The beginning of this is actually from my journal from a few weeks ago:
My thoughts are on prayer tonight. Probably because I just had a great prayer- I’ve felt it lacking in my life recently. So often I just pray when I’m rushed in the morning or when I’m really sleepy at night and I don’t really converse. So I really tried tonight. It felt so good to be in communion with my Father in Heaven again. Never do I feel more close to heaven then when I really, sincerely pray- when I put my heart into it. Its the best feeling in the whole world- to know that God, The God of the whole universe- to know that He is listening specifically to you- to feel His presence near you. Nothing compares to that feeling. That is one of the reasons why I am so grateful for the revelation to prophets that God has a real body of flesh and bone. That means when I pray, there is somebody there physically who is really listening. I’m not just talking to the sky or some idea of divinity, I know we are created in God’s image, so I have some idea of what God looks like (just that He looks like us), so I am actually talking to a physical being who hears me and answers me and who I can picture. I know He is there, I have felt His spirit when I speak to Him many times.
Anyway, I want to relate a story that a good friend related to me about prayer. This friend of mine wrote me on my mission and gave me some advice that his mission president gave him when he was serving a mission. His mission president told him to think- to really ponder- what is the deepest desire of his heart. Then, he advised him to pray with all the energy of his heart for this cause over an extended period of time and to see what happens. He did this. The desire of his heart at the time was for his brother who was not going to church and who had lost his testimony of Christ’s gospel. He wished for him to be active and to marry a faithful girl in the temple. He prayed for some time about it (over a year), and my friend wrote me that his brother had met a faithful girl and she had brought him back to church. After a while, he did marry her in the temple. My friend testified to me of the power of prayer and told me I should take the same challenge. So I did. I think I can say it truly changed my thoughts on the physical power of prayer. I prayed to know what the true desires of my heart were. I came up with 4 things (I suppose I’m a bit more needy than my friend here). Anyway, I won’t say what they were since all of them involve people who may or may not read this blog at some point and I don’t want to embarrass anyone. But I can testify that God truly does hear and answer sincere prayers. Not all of my 4 desires have been granted- far from it actually. But tangible progress has definitely been made in each of the 4 areas. Miracles, one might call them. I see them that way at least. Another cool thing about this little story is that my mission companion at the time that I received this letter also decided to try it out. She prayed for her sister who was in the similar situation to my friend’s brother above. After 4 months of praying, my companion received an email from her family that this sister’s husband had decided to be baptized- since then her sister has made considerable steps in coming back as well. In my companion’s closing testimony of her mission, she related this story and told everyone else to ponder on the true desires of their hearts and pray with all the energy they have. Pretty cool, I think.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
some thoughts on the Lamanite Curse
This is written by Rich:
I had a friend in high school who was both 1) black and 2) not a member of the Church (as usual, when I refer to the Church, I am talking about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormons)(Unofficial motto: “Not as weird and twice as nice as everyone things we are!”). This made her stand out among the almost completely homogenous population of my Sandy, UT high school. But she was very friendly and very cool and was very popular. One day, when we were seniors, she asked if we could talk sometime. We ended up going out to lunch (to Sweet Tomatoes . . . I haven’t been back since, but I do recall that it was delicious.). While we were there we were just shooting the breeze and she told me that she was considering joining the Church. I was surprised and happy, and immensely flattered that she wanted to ask me to help her to talk out a few doubts that she had.
One of those doubts is one that I’ve actually heard a couple of times and have thought about a lot more times besides that. My friend, who was black, was concerned by the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon and several verses about them. The Lamanites comprise one of two major people’s (well, three if you are technical. We aren’t right now.) in the Book of Mormon’s history. They are descendents of the same family as the other people, the Nephites. The Lamanites and the Nephites in their 1000 year history are often at war with each other. Also, depending on the time and season, they alternately live righteously, according to the commandments of God as delivered to them by the prophets who lived among them.
As I mentioned the Lamanites and the Nephites are actually descendents from the same family. The are families and followers of Laman and Nephi, two brothers who came to the Americas from ancient Jerusalem. Their father was a prophet who was told to leave Jerusalem before it’s destruction. Nephi believed his father, was blessed by God, and himself became a prophet. Laman did not believe, doubted, and at various times tried to kill his father and his brother. These two families separated and grew to become peoples.
Aaaaand here’s the source of the concern my friend had. When the Lamanites and the Nephites parted ways (there were threats of death and destruction on the part of the Laman toward Nephi and his family)(2 Nephi 5:3-5), the Book of Mormon says that, “They [the Lamanites] were cut off from [the Lord’s] presence. And he [the Lord] had caused a cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that the had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my [Nephi’s] people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto my people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.” (2 Nephi 5:20)
The curse of the Lamanites is referenced several other times in the course of the Book of Mormon’s history: “And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their bretheren . . . And this was done that their [the Lamanites’] seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction.”
