Misunderstandings Create Conflict

Many of us have been a part of a misunderstanding. Whether you're the person being misunderstood, or you're misunderstanding someone else, it can be frustrating! The key to quickly resolving misunderstandings in order to abstain from further conflict is to effectively communicate. That ambiguous word: communicate. Discuss the problem in a kind way so that everyone feels valued. If misunderstandings are not cleared up, it can lead to major problems in a relationship or otherwise.

No one likes to be misunderstood, especially the potential wrath that may be associated with negative misinterpretations or misunderstandings. Just such an example occurs in Mosiah, chapter 20.

After the death (by fire) of his wicked father, King Noah, King Limhi takes control of the land. He is more wise than his father and more obedient to God's commandments. In order to preserve the lives and land of his people, he has entered into a contract with the Lamanites to give up 50% of their increase. That's a lot, but hey, it saved the people's lives after his father's big mistakes.

Things are going fine and dandy for King Limhi until he sees the Lamanites busting into his land to war. Not understanding why the Lamanites were breaking their contract, he immediately gathers his army and fights off the Lamanites. It isn't until the Lamanite king is brought to him that King Limhi begins understanding what went wrong. Thanks to Gideon, King Limhi is able to clarify what really happened to the Lamanite daughters and the war ends (for now).

You see, wicked King Noah had some wicked priests. These wicked, COWARDLY priests left their wives and children when the Lamanites had invaded and killed King Noah. These wicked priests left to save their own skins. Consequently, they felt pretty sheepish for so doing and didn't feel like they could come back to the people of Limhi. Enter dancing Lamanite daughters deep in the woods... the wicked priests catch sight of the daughters, capture 24 of them, and voila! A war starts among the Lamanites and the people of Limhi because the Lamanites ASSUME it was the people of Limhi that took the daughters.

The moral of the story is that the war wouldn't have started had the Lamanites actually peacefully come to the people of Limhi to find out what had happened. Because the king of the Lamanites acted out of anger, rather than trying to gain understanding, a war ensued and many people lost their lives (the king of the Lamanites ALMOST being one of them). It is better to try to understand a situation rather than making assumptions about it. Take time to ask before you assume. You might be able to stave off your own proverbial war.

Peer Pressure in The Book of Mormon

As I'm reading through The Book of Mormon, I find many instances of peer pressure. Whether it's with Laman and Lemuel and the children of Ishmael or if it's with King Noah and his priests, pressure to act as (or because) others do is ever present.

While I've recently been reading through the middle of Mosiah, I have come upon the chapters with Abinidi. Abinidi was a great prophet in The Book of Mormon. He was not afraid of the gospel of Christ. He stood firm in his faith to the end of his life. He acted on what the spirit told him to do. He lived a righteous life. Abinidi was a great example of the type of person we should strive to become. His life most definitely was NOT easy. Do you think it was easy to know that he most likely was going to be killed for trying to do what was right? I don't. It's not easy for us in our lives either. There are temptations on every side trying to get us to leave a Heavenly Father and Savior that we love. We must stand strong and firm in our beliefs, no matter how hard the temptations may be.



An aside here... This reminds me of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis was a fantastic author and Christian. If you haven't read this book, I would suggest so doing. It truly opened my eyes to see how much Satan is trying to tempt us and in what small and simple ways.

I see many of these same principles in The Book of Mormon. After Abinidi told wicked King Noah and his priests that he could not touch him without being killed, they believed him and left hime alone. At this point, Abinidi expounded unto them the basic principles of the gospel. He let them know how they should and could change their lives from lives of selfishness and idolatry to lives of happiness and righteousness. For better or worse, King Noah and his priests listened to what Abinidi had to say.

Once Abinidi was finished, they bound him and cast him into prison. After three days, they told him that he would be put to death for saying that God was going to come on the earth. (Apparently, they didn't believe in freedom of speech or freedom of religion at the time... unless, of course, it benefited themselves.) Abinidi would not back down. He would not recant what he had said, all along knowing in his heart this would most likely mean death.

Now, I know that King Noah was a wicked man. But, I truly believe that he wanted to allow Abinidi to live. This is evidenced in verse 11 in Chapter 17: "And now King Noah was about to release him, for he feared the judgments of God would come upon him." He believed what Abinidi had said, even if he chose not to act on it. He believed it and feared it so much so that he was willing to release Abinidi. Here's where the peer pressure comes in...

