Lessons from King Limhi's People

For just under a month I have been studying the story of the people of King Limhi. I am so thankful that there is such a detailed history of what these people went through. There are many lessons to be learned. Granted, I feel that the history may be a little biased because of the man who wrote most of it, Zeniff, but it is not all sugar coated. A group of people leave Zarahemla during the reign of King Benjamin to reclaim the land of their inheritance, the land of Nephi, now occupied by the Lamanites. This is mentioned in the closing verses of the book of Omni.

Zeniff, although not the leader of this group, he does keep the record. He wrote that he was sent as a spy to see if the Nephite armies could destroy the Lamanites. According to Amaleki (in the book of Omni) they wanted to take back the land of Nephi. The leader of the group wanted to destroy everything, but Zeniff, like King Saul, seeing all that was good did not want it all destroyed. This created a civil war that killed all but fifty of them. They went back to Zarahemla, but Zeniff gathered more people and led them back.

He decides to see what the King is like and ask him if they can move in. The blood-thirsty, yet patient, King Laman just gives them the land. Supposedly to bring them into bondage, but he allows them to dwell there for twelve years before he decides to implement the next step in his plan. He attacks the people of Zeniff, but the Lord is on the side of the Zeniff and they win. King Laman dies and a new king attacks, still the Lord protects and helps them and he loses also.

All went well when they were righteous, but Noah, the son of King Zeniff, takes over. He replaces all of the priests with his friends and they live the high life for a while, living off the taxes of the people. Abinadi comes along to call them to repent, but they kill him. Finally the people are fed up, they try to kill King Noah, but the Lamanites are attacking.

Noah and his priests and other cowardly men flee to the wilderness, where they kill him and try to kill his priests. The people who stayed who no less cowardly. They sent their daughters to soften the hearts of these ferocious, blood-thirsty, angry warriors. Luckily for them it works, but with a high price tag. They have to pay a tribute to the Lamanites of one-half of their substance. Eventually Ammon comes along and they work together to help them escape.

This is a sad, sad story. God gave them opportunities to repent, but they didn't take them until almost too late. The good news is that they did repent and God made the best of their bad situation, Lesson #1 Repent right away.

God sent them a prophet but they did not listen because he had no credentials. Lesson #2 Lack of credentials does not mean that someone is not a prophet and telling the truth. The Spirit will tell us if what we are hearing is true not matter who is speaking.

They humbly and patiently accepted the situation they caused, but hoped and prayed for deliverance. Lesson #3 Be patient, the Lord will relieve our suffering when it no longer benefits us.

In the beginning they chose to live among the Lamanites instead of eliminating their influence. This proved fatal after twelve years of peace. Lesson #4 The World always takes over unless we eliminate it from our lives.

On the surface Abinadi's mission seems to be a failure because only one person believes what he had to say. That one person was enough to bless generations of Nephites and Lamanites after. Lesson #5 Success is measured by God's standard not our own.

I know there are more lessons, but this is enough for me to work on for now. I love the scriptures and how they are tailor made for each of our situations and lives.

Wisdom

For several days I studied, pondered, and prayed on what wisdom is. The scripture in Mosiah 8:20-21 seems key to learning what I need.

20 Oh how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with
his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the
children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she
should rule over them!
21 Yea, they are as a wild flock which fleeth from
the shepherd and scattereth, and are driven, and are devoured by the beasts of
the forest.

These scriptures are quite an indictment. I have had to take a look at my blindness and impenetrable understanding. I have found that I try to seek wisdom, but not knowing where to find it or even what it really is, I have been wild and fleeing from the shepherd.

I have determined that there are two types of wisdom. The first is a worldly wisdom. You are judged to be smart by the world or yourself. This type with eventually be confounded by the weak (Alma 32:23, D&C 133:58) and perish (2Nephi27:26). This kind of wisdom is foolish and built upon a sand foundation. Being puffed up with this type of wisdom makes God despise us (2Nephi 9:42).

The other is wisdom with a capital “W”. This one is a little tricky because there are three parts or levels of this wisdom. The first as it applies to us, second as it applies to God, and third the Wisdom God gives to us. The third is more like stepping stones to bridge the gap between the first two types. The Wisdom that applies to us starts in knowing that God knows everything and that compared to Him we know nothing. For us it is also keeping the commandments, service, knowing how to be saved, trusting God to do what He has promised, and taking care of our bodies. This is not a comprehensive list. Understanding our relative ignorance is key to the rest. We won't do those other things to a level that brings salvation with out first knowing that what we think doesn't matter unless is comes from God through the Holy Ghost.

These along with the choice to be baptized, open the gate to wisdom's path. This path ultimately leads to God and knowing what He does. We have to ask, be humble, be wise (see above paragraph), and then treasure the wisdom He imparts in our hearts, only revealing to others what God commands you to.

Ultimate Wisdom is that which God possesses. He knows all and always does what is just, right, good, etc... All he does is for a wise purpose, mostly that we know not.

The great thing about wisdom is that it never matters how much we have as long as we treasure what we do have and use it. Wisdom receives wisdom (D&C 88:40). We learn it line upon line, precept upon precept (D&C 28:30). WE have to be humble to get Wisdom and we have to be wise to be humble. Once we start on the pat it seems that God will keep giving until we choose to leave the path by boasting and depending on our own wisdom.

Asking means seeking after wisdom. We are commanded to seek first by faith (D&C ). If we don't have enough faith we seek it by studying good books. I think that the study is to increase our faith, because all that we study will avail us nothing until we receive it in the Spirit of the Lord, which is wisdom and understanding. Otherwise we begin to depend on our own wisdom and we are off the path. God has promised us in D&C 111:11 ...”be ye as wise as serpents and yet without sin; and I will order al things for your good as fast as ye are able to receive them.” I believe we will become wisest the fastest by concentrating on entering the path and continuing forward; being humble, keeping the commandments, learning how to be saved, and most importantly, trusting God's wisdom to keep us safe. Exactly what learning by faith means is not exactly clear to me yet.

Thoughts on Education From King Benjamin

For many years I have been searching and searching for the best way to teach my children. I found many wonderful plans and curriculum, but nothing seemed to fit or feel right. We decided we needed a new goal. Our goal had been to make our children smart and leaders. We changed that to faithful and fruitful. Once we changed focus our minds eased and we have since settled on what and how to teach our children. Our first priority is to teach them who they really are, who their Father is, and how to be saved, anything else is either to help with this or is just icing. I have spent many hours talking to mothers who have been able to do this and they all told me to study the scriptures and teach them to my children, and remember our perspective needs to include more than this life, it needs to include eternity. I have been following their advice for some time now, especially focusing on the Book of Mormon and the words of the modern prophets and apostles..

Last week I began a careful study of King Benjamin's farewell teachings to his people. The account begins with information about his family, specifically his sons, one of which is going to succeed him as king. King Benjamin taught many things to his three sons, but only a few are mentioned specifically. The other things are either too sacred to share or less important that what Mormon actually took the time to engrave the details of. Either way what was have in the Book of Mormon is important for us to know and it is there to guide us in teaching our own children.

Mosiah chapter 1 verse 2says that, “he causes that they (his sons) should be taught in all the language of his fathers.” His specific purpose in this is to make sure that they are men of understanding and know the prophesies delivered by God. I pondered just this part for a two days. What does it mean to be “men of understanding?” What does he mean by “all the language of his fathers?” I don't claim to be a great scriptorian, but I believe that the Holy Ghost can teach me what I need to know. Here is what I have come up with. All the language … is the Egyptian characters that Lehi, Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni wrote on the Gold Plates. In verse four it says that Lehi was taught this language so he could read the record on the Brass Plates and could teach them to his children. Something that I had never noticed before is that the Brass and God Plates were written in the same language.

King Benjamin also taught his sons this record (vs. 3) that is why they know the mysteries of God and do not live in ignorance like the Lamanites. I believe that they were taught this language so they could read the Brass Plate and this is what made them men of understanding. King Benjamin wanted God's words and especially his commandments to be “always before (their) eyes” (vs. 5). Without being able to read and understand God's words this is impossible and worse we would have to rely on other men for our salvation. Brigham Young specifically warned against this

"What a pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter
destruction! Are
you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so
much
confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire of the Lord whether
they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a blind self-security,
trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless
confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their
salvation,k
and weaken that influence they could give tho their leaders, did
they know for
themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in
the right way. Let
every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit
of God to themselves,
whether their leaders are walking in the path that the
Lord dictates or not.
This has been my exhortation continually.” (JD
9:149-50)

Their father wanted them to know the prophesies and reading for themselves would have been the best way to accomplish this.

