Helaman 12

12:1-6 - This chapter is a reflection of Mormon as he evaluates where we left off, which is the people bring very wicked, ripening for destruction. Hugh Nibley calls this “wisdom literature.” The IM quotes Elder Neal A. Maxwell as asking the reason for “the Unsteadiness of Men,” “Is it simply unintended forgetfulness? Or is it a failure of intellectual integrity by our refusing to review and to acknowledge past blessings? Or is it a lack of meekness which requires the repetition of such stern lessons, because we neglect the milder and gentler signs beckoning us to ‘remember Him’?... We need the Spirit daily to help us remember daily. Otherwise memory lapses will occur when we are most vulnerable. It is not natural to the natural man to remember yesterday’s blessings gratefully, especially when today’s needs of the flesh press steadily upon him.” I’m really moved by the “we don’t listen to the mild nudges so we need more aggressive reminders to repent.” Like I said, I don’t like to be chastened, so I’d like to think that I can look out for the more subtle reminders, but that all depends on me and my ability to listen. The IM also quotes President Henry B. Eyring as teaching “Dependence upon God can fade quickly when prayers are answered. And when the trouble lessens, so do the prayers. The Book of Mormon repeats that sad story over and over again.” So much of these problems, not only for these specific people but also for all of us who have lived in prosperity, are caused because we just don’t know how to act anymore, give us a few things and suddenly we think that we are God. The IM also quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching “Ours then seems to be the toughest test of all for the evils are more subtle, more clever. It all seems less menacing and it is harder to detect. While every test of righteousness represents a struggle, and so could be the most deceiving of all tests. Do you know what peace and prosperity can do to a people- it can put them to sleep.” Interestingly, President Harold B. Lee taught “We’re tested and we’re tried. Perhaps we don’t realize the severity of the tests we’re going through. In the early days of the Church, there were murders committed, there were mobbings. The Saints were driven out into the desert. They were starving, they were unclad, and they were cold. We’re the inheritors of what they gave to us. But what are we doing with it? Today we’re basking in the lap of luxury, the like of which we’ve never seen before in the history of the world. It would seem that probably this is the most severe test of any we’ve ever had in the history of this Church.” Very interesting, having our luxury and maintaining a Christ centered life is the most challenging trial there is. So I guess the question is, how do we remember the Lord in our prosperity? We've seen other people do it, we've also seen many people NOT do it, what's the difference. The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching "The 'vain thins of (the) world include every combination of that worldly quartet of property, pride, prominence, and power. As to all of these, the scriptures remind us that 'you cannot carry them with you.' We should be seeking the kind of treasures the scriptures promised the faithful: 'great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures.'" Property doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, but it all depends on what it's purpose is, if you acquire property so that you can have the biggest and the best all the time, be flashy, and get attention, then yes it's not a good thing, but if you have property as a way to protect and grow your wealth, then that can be a way to be a good steward over what the Lord has blessed you with. Prominence and power deal with being "seen of men" and having control over others. Pride is discussed in depth in the IM when it quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching "Pride is essentially competitive in nature." Believing or feeling as if you are better than someone else in some way. "We pit our will against God's. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of ' my will and not thine be done...' The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. They pit their perceptions of truth against God's great knowledge, their abilities versus  God's priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's... Pride results in secret combinations which are built up to get power, gain, and glory of the world. This fruit of the sin of pride, namely secret combinations, brought down both the Jaredite and the Nephite civilizations and has been and will yet be the cause of the fall of many nations." It really hit home for me when he said "they wish God would agree with them," because I've spent much of my life in that state of mind, thinking that I know best for my own life, and not that I'm over 30 and single I'm beginning to see that I've come to the conclusion that I make really bad choices. There are many hot button issues that the Lord has issued statements about and there are many many many of us who stand against it, and will not listen, especially when we don't understand. Take Prop 8 for example, this was very divisive among church members, many could not accept the church's stand on it. It was hard for me because I honestly don't care what other people do, I mean I do, but I try to mind my own business, I just want people to be happy, that's all I care about, I don't really feel like it's my right to tell anyone else how to be happy, well that's how I felt at the time. I still feel pretty similar, I just want people to be happy, and I really don't want to be in anyone else's business, but the difference now is that I know that there is only one way to true happiness and that is obeying the commandments of God, that's the only way. I've lived 30 years trying to find ways to make me happy, to fill the void, and I've found many many ways that will not work, there's only one way, one way to true joy, one way to true happiness, and I want that happiness for everyone. I want everyone to keep the commandments so that we all can be happy and live in peace and joy, but for those who aren't ready or willing to make that commitment to God, then there's only one thing that I think the Savior would do, He would love them, teach them and encourage them to make good choices, and that's all I can do, I can love people, I can encourage them to make good choices, and allow them to encourage me to make good choices in turn. I can share with them what I know, which isn't a lot, but yeah, all I can and want to do is love people, and that's really weird coming from me. That was a tangent, but what I'm saying is that there were a lot of people that couldn't abide the fact that the Church took a stand to define marriage as being between a man and a woman and they left, this is just an example. I've also spent most of my life feeling that God had no right to tell me what to do, I hated Him for a long time, but now I feel different I truly feel that God love me, and that anything he says or does or asks is only for my eternal benefit, I really don't feel like there is any ulterior motive. I believe truly that he just wants me to be happy, and so I'm trying to be humble and submissive and meek. The IM also quotes Elder Joe J. Christensen as teaching "Pride causes us to become overly concerned, as we compare ourselves with others, about how intelligent we think we are, the brand of our jeans or other clothing- the 'costly apparel' we wear, to what organizations we belong, on which side of town we live, how much money we have, what our race or nationality is, what kind of car we drive, even to what church we belong, how much education we have been privileged to acquire, and on and on and on. In the scriptures there are many indications that pride has risen to destroy individuals, nations, and in some cases even the Church itself... It has been calculated that no fewer than thirty times throughout the Book of Mormon the cycles of prosperity and peace were destroyed, principally by the effects of human pride." Now that is a really interesting concept right there, the idea that pride is focused solely on comparison and now that I think about that, it's true. I'm not a big clothes or shoes kind of person, but I do get caught up in whether or not I'm working harder than everyone else, because that means that I'm more valuable. I do get caught up in whether or not I'm good at my job, and that's a comparison, because that means I'm super smart. I get caught up in whether or not I'm a good mom, how my kids behave compared to others. It's really interesting, I definitely need to keep an eye out for that, I've never even known that it was the source of all my "insecurities" inside, I'm going to have to think about this more.