Clearly, this seems like a troubling set of passages: There was a wicked, murderous man who led his family to believe as he did. They were cursed and given dark skins. This was done so that they might not mix with the more righteous people as this mixing would prove the destruction of the righteous traditions of that same righteous people.
Without a doubt, the implication is that dark skin = curse. That is what my friend was concerned about. She loved her family, her heritage, and her skin color. She felt that this didn’t correlate well with the other teachings of the Book of Mormon and wondered what I thought.
Here is, I think, the answer. I believe that the Lamanites were indeed cursed and that their skins were indeed turned dark (in some manner or method that no one really understands). But I think that these are two different and separate things: 1) cursed and separated from revelation/inspiration/presence of God and 2) skins are darkened. What’s the difference? I think that on a personal level, these things can happen separately all the time: people sin, rebel against the truth of God and innocent people get to have dark skin all the time (shout out to adorable black babies: keep being adorable!). The real curse, the one with lasting impact? The separation from God. If that curse, which is really, the only REAL curse, does not follow you or your family because of your decisions to follow God and his commandments, then the color of your skin is incidental and does not matter in the least, to God and (in a perfect world) to anyone else either..
Here are some further scriptures that support this idea (what the curse is all about):
- Nephi (the one who was threatened to be killed by his brothers) wrote: “For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembered the heathen; and all are alike unto God both Jew and Gentile.” (2 Nephi 27:33)
- As a set of missionaries is about to go out among the Lamanites, they say of the Lamanites: “Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers.” (the reasons for the curse: wicked traditions of their fathers and idolatry).
- After having great success preaching among the Lamanites, thousands are converted. It says of them, that “the curse of God did no more follow after them.” (Alma 23:18).
I had a friend in high school who was both 1) black and 2) not a member of the Church (as usual, when I refer to the Church, I am talking about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormons)(Unofficial motto: “Not as weird and twice as nice as everyone things we are!”). This made her stand out among the almost completely homogenous population of my Sandy, UT high school. But she was very friendly and very cool and was very popular. One day, when we were seniors, she asked if we could talk sometime. We ended up going out to lunch (to Sweet Tomatoes . . . I haven’t been back since, but I do recall that it was delicious.). While we were there we were just shooting the breeze and she told me that she was considering joining the Church. I was surprised and happy, and immensely flattered that she wanted to ask me to help her to talk out a few doubts that she had.
One of those doubts is one that I’ve actually heard a couple of times and have thought about a lot more times besides that. My friend, who was black, was concerned by the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon and several verses about them. The Lamanites comprise one of two major people’s (well, three if you are technical. We aren’t right now.) in the Book of Mormon’s history. They are descendents of the same family as the other people, the Nephites. The Lamanites and the Nephites in their 1000 year history are often at war with each other. Also, depending on the time and season, they alternately live righteously, according to the commandments of God as delivered to them by the prophets who lived among them.
As I mentioned the Lamanites and the Nephites are actually descendents from the same family. The are families and followers of Laman and Nephi, two brothers who came to the Americas from ancient Jerusalem. Their father was a prophet who was told to leave Jerusalem before it’s destruction. Nephi believed his father, was blessed by God, and himself became a prophet. Laman did not believe, doubted, and at various times tried to kill his father and his brother. These two families separated and grew to become peoples.
Aaaaand here’s the source of the concern my friend had. When the Lamanites and the Nephites parted ways (there were threats of death and destruction on the part of the Laman toward Nephi and his family)(2 Nephi 5:3-5), the Book of Mormon says that, “They [the Lamanites] were cut off from [the Lord’s] presence. And he [the Lord] had caused a cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that the had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my [Nephi’s] people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto my people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.” (2 Nephi 5:20)
The curse of the Lamanites is referenced several other times in the course of the Book of Mormon’s history: “And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their bretheren . . . And this was done that their [the Lamanites’] seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction.”
Clearly, this seems like a troubling set of passages: There was a wicked, murderous man who led his family to believe as he did. They were cursed and given dark skins. This was done so that they might not mix with the more righteous people as this mixing would prove the destruction of the righteous traditions of that same righteous people.
Without a doubt, the implication is that dark skin = curse. That is what my friend was concerned about. She loved her family, her heritage, and her skin color. She felt that this didn’t correlate well with the other teachings of the Book of Mormon and wondered what I thought.
