Lessons from the determination of Samuel the Lamanite and the range of response he received

2 And it came to pass that in this year there was one Samuel, a Lamanite, came into the land of Zarahemla, and began to preach unto the people. And it came to pass that he did preach, many days, repentance unto the people, and they did cast him out, and he was about to return to his own land.
3 But behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart.
4 And it came to pass that they would not suffer that he should enter into the city; therefore he went and got upon the wall thereof, and stretched forth his hand and cried with a loud voice, and prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into his heart. (Helaman 13:2-4)

First of all, I have great respect for Samuel the Lamanite for his obedience and determination to return to preach to the city of Zarahemla when he probably had no idea what he was going to say to them until he actually started talking. I have a really hard time starting any kind of conversation when I don’t know beforehand what I will say.

Second, when Samuel the Lamanite returned and tried to enter Zarahemla and they refused to let him come in, I think it is so amazing that he still worked out a way to make himself heard. He got on the WALL. That wall represented the absolute border of where he was allowed. I think it is so amazing that after being refused entry he didn’t say something like, “Well, I tried. I guess it wasn’t meant to be” and then leave. His determination to deliver a message that he didn’t even know yet is inspiring to me.

This story shows me that I need to have a little more determination to do what I know the Lord wants me to do. I can’t let myself by stymied so easily.

I also think that Samuel the Lamanite is a great metaphor for how the Spirit of the Lord works in our lives. Just as Samuel the Lamanite preached repentance in the city of Zarahemla for many days, the Spirit strives in our hearts with us for a very long time to repent. Just as it was a serious thing that Zarahemla threw Samuel the Lamanite out of the city, it is a serious matter when we quench the Spirit or suppress the power of the Word in our lives. (Something I never want to do.) Though we can cast out the Spirit like the people of Zarahemla threw Samuel out of the city, yet the Spirit can still come to the very doors of our hearts and knock. He can stand on the walls around our heart and plead with us, like Samuel stood on the walls of the city and plead with the people to repent.

It may seem like casting the Spirit out of our hearts once means that we are beyond help, but the end of the story of Samuel the Lamanite shows that there is still a chance for us. After Samuel’s preaching, we see from the story that there was wide range of responses.

1 And now, it came to pass that there were many who heard the words of Samuel, the Lamanite, which he spake upon the walls of the city. And as many as believed on his word went forth and sought for Nephi; and when they had come forth and found him they confessed unto him their sins and denied not, desiring that they might be baptized unto the Lord.
2 But as many as there were who did not believe in the words of Samuel were angry with him; and they cast stones at him upon the wall, and also many shot arrows at him as he stood upon the wall; but the Spirit of the Lord was with him, insomuch that they could not hit him with their stones neither with their arrows.
3 Now when they saw that they could not hit him, there were many more who did believe on his words, insomuch that they went away unto Nephi to be baptized.
4 For behold, Nephi was baptizing, and prophesying, and preaching, crying repentance unto the people, showing signs and wonders, working miracles among the people, that they might know that the Christ must shortly come—
5 Telling them of things which must shortly come, that they might know and remember at the time of their coming that they had been made known unto them beforehand, to the intent that they might believe; therefore as many as believed on the words of Samuel went forth unto him to be baptized, for they came repenting and confessing their sins.
6 But the more part of them did not believe in the words of Samuel; therefore when they saw that they could not hit him with their stones and their arrows, they cried unto their captains, saying: Take this fellow and bind him, for behold he hath a devil; and because of the power of the devil which is in him we cannot hit him with our stones and our arrows; therefore take him and bind him, and away with him.
7 And as they went forth to lay their hands on him, behold, he did cast himself down from the wall, and did flee out of their lands, yea, even unto his own country, and began to preach and to prophesy among his own people. (Helaman 16:1-7)

We see that there were some who believed immediately, and repented. We see there were some who attacked Samuel the Lamanite, and when they saw that their attacks were failing, they believed and repented. And we see that there were those who attacked Samuel, failed to hurt him, and because they failed, they preferred to think that the reason was because Samuel was being upheld by an evil power rather than a good one. (In short, they hardened to the point that good seemed evil to them.)

That there were some who believed and were able to submit themselves again to the influence of the Spirit shows that it is possible to allow the Spirit back in to our hearts. They were able to submit to its gentle invitations and humble themselves to repent.

Success from failure

Today as my husband and I were reading in 1 Nephi 3 about Nephi and his brothers trying to get the brass plates, a thought occurred to me. Nephi found Laban collapsed in drunkenness. Perhaps Laban had been celebrating his sudden windfall of Lehi’s property. Perhaps if Nephi and his brothers hadn’t first lost their property to Laban, Nephi wouldn’t have found him in that vulnerable position.

Perhaps their failures were really setting the stage for success.

Can you think of any other times in the scriptures when that may have been the case? Has there been any time in your life when that might have happened?

Fine Point on Surrender, Lehonti (and Co.) and Their Aversion to War?