Knowing the scriptures is what gives us understanding, acting on the things written in them
makes us wise. It seemed strange at first that he only wanted to make them men of understanding and not wise, but wisdom is earned not given. He could not make them wise. He wanted to give them everything he could by way of knowledge and understanding of the things of God, hoping they would choose to be wise. I share this goal with the king. I teach my children the gospel in the language of our scripture and explain over and over until they understand, then hope they choose the right and earn wisdom.

It also made me pause that he caused these things to be taught to them rather than teaching them himself, but he was busy running a kingdom and keeping peace. I am going to assume he delegated the actual teaching, at least in their younger years, to their mother. This also parallels my experience and goals. It is comforting to see the path I am trying to follow in the scriptures.

The Doctrine of Christ

For several years I have been on a quest. I have been looking at how I can more fully bring my life into harmony with God's will. I have spent countless hours reading and praying and asking God to tell me what He wants me to do. About six months ago I decided that I needed to understand the gospel more. I decided to leave off all of my secular learning and focus on studying the gospel. My life has completely changed. I am a new person and like Christ and Alma advised us to do, I have been born again. My focus in life is very different. I no longer wish to be smart, I hope to be righteous and please God. I have developed faith necessary to make things happen in my life. My life is centered on my role as a daughter of God, which includes being a wife, mother, and disciple. Everything I do now has a divine purpose. I can even see a divine purpose in laundry and cooking dinner. This has not been easy, but it has been fun. It has been frustrating, yet fulfilling.

Recently I was reading in Second Nephi and all that I have been thinking about became clear. My thoughts begin in chapter 31:13 which tells us the steps to spiritual enlightenment. The first is follow the Son with full purpose of heart. Step two is to act no hypocrisy and no deception before God. The third step is repent of your sins. Step four is to witness to the Father that you are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by following Him in baptism. Then the reward you receive is the Holy Ghost. This may look like a one time thing, after all how many times is a person baptized? This actually happens constantly in our lives, which is why God gave us the ordinance of the Sacrament so that each week we have the opportunity to show God we are willing to take upon us the name of His Son. Going through this process brings the Holy Ghost to our lives. Another amazing part of the gift is the Holy Ghost gives us the ability to speak with the tongue of angels. Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and speak the words of Christ (2 Nephi 32:3). This is amazing to me. We can speak the words of Christ only when we know them, although, so in the same verse Nephi tells us to feast upon the words of Christ. This will get them into our inner most parts and allow the Holy Ghost to bring them to our remembrance when it is necessary.

These steps lead us onto a path, through the gate of baptism, which is strait and narrow. Once on the path we leave at our peril, for Christ tells us that if we start and then deny Him it would have been better to not have knows Him (2 Nephi 31: 14). This is startling because to know Him and the Father is eternal life (John 17:3), to not know them seems to be damnation, progression stopped.

Staying on the path leads to eternal life. Verse 18 of the 31st chapter in second Nephi says,

“And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life;
yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments
of the Father and the Son, and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses
of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath
made, that if ye entered in by the way ye would receive.”

This tells us what our goal is, eternal life, and how to get there. First enter the gate, next keep the commandments, then receive, not just once, but more like entertain, the Holy Ghost, all the way unto the end until we receive what he promised. The promise is found in John 14. It is called the Second Comforter. Christ Himself comes to us and makes our calling and election sure because we have proven that we will do all that the Lord asks, not matter what. Then we will have power, like Helaman's son, Nephi and Joseph Smith to have whatever we ask granted (Helaman 10:5-11, TPJS p. 340).

This is a long process and for most it won't happen in this life. The time line doesn't matter, as long as we start of the path and never get off or get back on when we realize we are off. The promise is made and God can't lie, just ask Enos (Enos 1:6). He will follow through. We will have eternal life. Because of Christ's atoning sacrifice , it is done and waiting for us to take advantage of it. If we don't understand all we have to do is ask (2 Nephi 32:4). I did and my understanding is unclouded now.

Nephi declares this to be the doctrine of Christ and writes in ch 32:6, “There will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh.” This is really all we have to worry about for now. This gives us plenty to work on for a lifetime. The verse concludes with a teaser to keep us enduring. “And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do.” I am excited to find out what the Lord has planned for me to do. I am looking forward to this personal interview with Him to learn what he wants me, individually, to do. This confirms something I heard a while ago, “Your mission is life to to find your mission in life and then do it.”

