The True Meaning of Zion

Today I read Mosiah 18. This has long been one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. It actually makes me laugh to this day. This is the chapter where the baptismal covenant is explained. It makes me laugh because this is also the chapter that as a missionary I used to share with people who were having concerns about being baptized.

I can still remember probably half a dozen people that I shared this scripture with. Every single one of them would say the exact same thing after reading it. They would ALWAYS say, "I don't have any objections to being baptized, BUT..." and then they would spend the next little while explaining all of the reasons why they did in fact object to being baptized. At the time the Spirit would take over and guide me in what I should say, but afterwards and even today I would always laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Apparently they don't understand what an objection is. LOL. The rest of the chapter is quite insightful also though. I've always enjoyed this chapter because it outlines the true order of our church. How everyone took care of each other and how they helped one another and tried their best to have no poor among them. I've already spoken about my thoughts on the poor and our duty concerning them in my entry on Mosiah 4 so I won't go into them here.

I just wonder how some people can consider themselves good Christians when NO part of their life displays any of the tenets that the Savior taught. It just boggles my mind at times the sheer ability of the human mind to rationalize their actions and to find peace with themselves. The things we allow so many to get away with because they are "a good person". No, they really aren't. A good person is defined by their actions, ALL OF THEM! Not just the ones we want to pay attention to.

That is why I agree with Nephi and oftentimes feel the need to exclaim, "Oh wretched man that I am". We are the sum of what our experiences and how we have reacted to them have made us. I love to watch shows and movies where the character is shown what would have happened had they hit that baseball, or taken that side street, or chosen differently. In every instance that I can recall they have fame and fortune but they find that they are a total jerk and they cannot understand why that is. They do not understand that with different experiences we become different people.

I would much rather be dirt poor but a true Latter-day Saint, than the richest man in the entire world and be a heartless despicable excuse for a human being. It honestly appalls me what some people will do for money. Truly Paul spoke wisely to Timothy when he said the love of money is the root of all evil, for it is the love of that money that will leave people from one depraved act to another. I have gone far afield from where I started on this chapter, but I will end by saying, we cannot have a Zion society until we have a Zion people. And we cannot have a Zion people until we are more concerned with the welfare of others than we are with our own desires and wants. That is the true meaning of charity. Until tomorrow.