About a week ago, my husband and I got in a discussion about a fine point in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon. I noticed that Captain Moroni usually required a covenant not to fight again of those who surrendered to him. My husband and I were unsure whether the covenant was part of the surrender or whether the covenant WAS the surrender. I submitted my question to Morgan Deane, whose excellent blog “Warfare and the Book of Mormon” is devoted to military aspects in the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of background in a wide range of military texts of the world, so I thought that if anyone could answer the question, he could.

Sure enough, I was right. Check out his answer here.

One of his points--rejecting the covenant would result in damnation--suggests to me that breaking the covenant would also result in damnation and causes me to think about the Lamanites who were so anxious to avoid fighting the Nephites. Were those Lamanites led by Lehonti (see Alma 47) some of the soldiers who had previously taken a covenant of peace? If they were, this might explain their extreme reaction to the Lamanite king’s command to get ready to fight again.

Deborah the judge, Barak the timid, and Jael the heroine

1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead.
2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
4 ¶ And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. (Judges 4:1-5)

I remember when I was taking a class on the Old Testament and we got to this story and the teacher made the observation that it really indicates the wickedness of the people when a woman has to judge Israel (keep in mind it was a patriarchal society). I remember marveling at that.

However, today I have second thoughts about that assessment and for this reason--an evil society would be likely to denigrate the authority of a prophet-judge, and even more likely to denigrate the authority of a prophetess-judge, saying something like, “Who made you a judge over us?”

Actually, considering how Israel was being oppressed by Jabin and Sisera, they probably couldn’t count on obtaining justice from them in a court of law run by them. Perhaps the male Israelite judges were exterminated by the Canaanites in order to keep the Israelites in subjection. (After all, judges also did double duty as military leaders.) Deborah may have begun judging Israel privately so that some friends and neighbors didn’t have to risk more injustice from Canaanite judges. The word must have gotten around about her fairness and people began to come to her to settle their disputes. Perhaps her femininity was seen as a perfect disguise. What Canaanite would suspect a woman of being the locus of a judiciary? Like Gideon, who had to thresh grain in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites, the Israelites sought justice from a woman.

And maybe Israel would have rejected Deborah as a judge in the beginning of their backsliding and sinful period, but perhaps they had been humbled enough by Canaanite oppression over the process of time that after 20 years they finally wanted righteous judgment, no matter what the source. Coming to a prophetess for judgment would indicate they begun to turn to God and they were starting on the right track.

6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. (Judges 4:6-8)

I don’t know how many commentators have put down Barak for timidity when he refuses to go up to fight the Canaanites without Deborah at his side. However, I sense that Barak had a far better reason for wanting Deborah with him, and I suspect it stems from her prophetic ability.

We understand that a prophet is one who is intimately acquainted with the Lord and is strongly committed to keeping the commandments. Keeping the commandments qualifies a person to have the Spirit with them. Prophets realize that they must go where the Spirit leads. If they sense that the Spirit has left, that is their cue to leave too.

I think that Barak wanted Deborah with him to be an indicator of what the Lord wanted. If Deborah would not go with him, that would indicate that the Spirit (and the Lord) did not approve of what he was doing. But if she would go with him, that would indicate that the Spirit did approve and the Lord was with him. He knew that a victory was completely contingent upon keeping the Lord on his side.

And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. (Judges 4:9)

(This is one of those stories in which women get to have some of the credit, isn’t it?) Just in case Barak had any intention of using this battle for self-aggrandizement, the Lord nips it in the bud. Perhaps it was also a sort of test of his faithfulness to see if he was willing to go through with it knowing beforehand that he had no prospect of honor and glory.

10 ¶ And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. (Judges 4:10-15)

In these verses we get a bit of a clue as to how the Lord fought for Israel. The Canaanites were at the river when the Lord sent the signal to attack. We also find out that Sisera’s discomfiture caused him to leave his chariots behind and run away on foot. If chariots were the epitome of mobile fighting in that day, then something must have happened to those chariots to make them not so mobile. Perhaps there was a sudden rainstorm that made the ground so muddy that the chariots all got stuck. That might have been all it took to level the playing field to give the Israelites their chance.

16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 ¶ And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. (Judges 4:16-24)

Now, the interesting thing about the end of this story is not just that it was a woman who nailed Sisera. What is even more interesting is that he was assassinated by his allies. Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite. If you look at verse 11 and 12, you’ll see that Heber the Kenite’s people were the ones who told Sisera that Barak was on the move with an army of men. Heber the Kenite and Sisera were allies, so of course Sisera would flee to Heber for protection when the battle went badly. So why did Jael kill Sisera?

I bet that Jael was worried about what the Israelites would do to her and Heber if/when they knew that he had tipped Sisera off. Her family was suddenly in danger, since it was allied with the now losing side. She must have decided that the best way to ensure their survival was to ingratiate them with the Israelites. What better way could there be of doing that than to kill Sisera for them?

Her plan worked, and that is why Jael is considered a heroine, rather than a villainess.

I think the point of this story is that the Lord can save us in ways that we don’t expect.

Something else that occurs to me as a modern application of Israelites seeking for judgment from an unexpected source is that as the world becomes more corrupt, we Latter-day Saints can turn to the priesthood, to the “judges in Israel” to settle disputes and render judgment, and we can encourage others to do so too.

