Alma 60
60:1-22 - CM is furious that the war effort is not being supported by the Nephite people or, as he believes, the government, so he writes a "very strongly worded" letter to "Pahoran, in the city of Zarahemla, who is the chief judge and the governor over the land, and also to all those who have been chosen by this people to govern and manage the affairs of this war." Just as a side note, Pahoran responds in the next couple of chapters and it's quite inspiring, but anyway, he goes right into asking "to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state. Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor, while your enemies are spreading the wok of death around you? Yea, while they are murdering thousands of your brethren?" Let's assume for a second that CM is correct in his accusations, that he is right to assume that all the Nephite leadership is sitting on their "thrones" and just waiting, there is a very subtle lesson to be learned for us here in this statement. While we usually don't have our neighbors being slaughtered around us, though sometimes that happens to some people, spiritually the slaughter is significant and we can't sit around with our heads in the sand pretending that it's either "not that bad," or "they don't want help," or "if I bring up the gospel it will ruin our friendship." In an October 2012 general conference address entitled "What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul?" Elder Robert C. Gay taught "We are to forget self-justifying stories, excuses, rationalizations, defense mechanisms, procrastinations, appearances, personal pride, judgmental thoughts, and doing things our way. We are to separate ourselves from all worldliness and take upon us the image of God in our countenances. Brothers and sisters, remember that this charge is more than just not doing bad things. With an engaged enemy we must also act and not sit in 'thoughtless stupor.' Taking upon the countenance of God means serving each other. There are sins of commission and sins of omission and we are to rise above both." CM is accusing the government of sins of omission, which in this case is just as serious because it's caused the death and suffering of many thousand of their soldiers. These deaths, though possibly preventable, were not damning to those who died, the IM quotes a statement made by the First Presidency after the start of World War II saying, "In this terrible war now waging, thousands of our righteous young men in all parts of the world and in many countries are subject to a call into military service of their own countries. Some of these, so serving, have already been called back to their heavenly home; others will almost surely be called to follow. But 'behold,' as Moroni said, the righteous of them who serve and are slain 'do enter into the rest of the Lord their god,' and of them the Lord has said, 'those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them.' Their salvation and exaltation in the world to come will be secure. That in their work of destruction they will be striking at their brethren will not be held against them. That sin, as Moroni of old said, is to the condemnation of those who 'sit in their places of power in a state of thoughtless stupor,' those rulers in the world who in a frenzy of hate and lust for unrighteous power and dominion over their fellow men, have put into motion eternal forces they do not comprehend and cannot control. God, in His own due time, will pass sentence upon them." That is incredibly powerful. I know that we've talked many times about war being a plague of almost every generation, no matter how high and mighty, no matter how luxurious and comfortable the citizenry is, war will come, death and destruction will come. Sometimes, many times, the ones who go off to war don't come home, and the family is left to pick up the pieces. Not knowing the fate of your loved one is torture, and this is a hope filled, faith building promise, it only makes sense that the merciful God that I know and love would lead soldiers home to a place of rest of comfort, especially those who were righteous in mortality. Continuing his letter CM just lets it go on Pahoran, and it's pretty brutal, it makes me wonder what he was thinking when he received Pahoran's response and it was nothing but kindness. I know that I personally have many a time gone out and run my mouth before I even knew what I was talking about. Now I'm not saying that that's what is happening here with CM, but I know that this is something that I can relate to personally and maybe I need to be more careful.
60:23-36 - CM now talks about cleansing the inner vessel, which is a very interesting concept and applies in so many different ways. CM uses it here to explain how he will come and over throw the wicked government so that he can win the war against the Lamanites and secure their freedom. Interestingly, CM uses the word "insurrections" in verse 27 and this is the only place in the whole Book of Mormon where this word is used. And as a side note that I forgot to mention previously, Helaman uses the word "embarrassments" in Alma 58:9 and this is the only usage of that word in the entire Book of Mormon as well, just a little show of individual writing style. Going back to cleansing the inner vessel, the IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching "all is not well in Zion. As Moroni counseled, we must cleanse the inner vessel, beginning first with ourselves, then with our families, and finally with the Church." There are several general conference talks referencing this concept, but I think what comes the most profoundly to me is Matthew 7:3-5 when the Savior teaches "why beholdest thou the mote that is in they brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or who wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote our of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." This might not seem like it fits perfectly, but it makes total sense to me. For instance, one thing that sticks out to me is how our own vision is obscured when we haven't taken care to clean up our own mess, it distorts everything we see and everything we observe and perceive. In an October 2010 general conference address entitled "Charity Never Faileth" President Thomas S. Monson taught "Tonight I'd like to share with you a few thoughts concerning how we view each other. Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgements when we don't have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgements do we make about them? Said the Savior, 'Judge not.' He continued, 'Why beholdest though the mote that is in they brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?' Or, to paraphrase, why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor's house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?" How can we possibly judge the cleanliness of our neighbor's laundry if we only observe it through our own dirty windows? My guess is, if we truly had the clean and pure heart that the Lord can help us receive, then we probably wouldn't be concerned with how well our neighbor is doing her wash, but how much her back hurts as she does it, or how much her hands ache with the water and scrubbing. My guess is that once we truly cast out our own "beam" or clean our own "dirty window" then we won't really be interesting in how others measure up, but instead we will be concerned with how we can serve them, lighten their load, ease their burden and help them feel the love of God.
60:23-36 - CM now talks about cleansing the inner vessel, which is a very interesting concept and applies in so many different ways. CM uses it here to explain how he will come and over throw the wicked government so that he can win the war against the Lamanites and secure their freedom. Interestingly, CM uses the word "insurrections" in verse 27 and this is the only place in the whole Book of Mormon where this word is used. And as a side note that I forgot to mention previously, Helaman uses the word "embarrassments" in Alma 58:9 and this is the only usage of that word in the entire Book of Mormon as well, just a little show of individual writing style. Going back to cleansing the inner vessel, the IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching "all is not well in Zion. As Moroni counseled, we must cleanse the inner vessel, beginning first with ourselves, then with our families, and finally with the Church." There are several general conference talks referencing this concept, but I think what comes the most profoundly to me is Matthew 7:3-5 when the Savior teaches "why beholdest thou the mote that is in they brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or who wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote our of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." This might not seem like it fits perfectly, but it makes total sense to me. For instance, one thing that sticks out to me is how our own vision is obscured when we haven't taken care to clean up our own mess, it distorts everything we see and everything we observe and perceive. In an October 2010 general conference address entitled "Charity Never Faileth" President Thomas S. Monson taught "Tonight I'd like to share with you a few thoughts concerning how we view each other. Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgements when we don't have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgements do we make about them? Said the Savior, 'Judge not.' He continued, 'Why beholdest though the mote that is in they brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?' Or, to paraphrase, why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor's house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?" How can we possibly judge the cleanliness of our neighbor's laundry if we only observe it through our own dirty windows? My guess is, if we truly had the clean and pure heart that the Lord can help us receive, then we probably wouldn't be concerned with how well our neighbor is doing her wash, but how much her back hurts as she does it, or how much her hands ache with the water and scrubbing. My guess is that once we truly cast out our own "beam" or clean our own "dirty window" then we won't really be interesting in how others measure up, but instead we will be concerned with how we can serve them, lighten their load, ease their burden and help them feel the love of God.
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