Nothing to hinder prosperity but transgression

Once the Nephites had dealt with the threat from the Gadianton robbers, there is an indication that they had major societal reforms.

4 And they began again to prosper and to wax great; and the twenty and sixth and seventh years passed away, and there was great order in the land; and they had formed their laws according to equity and justice.

5 And now there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually, except they should fall into transgression. (3 Nephi 6:4-5)

I really wish I knew in what ways they had great order in the land. Did they organize the use of natural resources so there wasn’t any fights over that? Did they make sure everyone knew the laws so everyone had realistic expectations of their rights and privileges so no one infringed on others?  Did they have societal goals and go about to meet them in an orderly manner?  Did people act orderly without pushing through lines or getting in fights? Did families form properly and in the right way?

It’s hard to know exactly what “great order” means, but at the same time it is broad enough to encompass a bunch of different types of orderliness at every level of society. I guess it can encourage us to try to imagine what great order looks like on a family level, on a community level, on a church level, on an employment level, on an industry level, on a regional, state, and national level.  It also encourages us to imagine what laws on each of those levels helped create that order.

The other impressive thing it says is that nothing could stop them from prospering continually except their own transgression.    Sigh. That’s always the rub, isn’t it? Humanity is astonishingly skillful at self-sabotage. When things get too easy, we tend to forget our blessings, forget to be diligent, forget the Lord, and look for shortcuts. Then we fall and land ourselves in trouble again.

Because of the great order in society, it bred a condition in which there were many merchants, lawyers, and officers in the land. (3 Nephi 6:11)  The prosperity meant there was plenty of surplus with which to buy things, so supply multiplied to meet the demand. Hence the many merchants.  There were still disputes, but solving it in an orderly way meant an increase in demand for advocates and experts in law. Hence the many lawyers.  And keeping order tends to require checkpoints, gate-keeping, bureaucracy, lines, waiting, etc., which helps people know what to expect and when and how, but that would require a great number of officers to oversee. Which is helpful, but progress can seem too slow with all that, and the human mind will then begin to fantasize about breaking the order to get what one wants faster and easier.

My conclusion is that it takes good, patient people to maintain that order over a long time.  It’s also lovely that we have Mormon’s assessment that with just and equitable laws it is only transgression that hinders us from prospering.

Characteristics of the Zoramite errors

12 Now, when they had come into the land, behold, to their astonishment they found that the Zoramites had built synagogues, and that they did gather themselves together on one day of the week, which day they did call the day of the Lord; and they did worship after a manner which Alma and his brethren had never beheld;

13 For they had a place built up in the center of their synagogue, a place for standing, which was high above the head; and the top thereof would only admit one person.

14 Therefore, whosoever desired to worship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof, and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice, saying:

15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.

16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ.

17 But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.

18 And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen. . . .

20 For behold, every man did go forth and offer up these same prayers.

(Alma 31:12-18, 20)

Reading through what Alma and his posse observed about the Zoramites, it is interesting to note that he recorded what he saw and even recorded one of their prayers.  (Then, in contrast, we get one of Alma’s prayers too.)

I noticed that in the Zoramite prayer there were seven instances of the word holy or holiness. So the Zoramites were obsessed with holy status, but their manner of going about it was misguided.

The Zoramites believed God had separated them from their brethren. However, elsewhere it is noted that they had separated themselves (Alma 30:59), they had dissented from the Nephites (Alma 31:8), and they had gathered themselves together (Alma 31:3). They separated themselves. Just gathering together does make a people holy.

They believed they had been elected by God to be his holy children. Yet election does not make a people holy.

They took pride in not being led away after the foolish traditions of their fathers that, in their words, bound them down to a belief in Christ. It is possible that this began out of criticism of the many rules of the Law of Moses and they believed those things could be dispensed with, since it says elsewhere they would not keep the commandments in the Law of Moses (Alma 31:9).  It is particularly interesting that they saw the commandments they would not keep as instruments for building anticipation of Christ and they rejected that too. Even apostates had been taught these things were types of Christ.

They met at church and thanked God weekly for their favored status, but sadly, Sabbath observance and worship does not indicate holiness.

I have to call attention again to the fact that they did not believe in Christ and instead claimed some sort of revelation that there would be no Christ. The problem with not believing in Christ is that if no Christ, then there is no belief in redemption for sin, so one remains in one’s sins. To remain in one’s sins while claiming to be holy and denying the means of redemption from sins pretty much guarantees a person is spiritually stuck. Damned, if you will.  Further, if one does not believe in redemption, to claim one is elected and holy and all others would perish is contradictory.  All this causes us to wonder what they thought their favored status was based on, if not salvation from sin.