Hard Things First

I was reading today in Alma 52 about how Captain Moroni took back the city of Mulek by strategem.

Afterward, in Alma 53:6, it says this:

And it came to pass that Moroni had thus gained a victory over one of the greatest of the armies of the Lamanites, and had obtained possession of the city of Mulek, which was one of the strongest holds of the Lamanites in the land of Nephi...

I remembered that the city of Mulek was the first city Captain Moroni worked to regain after it had been lost to Amalickiah. And we find out that it was one of the strongest fortified and had one of the largest Lamanite armies in it.

He went for one of the biggest challenges first instead of saving it for last. That really says something about Moroni's character. He was about solving the big problems. He had the determination to face it head-on. He had a lot of help in doing it, but a big and tricky objective was the one he went for first. I wonder what would happen if I made that trait part of my character too? What might I accomplish?

What keeps us from working on the hardest things first? There are probably several reasons. First, we're a little scared. Second, we don’t know how long it will take or how much effort we will have to put in to it, and we probably worry that once we work on that big thing we won’t have time for anything else. Or maybe the task is so nebulous and fuzzy in scope that we are not excited about taking the extra time to look at it and corral it into something more defined.

I really like the way that Captain Moroni approached the challenge of retaking Mulek. He came up with a plan with the help of his staff and took a tag-team approach with each army playing its part. He split the operation into stages—the lure stage, a wild goose chase stage (with a simultaneous city-taking stage) and a fatigue-and-trap stage.

Even if we have a big job to do, we can still make it manageable by breaking it up into stages. And why not pray too to ask Heavenly Father to help?

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.

Considering what wasn’t said

I ran across this verse a few days ago.

So shall he sprinkle many nations;
the kings shall shut their mouths at him:
for that which had not been told them shall they see;
and that which they had not heard shall they consider. (Isaiah 52:15)

It’s one of those verses that has continued to puzzle me. For some reason, this time when I read it, I thought of Christ as he stood before Pilate and Herod.

1 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.
2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it. (Luke 23:1-3)

12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. (Matthew 27:12-14)

4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.
5 And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.
6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.
7 And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.
8 ¶ And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.
10 And the chief priests and ascribes stood and vehemently accused him.
11 And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
12 ¶ And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
13 ¶ And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:
15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him. (Luke 23:4 -16)

15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. (Matthew 27:15-18)

Pilate seems to have gotten an earful from the crowd, and yet he was able to see and consider that what he had heard from the Jews and what he was seeing in Christ were not the same thing. There was nothing that he could say against Christ, so in that respect his mouth was shut.

My hope is that we can live our lives in a way similar to Christ so that when we are accused of evil deeds, those who examine us will see and consider (and recognize) that which they had not heard from others—the truth.

Coping Techniques for Economic Cycles Planned into the Law of Moses

In modern times economists have noted a cycle that seems to occur every so often, about ever three to five years. There is a boom with prosperity and ready money and plenty of employment and good things, and then soon after there is a bust in which there is a surplus of over-production and then many people lose their jobs as it takes a while for the surplus to be used up. Keep this in mind as you read the following:

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. (Leviticus 25:2-7)

20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store. (Leviticus 25: 20-22)

This scripture suggested to me that Heavenly Father was well aware of this cycle and had His own way of handling it and even planned it into the religious observance of His ancient covenant people so that they would think of it not as a bad thing, but as a thing to be planned for and even an opportunity to become closer to the Lord and to increase personal righteousness through exerting faith and demonstrating charity.

I had an interesting realization. We’ve been counseled by the prophets for many many years that we should build up a year’s supply and a financial reserve. It may be that this is not just meant to save us from a sudden cataclysmic event that wipes out farms and transportation systems that bring us our food. It may be that this is how Heavenly Father has provided for us to deal with the boom-bust cycle of the economy so that we can be prepared and not fear during the periodic ups and downs. If we think of it this way, we can see that we need to be saving up and using the boom times to prepare for the bust times that will immediately follow.

Here’s something else I found.

8 ¶ And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
16 According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.
17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God.
18 ¶ Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. (Leviticus 25:8-19)

Not only does it seem that Heavenly Father was aware of economic cycles, but it seems that Heavenly Father was well aware of the tendency for excessive debt to pile up over a few generations and since He is very interested in promoting freedom from bondage of all kinds, He appointed the 49th year as a jubilee with releasing from debts and reverting of lands, giving the downtrodden a fresh start. (There’s more on the specifics of Jubilee in Leviticus 25: 23-55, if you’re curious.)

The Jubilee year was a codified act of slate-clearing to return some equity to the people, since there was a tendency for the poor to get so deep into debt that they couldn’t get out and wealth would become more and more concentrated in the hands of a few. Other ancient nations had the practice of periodically “clearing the slate”, but it was usually at the whim of the ruler. The innovation of the Law of Moses to codify the slate clearing was that it could be planned for and anticipated, thereby being fair to both creditors and debtors. It was highly practical, not utopic.

