands. (Alma 50:25-36)

As I was trying to derive some kind of lesson from this, the main thing that comes to my attention was this little story about Morianton’s maid servant and her courage to flee after being beaten. And she didn’t flee to just any place, she fled to the army of Captain Moroni.

Why didn’t Morianton follow her when she fled? I can think of two possibilities. Had he washed his hands of her? I doubt it. I can’t see a person like Morianton letting a servant go so easily. Losing a servant is a loss to the household. Someone has to do the work the missing servant used to do. The other possibility that I can think of is that Morianton had beat this servant girl many times before and she had fled many times before and had always eventually returned. I bet that he didn’t follow her because he expected she would eventually return. Except this time she didn’t. This time she spilled all his plans to the very people Morianton’s people feared.

The obvious lesson here is that if you alienate the people who serve you, they leave and mess up your plans by telling them to your enemies/competitors.

Well, that’s a great lesson for business people, but what about the rest of us?

The next thing I noticed was that it says that Morianton was “a man of much passion, therefore he was angry…” This gives us a little more to work with. His passion (anger) was what got him in trouble. And anger was what got his people in trouble too in their arguments with the people of Lehi about whose land was whose. If they hadn’t gotten so angry that they wanted to kill the people of Lehi, then a lot of trouble could have been prevented.

So it seems like in the problems between the cities of Morianton and Lehi and in the problem Morianton with his servant there was a lot of anger and overreaction. Compare that to Captain Moroni, who wanted to assist the people of Lehi, preserve the liberty of the land, and wanted to stop Morianton and his people in their flight. It seems like he wants to stop the overreaction and smooth things down. This seems to show us that when there are arguments we need to be very careful not to overreact because overreaction really does make things worse.

There was one other thing that I found. It’s this:

…the people who were in the land Bountiful, or rather Moroni, feared that they would hearken to the words of Morianton and unite with his people, and thus he would obtain possession of those parts of the land, which would lay a foundation for serious consequences among the people of Nephi, yea, which consequences would lead to the overthrow of their liberty. (Alma 50:32)

Moroni didn’t want Morianton pulling the people of Bountiful into it. Undoubtedly Morianton would tell a distorted and one-sided version of the story to them and get them all fired up and convinced that Morianton was right and be determined to fight on his side. The puzzling thing to me was that I didn’t quite understand how this would lay a foundation for the destruction of liberty. Previously I thought it might have something to do with hedging up that north land so that the Nephites would be surrounded by enemies and have no place to flee. But it struck me this time that perhaps it had something to do with continuing a bad precedent. If Morianton succeeded in getting his way by stirring people to anger against his enemies, as a number of wicked men had done before him (Amlici, Amalikiah…) then it would seem like the only way to solve a problem and get your way would be to get more people on your side and go to battle. (Trying get more people involved and on your side tends to cause more problems and you get a scenario like in World War I in which people are pulled into a war because their allies are in a war. And we know that ultimately leads to a society consisting of two armed camps that fight until one or the other is completely destroyed.) Moroni was trying to preserve the precarious liberty that was based on a foundation of solving problems without fighting.

Another thing you could get from this story is the danger of gossip, no matter what level it occurs at. The People of Lehi had already come to the army of Moroni and told them their side of the story, and it must have been pretty convincing, since we are told “they were not in the wrong”, but note that Mormon doesn’t think it is important to tell us why the people of Lehi were not in the wrong, so we have no real data to judge by in order to see whether they were right or wrong. For all we know, Morianton’s people could have been in the right. And Moroni was worried that Morianton would gossip about the people of Lehi to the Bountiful-ites. And of course Morianton’s maid servant dished the dirt on Morianton and his plans. Without the details on everybody it is hard to make any kind of call and the best we can do is rely upon the good faith of the record keeper.

The good thing about Captain Moroni is that while he may have felt that the Lehi-ites were in the right, his intent was to preserve peace. This seems to have made him more impartial. So instead of trying to wipe out the Morianton-ites, he had them brought back. And his final solution is interesting—he has the Morianton-ites covenant to keep the peace. He doesn’t mediate or arbitrate and force a solution, he leaves it up to them to figure out a way to keep the covenant they had made to keep the peace because they are now morally obligated to do it as part of their duty to God.

This seems to be a story about the necessity of both individuals and peoples to control their tempers and passions. It also seems to be about the dangers of gossip, and it seems to provide a good model for how to deal with chronic physical abuse by escaping. It also reinforces the positive effects of making peace through making covenants.

Hmmm. This story was more sophisticated than I thought.

Captain Moroni's Title of Liberty Priorities

I was reading in the Book of Mormon recently (Alma 46) about Captain Moroni making the Title of Liberty and I noticed something interesting.

And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. (Alma 46:12)

God, religion, freedom, peace, wives, children.

I wondered if the order that he listed those things was significant and as I thought about it, I realized that it was a priority list.

It’s interesting that peace is placed before family. I wonder if this meant family peace or community peace or national peace. Let’s look at some scriptures about peace and maybe we can figure it out.

