Quotes of the Week:
One thing we should remember is that the Lord does not punish us for our sins. He simply withholds his blessings and we punish ourselves.
--Theodore M. Burton, "The Meaning of Repentance," BYU Devotional, 3/26/85
Alma bluntly told his wayward son that "repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment." The punishment may, for the most part, consist of the torment we inflict upon ourselves. It may be the loss of privilege or progress. . . . We are punished by our sins, if not for them.
--Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, 11/95, 19
Further Reading:
Elaine S. Dalton, "A Return to Virtue", Ensign, Nov. 2008, 78–80Robert D. Hales, "Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship", Ensign, Nov. 2008, 72–75
Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because of Your Faith", Ensign, Nov. 2010, 6–8
Howard W. Hunter, "No Less Serviceable," Ensign, 4/92, 64
Boyd K. Packer, "“I Will Remember Your Sins No More”", Ensign, May 2006, 25–28
Eugene England, "Moroni and His Captains: Men of Peace in a Time of War", Ensign, Sept. 1977, 29
Handouts:
Alma 40:8--Measures of Time
Gerald Lund, as quoted in First Nephi, the Doctrinal Foundation, p. 158-59Abraham was told that one revolution (or day) on Kolob equals a thousand of our years (Abraham 3:4). If one were to carry the ratio down to smaller units of time we see some interesting implications.
Kolob Time Earth Time
1 day 1,000 years
1 hour 41.67 years
1 minute 253 days
1 second 4.22 days
.25 second 1.1 days
.01 second 1 hour
Think of the implications of that. While a person on Kolob takes a two-hour nap, a person on Earth is born, lives to the age of eighty and dies before the other awakens. One blink on the part of a Kolobian and he misses one whole day of ours.
Alma 40:11-15--The Soul between Death and Resurrection
Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 376When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world. Are you going into Abraham's bosom? No, not nigh there but into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do. Do the both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the sun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No, they do not. They are brought forth upon this earth.
Brigham Young, as cited in Unlocking the Book of Mormon, p. 309
Many wonder where people go after death. In other words, where is the world of spirits? It is here right now . . . It is incorporated within this celestial system. Can you see it with your natural eyes? No. Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the servant of Elijah. If the Lord would permit it, and it was his will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes.
Alma 42:, 16--The Great Plan of Happiness
Neal A. Maxwell, CR, 4/84, 29-30The plan cannot bring true happiness to anyone whose life is grossly inconsistent with its standards. . . . It has no place of honor for one too concerned with losing his place in the secular synagogue.
Alma 42:11-31--Laws of Justice and Mercy
Book of Mormon Student Manual, p. 230The two aspects of justice:
1. Obedience to law results in blessings that bring joy.
2. Disobedience to law results in punishments that bring sorrow.
The two ways to satisfy justice:
1. Never violate the law.
2. If you do violate the law, pay the penalty.
Problem: No flesh is justified by the law; everyone has sinned. Thus, a penalty must be paid.
Two effects of sin:
1. By temporal law we are cut off--justice is violated.
2. By spiritual law we perish.
Christ initiated the law of mercy.
1. He kept the law perfectly and was without sin. He was justified by the law.
2. In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, He suffered and paid the price for the penalty as though He was guilty of every sin ever committed.
3. He is our advocate with the Father.
J. Reuben Clark, CR, 9/30/55, p. 24
I believe that our Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his children. I do not think he intends to shut any of us off because of some slight transgression, some slight failure to observe some rule or regulation. . . . I believe that in his justice and mercy, he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.
C.S. Lewis, "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," as quoted in Neal A. Maxwell, One More Strain of Praise, p. 8
Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful. That is the important paradox. As there are plants which flourish only in mountain soil, so it appears that Mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of Justice.
Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, 5/00, 255
Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone to help us.
And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended save there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption.
Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untempered, unsympathetic, must, positively fall on us. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted from us to the uttermost farthing.
But know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator.
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (I Tim. 2:5)
Through Him, mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice.
This truth is the very root of Church doctrine.
The extension of mercy will not be automatic. It will be through covenant with Him. It will be on His terms, His generous terms, which include, as an absolute essential, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.
All mankind can be protected by the law of justice, and at once each of us individually may be extended the redeeming and healing blessing of mercy.
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
And whatever he did, he always fell back onto this paradox at the core of his thought. To remain in paradise and become a demon! To re-enter hell and become an angel! (p. 235)It's a pity the law doesn't allow me to be merciful.
"The bishop approached him and said, in a low voice, 'Do not forget, ever, that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.' Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of any such promise, stood dumbfounded. The bishop had stressed these words as he spoke them. He continued solemnly, 'Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!" (105-6)
"The book the reader has now before his eyes - from one end to the other; in its whole and in its details, whatever the omissions, the exceptions, or the faults - is the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God. Starting point: matter; goal: the soul. Hydra at the beginning, angel at the end." (1242)
Alma 42:29--Guilt and Repentance
Philip Allred, The Book of Mormon: The Foundation of Our Faith, 26Guilt should lead to repentance. Unfortunately, guilt can be like a two-edged sword--functional or dysfunctional. Satan can pervert this divine tool by tempting the sinner to become discouraged rather than motivated. . . . Guilt, as a divinely designed consequence of sin, is meant to impel individuals to come unto Christ and repent.