The promise that the Lord gave for living the law of the Sabbath year and the Jubilee year was:

• the people would dwell in the land safely,
• the land would yield her fruit, and
• the people would eat their fill.
  

That sounds similar to what we’ve been promised for building a year’s supply of food and a financial reserve, doesn’t it?

The Lord wants us to be free to be HIS servants. We can’t fully serve the Lord if we are in debt or bondage. The intent of all of this is to preserve our self-reliance so that we can serve the Lord freely, rather than be serving our debt.

It’s easy to think that a Jubilee is only something of an ancient practice and hasn’t been done it modern times, but I ran across a paragraph in the booklet “Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” on page 96 that said differently:

On 6 April 1880, Church members celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Church. They called it a Jubilee Year, as the ancient Israelites had named every fiftieth year. President Taylor forgave many of the debts owed to the Church by its needy members. The Church also contributed 300 cows and 2,000 sheep to be distributed among its “deserving poor.” The Church’s Relief Society sisters donated almost 35,000 bushels of wheat to those in need. President Taylor also urged Church members to forgive individual debt, especially among the distressed. “It is the time of Jubilee!” he declared. A spirit of forgiveness and joy was strongly felt among the Latter-day Saints.

What do you think? Do you think the Latter-day Saints could do a Jubilee year in the present day?

How are we to understand the word “astonished” in the scriptures?

One of the fun things that has been observed by John Bytheway in his book “Righteous Warriors” and in his Education Week talk* by the same title is that in Book of Mormon you see the use of the word “astonished” to denote surprise. You also see the phrase “exceedingly astonished” and “astonished beyond measure”. The reader, when he or she runs across these phrases, gets the sense of complete and total surprise, that something completely unexpected has happened.

However, I suspected that the word was not being used indiscriminately, but was being used to convey something either good or bad.

I looked “astonish” up in the Topical Guide, but it had very little in the way of references. Most from the Bible, and it had about two from the Book of Mormon, but I knew “astonish” is used far more than two times in the Book of Mormon. I looked in the Index and they didn’t have any entry at all. Finally, I went on the church’s website to the online scriptures and did a search for “astonish”, and I got 76 results. (Actually, there were more than 76 results, because they count multiple instances in the same chapter as one result.)

What I found was that in most cases, when people are astonished in the scriptures, it is not good. It’s bad.

This is different from our modern definition for astonish--“to surprise or impress greatly”-- which is neutral and even positive. But there happens to be a much older meaning for “astonish”. Evidently in the 16th century it conveyed a sense of being stunned, bewildered, and dismayed. That idea of being dismayed is the sense that “astonish” is used for most often in the Book of Mormon.

Let’s look at some examples.

Dismay at wickedness

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;….
19 Now it came to pass that after Alma and his brethren and his sons had heard these prayers, they were astonished beyond all measure. (Alma 31:12,19, emphasis added)

The Zoramite we-are-saved-while-everyone-else-is-damned-and-there-is-no-Christ prayers understandably caused great dismay with Alma and company.

And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers. (3 Nephi 3:11)

We can note that Lachoneus was dismayed by Giddianhi’s demands and threats, but later we see that he is not frightened by them.

Dismay at a different reaction that hoped for

And now when Lamoni had rehearsed unto him all these things, behold, to his astonishment, his father was angry with him, and said: Lamoni, thou art going to deliver these Nephites, who are sons of a liar. Behold, he robbed our fathers; and now his children are also come amongst us that they may, by their cunning and their lyings, deceive us, that they again may rob us of our property. (Alma 20:13)

Undoubtedly Lamoni had hoped for a more favorable reaction from his father to his story.

Suddenly recognizing the hand of the Lord

And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders? (Alma 18:2, emphasis added)

It might be a little difficult to understand how Lamoni might have been dismayed by the faithfulness and power of Ammon, unless we surmise that Lamoni’s idea of the Great Spirit up to that point had probably been something like “If the Great Spirit doesn’t stop me, then whatever I do is right.” He thought Ammon was the Great Spirit come down to right wrongs, which suggested to him that he had somehow done wrong to kill his servants.

And when the multitude had witnessed that he spake these things as he [Sherem] was about to give up the ghost, they were astonished exceedingly; insomuch that the power of God came down upon them, and they were overcome that they fell to the earth. (Jacob 7:21, emphasis added)

Seeing Sherem deny the things he had taught and hearing him express his fear of having an “awful case” would certainly cause dismay in those who had believed him before.

Dismay at being wrong

And now behold, when they saw this they were astonished exceedingly, insomuch that they fell to the earth; for they had not believed the words which Nephi had spoken concerning the chief judge. (Helaman 9:4, emphasis added)

Dismay at seeming disaster

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 19:18)

To all the Lamanites, it must have looked like there was some sort of deadly invisible force had run absolutely amok in the king’s house. Some sort of mysterious massacre.

And behold the people did gather themselves together unto the place of the judgment-seat—and behold, to their astonishment they saw those five men who had fallen to the earth. (Helaman 9:7)

Once again, at first glance it looks like some sort of massacre.

