Today I read Helaman 6, which much like Charles Dickens said in his classic tale, "A Tale of Two Cities", "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." And it truly was. This is a time period of the Nephites and Lamanites when they enjoyed unprecedented peace and prosperity.
This was a period of history when the Nephites and the Lamanites, even though still very much 2 seperate peoples, enjoyed peace with each other and were able to move around freely. To my knowledge, never before since they split into two peoples, and never after, unless they become one people, do the Nephites and Lamanites enjoy such a period of peace. It must have been a great time to live.
I am getting a little ahead of myself here but a funny story that I think fits here better than it will in the later chapters of Helaman, growing up in the church I heard the story of Samuel the Lamanite and his prophecy, but I had such a hard time reconciling the fact that he was a Lamanite and a prophet in my mind. I could not understand how such a thing was possible. I mean, he was a Lamanite afterall! Well, this chapter explains how it was not only possible, but not uncommon as well. This chapter states that there were many, many Lamanite missionaries and I'm sure a number of Lamanite prophets also.
However, like Dickens said in his tale, this was also the worst of times. This is the period of the Nephite/Lamanite history where the Gadianton Robbers gain power and sadly, they never lose it until they are destroyed with the destruction that signifies the death of the Savior some 50 years hence. It really is heart wrenching to read the downfall of this great people. I can relate with Mormon's heartfelt lament at the end of his life as he surveyed the land and what his people had wrought with it. I do not understand why men lust after power.
Power is a fickle thing and only other people can give or allow someone to have power. Power is only yours so long as another person obeys you. We have already touched on this subject in a much earlier post and do not need to revist it. However, I do not understand why it is so addictive to some people. The reason people join an organization like the Gadianton robbers is for the purpose of getting wealth and power. There is no other reason. Even if their original motives are for something else, revenge or to right a wrong or whatever they tell themselves, they join the orginization because they lack the power to do what they desire in their current state.
And I think that is what is most sad of all. They join for some reason that doesn't even really exsist. I was watching a movie on my lunch break at work yesterday called "Blind Side", about a man named Michael Oher. He was a man who was born into poverty and into the slums and by a series of circumstances came to live with a good Christian family that adopted him and took him in. The sad part is he had a friend who did not have so much luck and joined a gang and at the end of the movie his friend is killed. Even sadder for that boy who is killed, it is based on a true story. I do not know his reasons, but I have read and been told that the vast majority of young people, these days, who join gangs do so because they want to belong to something and feel they do not have a family or anywhere else to turn to.
While it may be true that such people do not have a family here on earth, it is very, very sad that there is someplace they can turn to that would bring everlasting peace and happiness if they only knew where to look. But the vast majority of those poor people by the time they take those final steps to join such an orginazation have already been ensnared by Satan and in some cases, have fully given themselves up to him. There is no glory, or happiness to be found in such a life. Not even fleeting happiness. True, eternal happiness comes from a life centered around the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and by living a life of service. That is why Ammon was so happy all of the time. And we can have that joy too if we want.
We don't have to be a full time missionary or devote our entire life to preaching repentance like Ammon, Alma and Nephi did to have true happiness. We can attain the happiness and peace that it brings just as easily by living a life centered in Christ and on giving service. It is the most worthwhile life we can live. Until tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment