Today I read 3 Nephi 9, where the Savior speaks to the inhabitants in the Americas and explains to them what has happened and what needs to happen going forward. As we have talked about before, the Lord destroyed a lot of cities, probably the majority of the cities. It always does strike me as so odd that during the life of the Savior there was such vast wickedness, but there has to be a balance as we have already discussed.
I find it interesting that the Savior teaches the Nephites more doctrine here when they are in this state of mind. I'm sure most of them had no clue what he was talking about and probably only Nephi and his brother and those like them understood what He meant by no more sacrifices. At least that is my thought.
But what will probably be surprising to some is that the theme that keeps coming back to me from this chapter is love, the love our God has for us. Some might find that extremely odd considering the majority of this chapter is a list of the cities and their people that were destroyed. But if you look past that, or even if you look at it really since those cities were generally destroyed for the benefit of the righteous and the slain prophets, you will see vast love in the message the Savior is conveying.
I always feel sad for the Savior when I think about the Atonement and what He had to go through for us, for me. I feel even more sad when I think of the vast majority of the people that will not even take advantage of His merciful sacrifice. Here our elder brother has suffered more than any of us can truly comprehend and now, mere hours later, He takes the time to speak to the people of the Nephites, and the subject of the discussion must have been painful for him. Despite what I am sure some people think, it is really hard for the truly righteous to behold great wickedness. I am sure when our Heavenly Father looks out among the world and sees how wicked we are becoming the forefront emotion He has is not anger, not sadness, but pain.
When I first met my wife and we started dating and we were talking about our likes and dislikes she mentioned that she sometimes watched a certain popular show, Crime Scene Investigation, or CSI. I told her that I did not watch such shows because of the way they make me feel. She did not understand then, as most people don't, what I meant by that. I can handle scary movies about ghosts and goblins and the paranormal, but I cannot tolerate movies where normal people are doing such evil things to each other. Shows like CSI have a spirit about them, and it is NOT the Spirit of the Lord and it only serves to remind me of the evils of the world. I told my wife then that I do not like such shows because I can literally feel the Spirit of the Lord leaving my presence when those shows come on. At times it leaves so fast it is physically painful. It is no surprise to me that the Savior was in such pain during His ordeal, not the least of which was caused by the withdrawal of the Spirit.
I am a very sensitive man, too sensitive some have said, and just right my wife says, another reason she is my wife! :) And I feel so badly for our Heavenly Father having such a scene as our current world before Him. Now, I know there is much good in the world, there is a LOT of good in the world. But there are also things that go on in this world that if I think on them too long for sure will reduce me to tears, I can only imagine what it does to our Father in Heaven. And that is why I say that the main theme of this chapter is love.
The Savior is giving the rest of the Nephites a chance to repent and come back to Him. He is telling them of His Atonement for them and any who would argue that is not love has no true understanding of the Atonement and what it was. I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this already but, one of the ways I help myself be better is by reminding myself that all of my sins cause Him who is our Redeemer to suffer even more, and then it's not quite so hard to resist temptation. I hope if helps you as well. Until tomorrow.
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