Dismay at preparation

36 But Ammon stood forth and began to cast stones at them with his sling; yea, with mighty power he did sling stones amongst them; and thus he slew a certain number of them insomuch that they began to be astonished at his power; nevertheless they were angry because of the slain of their brethren, and they were determined that he should fall; therefore, seeing that they could not hit him with their stones, they came forth with clubs to slay him.
37 But behold, every man that lifted his club to smite Ammon, he smote off their arms with his sword; for he did withstand their blows by smiting their arms with the edge of his sword, insomuch that they began to be astonished, and began to flee before him; yea, and they were not few in number; and he caused them to flee by the strength of his arm. (Alma 17:36-37, emphasis added)

It’s easy to see how the Lamanites would be dismayed at not being able to overpower Ammon, when it was all of them to only one of him.

8 But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni.
9 And it came to pass that the Lamanites, or the Amalickiahites, were exceedingly astonished at their manner of preparation for war. (Alma 49:8-9)

But behold, to their astonishment, the city of Noah, which had hitherto been a weak place, had now, by the means of Moroni, become strong, yea, even to exceed the strength of the city Ammonihah. (Alma 49:14)

23 And it came to pass that on the morrow they returned into the camp of the Nephites in great haste, being greatly astonished, and struck with much fear, saying:
24 Behold, we followed the camp of the Amlicites, and to our great astonishment, in the land of Minon, above the land of Zarahemla, in the course of the land of Nephi, we saw a numerous host of the Lamanites; and behold, the Amlicites have joined them; (Alma 2:23-24)

Prophecies fulfilled

15 And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came….
17 And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth. (3 Nephi 1:15-17)

Stopped by an angel

18 And now Alma and those that were with him fell again to the earth, for great was their astonishment; for with their own eyes they had beheld an angel of the Lord; and his voice was as thunder, which shook the earth; and they knew that there was nothing save the power of God that could shake the earth and cause it to tremble as though it would part asunder.
19 And now the astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands; therefore he was taken by those that were with him, and carried helpless, even until he was laid before his father. (Mosiah 27:18-19)

Dismayed by words

And they [the priests of Noah] began to question him [Abinadi], that they might cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to accuse him; but he answered them boldly, and withstood all their questions, yea, to their astonishment; for he did withstand them in all their questions, and did confound them in all their words. (Mosiah 12:19)

And now, when Amulek had spoken these words the people began to be astonished, seeing there was amore than one witness who testified of the things whereof they were accused, and also of the things which were to come, according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them. (Alma 10:12)

And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell. (Alma 14:6)

And I will also grant unto thee that thy brethren may be cast out of prison, and thou and thy brethren may come unto me, in my kingdom; for I shall greatly desire to see thee. For the king was greatly astonished at the words which he had spoken, and also at the words which had been spoken by his son Lamoni, therefore he was desirous to learn them. (Alma 20:27, emphasis added)

Lamoni’s father would have been greatly dismayed by the Ammon’s words about being cast off for murdering an innocent man. It is likely that Lamoni’s father had the blood of innocent men on his hands already and hadn’t thought anything of it until Ammon’s words.

Therefore they did speak unto the great astonishment of the Lamanites, to the convincing them, insomuch that there were eight thousand of the Lamanites who were in the land of Zarahemla and round about baptized unto repentance, and were convinced of the wickedness of the traditions of their fathers. (Helaman 5:19, emphasis added)

The doctrine that no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God is probably one of the most dismaying ideas ever.

1 And now behold, it came to pass that all the people of the land did hear these sayings, and did witness of it. And after these sayings there was silence in the land for the space of many hours;
2 For so great was the astonishment of the people that they did cease lamenting and howling for the loss of their kindred which had been slain; therefore there was silence in all the land for the space of many hours. (3 Nephi 10:1-2)

Detected in a crime

And he shall stand with fear, and wist not what to say. And behold, he shall deny unto you; and he shall make as if he were astonished; nevertheless, he shall declare unto you that he is innocent. (Helaman 9:30)

Hard-heartedness

And it came to pass that thus passed away the *ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen— (3 Nephi 2:1)

That is an interesting verse. It suggests that one of the functions of signs and wonders is to astonish (dismay) people so that they become willing to repent.


Now, there are some other cases where it seems that this dismay in the meaning of “astonish” does not make sense because the circumstances seem more positive. However, this is when we find that there are deeper psychological currents that are rising to the surface, and people coming to grips with inner failings they hadn’t known existed.

And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. (1 Nephi 16:10)

Why would Lehi be dismayed by the appearance of the Liahona? If we look at the context of this verse we see why. A little before the above verse, it says that Lehi had fulfilled all the Lord’s commandments thus far. Perhaps Lehi felt that he could live in peace where he was from now on. But no, the Lord has more for Lehi to do—he is told to take his family into the wilderness the next day, and just in case Lehi thinks he was imagining it, the Lord leaves Lehi a tangible gift of guidance. There’s nothing for it but to obey.