Here is, I think, the answer. I believe that the Lamanites were indeed cursed and that their skins were indeed turned dark (in some manner or method that no one really understands). But I think that these are two different and separate things: 1) cursed and separated from revelation/inspiration/presence of God and 2) skins are darkened. What’s the difference? I think that on a personal level, these things can happen separately all the time: people sin, rebel against the truth of God and innocent people get to have dark skin all the time (shout out to adorable black babies: keep being adorable!). The real curse, the one with lasting impact? The separation from God. If that curse, which is really, the only REAL curse, does not follow you or your family because of your decisions to follow God and his commandments, then the color of your skin is incidental and does not matter in the least, to God and (in a perfect world) to anyone else either..
Here are some further scriptures that support this idea (what the curse is all about):
- Nephi (the one who was threatened to be killed by his brothers) wrote: “For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembered the heathen; and all are alike unto God both Jew and Gentile.” (2 Nephi 27:33)
- As a set of missionaries is about to go out among the Lamanites, they say of the Lamanites: “Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers.” (the reasons for the curse: wicked traditions of their fathers and idolatry).
- After having great success preaching among the Lamanites, thousands are converted. It says of them, that “the curse of God did no more follow after them.” (Alma 23:18).
some thoughts on faith
The way I see it- in God’s grand plan, God sent us to earth so that we could progress. He needed a way to test us, to see if we are worthy of all the glory and responsibilities he wishes to bestow upon us in the eternities, so that we can reach full measures of happiness, as He has. The way he does this is by allowing us to forget everything that we knew before we were born when we are born. Many people wonder why God doesn’t just appear to us or tell us exactly how everything is and was and will be. This is for a grand purpose--to test us, to allow us to grow. The test is whether we will exercise faith or not--whether we will act on things which we cannot see, which we believe or hope are true. This skill is absolutely essential for our eternal progression- if it were not, then I think God would tell us everything and save us the trouble, but just like a good parent who doesn’t do everything for his child, God allows us to figure stuff out on our own to allow us to grow. So anyway, that’s an introduction to say that learning how to exercise and acquire faith is crucial to what we’re trying to do here.
So, first we’re going to need an understanding of what faith is and how we can use it. We exercise faith all the time- its not just in a religious sense. We have faith that our alarm clocks will wake us up in the morning, that the sun will rise; we can have faith in other people- that they will do what they say they will; we have faith in science- that the earth rotates around the sun, etc. faith is acting on anything that we cannot see but believe to be true. An important difference, however is that in order to produce salvation, faith must be centered in Jesus Christ. This makes sense, Christ is the center of God’s plan for us to return to Him and like we said above, we need faith to do this. Hence, we need faith in Jesus Christ, which leads us to the other main point on faith- it delineates action. The very meaning of having faith in Christ means that we believe Him, that we believe His teachings, and if we believe his teachings, then we will operate them in our lives. If we believe that He did die for our sins for the purpose of enabling us to repent and become clean and thus able to dwell in Heavenly Father’s presence, then we will repent when we mess up. It seems to me there are a good many of us who profess to have faith in Christ but then do little to do what He says. This, then is not true faith. Faith in its definition is action. That’s the difference in faith and belief--having a belief is just that- believing. Faith is acting on that belief. (it is also interesting to note that Satan and his followers definitely believe in Christ. Note- the man possessed by evil spirits in Mark 5 who ran to Christ addressing him “Jesus, thou Son of the most high God.” or in Mark 1 where a man with an unclean spirit cries “I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God.” With all of Satan’s knowledge of God and Christ, he is still Satan) Mere belief or knowledge, then does little in the way of producing such desired results as salvation or accompaniment of the Holy Ghost in daily life. Knowledge alone does not assure us benefit from our knowledge. However, knowledge is also a key element of faith (many people erroneously exercise faith, or think they are exercising faith when they really are just hoping or believing). We must know in whom we have faith and what that means, in order to properly exercise it.
So how do we properly exercise faith? Simply put, we follow his gospel. His gospel being: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. That is quite simply put because each step entails so much, but basically we first have to have hope, even if we can do no more than hope that it’s true (that God exists, sent His son, Christ can redeem us from all sin and guilt, etc) then we need to learn more about it and most importantly, to act on this hope. There’s no better way to figure out if something is true than to act on it- this requires faith in its infancy but also helps faith and hope to grow and develop. For instance, if we want to believe in repentance- try repenting.
Hm, well this post turned out to be more of a lecture than I had envisioned, but it’s a start. Everything starts with faith- it is a key element to our purpose here and critical we learn how to exercise it so that in the end, we will be truly happy and be who we want to be.