Education in Our Home

I am ready to participate in another blog hop on Sunday Society. I have been doing all the readings, but have been too caught up on my worldly cares to have time to write. I have repented and am back at writing.

This issue was so timely for me. I am preparing to purchase books that I would like to have to use for our 2011/2012 school year. In the section about education was written

Education essays to elevate the child to an honorable position in society, to assist in making him a competent, intelligent and virtuous citizen, a good patriot.

This is a better worded version of our school motto. This is our goal with our children. We have been working to raise children like those described since our oldest was born. The second sentence in the paragraph made me pause and consider.

If this be the aim, it is palpable that too little stress is often laid upon the moral and religious training of our youth.

My husband and I decided many years ago that nothing matters more than a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. If our children don't have this they have nothing and no amount of education can make up for it. We teach reading so they can study the scriptures, we teach math and art to show the beauty of our God. We study to science to show the order of His creation. We teach history to show that God cares about individual lives and the world as a whole. Everything we teach leads us back to God, if it doesn't, we don't teach it. The bulk of our school time is spent on reading the scriptures and talking about them, memorizing words of our prophets, and character building. We add history, science, math, and others when the Spirit directs (which is almost every day), but some days we only focus on those basics. We have taken some flack over the years for our ideas about education, but Joseph Smith said,

"If we seek first the Kingdom of God, all good things will be added."

This is our attempt at seeking to establish the Kingdom of God or Zion in our home. We try to be governed by God and nothing else, not our whims, desires, or passions, but by what God wants us to do. This means that we are not child led in our school and that our children know that sometimes what God wants us to do is not what we want to do. My children are still so very young and trust everything I say. When I say that their father and I prayed about it and this is the answer they are very willing and anxious to do what God wants. The pressure is on us to make sure that we are having them follow Gods plan and not our own. We are seeking to make His will our will. Thankfully He led me to Milestones Academy so most of the work has been done for me. We take her work and make it work for our family. (thank you Kate, the finding of this site is a miracle that still makes me smile whenever I think of it)

The final paragraph in the article is also another better worded version our our family motto.

When you can get a scholar to obey and to study because it is right, and from a conviction of accountability to God, you have gained a victory which is worth more than all the penal statutes in the world, but can never gain such a victory without laying great stress upon religious principles in your daily instruction.

In the end what matters is that my children are happy and have a firm testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and have the discipline and knowledge to follow His direction.

(I really need to update our family photo, we are missing a person)

Women of Mormondom

Thia week for the blog hop at Society Sunday I read the first chapter from a book called The Women of Mormondom. What I want to say about this chapter is WOW! what an inspirinng read. These women were compared to not only the original apostles but also the the ancient prophets Mr. Tullidge even called them phrophets. Of them he writes.

"Women with new types of character, ancient rather than modern; Themes ancient but transposed to our latter-day experience. Women with their eyes open, and the prophecy of their work and mission in their own utterances, who have dared to enter upon the path of religious empire-founding with as much divine enthusiasm as had the apostles who founded Christendom."

In my quest for greater faith I have used these women as examples, their lives have become more than stories lately, they have become friends. I have had my heart turned to my mothers as I have been studying the history of the Relief Society and found myself lacking. I have been given a legacy of faith through their trials, tears, and heartaches; service, love, and friendship. I fear that I have taken for granted the privilege I have of being a member of the Relief Society and have not been as useful an instrument as has been in my power. As women of the Relief Society we have an opportunity and obligation to come together and improve our community; whether it is the home community, ward community or wider community that needs improving. If we work together we have the ability to call down the power of Heaven that is lacking in too many lives. Many today want to do something big and many miss opportunities given because they seem insignificant and even I had fallen prey to this philosophy of men mingled with scripture. These women were not out to do something big, they just wanted to live thier lives in conformity to God's plan for them. This was just everyday life most of the time, occassionally they were called upon to act in extraordinary ways, but they had been prepared to do the big things He asked because they had practised with the little things. They knew His voice and had come to trust Him so it was easy to follow. I am thankful for the council to study the history of the Releif Society. Sister Beck truely is prophetic. I am incredibly greatful for the faith of these women and their examples. Their lives, though sometimes short and never easy, have been blessing women for generations.