And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla. (Alma 17:1)

Why should Alma be dismayed at meeting his buddies again after 14 years? Well, think about it; he’s meeting them at the head of a crowd of Lamanites. No way of just knowing whether they were friendly or not. (With Lamanites, likely it was always safer to assume they were enemies first.) Maybe it looked like his old friends had got together a Lamanite faction to invade the Nephite lands and take over. It is once he starts asking questions that he finds out his buddies are still in the Lord and that the Lamanites with them are converted people.

And when he saw that Ammon had no desire to destroy him, and when he also saw the great love he had for his son Lamoni, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Because this is all that thou hast desired, that I would release thy brethren, and suffer that my son Lamoni should retain his kingdom, behold, I will grant unto you that my son may retain his kingdom from this time and forever; and I will govern him no more— (Alma 20:26, emphasis added)

Why would Lamoni’s father be dismayed to find that Ammon didn’t want to kill him and that Ammon really cared about Lamoni? Because it was taking all of his deep-seated prejudices about Nephites and turning them upside down, which meant Lamoni’s father had been wrong all along. And not just sort of wrong, but totally and completely dead wrong. Being wrong is hard for any of us to take, but it’s got to be even harder for a powerful king to discover he has been so mistaken for so long.

25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. (Alma 57:25-26)

Why should the preservation of the stripling warriors cause dismay among the Nephite army? This one was a poser for me. Maybe.. maybe the stripling warriors had been completely underestimated and looked down upon by the rest of the Nephite army. (“Those little whippersnappers, they’re still wet behind the ears; what good are they ever going to do us in a battle?”) Maybe the Nephite army thought the stripling warriors would suffer the greatest casualties due to their youth and inexperience. And then to find out after battle that none of the stripling warriors had died (though all wounded multiple times) and instead a thousand of the Nephites had died? Humiliating! They would have to realize how powerful faith in God truly was.

And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom. (Alma 15:11)

Why might Zeezrom’s miraculous healing cause dismay? Perhaps the people had pidgeon-holed Zeezrom as an unbeliever and thought his feverish torment a fitting punishment and rejoiced to hear of it. (Perhaps a number of the people were refugees from Ammonihah and knew that Zeezrom had been instrumental in hardening hearts to have the righteous women and children burned.) Hearing of Zeezrom’s miraculous healing would cause dismay if they didn’t want him to be healed. Hopefully it also impressed the lesson upon them that the Lord’s mercy is for EVERYONE that repents.

And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure. (Helaman 3:25)

Why would many blessings cause dismay among high priests and teachers in the church? Sometimes church leaders are so intimately aware with the weaknesses of their people that it can begin to seem to them as if there’s no way for their people to rise above the level at which they struggle so desperately. Then when the miracles of the Lord’s tender mercies occur, and a huge jump in progress happens, the leaders can feel dismay at their own lack of faith. They are humbled.

Conclusion: The word “astonished” can be interpreted as “dismayed” in the Book of Mormon.

*If you want see John Bytheway’s Education Week talk “Righteous Warriors: Lessons from the War Chapters of the Book of Mormon” (which is very entertaining and enlightening), you can find it here. I recommend it for a good Family Home Evening.

Common and Uncommon Types of Believing, Desiring, and Willing

The following is taken from George H. Brimhall’s “Doing Common Things in an Uncommon Way: A study for the Advanced Senior Class M. I. A. 1922-23” in the 1922 Improvement Era, which I found very instructive and enlightening:

Belief is the product of evidence, interest, and will.

There is a psychological truth wrapped up in the saying, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." We are often deceived as to the honesty of our beliefs. We find ourselves believing in the direction of our interests right against evidence, and by applying a little common thinking to our believing we find that interest is the predominating element in some of them.

Three Kinds of Believing

1. Believing with a reasonable doubt. This kind of believing is unfinished and may be called hope-believing, as hope temporarily fills the place of evidence not yet produced. This incomplete believing is unsafe as material upon which to base an important decision. It should always be put on the waiting list as an applicant for a leading role in the drama of our lives. Courts of justice bar it as unfit for any part of a final verdict.

2. Believing with the possibility of a doubt. Here the mind is in a state of unsatisfied certainty. The possibility of error somewhere causes a hesitancy, and shadows of doubt hover in the mind, and we are at the point where we can say, "In all probability this is true, but there is a possibility of its not being true." This form of belief is strong, but not safe for great issues. The possibility of a doubt is a bar to a capital punishment verdict.

3. Believing without the possibility of a doubt. At this point belief is crystalizing into knowledge. Doubt has all vanished; its place has been filled by conviction of its existence. Neither mist nor shadow remains, and one can say, "I cannot doubt in this case." On such a belief only can important issues be safely decided.

Special Fields for Uncommon Believing

1.Believing against immediate interests. It is uncommon for employers to believe that profiteering on the toil of men should be reckoned with, as a form of human enslavement, and it is very uncommon for employees to believe that loafing on the employer's time should be dealt with as down-right dishonesty.

2. Believing in doing what is right and letting the consequences follow. This high grade, uncommon believing is specific; it is not a blanket form of believing, it is a conviction that fits the events of each hour. The person who believes this believes it for himself now. Now, now all the time. Not simply sometime, and for somebody else; he believes it without the possibility of a doubt, i.e., he cannot doubt if he tries.