And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin… (Mosiah 4:14)

Maybe peace is a higher priority than our families when we have to discipline them and settle fights and teach them things that will bring them peace later.

18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me. (Isaiah 48:18-19)

I don’t think this peace is the kind that is bought by being indulgent. Maybe it means seeking to make peace and upholding the right even if your family has been in the wrong and they are mad at you. I think the peace is the peace of mind that we did our best even when it was hard. I know my mom worked really hard to keep peace between all of us kids and I think she has been rewarded by seeing us eventually becoming good friends with each other. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that if we don’t work for it, our families will go astray from the church and be “cut off”, but which if we do work for it, we receive a special reward:

17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places (Isaiah 32:17-18)

I think it is significant that it says "quietness and assurance for ever" because there are surely parents who agonize over their children who have gone astray even after having been taught and nurtured in the gospel. Remembering the promise of eternal covenants can give some hope and assurance in mortality, and I think the biggest payoff will come on the other side of the veil when restored memories and a bright recollection of all the hard work will bring a sense of satisfaction that will never die.

On the community level, I think the peace is obtained through the difficult labor or forgiveness and turning the other cheek even when our families have been hurt.

18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:18-21)

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalms 119:165)

On the national level, I suppose King Benjamin is a great example of establishing peace among his people with hard, hard work even though they didn’t like his message.

17 For behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people—
18 Wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land. (Words of Mormon 1:17-18)

13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due. (Mosiah 4:13)

…for the public peace and tranquility all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders against good laws to punishment. (D&C 134:8)

Next in Captain Moroni’s list, I notice that freedom is placed before peace. If peace is a higher priority than freedom, eventually you lose freedoms. You have to sacrifice some peace from time to time to keep freedom.

11 We would not shed the blood of our brethren if they would not rise up in rebellion and take the sword against us.
12 We would subject ourselves to the yoke of bondage if it were requisite with the justice of God, or if he should command us so to do.
13 But behold he doth not command us that we shall subject ourselves to our enemies, but that we should put our trust in him, and he will deliver us.
14 Therefore, my beloved brother, Moroni, let us resist evil, and whatsoever evil we cannot resist with our words, yea, such as rebellions and dissensions, let us resist them with our swords, that we may retain our freedom, that we may rejoice in the great privilege of our church, and in the cause of our Redeemer and our God. (Alma 61: 11-14)

It seems to me like it would be really hard to tell the difference between when it would be appropriate to fight for freedom and when it would be appropriate to work for peace. I suppose that’s why the Lord gave Joseph Smith the revelation in D&C 98 about the law of retribution.

Next in Captain Moroni’s list, I notice that religion is placed before freedom. Certainly freedom has to be governed by the moral and ethical structure of religion, otherwise you get an all-rights-no-responsibilities society that implodes on itself eventually. I like how James defines true religion.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)

When living our religion consists of being kind and charitable to those in need and developing the self-control through Christ to resist temptation I would think that certain freedoms would actually increase. Lots of people think that freedom means you can do whatever you want, but there’s another kind of freedom—the freedom of being trusted, which I think is a higher form. That freedom doesn’t come unless we develop that inner control from true religion to the extent that people know they don’t have to be looking over our shoulders all the time. Joseph in Egypt was one of these people who was so trustworthy as Potiphar’s steward that eventually Potiphar didn’t know anything about what he owned because he knew he could leave it to Joseph and not have to worry about a thing. And even though Joseph could have accepted the advances of Potiphar’s wife, he refused because it would be sinful. He had that inner control from his religion.

Back to Captain Moroni’s list. Why is God placed before religion? Because if religion comes even before God Himself, religion is vain, hypocritical, and empty, since traditions of man tend to take over.

…Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:6-9)

Good to remember.

God,
religion,
freedom,
peace,
wives,
children.

Image: "Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty", painting by Arnold Friberg, image from http://broadcast.lds.org/GospelArtBook/images/ArtBook__079_079__CaptainMoroniRaisesTheTitleOfLiberty____.jpg.

Peace, be still.

I’ve always been fascinated by that story of Jesus on the boat calming the storm simply by saying, “Peace, be still.” How amazing that those words could do so much!

I was thinking about it today, thinking about what causes waves and wind. I know that waves on the ocean are caused by the wind blowing over it. The stronger the wind and the longer it blows, the larger the waves get. And winds are caused by areas of high pressure and areas of low pressure in the atmosphere, as areas with lots of heat energy try to dissipate that energy away. Hot air expands as the molecules vibrate more, taking up larger areas and pushing into areas with less heat energy.

In those storms, the air molecules were exerting lots of back and forth pressure on each other and the water beneath, and pushing the waves higher. Each water drop was pushing the water drop next to it, up and down. For all of that to go away, truly everything had to be stilled. The Creator of the earth spoke to the elements and they obeyed.

It’s the Christmas season. How many of our wars and arguments and pushing and shoving could be ended if we listened to that declaration of “Peace on earth, good will toward men” and “Be still and know that I am God”?

Image: Jesus Calms the Storm, by Daniel Bonnel, courtesy of Images of Christ Project, http://www.iocproject.com/gallery/painting.php?sort_mode=title&sku=10049