Power in the Home

One month ago my life was easy. I had a great husband, four beautiful daughters, a small, but lovely home, steady income, and peace. Three weeks ago my husband moved to another state for work. He leaves Monday morning at 3:30 am and comes home Friday evening at 7:30. The first two Saturdays that we had were so chaotic. I was running around cooking his meals to take, cleaning his things, doing his laundry and trying to find everything I could to make his stay at a motel as comfortable as possible. This just made tension and made me feel "cumbered about by many things." I knew I needed to choose "that good part," but had so much to do. I also knew that we had him home so few hours that I should not be wasting the time with him. This week was different. I spent Friday morning cooking all of his meals and putting away all of our laundry. Friday afternoon I collected the things he said he would like to take with him next week. Saturday morning I got up early and started his laundry and the three loads were done in no time. I became aware that I was a new person this week. Early in the week I read an excerpt from a Relief Society newspaper published in 1873 that said

HOME is the realm in which the wife is the sovereign, and her sovereignty will bring her honor and love according as her rule over the matters committed to her trust is wisely and beneficently ordered.

I have been reminded of my sovereignty in my home as I am without my husband. It is me that designs the schedule and makes it happen. It is me that controls the mood and spirit in our home. These things do go well as long as I am wise and orderly. I thought that I would be able to relax and let some things go that were important to my husband, but didn't seem so to me. I have learned that doing so is not wise and takes out much of the order and I do not get much honor nor love.

That realm, limited as it is, demands for its government a much greater and a more unremitting effort of thought than is always given to it.

I thought that I was limited, that I had little power, but I am completely in control right now..... I don't think I like it very much. I learned exactly how much my husband does for me. I not only have to take the garbage out to the can, but have to take the can to the curb on pick up day, then bring it back in. This may not seem like a bit deal, but try forgetting one week. I have many reasons to appreciate my husband now, and have begun to see how the limits of my power are self imposed. The more effort and thought I put into managing my home now the more power I have.

I am very happy to be having this experience. That may sound crazy, but we have been so blessed already because of this. Before my husband left he gave each member of our family a blessing. It was one of the most sacred experiences I have had. Those blessings have been such a comfort and an uplift since he left. I have found my prayers to be much more focused and sincere, my scripture study has gained ground and these have led to increased faith. I am able to more readily hear and follow the Lord's promptings through the Holy Ghost. My priorities have changed.

My life may no longer be easy, but I am now making forward progress. We are coming together in ways that just one month ago I didn't think were possible. I am thankful to see some of my weaknesses turning to strengths as I face this challenge with faith instead of fear like in the past. I will take the things I am learning over easy any day.


This is the website with the excerpt of the paper, Society Sunday. I am so happy to be participating this week and hope to continue each week.

Of Pedantry by Montaigne

We are commanded to learn all we can. This commandment can be found in the scriptures and from the words of the living prophets. There is always a condition that comes with the admonition to learn, and that is to always seek God first. This essay is about this command and condition. Montaigne condemns pedantry and philosophers. Pedants are those who are too proud of their education. They are vain and boastfully display their knowledge. Philosophers are those who have really great ideas, but neither worry about nor care about the practical side of their ideas. He doesn't consider either group fit for public office or much else for that matter.

The problem he sees, and I agree with him, is that they don't study the right way. They learn to look good, but never internalize it. He likens them to birds who forage for food and bring it home in their beaks for their young without actually tasting it. This is manifest by gleaning a few sentences from lots of books and keeping them on the tip of your tongue ready to spew out for show. Knowledge should be used to change us for the better. It is wrong to fill our minds and those of our children with out creating virtue. Parents and society are at fault. Parents expect teachers to teach facts to their children and then tie their hands when it comes to morality. The world values a learned man more than a good man. “We only labor to stuff the memory and leave the conscience and understand unfurnished and void.”

Education has three levels, references to these are found throughout the scriptures. They are knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Knowledge is filling our minds with facts, understanding is internalizing the knowledge, and wisdom naturally follows by using our knowledge and understanding to change us and in the process the world. This takes effort and can be painful. Montaigne's advice is to take the challenge to gain wisdom. He suggests that people stop learning for learning's sake, you need to apply it and do some good. Having large libraries and even reading them, according to Montaigne, is useless unless we form our own thoughts. I attempt to accomplish this by writing these essays. Most scholars, he claims, are just parrots saying what everyone else has said. He asks, “but what do we have to say?”

Obtaining wisdom is the only virtuous goal of education. It is not enough to just not let our education corrupt us, as hard as that is, it has to make us better. This takes time. “Though we could become learned by other men's learning, a man can never be wise but by his own wisdom.” He also tells us that is we can not incorporate what we are studying into soul and if this can't be done it is better to not learn at all. Denver Snuffer wrote in his book, The Second Comforter, Conversing With the Lord Through the Veil, “No education is better than no education.”