3. Believing in ourselves in the midst of failure. What this means is wonderfully set forth in Kipling's "If." The whole poem is worth a place in the memory of anyone who believes in doing common things in an uncommon way. When courage dies, we are dead within ourselves. Self encouragement is an indispensable tonic for the stricken soul.

4. Believing in humanity in spite of its weakness. To disbelieve in humanity is to disbelieve in oneself. To doubt that the world is getting better is to show an ignorance of history and a doubt in destiny. It would be difficult to find a group of more disobedient children than that of the first family. (See Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses 5:13-27.) A much larger percent of the inhabitants of the earth are worthy of a place in the ark than was saved in the days of Noah. Where would we find a city containing less than five good people?

5. Believing in God's promises when their fulfilment seems impossible or delayed. Holding the belief in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, made it possible for the Israelites to raise large families. Their belief in the promised gathering has held them intact as a race during the long years of their dispersion while deprived of national existence. Holding to a belief in our blessings is part of holding to the faith.

Counting one's blessings should go farther than remembering those we have, and have had; it should include a faith and a recollection of those officially promised to us. Firmly believing in promises, even if it should not prolong life, will make it fuller and stronger while it lasts.

6. Believing that "virtue is its own reward." We may miss being rewarded for doing good, but we cannot fail to be rewarded by the good we do.

7. Believing that vice is its own penalty. We may evade being punished for our sins, but we cannot escape being punished by them.

8. Believing that heaven-making is better than heaven-hunting. A life of "Here am I, Lord," has much more spiritual enjoyment in it than one of "Where art thou, Lord?"

9. Believing that the only way to ever have peace is to stop preparing for war. Paved roads, good schools, public parks and reclaimed deserts are pathways to heaven. Battleships, big guns, army outfits, are highways to the other place.

Some things I would add are the following:

10. Believing that God is fully aware of everything we do. A person who believes they are under constant examination by a holy Supreme Being will be in constant alertness to be their best self, even when they are completely alone.

11. Believing that God is holy and cannot look on sin with any allowance or approval. A person who believes in God’s complete distaste for sin will seek to repent of all sins committed, will be highly resistant to temptation, will work to avoid situations where there is a high likelihood of difficult temptations being presented, and will seek for a change of heart so that temptations become abhorrent.

Lesson V.—Desiring

What Desiring is and Does

Desiring is the soul's reach for enjoyment, and that reach may be low or common, or it may be uncommon or high. Common desiring leaves us, at many points, on the border line of animality, where man is "sensual, carnal, and devilish." Uncommon desiring lifts us to the borderland of Divinity in fulfilment of the Beatitude (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God). Our desires reveal ourselves to ourselves. A man is as he thinks. A man is as he remembers. A man is as he imagines. A man is as he believes; but more still, a man is as he desires.

A Classification of Desires

Desires may be, as to their origin, placed in three groups:

1. Desires of physical origin.

2. Desires of intellectual origin.

3. Desires of habit origin.

Physical Desires. The desire of physical origin (or body-born) are the natural appetites or cravings for physical preservation, growth and perpetuity. They are good servants but cruel masters. They are capabilities, without which we should cease to live; under which we would live basely, and over which we shall live gloriously.

Intellectual Desires. Desires of intellectual origin include our ambitions for power, position, possession, and condition—the yearnings for the good, the true, and the beautiful, are among the highest desires. As the thinking, remembering, imagining and believing are constantly expanding, the desires of intellectual origin are constantly being modified and multiplied. Every new belief brings with it some modification of an old desire or a newly created one.

Increase of intelligence means extension and elevation of desire.

Habit Desires. All artificial appetites, the desire for company, relatives, associates, and friends, are of this type. The lone man on the island is fittingly made to say, "Society, friendship and love, I long for your charms, but in vain. O, had I the wings of a dove, how soon I would taste you again." The desire for locality comes in this class. So intense is this yearning in some cases that, if not gratified, it causes physical decline and even death. Homesickness is no imaginative ailment. The desire for a return of the good old times is one of habit origin. The desire for recurrence of pleasurable experiences might claim admission into all three of these classes, but habit has the strongest claim upon it. Uncontrolled, it hurts happiness to death, and pursues joy to its destruction.

Controlling our desires. Desiring beyond the law is all too common. Our first step then in control of desire is a mental refusal to desire beyond the law of righteousness. Desiring beyond this law is breaking the Tenth commandment, which contains the psychological essence of the four preceding ones. No one deliberately lies without coveting something. Stealing is always antedated by an unlawful desire. To desire sex relationship out of wedlock is mentally robbing someone of chastity.

Some Uncommon Desiring

1. Desiring to have righteous desires. Upon this desire is based the possibility of meriting the promises in the Beatitude, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

2. Desiring the power to control our desires. This desire is one of the ascending steps toward the rank of greatness. (See Proverbs 16:32.)

