This is the third time I have read from Mormon 6. This is extremely interesting to me because there are so many books I have yet to test that I need them.
6 And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni.
7 And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them.
8 And it came to pass that they came to battle against us, and every soul was filled with terror because of the greatness of their numbers.
9 And it came to pass that they did fall upon my people with the sword, and with the bow, and with the arrow, and with the ax, and with all manner of weapons of war.
And this is the point when I wish I could turn off the images in my head. My imagination is too great for this. I guess the good thing is I can truly picture it and understand what they went through.
10 And it came to pass that my men were hewn down, yea, even my ten thousand who were with me, and I fell wounded in the midst; and they passed by me that they did not put an end to my life.
This was a miracle.
11 And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us, (among whom was my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me.
I bet they had tremendous survivor's guilt. How horrible it would be to know that this would be the last struggle of the people and know that you were going to stay and fight it. I'd have a huge urge to run and live somewhere else.
4 Nephi 1
17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.
Que my favorite song...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
18 And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an *hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.
19 And it came to pass that Nephi, he that kept this last record, (and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi) died, and his son Amos kept it in his stead; and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi also.
I think we will live through the second coming and have peace like this. There has never been peace like this in my life and I love the thought of it. I wish with all my heart that we could have peace. It's so beautiful and a wonderful thought.
20 And he kept it eighty and four years, and there was still peace in the land, save it were a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon them the name of Lamanites; therefore there began to be Lamanites again in the land.
Out of my own curiosity I would like to know who became a Lamanite and how it happened. How did they go from peace to not-peace? If the pages of history turn on small hinges, then who was this one person who did it?
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4 comments:
what comes to mind is that we don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before Satan tempted. hmm and we don't know how long Satan tempted them before they did it.
There's the answer in how to go from peace to non-peace... the moment we start listening to Satan. It isn't just hearing him, it's listening and doing what he tempts. Sounds kind of defeating, because how many of us can last very long against Satan? We're doomed to fail, but we learn something in the process.
It is the opposite that brings peace... learning to not listen to Satan.
Sounds kind of simple... small hinges like you said. Jesus taught the same thing to the Nephites that he taught to the Jews. One group listened and became peaceful for a few generations.
Even after the second coming we already know the peace will last for a thousand years. Then one last period of non-peace and then we are cut off completely from Satan forever, those that choose. It is giving everybody that chance to choose where they want to be.
I've thought of that and thought that it seems unfair to those people. They will have never been tempted by Satan to do anything and all of a sudden he's there and in your face. And really mad by that point.
I don't like the term "doomed to fail." I think overall, yes, we fail, but we can learn it battle by battle to resist. Some things I have fallen once, and not again. Some things I continue to fall. I guess that's what you said, I just explained it...
I don't like "doomed to fail" either... but I also think we are so blessed with repentance in the same almost exact opposite way.
That makes sense. I like how you put it that way.
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