The right motivation is the key. Getting a job, just to have knowledge, or to look good are not correct motivation, wisdom is the only one that qualifies. The reason is summed up by Montaigne, “Knowledge is an excellent drug, but no drug has virtue enough to preserve itself from corruption and decay if the vessel be tainted and impure wherein it is put to keep.” It is our job to keep our vessel clean and pur of any unworthy motivation and do good with what we learn. We need to make sure that the balance of our lives is forever tipped toward faith so that we never find ourselves relying on our own are any other man's “arm of flesh,” reasoning, and intellect.

Customs by Montaigne

Doing something over and over makes it easier to do, even if the time tween occurrences is long, we can still become used to it, like living by church bells or railroad tracks. I have even noticed this happening when the intervals are random, such as the sirens for the fire alerts. This is the idea behind habits building, or laying the rails, that Charlotte Mason wrote about. When something is our custom or habit we can do it without thinking, like walking or driving. Changing our customs does not come easy. This is what Montaigne meant when he wrote, “Custom is a violent and treacherous school mistress.” This is never more true than when we try to break from custom, even in little things like getting dressed in a certain order, but surely in big things such as family holiday traditions. We are met with opposition not only from ourselves, but from others as well.

New customs and habits are learned slowly and ones we have now may have originated in our early childhood. Montaigne wrote, “I find our greatest vices derive their first propensity from our most tender infancy and that our principle education depends upon the nurse.” This statement made me sop and really think about the customs I am passing along to my children and the habits I am allowing them to develop. Most of them are good and I have been deliberate about it, but some are not. These are the ones that I have often unwittingly allowed to form and that need my direct attention. This is why the years from birth until at least the age of accountability are so very important. What children learn them will determine what they are able to learn and do the rest of their lives. Cor values such as discipline, obedience, listening, diligence, and hard work need to be taught first along with the ability to determine what is right and wrong, good and bad, and true and false. They also need to have time to play and develop their imaginations. There really is no time for academics. Actually academics is not desirable or possible without the foundation of these core values and skills.

These are taught by mom, starting from the very beginning. As mothers we need to require obedience, quality work, and attention. Children need to work with mom on what ever needs to be done. They need to love to hear mom's voice and learn to respond to it whenever she speaks. We need to model all of this. We also need to limit their exposure to bad models of the qualities we want them to develop.

This means work, hard work that many of my generation don't know how to do. It means breaking some of the customs that have developed in our culture and establishing your own. We should not be sending our 3 and 4 year old babies to preschool. We need to stop watching television and playing video games. We need to stay home and stop entertaining our children. Probably the most difficult to do and yet the most important is to do what Charlotte Mason calls Masterly Inactivity. This is supervising your children and being there to correct if necessary, but not hovering or being intrusive.

Breaking form custom is hard, but certainly work it if the custom is wrong. That is what New Years resolutions are all about. We should periodically, not just January 1, look at our lives and decide if our customs or habits lead us to or away from God and adjust accordingly.

I am not reading Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais

After reading the biographical information about Rabelais and some reviews of his writing, I learned my lesson from Lysistrata., I have decided to skip this one. There is so much filth and evil surrounding me in the world I do not need to invite it into my home via television, radio, entertainment, magazines, or the books I read. I know there is value in the work or it would not have included in the collection, but I am not interested in what the world values only what God values and he is directing me away from it. Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk in the October 2007 General Conference that has guided my choices since. In it he said, “We have to forgo some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.” I can with certainty that this is not a “best”, it is not a “better”, and is not even a “good” so I will not be touching it. My purpose in using the “good, better, best” test can be found in Doctrine and Covenants section 133 verse 5, “Go ye out from Babylon. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” I can't do this if I actually invite Babylon into my home and mind through reading things like this. I am so thankful to have the Holy Ghost and living prophets to guide me.

The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli

The Prince by Machiavelli has been a taboo book for me for a long time. As a consequence, it has sat on my shelf for many years waiting to be read. I had heard it to be a how-to-guide for ruthless rulers. It seemed to be to be a book about furthering the suffering of innocent people at the hands of had leaders and I thought it would be hard. I was partly right in that there was much advice about how to get and stay on top, but it was not hard to read at all. In fact, it was easy. It flowed really nice and it was fascinating.