3. Desiring for faith. The faith that brings with it the comfort depicted in the 23rd Psalm; the faith that brings the assurance expressed in Job 19:25; the faith that enabled a veteran Latter-day Saint always to say in the face of seeming unfairness and dark misunderstandings, "God is just, and 'Mormonism' is true."

4. Desiring to serve. (a) To serve God by yielding to him the obedience of confidence, as did the first man after the Fall. (See Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses 5:6). (b) To serve humanity by helping persons and institutions with kind words and courageous work.

5. Desiring that other peoples' joys may be equal to those I enjoy. That they may have just as good possessions, just as much popularity, just as good opportunities, just as good everything, as I have.

6. Desiring to do common things in an uncommon way. Desire to make the self uncommon where it is common, by being at one's best and doing one's best.


Lesson VI—Willing

Explanation and Definition

The word willing in this lesson is not a participle, it is a verb. It means something more than assent or acquiescence, or compliance. It means striking and holding to some purpose. It is more than purpose, it is purpose plus determination to execute or accomplish. It is the self, or I, commanding or directing the self as me. When one says "I will," it is equivalent to saying to himself, "you shall."

Willing is free agency in action.

Some Common Forms of Willing

1. Willing with an impulse. This is a method which characterizes an explosive will. Like the "hasty spark" that calls it forth, explosive willing is short lived. The explosive will never hesitates. It calls into lines the executive forces either to help, hinder, or hurt, on dangerously short notice. It waits not upon deliberation, but rushes off at the call of snap judgment. Willing from impulse is uneconomic as it wastes times and energy by making retraction and reparations unreasonably necessary.

2. Willing without a sense of responsibility. This is careless willing—a sort of half-hearted determination. The expression, "I guess I'll do it," has behind it this state of mind, it indicates mental flabbiness.

3. Willing with an interest. There is a kind of common willing that is wed to some special interest, in which case real will is only fifty percent of the procedure. The sentence, "I will do it just because I want to", expresses the state of mind in this kind of willing.

4. Willing with a habit. When a person can give no other explanation for a choice of action than that he is in the habit of it, it is plain that he willed with a habit, that the habit has him instead of his having the habit.

5. Willing with the crowd. Who has not had the I-will-if-you-will state of mind. This is a sort of social willing, lacking in courage. It is a kind of mental leaning on the other fellow. In it there is a lack of erectness and self-rootedness that marks a strong character.

6. Willing for convenience. This form of willing is little more than wishing. It may contain intention, but real determination is absent. Persons with wills of convenience will pay a debt if the bill is presented just when they have plenty of money, but at no other time, unless compelled. They will keep a promise if something does not make it inconvenient to do so. They are partly weak and partly wicked.

7. Willing against belief. This kind of selfish willing is not only common or low grade, it is contemptible. It is a form of self treason. One who does it needs reminding that " a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand." Self confidence is impossible where willing belief is permitted, though there may be in evidence as a substitute an abundance of self conceit.

This is the kind of willing that says, “I don’t believe in it, but I’ll do it.”

Uncommon Willing

1. Willing to claim no privileges at the expense of the rights of others.

Are you willing to be fair, even though you could get ahead by taking advantage of others?

2. Willing to subordinate one's will to a superior will. The very highest kind of free agency is the agency that can subordinate itself with light and love and liberty.

This one was very helpful to me. There is always the Christian challenge of saying, “Not my will, but thine be done.” And by “superior will”, I don’t think Brimhall means the more forceful or more charismatic will, but the most righteous will.

3. Willing against material interests. A hotel keeper in California said, "I will vote for prohibition because I believe in it, though I know it will cut down my patronage one-half." This was a case of willing against material interests and revealed a character that lived above self-bribery.

4. Willing to fight doubt and foster belief; my belief in myself, in my fellowmen and in God. A resolution full of determination in this direction clears the way for the high and safe standing of one among his fellows and puts one in line for election to the favor of God. (See Compendium Gems, page 269).

This is resistance to the soul-shrink that comes of entertaining doubts. Though we might have questions that could cast doubt, we refuse to feed those doubts and instead seek for more information and experiences that can confirm beliefs with certainty, or replace false beliefs with truth.

5. Willing in the direction of honoring, sustaining, and obeying the law. We honor the law when we speak well of it. We obey the law when we conform to its provisions, we sustain the law when we advocate and help its enforcement.

6. Willing to overcome evil with good. (a) In the inner world by talking good thoughts when evil ones intrude, by recollecting the pleasant when unpleasant memories come, by turning to ideals in the presence of evil imaginations, by getting rid of doubt through business with belief, by escaping low desires then fleeing to high ones.

(b) In the outer world, by turning away wrath with a soft answer, by smiling when things go wrong, by acting bravely when seized by fear, by giving more than half way to make peace with an enemy.

7. Willing to do less common willing and more uncommon willing. Of all mental operations, willing is the greatest. It is the apex action of the mind. The person of strong willing has the consciousness of being in the care and under the supervision of something safe.

Isn't this great stuff? What an insight on the formation of character! I found the part about "will" especially helpful. It showed me that in many ways my will was weaker and more common than I thought and that I needed to develop it more.