It is possible they had some sort of prosperity gospel, teaching that prosperity and riches meant they were favored of God. This would account for their preoccupation with their wealth, their pride, their boasting, and also the way the richer, popular part of the people despised the poor and cast them out of the synagogues. It would also explain why the priests participated in the expulsions too.

A prosperity gospel might explain why the Zoramites were so incensed when the anti-Nephi-Lehis took in the poor converted Zoramites. To them, all others besides themselves would perish and become destitute. Thus, when the poor converted Zoramites were helped, this flew directly in the face of their beliefs—poor Zoramites outside Antionah were finding prosperity!  Shocking! Horrible!   This could not be tolerated; it was open mockery of the Zoramite holy election, so it had to be stamped out. Thus the armies were called up.

I think it is important to know about Zoramite beliefs and practices because we may slip into them today. We may think our separateness is part of our holiness, but if it isn’t accompanied by belief in Christ as the Redeemer, obedience to the commandments, daily prayer to resist temptation, and charity to others, we are not holy at all. We’re just fooling ourselves. Without those things, our religion degenerates into a prosperity gospel in which we think we are favored if we are in prosperous circumstances and think others are condemned because they struggle financially.

How the Nephites Prosper While Avoiding Pride, Alma 62:48-51

48 And the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land, and began to multiply and to wax exceedingly strong again in the land. And they began to grow exceedingly rich.

49 But notwithstanding their riches, or their strength, or their prosperity, they were not lifted up in the pride of their eyes; neither were they slow to remember the Lord their God; but they did humble themselves exceedingly before him.

50 Yea, they did remember how great things the Lord had done for them, that he had delivered them from death, and from bonds, and from prisons, and from all manner of afflictions, and he had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies.

51 And they did pray unto the Lord their God continually, insomuch that the Lord did bless them, according to his word, so that they did wax strong and prosper in the land. (Alma 62:48-51)

This block of verses is one of the happiest in the Book of Mormon (excluding the bliss of 4 Nephi) because the Nephites manage to wax strong, prosper, and grow rich without being lifted up in pride.  How is this extraordinary state achieved?!  This is like the holy grail of Mormondom, next to Zion itself, yes?

We get a clue in two things that are mentioned.

First, they were not slow to remember the Lord.  They remembered all the great things God had done for them in preserving their lives, and they remembered He had delivered them out of their afflictions—from death, from imprisonment, from their enemies, etc.

Consider that this comes at the end of a long period of war with the Lamanites in which a good portion of the population was captured, imprisoned, perhaps enslaved, and subjected by Lamanite armies.  Whole cities were captive and during this difficult period it seems that they mustered great faith they would be delivered.  (They wouldn’t remember the Lord’s deliverance if they hadn’t first given Him credit for it, and they wouldn’t have given credit for it if they hadn’t pleaded for it in prayer many times during captivity.)  In the war chapters the perspective we read of most often is that of the Nephite liberators, but these verses above speak of another perspective—that of the captives and how they bore with the occupation of their lands by the enemy.  (Perhaps they kept their hope alive by remembering the deliverance of Limhi and Alma the Elder from two generations ago?)

Think of how the Nephite victories that set them free would have strengthened their faith in God.  Can you imagine them saying to each other, “At last!  Freedom!  We prayed for this day and it has come!  The Lord hears us and knows us!”  Can you imagine the celebrations?

When a large percentage of the population has direct experience with divine deliverance from affliction and danger and persists in remembering the Lord, think how that plays out across all the millions of relationships and interactions.  (I’m sure that this careful remembering is what the Lord wants for all of us today.. we see it in the purpose of the sacrament.)

Second, we are told that they did pray unto the Lord continually.  I suppose that this was not a practice they picked up when everything straightened out again; rather it was the way they coped during their afflictions and they refused to abandon it.  What a neat thing that so many people kept up a constant conversation with the Lord throughout the day. 

Once again, this reminds me that I need to pray much more often.  I think one of the main ideas that pulls me away from prayer is that I think I have to learn to be more self-reliant and try to do things myself..  But that’s so silly!  Here we are on earth to be tested and I know that I can’t escape sin on my own or become like Christ without being changed (which requires His help), so I NEED to pray!  

I love the example that the Nephites set here with their careful memory of divine deliverance and their constant prayer.  Just think what our wards could be like if we followed it.  Or our society.  (Sigh)

Today let’s try to pray continually over all our afflictions and even joys.  Let’s see how many days we can keep it up.

Reflections on Lukewarm Laodicean Saints, Rev 3:14-18

I read these verses recently and something seemed to hit home for me.  They contain words John heard in a vision of Jesus Christ, who spoke messages to the Saints in Laodicea. 