Jeffrey R. Holland, The Book of Mormon: It Begins with a Family, p. 96-97
To me, none of the many approaches to teaching repentance falls more short than the well-intentioned suggestion that "although a nail may be removed from a wooden post, there will forever be a hole in that post."
We know that repentance (the removal of that nail, if you will) can be a very long and painful and difficult task. . . . But where repentance is possible, and its requirements are faithfully pursued and completed, there is no "hole left in the post" for the bold reason that it is no longer the same post. It is a new post. We can start again, utterly clean, with a new will and a new way of life.
Captain Moroni--Our Superhero
Book of Mormon Student Manual, p. 249Captain Moroni blended his good judgment with his obedience to God's counsel.
Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, 188
This man was a brilliant military commander, and he rose to be supreme commander of all the Nephite forces at the age of twenty-five. For the next fourteen years hew as off to the wars continuously except for two very short periods of peace during which he worked feverishly at reinforcing the Nephite defenses. When peace finally came, he was thirty-nine years old, and the story goes that at the age of forty-three he died. Sometime before this he had given the chief command of the armies of the Nephites to his son Moronihah. Now, if he had a son, he had a wife. I've often wondered where she was and how she fared during those fourteen years of almost continuous warfare, and how she felt to have him die so soon after coming home. I am sure there are many, many stories of patience and sacrifice that have never been told.
Joe J. Christensen, Heroes from the Book of Mormon, p. 133
It is of interest to note that approximately one out of every ten pages of the Book of Mormon deals with the loife and times of Captain Moroni, . . . Given the number of people and events described in the Nephite writings, have you ever wondered why so much of what we have in the Book of Mormon is dedicated to this individual and the experiences that surrounded his life?
Apparently, the prophet Mormon had many of the Nephite records available to him from which he made his abridgement. With divine guidance he selected and included those portions of the records that would be most valuable to us in our day. What are the messages from Captain Moroni and his time that have applicability to us at the present time?
First, in Captain Moroni we are provided with an authentic hero. . . .
Our young people today need heroes who go beyond the popular musicians, comedians, great athletes, the rich, and the famous. They . . . need to know of people like Captain Moroni, whose influence will live long after the applause of those who are currently popular has faded away.
H. Dean Garrett, as quoted in Studies in Scripture, 70
In Alma 1-42, Mormon emphasized priestcraft, materialism, social-economic inequality, and other social problems. This period is followed in Alma 43-63 by a period of war and civil disruptions. This dissension led to a corruption of civil government (Helaman) and to the eventual collapse of the government. At this point, the Savior visited the people.
A similar pattern of social problems, priestcrafts, materialism, wars, government corruption, and disrupted life is prophesied for the last days leading to the Savior's Second Coming (see D&C 45:16-48; D&C 87; Mormon 8:26-41). As indicated, Mormon and his successor, Moroni, saw our day (see Mormon 8:27-31 and took from the history and prophecies of the Nephites those events that would best help the readers of their record in the day in which it would come forth.
Alma 46:9--The Power of One
Harold G. Hillam, Ensign, 5/05, 32, quoting a talk given by a young mother at a stake conference"My great-grandfather left church one Sunday with his family, and they never returned--no indication why.
"In my research, I have found that my great-grandfather has over 1,000 descendants.
"Of those 1,000 descendants, I am the only one active in the Church today."
As she said these words, I found myself thinking, Is it only 1,000, or could it be more?
The answer is apparent. The spiritual influence that family might have had on their neighbors and friends did not happen. None of his sons nor any of his daughters served as missionaries, and those they would have touched with their testimonies were not baptized, and those were not baptized did not go on missions. Yes, there are probably many thousands who are non in the Church today, and not in this very meeting, because of that great-grandfather's decision.
As I heard her talk, I found myself thinking, What a tragedy!
Alma 46:10--On Liberty and Agency
Ezra Taft Benson, as cited in Unlocking the Book of Mormon, p. 322The war in heaven over free agency is now being waged here on earth. . . .
Moroni raised a title of liberty and wrote upon it these words: "in memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." Why didn't he write upon it "Just live your religion; there's no need to concern yourselves about your freedom, your peace, your wives, or your children"? The reason he didn't do this was because all these things were a part of his religion, as they are of our religion today. . . .
Our stand for freedom is a most basic part of our religion; this stand helped get us to this earth, and our reaction to freedom in this life will have eternal consequences. Man has many duties, but he has no excuse that can compensate for his loss of liberty.
Abraham Lincoln, as cited in Unlocking the Book of Mormon, p. 323
I believe in God, the Almighty Ruler of nations, our great and good merciful Maker, our Father in heaven, who notes the fall of a sparrow and numbers the hairs on our heads. I recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proved by all history that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. I believe that the will of God prevails. Without him, all human reliance is vain. With that assistance I cannot fall. I have a solemn vow registered in heaven to finish the work I am in, in full view of my responsibility to God, with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives me to see the right.
