Post 100!

My 100th post. Time to actually say something.

I'm taking a Book of Mormon class. Today, we started delving into the part where Mormon starts recounting the events of his own lifetime, and I had some insights into the character of this amazing man. He had so much faith in the midst of terrible times! We often think of ourselves as living in a time of great evil--and rightfully so--but Mormon's days were far worse.

Let me paint the picture for you: Nephite society has been wonderfully prosperous for the past few hundred years, but now things are starting to go downhill. When Mormon is 15, a war with the Lamanites commences that lasts for 20 or 25 years until it is finally resolved by a treaty that divides the land between the two peoples and establishes peace for about a decade. After that, the war that would ultimately destroy the Nephite nation begins.

During this latter war, things get gruesome. The Lamanites begin invading Nephite cities, capturing women and children to sacrifice to their idol gods. This understandably infuriates the Nephites, but, despite their impassioned efforts to avenge themselves, they cannot conquer the Lamanites and are eventually detroyed entirely.

But this terrible war did not trouble Mormon nearly as much as the wickedness of the Nephites themselves. During this time, when they ought to have been seeking God's help and protection, the Nephites were involved in every kind of sin imaginable, so much so that Mormon (who was a great historian) tells us that no one in the history of the Covenant People had ever been so wicked (Mormon 4:12). Mormon gave one particularly frightening example of this historic depravity in one of his letters to Moroni:

[N]otwithstanding [the] great abomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Morianton. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after [raping them]... they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts... and they do it for a token of bravery (Moroni 9:9-10).

And the atrocities of the Nephites were not only against the Lamanites. One Nephite leader stole provisions from Nephite widows and left them to starve to death (Moroni 9:16). Even away from the horrors of the war, the Nephite homelands were so infested with thieves and robbers that no one could retain their possessions without keeping them in hand, and Mormon lists sorceries, witchcrafts, and murders as commonplace (Mormon 1:18-19, 2:10). The whole society was so bad that Mormon lamented, "O the depravity of my people! They are without order and without mercy.... I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me" (Moroni 9:18, 21).

So that sets the scene for you. Now let me introduce you to this amazing man:

Even as a boy, Mormon was levelheaded and God-fearing. When he was only 10 years old, he was entrusted with all of the sacred records of his people (Mormon 1:2-4). When he was 15, he was "visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus" (Mormon 1:15) and was later appointed to be the general of an army (Mormon 2:1-2). The young general initially had a youthful optimism that his people would repent and turn to God, but quickly realized just how far from God they had wandered (Mormon 2:12-14). During the decade of peace that followed his first war, Mormon preached repentance to his people, tirelessly exhorting them to return to their Savior, even though no one listened (Mormon 3:3). Soon after the final war broke out, he became so frustrated with the Nephites' hardheartedness that he resigned from his generalship. This is where we really see the caliber of man that Mormon was. Listen to what he says about this whoring, murderous, blaspheming people:

Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them (Mormon 3:12).

He never gave up on his people. About ten years after his resignation, he returned to lead them in what he knew would be their final battle, and he did so knowing full well that they were doomed to be destroyed by the Lamanites:

[T]hey are without Christ and God in the world; and they are driven about as chaff before the wind. They were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father. But now, behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her (Mormon 5:16-18).

So now you have some perspective on who Mormon was and what his days were like. He was a pillar of righteousness in the midst of a people who had completely rejected their God; he lived in times when his people's wives and children were being sacrificed to idols by their enemies and being robbed and murdered by each other; he lived knowing that the utter destruction of his entire society was upon them. What does such a man do during such turbulent and hopeless times?

He preaches hope and love.

Now that you've got your mind set to the historical context, consider Mormon's sermon recorded in Moroni chapter 7. This man, who was watching his people suffer the inevitable outcome of wholesale rejection of Christ, delivered a powerful discourse to the few remaining "peaceable followers of Christ" (Moroni 7:3). These people, who's friends and family members had been sacrificed to false gods by their enemies or murdered by their fellows, had perhaps more right to feel jaded and angry than any other people has ever had, yet Mormon spoke to them of faith and miracles and hope and love. Let me share some highlights:

I would speak unto concerning hope.... Behold, I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him.... Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.... [A]nd if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity. And charity suffereth long, and is kind... is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing.... Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ (Moroni 7:40-48).

Ya get all that? I don't think you did--I don't think I did!--so let's break it down a bit.

Mormon is speaking to his "beloved brethren"--men whose wives and children have been sacrificed to idols, whose friends have been murdered, whose property has been stolen--men who have probably fought and bled and endured horrible things trying to preserve a dieing nation--and he encourages them to have hope. "[H]ave hope through the atonement of Christ," he says "and the power of his resurrection to be raised unto life eternal." He then admonishes them be "meek, and lowly in heart" and to confess "by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ." And then he tells them all about charity, which is "the pure love of Christ." He tells them to "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [they] may be filled with this love"--this love that "suffereth long, and is kind... is not easily provoked... beareth all things... endureth all things."

These people have been through a lot; they have already suffered and borne and endured so much! Except for each other, this small band of Christians has nobody they can trust--their enemies and allies are hardly distinguishable. Mormon himself has lost all hope for their society. But he never lost his hope in Christ, and he never stopped loving the people. Even when he had to resign from their ranks because of their wickedness, he loved them.

I have never known anyone who got sacrificed to an idol. No one I have ever been associated with has ever been murdered or raped; I've never been mugged or robbed. I know that this isn't true for many people in this old world--even in this great nation--and I feel greatly blessed. Nevertheless, I have known people who are mean, who are hard to love, who have tried to make me miserable. But I have to wonder now why I've ever felt unkindly toward anyone. As a peaceable follower of Christ, I ought to love everybody.

Is there anyone you don't love?