Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome. Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4). This priority was not only reflecte
Learning of the apostasy of the Zoramites, Alma took three of the four Sons of Mosiah to minister unto the people and preach the word of God: "And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God" (Alma 31:5). The Power of the Word of God All too often when I see the ills and failings of society my first impulse is to support a new law, endorse a new program, or advocate for additional funding for a cause. In my own life I'm tempted to do the same by buying a new product, setting a new goal, or trying a new gimmick. I remember one year at Christmas Bren and I were discussing how we could make the season more meaningful and considered donating what to us was a large sum of money to a charity.