Helaman 6

6:1-3 - N&L have been instrumental in the conversion of the vast majority of the Lamanite population, and they are very righteous, even more righteous then the Nephites. Personal conversion comes from the power of the Holy Ghost to the purifying of our hearts, which begs the question, I guess, how do we make room for the Holy Ghost in our lives? In an October 2009 general conference address entitled “An Easiness and Willingness to Believe,” Elder Michael T. Ringwood taught that “the quality of their conversion led these Lamanites to lay down their hatred for the Nephites and their weapons of war; they were firm and steadfast in their faith; they kept the commandments and walked in truth and uprightness; and they grew in their knowledge of God.” Why is the conversion of the Lamanites consistently more profound then their Nephite counterparts? Typically, it would seem that the Nephites are born into the gospel, or have some sort of previous knowledge. Those who absolutely hate the gospel defect from the Nephites and become Lamanites, because they are not previously aware of the gospel when the truth comes the Lamanites are confronted with their misery, they can’t explain away the false traditions of their fathers, they have the most to give up and the most change to do, typically, as a matter of lifestyle and culture, not each individual’s predisposition to do evil. Essentially, when the Lamanites are converted they give up all their sins, create a whole new way of life, they fight to cling to their new found truth. Does that mean that the most righteous people are converts? Of course not, but maybe we can say that every person must become personally converted in order to maintain their faith in the gospel and those who do undergo that life long process are the ones who cling to the gospel with all their might, who love God and truly desire to be faithful to Him for that reason, not because they are scared of Him. Fear is a motivating factor that’s for sure, but I don’t know if someone can continue to do something for their whole lives when it’s only done to prevent some sort of futuristic punishment when you are surrounded by varying degrees of evil on all sides. No true obedience, true conversion comes from love and hope, and how do you get that true conversion, knowledge of that love? Elder Ringwood continues “yet most impressive to me was their easiness and willingness to believe in the word of God. This easiness and willingness to believe brought them the Spirit in great abundance and aided them to endure in faith to the end. Sadly, during this same period of time, the more part of the Nephites became ‘hardened, impenitent, and grossly wicked.’ The opposite of what the Lamanites were experiencing was happening to the Nephites. The hardness of their hearts led to a withdrawal from the Spirit, while the softness of the hearts of the Lamanites led to an outpouring of the Spirit. As I pondered what caused this mighty change in the hearts of these Lamanites, I came to realize this easiness and willingness to believe in the word of God comes from a softness of heart. It comes from having a heart that is sensitive to the Holy Ghost. It comes from having a heart that can love. It comes from having a heart that will make and keep sacred covenants. It comes from a soft heart that can feel the power of the Atonement of Christ.” So the Lamanites had softened hearts to receive the word of God and embark on their conversion, but can they be ignorant or wicked because of their traditions and still have soft hearts? I would like to think that I’m a good example of that. I was born and raised in the Church, but I fell away when I was 17, and I did crazy things, anyone who knew me then can attest to that, and I was probably a good example of what happens when you leave neutral ground, you fall harder and faster than those who never knew. But I came back and I would like to think that my heart is softened enough to receive the Holy Ghost. Those righteous Nephites “did have great joy because of the conversion of the Lamanites, yea, because of the church of God, which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy.” In an April 1997 general conference address entitled “When Thou Art Converted, Strengthen Thy Brethren,” Elder Robert D. Hales he teaches “Have you ever pondered of the sorrow of losing one and what sadness there must be when many are lost? That is what the Lord feels. It is what our prophet feels. And that is what I hope that you and I can feel, that we can show a determination to nurture those who have experienced the joys of feeling the Spirit, being baptized, and gaining a testimony and who are in the process of overcoming trials and tribulations and achieving an enduring conversion that will last eternally. Amid the busyness of our day and concerns of what we are trying to accomplish in our individual lives, and within our families, we sometimes are not aware of the needs of the new member who has just entered the kingdom. As we are committed to be by the side of each new member, could we walk with them along the straight and narrow path that leads to the temple, going with them to the temple so that in our friendship we can have joy and rejoice with them as we move together towards eternal life?” There are a couple of concepts in here that are interesting to me, first is the concept of true conversion. The name of the talk references Luke 22:32 when the Savior prepares Peter to take over leadership of the Church right before the Atonement and crucifixion. I always wondered about this, here Peter has basically lived with Jesus 24/7 for the last 3 years, been with Him through all the miracles, all the new things, and even in that moment Peter declared that he was ready to suffer and die right along with the Savior should that happen. So here he is the closest person possible to the Lord and Jesus tells him “when thou art converted,” basically saying “when you finally believe in me,” and I never could imagine how it would be possible for Peter NOT to be completely 100% converted at this point. It would kind of be similar, in my mind, to a return missionary who decides that the church isn’t true anymore, or who falls away into “forbidden paths” and is lost. It didn’t seem to make sense to