Alma 46:23-27--Lost Prophecy of Joseph's Coat
Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, p. 121We are told that there was a prophecy in the destruction of the coat of many colors worn by Joseph. Part of it was preserved, and Jacob, before his death, prophesied that as a remnant of the coat was preserved so should a remnant of Joseph's posterity be preserved.
That remnant now found among the Lamanites shall eventually partake of the blessings of the Gospel. They shall unite with the remnant which is being gathered from among the nations and they shall be blessed of the Lord forever.
Alma 47:11-18--Lehonti and Contention
Robert D. Hales, "Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship", Ensign, Nov. 2008, 72–75In the Book of Mormon, we read about Lehonti and his men camped upon a mount. The traitorous Amalickiah urged Lehonti to “come down” and meet him in the valley. But when Lehonti left the high ground, he was poisoned “by degrees” until he died, and his army fell into Amalickiah’s hands (see Alma 47). By arguments and accusations, some people bait us to leave the high ground. The high ground is where the light is. It’s where we see the first light of morning and the last light in the evening. It is the safe ground. It is true and where knowledge is. Sometimes others want us to come down off the high ground and join them in a theological scrum in the mud. These few contentious individuals are set on picking religious fights, online or in person. We are always better staying on the higher ground of mutual respect and love.
Lehonti and "by Degrees"
Elaine S. Dalton, "A Return to Virtue", Ensign, Nov. 2008, 78–80. . . having embraced Amalickiah’s false promises, Lehonti was “poison[ed] by degrees” until he died. Not just poisoned, but “by degrees.” Could it be that this may be happening today? Could it be that first we tolerate, then accept, and eventually embrace the vice that surrounds us? Could it be that we have been deceived by false role models and persuasive media messages that cause us to forget our divine identity? Are we too being poisoned by degrees? What could be more deceptive than to entice the youth of this noble generation to do nothing or to be busy ever-texting but never coming to a knowledge of the truths contained in a book that was written for you and your day by prophets of God—the Book of Mormon? What could be more deceptive than to entice women, young and old, you and me, to be so involved in ourselves, our looks, our clothes, our body shape and size that we lose sight of our divine identity and our ability to change the world through our virtuous influence? What could be more deceptive than to entice men—young and old, holding the holy priesthood of God—to view seductive pornography and thus focus on flesh instead of faith, to be consumers of vice rather than guardians of virtue?
Alma 47:36--Dissention and Contention
Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, 11/01, 72There are times when we must stand up for right and decency, for freedom and civilization, just as Moroni rallied his people in his day to the defense of their wives, their children, and the cause of liberty.
Ezra Taft Benson, Annual Boy Scouts Banquet, Commerce, Texas, 5/13/68
I do not believe the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. I do not think our civilization will die that way. I think it will die when we no longer care--when the spiritual forces that make us wish to be right and noble die in the hearts of men.
Alma 48:18--Heroes
Book of Mormon Student ManualFind encouragement in the lives of Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah. They were tragically wicked. Yet their full repentance and service qualified them to be considered as noble as righteous Captain Moroni.
Alma 48:14-16--Justified to go to War
David O. McKay, CR, 4/42, 72There are, however, two conditions which may justify a truly Christian man to enter--mind you, I say enter, not begin--a war: (1) An attempt to dominate and to deprive another of his free agency, and (2) Loyalty to his country. Possibly there is a third, viz., Defense of a weak nation that is being unjustly crushed by a strong, ruthless one.
Alma 48:19--No Less Serviceable
Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, 4/92, 64Not all of us are going to be like Moroni, catching the acclaim of our colleagues all day every day. Most of us will be quiet, relatively unknown folks who come and go and do our work without fanfare. To those of you who may find that lonely or frightening or just unspectacular, I say, you are "no less serviceable" than the most spectacular of your associates. You, too, are part of God's army.
Consider, for example, the profound service a mother or father gives in the quiet anonymity of a worthy Latter-day Saint home. Think of the Gospel Doctrine teachers and Primary choristers and Scoutmasters and Relief Society visiting teachers who serve and bless millions but whose names will never be publicly applauded or featured in the nation's media.
Tens of thousands of unseen people make possible our opportunities and happiness every day. As the scriptures state, the are "no less serviceable" than those whose lives are on the front pages of newspapers.
The limelight of history and contemporary attention so often focuses on the one rather than on the many.
Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because of Your Faith", Ensign, Nov. 2010, 6–8
. . . to the near-perfect elderly sister who almost apologetically whispered recently, “I have never been a leader of anything in the Church. I guess I’ve only been a helper,” I say, “Dear sister, God bless you and all the ‘helpers’ in the kingdom.” Some of us who are leaders hope someday to have the standing before God that you have already attained.
Alma 51:15--Internal Strife
Unlocking the Book of Mormon, p. 337Where there is internal division, the body politic cannot stand with enduring strength. Victory over the forces of evil requires unity of the faith and diligence in keeping the commandments of God.
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