14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (Rev. 3:14-18)

First, let’s look at verses 15-16.  We usually interpret these verses to mean that the Lord prefers us to be either for Him or against Him, but that He can’t stand our apathy.  But if we think more carefully, we see that this interpretation doesn’t quite work because it doesn’t make sense for Jesus to want someone to be a “cold” enemy.  He wants all to come to Him.  So we have to ask, “Why do both hot and cold seem to be preferable to lukewarm?” 

I got a little bit of a clue from Keith Krell’s online article at Bible.org called “How to Make Jesus Sick (Revelation 3:14-22).” (Kind of an off-putting title, but the article is good.)  In it he suggested that in these verses both cold and hot were positive terms for drink temperatures.  This made sense to me.  Both hot and cold drinks are helpful to us at different times.  Cold drinks are lovely when we have worked up a sweat and need to cool down, while hot drinks (hot chocolate, anyone?) are wonderful when we are cold and we need to raise our core body temperature.  Cold drinks refresh, and hot drinks warm. This suggests that there are “cold saints” and “hot saints” and that both are good. 

Okay, so how could “cold saints” be refreshing?  Well, when we are worried, busy, and wrought up, a “cold saint” is one of those serene people who would calm us down, help us understand that things will work out for the best, and remind us that Heavenly Father will help.  On the other side, when we are reluctant and sluggish, a “hot saint” is one that encourages us, reminds us of our duty and great privileges, who warms us to life and action, and helps us catch the fire again.  When we look at it this way, it is obvious we need both types of saints for the particular good they can do at the right moment! 

A lukewarm saint, however, is useless for either need because they are not enough of either.  They don’t have enough serenity to calm and reassure others, nor do they have enough warmth and passion to encourage and motivate.  We would do well to see where we fall on the continuum of hot and cold.

Okay.  What else did Jesus say to the Laodiceans?  It is clear that he sees their true situation and He also knows how they see their situation.  The two are polar opposites.  

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (v17)

The Laodiceans seem to think that things can’t get any better—they have wealth, they have plenty of goods, and they don’t need anything more from life.  But Jesus knows it is a showy sham.  He applies five adjectives to describe them:

1.     Wetched – of poor quality or condition, very unhappy, morally reprehensible, deserving or inciting pity, having physical misery

2.     Miserable—very unhappy or uncomfortable, of the most contemptible kind, contemptibly small in amount.

3.     Poor—having little money or few possessions

4.     Blind—unable to see, unable or unwilling to perceive and understand

5.     Naked—unclothed, without protecting or concealing cover

I suspect that “poor” was meant to refer to the size of their store of treasures in heaven, that “blind” meant they couldn’t see their own condition for the tragedy it was, and that “naked” meant that their sins were obvious, had not been repented of, and thus had not been covered by the Atonement.

I have to say here that if we’re in comfortable circumstances, it is very easy to become like the Laodiceans.  And even if we’re not in a cushy place, that cushy ideal is a big part of the programming in our societal messages, the place we aim for.  Can we imagine ourselves rejecting that ideal?  I wish I could say that I was independent of it, but I sadly, I realize that it is part of me to the extent that when I try to imagine myself without it, I feel odd, a bit unmoored and at sea.

To remedy the situation, Jesus counsels the saints of Laodicea to buy from Him (and He is the only source) the following:

·      “gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich” – If Jesus is the only source of this gold, then it is highly symbolic, referring to the refinement of the soul. Through this expression we learn the principle that the refining of our soul through trials is what makes us rich.  These are the kinds of riches that can’t be stolen.

·      “white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear”—The white clothing is purity and we buy it from Christ through repentance and then He covers our sins.

·      “anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see”—Jesus wants to heal our perspective so we can see the spiritual realities of life.

If we notice, the counsel Jesus gives is meant to address the three conditions of “poor,” “blind,” and “naked.”   I imagine the conditions of misery and wretchedness would naturally take care of itself.

It seems to me that the remedies Jesus lists have to be done in a certain order.  First the eyesalve so we can see our status for what it really is, then the white clothing as we repent, and then the gold tried in the fire, as we become better through our trials. 

At bottom, Jesus used a different standard to measure the Loadiceans’ lives from the one they used for themselves, and His standard was based on different priorities from the world.  To the Laodiceans, the ideal was wealth, security, and needing nothing.  To Christ, the ideal was to be refined by trials and purified while keeping an eternal perspective. 

In what ways can we reach more toward Christ's standard?  I think paying tithing and fast offerings is one way that we demonstrate that; can you think of any other things?