Moroni 10:5 and no longer believing

[Anonymous]

I like Mosiah 24’s account of how people overcame the burden of slavery through divine intervention….the key to God’s intervention was faith and patience during trials, submitting as cheerfully as possible to your circumstances.

I’ve applied that a number of times in my life and found that plodding along faithfully and patiently when you’re suffering gives you your inner peace. And once, a series of events unfolded that released me from the circumstances I was in. I attribute it to the divine forces of nature helping me because I faced my suffering with the right attitudes.

I’ve since shared that with hosts of people who are suffering, and it resonates. It’s not a quick fix. It’s a lesson in the character we should try to adopt when life throws us a lemon.

Also, I like the story of Nephi — how we failed twice in trying to get the brass plates, and the THIRD time, was led by the Spirit beforehand — not knowing the things he should do until told. The message to me is about how we should keep trying our best, and how God often intervenes when the challenge has exceeded our capacities. I had an experience like that once that I’ve shared a few times involving a temporal challenge I had.

It doesn’t bother me if these things didn’t actually happen in the Book of Mormon. Reflecting on these possible works of fiction helped me decide how to face some tough circumstances, and now, those stories in the Book of Mormon are my own — same principles, but different story — my own life story.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Lastly, there’s the overall theme throughout the Book of Mormon, an observation of basic human and social nature where people suffer or want, become creative and “enlightened,” receive an abundance of prosperity, and then fall into chaos as they forget. It’s the classic 2 steps forward, 1 step back. We experience this individually. It’s also the classic cycle of civilization played out many times in the story of the BoM. Is this observation false if the BoM is fiction?

Scriptures are more like poetry than technical manuals. It works much better that way for me.

I agree. Great fiction not just entertainment and the scriptures have the same depth and levels of meaning that make them worthwhile. The passage in Mosiah where King Benjamin says that when you’re in the service of your fellow beings you’re in the service of God is a classice and worth the whole book. But…

[Anonymous]

GBSmith wrote:

But…

I know. I know. I do want to validate that “but…” I totally get it, and feel that sometimes too. My less-literal and “Joseph Campbell” type of presentation is radically different than the normal idea of our scriptures most of us grew up with. These were seen as books that fell out of the sky, penned right from God’s own desk.

It is very unbalancing and upsetting shifting from the traditional concept of scripture, especially how the BofM is placed as this all-or-nothing keystone at the top of our entire LDS arch of belief. Yank that sucker out and what happens? It’s really easy for it all to come crashing down in a broken mess.

I get it. I really do.

[Anonymous]

Brian Johnston wrote:

I get it. I really do.

‘preciate it.

[Author]

Posts