me until I did the same thing myself, I had been active in the church again for like 7 years and then I filed for divorce and decided that I was just going to do whatever I wanted all the time. It was only afterward when I realized that, even though I truly did believe in the Savior and His gospel, I wasn’t converted, I wasn’t willing to keep his commandments no matter what, I didn’t trust him enough to dictate my life, I was interested in what He could do for me, but not what I had to do for Him. In Jesus the Christ, James E. Talmage teaches about when the apostles came to Jesus asking which one of them was the greatest. Comparing that to the statement made by the Lord to Peter when Elder Talmage says “Even the apostles were in need of conversion; respecting the matter at issue their hearts were turned, partly at least, from God and His kingdom. They had to learn that genuine humility is an attribute essential to citizenship in the community of the blessed; and that the degree of humility conditions whatsoever there is akin to rank in the kingdom; for therein the humblest shall be greatest. Christ would not have had His chosen representatives become childish; far from it, they had to be men of courage, fortitude, and force; but He would have them become childlike. The distinction is import. Those who belong to Christ must become like children in obedience, truthfulness, trustfulness, purity, humility and faith. The child is an artless, natural, trusting believer; the childish one is careless, foolish, and neglectful. In contrasting these characteristics, not the counsel of Paul: ‘Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.’ Children as such, and children as types of adults who are true believers, are closely associated in this lesson.” Little children are trusting of their parents, they are happy, they try to have fun and are carefree. Why are they carefree? Because they trust that their parents are going to provide for their needs. When we are looking out for our own issues, like pride or money or something like that we cannot be truly converted to the point where we would feel the pull to strengthen others spiritually. Going back to the Helaman, those righteous Nephites were excited that the Lamanites had converted to the gospel and they did all they could to help them grow and remain strong in that testimony. People who are lukewarm about the gospel aren’t really invested in the spiritual wellbeing of others. I desire for others to come to the gospel not because I want to have a “notch on my belt” or anything like that, conversion comes from the Spirit, so anything I do would only be to facilitate that, and really if God wanted he could replace my part of that with a tree or a mail box or something if he wanted, so it would have nothing to do with me and I think that sometimes people are a little bit worried about that, that we are interested in the numbers and not the actual person. But I truly desire for others to know God the way that I do because I want them to be happy, I want them to have joy and I want them to have peace when the rains come. The other part of Elder Hales’ talk that I found interesting was how we can nurture new members or really, anyone in the gospel. I don’t think it has to be anything elaborate or fancy or anything like that, I think that simplicity is best sometimes. Maybe a text to say that you are thinking about someone, maybe an article link that we thought they might like, maybe an encouraging word or advice, it doesn’t have to be anything amazing, whatever is dictated by the Spirit I guess.

6:4-14 - These Lamanites who were converted and now strong in the gospel “did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people of the Nephites the manner of their conversion, and did exhort them to faith and repentance.” The Lamanites did have an incredible story, that’s for sure, and their preaching was successful many times because “many did preach with exceedingly great power and authority, unto the bringing down many of them into the depths of humility.” Here we have another reference to preaching with power and authority, and I think, as we discussed yesterday, that the power to preach is not so much on what you know as it is on how willing you are to be a mouthpiece for God and how well you work with the Spirit, because the power comes through the Holy Ghost, unto the convincing of men. This change in the Lamanites caused them and the Nephites to get along much better now, “insomuch that the Nephites did go into whatsoever part of the land they would… And it came to pass that the Lamanites did also go whithersoever they would… and this they did have free intercourse one with another, to buy and to sell, and to get gain, according to their desire. And it came to pass that they became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites.” I just want to point out that this use of the word “intercourse” here is the only time it is used in the Book of Mormon, just an interesting side note as an example of the differing writing styles within the book here. Another point made here is how much more productive and prosperous people are when they work together instead of tearing each other apart. Imagine how much different and better our world would be if we spent our money on food growing resources, stable housing, water wells, schools, space exploration, medical research, parenting programs. What if the billions and billions of dollars that we, as a planet, spend on war and weapons were put to these other causes and instead of trying to kill each other, we, at minimum, treated each other with indifference? What if those filled with hate and the desire to kill and destroy were filled with nothing instead? And what if they let the rest of us who are human beings, use our resources to help others instead of confiscating our money through taxes and then using it to do the very thing that we find most abhorrent? Imagine that world, that is the world that the Nephites and the Lamanites show us here, were they perfect? Of course not. Were the more good than bad? Yes. We could be that way too, but we won’t until the power of love becomes stronger in people then the love of power. The people here were very wealthy and prosperous and happy, and the church flourished.