12:7- - This next verse is really interesting and has complicated my self image quite a bit as a youth, because Mormon says "O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth." What? I'm less than the dust, but we clean our homes to get rid of the dust, so I'm not even good enough to have in the house. Those are the kind of thoughts that go through the mind of a young girl with daddy issues. But Mormon goes on to explain "For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God."  Hugh Nibley teaches "The children of men are nothing. They are less than the dust because the dust obeys. This is a standard statement of wisdom literature. The stars in their courses and all nature obey God's commands. All nature works together. Everything is fitted into a single system, so we have the basic idea of ecology. Everything is there that should be. The predators are there and all the other things are there, the plants and the animals. Everything fits in and works together, except man works against it. Man is the only one who can break up the ecological chain and wreck everything, which, of course, we are doing on a massive scale today... See, all nature obeys what God wants, so all nature is running the same way on the freeway, so to speak. Man alone want sot run in the opposite direction, so he thinks nature is fighting him. He thinks fate is against him. He thinks God is cruel because of these things. How cruel is life! How unjust is life! And we are the ones who are making all the trouble." This is one of the issues that I've always had with "is there a God?" And I think what I've come up with is, if we look at nature, there is a balance that is maintained, always, there are certain processes and systems that ensure proper function, and it's beautiful. But then I look at the world that man has created and there are amazing things as well, but for the most part there is tragedy and hate and violence and death and destruction, that's what people do. We are less then the dust because the dust plays it's part in the system and enjoys it's flow and existence, but we do not, we make our own choices and usually choose not to listen to God. The IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching the nothingness of the children of men is not a reflection of man's worth: "Now this prophet did not mean to say that the Lord has greater concern for and loves the dust of the earth more than he does his children... The point he is making is that the dust of the earth is obedient. It moveth hither and thither at the command of the Lord. All things are in harmony with his laws. Everything in the universe obeys the law given unto it, so far as I know, except man. Everywhere you look you find law and order, the elements obeying the law given to them, true to their calling. But man rebels, and in this thing man is less than the dust of the earth because he rejects the counsels of the Lord." He said it much better than I did, this is what I've observed in the world and this is what everything looks like to me. But where does the confusion come in to make people think that this might indicate our worth? I know that this was the case for me and I know that it was also the case for many many young women that I grew up with. The misunderstanding of what this meant and what humility meant was a huge obstacle for us. In Putting on the Armor of God the author says "We have learned that one theme running throughout every strategy is Satan's vicious whispering that we are worthless and unworthy of the Lord's help in our battles. But he can never defeat us with that lie again because we now recognize its origin. Brigham Young said that regardless of what mistakes a person might have made, 'the least, the most inferior person now upon the earth... is worth worlds.' And Sister Mary Ellen Edmunds, of the Relief Society General Board, said: 'Our worth is not a result of circumstances, or even of our particular level of obedience or righteousness. It is part of our heritage as children of God. No condition, no action, no attitude or thought can change or diminish the love he has for us or the worth of our souls in his sight or his plan. Our worthiness may change, but our worth is eternal in the eyes of our all-knowing, all loving Heavenly Father.'" I love that, I with I could remember where I heard this thing that said something to the effect of "God is all powerful, all knowing, and has created all things. What is man in all of his creations to be his crowning jewel, and who am I that he knows me personally?" And really, it's true, of all God's creations, of everything that he's made in the whole universe, He's personally interested in me, he cares personally for me to a degree that I can't understand. But if we repent then He's given us the Atonement to give us strength, "therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved. And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works." The IM quotes Elder David A. Bednar as teaching about grace saying, "In the Bible dictionary we learn that the word grace frequently is used in the scriptures to connote a strengthening or enabling power: The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ. It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts. Thus, the enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with out limited mortal capacity." The IM also quotes Elder Gene R. Cook as teaching "The grace of the Lord through the Atonement can both cleanse us and assist us in perfecting ourselves through our trials, sicknesses, and even character defects... Christ can repair our flaws and failings that otherwise are not repairable. That great truth ought to fill us all with hope, as long as we are quick to remember that the effect of grace in our lives is conditioned upon repenting of our sins... A repentance heart and good works are the very conditions required to have grace restored to us. When someone pleads fervently in prayer for an answer, the answer may be more conditional on repentance of personal sins than on any other factor. To obtain grace, one does not have to be perfect, but he does have to be trying to keep the commandments the best that he can. Then the Lord will allow him to receive that power." And finally, the IM also teaching "Helaman 12:14-15 shows that Mormon had a basic understanding of the physical laws of the universe: 'Reference is here made to the biblical account that shows Joshua commanding the sun and the moon to stand still so that his army might complete their rout of the Amorites. Here a corrective note is added to that account, which supposed the sun to rotate around a stationary earth. These verses provide a subtle but certain assurance that the prophet-editor Mormon, like many of the ancient spiritual leaders, was anything but primitive in his understanding concerning God, man, and the universe."