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...
Helaman’s son Nephi prophesied in a time of great wickedness and upheaval. He was deeply affected by the wickedness of his people and lamented their fall from righteousness. After a failed attempt to preach to the people in the north, he returned to the capital Zarahemla because “they did reject all his words, insomuch that he could not stay among them” (Helaman 7:3). While tragic, it is good to keep in perspective that even prophets of God on His errand will be rejected. We are all limited in our ability to influence the thoughts and behaviors of others. Instead of despair, we should feel liberated to pursue a life of principle and purpose independent of how others respond. We get to choose what kind of person we want to be, regardless of how we are received by others.
Nephi accepted the conditions of his time and chose to let it affect him emotionally. “I am consigned that these are my days, and that my soul shall be filled with sorrow because of this the wickedness of my brethren” (Helaman 7:9). Truly, he lived in an unsettling world in which the guilty and wicked went unpunished because of their money, and wicked leaders led the government that "they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills" (Helaman 7:5). We also learn that when Nephi saw the wickedness of his people, "his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul” (Helaman 7:5-6).
Nephi's sorrow seems to be inconsistent with the joy that should accompany a gospel life. President Gordon B. Hinckley in the October 1995 General Conference asserted that "there is no place in this work for those who believe only in the gospel of doom and gloom. The gospel is good news. It is a message of triumph. It is a cause to be embraced with enthusiasm." And yet we know that even God weeps for the unrighteousness of His children. Perhaps Nephi was responding in the way that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught: “The first thing you will do when [someone] tells you he or she had not read and prayed about the Book of Mormon is be devastated! … Much of the time we are just too casual about all of this. This is eternal life. This is the salvation of the children of God. Eternity hangs in the balance” (“Making and Keeping Covenants,” missionary satellite broadcast, Apr. 1997).
When reconciling these two seemingly competing ideas, it’s important to remember that we can choose what to think, and that our feelings stem from those thoughts. If we want to feel sorrow because it is useful and motivating, then we can embrace thoughts that “devastate” us and emphasize the gravity of the issue. If we want to feel exuberant and hopeful because it spurs us to action instead of despair, we can chose thoughts that are triumphant. The connection between feelings of the Spirit and emotion is not that the Spirit inspires positive emotions; sorrow is well within the emotional range of a perfect God. Instead, the Spirit increases faith, which is a principle of action. Positive and negative emotion can both inspire action, and both can be prompted by the Holy Ghost. I wonder if the Spirit doesn’t testify so much of the rightness or wrongness of a circumstance as the usefulness of our thoughts and emotions about it.
Application Questions
How do you respond to wickedness in the world?
How can you find peace and purpose in your specific circumstances?
What thoughts do you choose on purpose? What feelings and actions come as a result?
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