Moroni 7

Moroni 7

Moroni records more teachings of his father, Mormon. This chapter is loaded with good stuff, but I want to highlight some verses about judging good from evil, and about faith, hope, and charity.

How to judge good from evil:

14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil. 16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

It makes it sound easy and clear-cut, but then in verse 19 it says that ‘ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil’ – this implies that effort is required. It takes careful thought and work to apply this framework to specific influences/opportunities/ideologies/organizations/etc. I don't think these verses are telling us to judge people - that is God's job (thankfully!). 

Then once you put forth the effort to know good from evil, Mormon says to do something about it and to “lay hold upon every good thing,” or basically to make the good things part of your life. And the way you can lay hold on every good thing is through faith in Christ (see vs. 22-25).

This leads to Mormon teaching about the great trifecta of Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Faith, Hope, and Charity: (see verses 25-48)

These 3 traits are inter-connected and build on each other. There are pages and pages that could be said about faith, hope, and charity, but for this post I’ll just give a simple definition for each as a starting point.

FAITH:

“Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” – Alma 32:21

To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The only kind of faith that can be completely relied on is faith in Jesus Christ. We can have complete faith in Him because of his perfect character, power, and love. True faith always leads a person to action.

HOPE:

We usually use the word “hope” as a synonym to “wish.” I hope I don’t miss the train, or I hope I get a new phone for Christmas, or I hope I get a raise at work. But in the scriptures, hope is bigger and more powerful than that.

“Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement.” (I love this definition from the training manual I used as a missionary, called Preach My Gospel, on pg 117.)

CHARITY:

“Charity is the pure love of Christ” - in other words, when the scriptures talk about charity, it means more than giving money to the poor. It means loving people in the way that Christ loves people. It’s the ultimate goal of how and who I want to be, and something to constantly work on.

I love these verses about charity. I have memorized them and try to review them frequently because I seem to always need reminders. If you’re familiar with the New Testament, this will sound a lot like 1 Corinthians 13.

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Charity is so powerful and important… so how do we acquire it? Basically Mormon says to pray your heart out (regularly!) and be a true follower of Jesus.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.

What new things do you learn about faith, hope, or charity in this chapter?

Moroni 1-6

We've made it to Moroni -- the last book in the Book of Mormon!

Moroni didn’t expect to live as long as he did, which is why he gives his “final words” in the book of Ether. But in Moroni 1 he tells us he is still around, so he is going to write a few more things. I can’t imagine what his days were like all alone and hiding, so this probably gave him something meaningful to do to pass the time!

In Chapter 2, Moroni records how Jesus Christ gave the apostles directions for giving someone the Holy Ghost. We believe in my church that the gift of the Holy Ghost is received after baptism (which can be done at age 8 or older when the person is “accountable”), and it must be given by the “laying on of hands” (on the receiver’s head) by men who have authority from Jesus Christ, which is called the priesthood authority. This is what Jesus is teaching/demonstrating in chapter 2.

Chapter 3 contains instructions for how men should designate, or ordain, priests and teachers (which are offices, or levels, in the priesthood order).

Chapters 4 and 5 are important and well-known in the church. These are the prayers, or blessings, said on the sacrament each Sunday before it is passed around to the members of the congregation. Chapter 4 has the blessing on the bread, which represents the body of Jesus Christ, and Chapter 5 is the blessing on the wine (or we actually use water now), which represents the blood of Jesus Christ. Both of these prayers are important reminders each week to those who have been baptized in the church and made a covenant to follow Jesus Christ, because these prayers contain the terms of the covenant. Look closely to see what a person promises to God when they are baptized, and what God promises them in return.

Chapter 6 describes what is required of a person who wants to be baptized. I like these verses that describe the purpose for people going to church back in Moroni’s time, which is the same for us today:

5 And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. 6 And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.

I love going to church. That probably makes me a nerd, but I really do love it. It replenishes and energizes me. I didn’t get to go to church today because I’m home with a 9-day-old baby, and I miss it (but I love snuggling the baby, too, so it's all good!). :) 

Ether 13-15

Ether 13

13 … but great and marvelous were the prophecies of Ether; but they esteemed him as naught, and cast him out; and he hid himself in the cavity of a rock by day, and by night he went forth viewing the things which should come upon the people.14 And as he dwelt in the cavity of a rock he made the remainder of this record, viewing the destructions which came upon the people, by night.

As hard as Ether tried to help the people, and as great as his prophecies were, Moroni tells us that the people rejected him. No one listened, no one changed – including the king, Coriantumr. In this chapter you’ll read how the evil “secret combinations” in the land are fighting against Coriantumr and conspiring men are trying to take the throne from him. Coriantumr isn’t so innocent himself, but Ether delivers a message that God is willing to help him if he will repent.

20 And in the second year the word of the Lord came to Ether, that he should go and prophesy unto Coriantumr that, if he would repent, and all his household, the Lord would give unto him his kingdom and spare the people— 21 Otherwise they should be destroyed, and all his household save it were himself. And he should only live to see the fulfilling of the prophecies which had been spoken concerning another people receiving the land for their inheritance; and Coriantumr should receive a burial by them; and every soul should be destroyed save it were Coriantumr.

Coriantumr doesn’t repent. And battles and wars continue.

Ether 14

Battles continue and the throne passes hands as secret combinations keep murdering the leader, or they die in battle against Coriantumr. Things are getting ugly—really ugly. I have to highlight one particularly bad guy, Shiz. What a name!

17 Now the name of the brother of Lib was called Shiz. And it came to pass that Shiz pursued after Coriantumr, and he did overthrow many cities, and he did slay both women and children, and he did burn the cities. 18 And there went a fear of Shiz throughout all the land; yea, a cry went forth throughout the land—Who can stand before the army of Shiz? Behold, he sweepeth the earth before him!

At this point, all the people in the land begin to gather to one army or another, either the army of Shiz or the army of Corintumr. The war has been so long and so awful that “the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead (v. 21).” And it isn’t over yet.

Ether 15

Too little too late, Coriantumr begins to think about repenting:

1 And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the words which Ether had spoken unto him.2 He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.4 And it came to pass that he wrote an epistle unto Shiz, desiring him that he would spare the people, and he would give up the kingdom for the sake of the lives of the people.

Shiz says he will spare the people only if Coriantumr will give himself up to be slain by Shiz. Coriantumr isn’t that noble, so the war continues.

I look at this situation and shake my head in disbelief. How could anyone be so blind, or stubborn, or foolish?

And yet, how often do people get themselves into miserable, destructive messes despite the warnings and pleadings of God or people who love them? God won’t and can’t force us to be smart or to listen. And Moroni gives us an interesting insight:

19 But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.22 And when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.

We can literally become drunken with our anger, or our stubbornness, or our revenge. And I guess this is a warning to us to soften our hearts and back down before we get so “drunk” on those emotions that we no longer have control or common sense.

And to skip through the awful ending, every last person kills each other off… except Corintumr who is the only man left standing (actually, not standing – he faints with the loss of blood), just as Ether prophesied. And he lives to see a new people come and inherit his land.

Oh, and Ether is still alive too because he has been hiding:

33 And the Lord spake unto Ether, and said unto him: Go forth. And he went forth, and beheld that the words of the Lord had all been fulfilled; and he finished his record; (and the hundredth part I have not written) and he hid them in a manner that the people of Limhi did find them.

I'm sorry about the miserable ending. Personally, I wish it was different. But God wanted us to know about these people and their tragic demise for a reason. What are the important lessons you have gleaned from this history in the Book of Ether?