"But the priests lifted up their voices against him, and began to accuse him, saying: He has reviled the king. Therefore the king was stirred up in anger against him, and he delivered him up that he might be slain. And it came to pass that they took him and bound him, and scourged his skin with faggots, yea, even unto death." (verses 11-12)

Misery loves company and King Noah has it in spades with his priests. He allowed his priests to make up his mind for him. Was he trying to please God or man? The answer is obvious.

But, I ask myself... am I trying to please God or man? What is the purpose in my actions? Do I let myself get talked into believing or doing something I know is contrary to the gospel because the media or my friend says so? We must watch ourselves, our thoughts, our actions, and our deeds always. (see Mosiah 4:30) We must be cognizant of those inconspicuous, conniving, duplicitous temptations that Satan plants into our minds... be mindful in order to throw them out.

Learning from King Benjamin's Leadership

As I was reading in Mosiah 2 today, I just felt really strongly that King Benjamin is a fine example of a leader. If only we could have such a leader in charge of our country! King Benjamin worked FOR his people. He served them all the days of his life. He did not become king because was not seeking power. He became king because he was called to that position and did not shirk his responsibility. And as king, he did not allow people to "plunder or murder." King Benjamin did not expect others to pay him an exorbitant amount of money in order to be there leader. He served them because he KNEW the principle that if you're in the service of your fellow beings, you are in the service of your God (Mosiah 2:17). Not only did he know this, but he lived it and taught through his words and example. What an amazing man!

In his farewell speech to his people (beginning in chapter 2), there are two parts that always stands out to me. First off, I love how he encourages us to have gratitude towards our Heavenly Father who gave us everything and without whom we are nothing. It is such a SIMPLE principle, yet often overlooked in our daily lives. Last week, I taught gospel doctrine. The topic was the "Pride Cycle" as found in The Book of Mormon. Our class came to the consensus that it is only through recognizing God's hand in our lives that we are able to get out of the pride cycle. King Benjamin taught his people this early on. Sadly, many of them missed the boat on that principle in later years and suffered accordingly.


(Nobility of work is portrayed as Book of Mormon's King Benjamin labors to support himself. Photo by Nestor Curbelo.)

Another principle King Benjamin taught is that of simplicity. He makes the gospel incredibly simple for all: Keep the commandments and God will bless you. It's as simple as that! The commandments include loving one another (service), loving God (gratitude), and many other actions that we should be taking or abstaining from to keep the spirit in our lives. Truly, if we follow the commandments to a tee, will have a clear conscience, just like King Benjamin. If we don't, we may be among those who suffer. I know that I'm not perfect at keeping the commandments, but I know that when I'm striving to do my best, Heavenly Father blesses me immensely. My life may not goes as I want it to go, but I see that everthing that has happened has blessed me greater than I could have imagined MY WAY.

Coming to Testimony like Enos

As I was reading Enos today, a few parts of it really struck me.

Enos 1:3 reads, "...the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart."

After enough says this, he kneels down to pray and ask forgiveness for his sins all day long and receives a remission of his sins as well as hears the voice of God. There are many valuable lessons contained in only this part of the story. First off, I truly believe that this is how many of us start to have a solid testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if we live our whole lives with a knowledge of the gospel, like Enos--who remembered the words of his father, but clearly did not believe them for himself before this time--we must also pray to gain our own testimony. We may be praying about a specific part of the gospel we want to understand better, or we may be praying in general to gain our own testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever it may be, we come to a real testimony in the same away: by exhibiting faith and then acting upon it.



All of this reminds me of a talk Elder Bednar gave when he was president of BYU-Idaho. He spoke on how vital it is for us to work everyday to keep our testimonies. If we don't continue to act on it, if we don't pray for guidance and strength from our Heavenly Father, if we don't recognize in humble gratitude those things that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have provided in our lives, then we will surely lose our testimonies over time. A testimony is like a fire. You must continue to feed a fire or else it will burn out.

All in all, I love Enos for his faith, diligence, and love of his fellow men (even his "enemies," the Lamanites). He exhibits such great faith that his will comes in line with the Lord's will, as in when he wishes for the scriptures to be preserved, which was clearly Heavenly Father's plan from the beginning. I know that if we, too, exhibit faith, Heavenly Father will guide our paths and provide us with our own strength.