Moroni - Chapter 10

31And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

One of the great functions of The Book of Mormon is to awaken us and to set us enthusiastically on the course of righteousness.  Doing this we become different creatures.  Have you ever noticed the STPs in your Ward?
STP stands for Same Ten People.  These are the ones who show up early and stay late.  They are always there to serve and do whatever is asked of them.  They do their duty.  Odds are, they have read The Book of Mormon and have sought the confirmation of it's truth that Moroni admonishes in this chapter.  They are strengthening the stakes of Zion and are enlarging her borders.  You will also notice that they are not confounded in their pursuit of Zion.  Unlike those at the Tower of Babel, whose pursuit was selfish, these have faith, hope and charity.  They have experienced The Book of Mormon.  They didn't just read it, they applied the Atoning Blood of Christ and while far from perfect have come to know the One in whom they put their trust.  This most recent journey through the very best of all books has left me with that desire.  Maybe, you and I can make it the Same Thirteen People, or Twenty People or Thirty, or Thousand.  Maybe Zion will fully come when in each Ward STP stands for the Same Thousand People!

I loved going through The Book of Mormon with you.  I have a lot on my plate right now.  So I'm going to take a break on this particular project so I can focus on some other pressing demands.  I will not stop reading The Book of Mormon though, I hope you'll continue also.  I suspect I may resume on 1 January 2011, so check back then.  If you follow me at Live and Learn, I'll make an announcement there as well.  In the mean time:

32Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Moroni - Chapter 9

"Because of their willfulness...."  This chapter is all about what happens when we seek life on our own terms.  Surely, at some point it became obvious that they were in the process of destroying themselves, not their enemies.  Yet so determined were they to have things their way, they wound up with no way at all.

Our world is not there yet, but it is evident that we are headed in that direction.  There become more and more of the willful among us.  The only fix for this is for us, individually, to choose humility over pride.  We may be early enough in the cycle of destruction that inevitably follows pride wherever it goes, that we will have the blessed opportunity to be humbled by affliction; but maybe not.  Wouldn't it be better if we willingly submitted our wills to that of the Father now, rather than later?

Moroni - Chapter 8

When our first daughter was born we were best friends with a couple next door.  They were Catholic.  They had expressed concern that we had not had her baptized.  When the baby was three weeks old they suggested we have a night out together while they babysat.  It sounded good to us.  We went out and had a great time relaxing.  Upon our arrival home we sensed some tension in the air.  We asked if anything was wrong and our friends guiltily confessed that they had sneaked our daughter down to the Priest and had her christened.  They were sure we'd be angry and were quite surprised that our reaction was one of love and understanding.

Certain that if our daughter died before baptism, she'd be going to Hell, and loving her almost as much as we do, they could bear taking the risk.  We thought that was such a kind, loving gesture.  We were also sad that though we had explained the beauty of the truth that little children are alive in Christ, this fine young couple had been so indoctrinated by such a horrifyingly false teaching that they feared for her eternal life.  How, corrupt and manipulative that false doctrine is.  How many parents have gone to the grave supposing their sweet children are lost for ever?  What a bitter pill to swallow.  What a joy, to know God is no respecter of persons.  That he would never condemn a child who through no fault of her own died without baptism.  Gratefully, the same is true of all those who never had opportunity for baptism, which constitutes the vast majority of those who've come to earth.  What hideous doctrine would that be.  It certainly would have to be called The Plan of Damnation, were it true, for the vast majority would certainly be lost.

Moroni - Chapter 7

It hadn't occurred to me before that there were at least a few who, like Mormon and Moroni, remained faithful, even until the destruction of the Nephites.  This chapter makes it appear that there were.  Then I realized that in the first Chapter of Moroni, he tells us that the Lamanites put to death all who will not deny the Christ.  Again, there must have been some, or saying that would have been irrelevant.  In light of this, Mormon's speech, as found in this chapter, would have been such a comfort to the gathered faithful.  Imagine how beleaguered they must have been in such an unsettled time.  Imagine how weary of war and evil.  And yet Mormon speaks of none of that, instead he tells them how they can lay hold on "every good thing."

Collectively, ours is not such a bad time.  Individually, though, some of us may be having struggles that are just as difficult and fearful.  In the face of such difficulty, perhaps we need to remember to lay hold upon every good thing and hope that through faith we might have miracles of our own to comfort, assure and sustain us.  Clearly, for Mormon, the mortal outcome, though tragic, was not nearly to serious as the Eternal one.  One of the key phrases that stood out in Mormon's words, for me, was this:

19Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

Could we do that today?  Could we search for appropriate candidates to vote for "in the light of Christ?"  Could we search for ways to raise our children, do our shopping, help our neighbors,  or solve a million other problems "in the light of Christ?"  Of course we can and what amazing things we'll discover in that marvelous light.