6:15-31 - Even in all those prosperous times, there had to be some craziness, because you know, that’s how we do it, because in the 66th year, the chief judge “Cezoram was murdered by an unknown hand as he sat unto the judgment-seat.” Then his son was appointed by the people to be chief judge and he was also murdered as he sat on the judgment-seat. Pretty dangerous job there, short life expectancy for the chief judge. How did this madness get into the society here? Mormon tells us that it was because “the Lord had blessed them so long with the riches of the world that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, not to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches; yea, they began to seek to get gain that they might be lifted up one above another; therefore they began to commit secret murders, and to rob and to plunder, that they might get gain.” So does that imply that when people are well off financially, they suddenly become evil? Not at all. In an October 1985 general conference address entitled “Spirituality,” Elder Dallin H. Oaks teaches that “materialism, which gives priority to material needs and objects, is obviously the opposite of spirituality… There is nothing inherently evil about money. The Good Samaritan used the same coinage to serve his fellowman that Judas used to betray the Master. It is ‘the love of money (which) is the root of all evil.’ The critical difference is the degree of spirituality we exercise in viewing, evaluation, and managing the things of this world and our experiences in it. If allowed to become an object of worship or priority, money can make us selfish and prideful… In contrast, if used for fulfilling our legal obligations and for paying our tithes and offerings, money can demonstrate integrity and develop unselfishness. The spiritually enlightened use of property can help prepare us for the higher law of celestial glory.” There must be a fine balance between humility and accepting the blessings from the Lord, there are many examples of people who both grew because of their wealth and those who fell because of their obsession with it. I heard something once that said “money will only make bad men worse and good men better,” I found that to be accurate. The GR were the ones responsible for the deaths of Cezoram and his son, and even though the righteous Lamanites “were exceedingly sorrowful; and they did use every means in their power to destroy them off the face of the earth,” the GR were entrenched in the land because of the greed and wickedness of the people. The GR took hold among the more wicked part of the Lamanites and “the more part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those band of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths.” So it doesn’t really help extinction is the vast majority of a population embraces and becomes the GR. The IM has a chart showing the necessary and more destructive parts of secret combinations:

6:32-41 – So what began as years of prosperity and happiness and growth in the gospel turned into a nightmare where much of the Nephite population joined an evil organization to get richer and more powerful, as Mormon says “all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years… And thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief, and grow in wickedness and abominations, while the Lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God; yea, they did begin to keep his statutes and commandments, and to walk in truth and uprightness before him.” It doesn’t take much time to fall, only the inclination. Satan had presented such an appealing prospect to the GR that they not only survived the expansion of the gospel, but they thrived under it. When presented with the opportunity to turn to the “dark side” the Nephites embraced it whole heartedly, whereas the Lamanites “did hunt the band of robbers of Gadianton; and they did preach the word of God among the more wicked part of them, insomuch that this band of robbers was utterly destroyed from among the Lamanites.” This is such an interesting prospect, because of course it makes sense to hunt down and capture the evil people who were working to destroy the government and take advantage of everyone else. That is vital to the stability of the society, but instead of imprisoning or executing those GR, they gave them the opportunity to repent and live life more abundantly in Jesus. It’s just very interesting that they took the GR and instead of making them from bad to dead, they made them from bad to good. I wonder if we preached the gospel among those in prison, instituted the Church’s Addiction Recovery Program, and sent the people to work at Deseret Industries after they were released, if that would change our penal system. Interesting.