So, first we’re going to need an understanding of what faith is and how we can use it. We exercise faith all the time- its not just in a religious sense. We have faith that our alarm clocks will wake us up in the morning, that the sun will rise; we can have faith in other people- that they will do what they say they will; we have faith in science- that the earth rotates around the sun, etc. faith is acting on anything that we cannot see but believe to be true. An important difference, however is that in order to produce salvation, faith must be centered in Jesus Christ. This makes sense, Christ is the center of God’s plan for us to return to Him and like we said above, we need faith to do this. Hence, we need faith in Jesus Christ, which leads us to the other main point on faith- it delineates action. The very meaning of having faith in Christ means that we believe Him, that we believe His teachings, and if we believe his teachings, then we will operate them in our lives. If we believe that He did die for our sins for the purpose of enabling us to repent and become clean and thus able to dwell in Heavenly Father’s presence, then we will repent when we mess up. It seems to me there are a good many of us who profess to have faith in Christ but then do little to do what He says. This, then is not true faith. Faith in its definition is action. That’s the difference in faith and belief--having a belief is just that- believing. Faith is acting on that belief. (it is also interesting to note that Satan and his followers definitely believe in Christ. Note- the man possessed by evil spirits in Mark 5 who ran to Christ addressing him “Jesus, thou Son of the most high God.” or in Mark 1 where a man with an unclean spirit cries “I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God.” With all of Satan’s knowledge of God and Christ, he is still Satan) Mere belief or knowledge, then does little in the way of producing such desired results as salvation or accompaniment of the Holy Ghost in daily life. Knowledge alone does not assure us benefit from our knowledge. However, knowledge is also a key element of faith (many people erroneously exercise faith, or think they are exercising faith when they really are just hoping or believing). We must know in whom we have faith and what that means, in order to properly exercise it.
So how do we properly exercise faith? Simply put, we follow his gospel. His gospel being: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. That is quite simply put because each step entails so much, but basically we first have to have hope, even if we can do no more than hope that it’s true (that God exists, sent His son, Christ can redeem us from all sin and guilt, etc) then we need to learn more about it and most importantly, to act on this hope. There’s no better way to figure out if something is true than to act on it- this requires faith in its infancy but also helps faith and hope to grow and develop. For instance, if we want to believe in repentance- try repenting.
Hm, well this post turned out to be more of a lecture than I had envisioned, but it’s a start. Everything starts with faith- it is a key element to our purpose here and critical we learn how to exercise it so that in the end, we will be truly happy and be who we want to be.
some thoughts on the purpose of this blog
The reasons for this blog are three-fold:
1. The internet is a real nice place to waste time. I myself have wasted many an hour looking up relatively trivial things and even writing relatively trivial things. Basically mr. internet provides me with something to keep my eyes busy when I‘m looking for excuses to not be productive yet. And for this I’d like to thank Mr. internet for entertaining me on many an occasion and for allowing me to procrastinate my productivity. The internet may or may not serve this purpose for you, but anyway if we’re going to spend our time reading stuff on the internet anyway, why not make it spiritually uplifting stuff?
2. It really helps me in my personal study of the scriptures (Bible, Book of Mormon, etc) if I can have a theme to think about and if I have to write about it. I’m finding my mind is more on spiritual things through the week and this is pleasing to me. So, this blog provides me with a way to record some of the thoughts I have throughout the week an in my study of the scriptures. Thanks blog.
3. God told me to.
So there you go. Anyway, if you’re reading this, you probably are aware of the fact that I’m a mormon. If you are not, I hope this won’t discourage you from reading, as my honest desires listed above apply to all people, not just those who share a similar faith. The end.
1. The internet is a real nice place to waste time. I myself have wasted many an hour looking up relatively trivial things and even writing relatively trivial things. Basically mr. internet provides me with something to keep my eyes busy when I‘m looking for excuses to not be productive yet. And for this I’d like to thank Mr. internet for entertaining me on many an occasion and for allowing me to procrastinate my productivity. The internet may or may not serve this purpose for you, but anyway if we’re going to spend our time reading stuff on the internet anyway, why not make it spiritually uplifting stuff?
2. It really helps me in my personal study of the scriptures (Bible, Book of Mormon, etc) if I can have a theme to think about and if I have to write about it. I’m finding my mind is more on spiritual things through the week and this is pleasing to me. So, this blog provides me with a way to record some of the thoughts I have throughout the week an in my study of the scriptures. Thanks blog.
3. God told me to.
So there you go. Anyway, if you’re reading this, you probably are aware of the fact that I’m a mormon. If you are not, I hope this won’t discourage you from reading, as my honest desires listed above apply to all people, not just those who share a similar faith. The end.
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