Machiavelli wrote it as a gift for Prince Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici. It seemed to me to be a resume or job application. He had been removed by the monarchy from a position his family had held for generations. He had been living in the country and at night secretly dressed in his court garments and conversed, through books, with the great men of history. He state his was writing down his observations about the successes and failures of past rulers in order to advise the new ruler.

The basic premise is that the end power and glory, earthly glory, justifies any means of getting there. Machiavelli advises over and over of avoiding the hatred of the people. According to him, this, having the people hate you, was the most dangerous position for a leader to find himself in. To accomplish this he suggest things such as the prince relocate, temporarily, to a newly acquired principality, not changing their laws or taxes, and at the very least keep the cruelty swift, early, and only to a necessary degree. The other alternative is the ruin them. “They ought to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefor the injury that is to be done ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.”

After reading just a part of it I realized that there was very little that I could apply to me as a wife and mother, so I had to step away from my world view and try to see it from theirs. This was good advice to give to people whose only purpose is to gain power without any worry about eternity. I do know people like this, but even with success they are not happy. Selfishness is the theme running through the whole book.

Probably the most damaging and damning advice he gives is that it is not necessary to possess the good qualities he suggests, just o appear that the does. He points it out most directly when speaking of religious matters, this way when it becomes prudent or necessary they will not be held back by actual faith in God. They need to be good, but only in a way that people see them being good, merciful, faithful, etc. Doing it without the people knowing is a waste of time.

Almost all of what he promoted was the opposite of what I have been taught. Machiavellie is only concerned wit the here and now. He also believes that all men are enemies. Either they are weak or they are strong, but all are bad. The weak are only concerned about not being oppressed and are always looking for a replacement for their leader to better their situation and the strong are all rivals to your power. What a lonely life this kind of thinking leads to!

I prefer the government of god through men who hold the priesthood. Good leaders, in my opinion, let charity be our guide, “Charity suffereth long and is kind, envieth not, and it not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil and rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things hepeth all things, endureth all things.” A real leader follows the counsel found in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 41-46:

41No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

42By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

43Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

44That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

45Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

46The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

The man or woman who leads this way will be truly successful. Success and peace in this life come from aiming for success in the next. God already proved this when the Isrealites surrounded the walls of Jericho. His prophet showed that, “They that be

with us are more than they that be with them.” There are many examples of righteous leaders in the scriptures. God has promised the He will go before us, a leader who follows Him can't fail.

Finally Laying Down Our Weapons of Rebellion

The Anti-Nephi-Lehis in the Book of Mormon are an example of following God with full purpose of heart. They not only laid down their weapons of war, but as Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy pointed out in his talk to the Priesthood brethren in the October 2010 General Conference, they also laid down their weapons of rebellion. They stopped fighting against God and their conversion was real and complete. The scriptures point out that “they never did fall away.” By laying down their weapons of rebellion they qualified for the healing power of the Savior. He has promised us peace and forgiveness if we just come unto Him and repent. Elder Kearon contrasts this with the fact that God is grieved, the Spirit leaves, and we are left on our own when we attempt “to cover our sins or to gratify our pride or our vain ambitions.”

We must bring ourselves to the only one who can heal us, our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We do this, as Elder Kearnon states, by “lay(ing) down our weapons of rebellion.” After reading this I prayed for God to tell me what my weapons are and how to lay them down. My mind was opened and the Spirit showed me what my most pressing weaknesses are. They are attitudes that many people probably deal with. None of them were a surprise for me, this was not the first time I was told to change these things. This first step is probably the hardest one to do. Some of our attitudes were sown in us as a child, the result of trauma of some kind, or rebellion against God's commandments. Recognizing the beliefs that we hold that are wrong takes much soul searching humility. Once we know what they are we can begin the arduous task of laying them down. I love the imagery that invokes. I can at any point on my journey set those beliefs down and walk away; probably walk faster with out all of that weight. Then the task becomes not going back and picking them up again.

In addition to the weapons of rebellion Elder Kearon admonishes us to “lay down our sin, vanity, and pride.” I see the weapons of rebellion as my attitude and thoughts, while sin, vanity, and pride as the actions that follow those beliefs. This is something that we, also, need to humbly ask God to tell us the specific things we need to change. These are just bullet points that if written down would define my weapons of rebellion. These are the sins we commit everyday, and especially those we seem to commit over and over. Taking time before you pray at night to analyze your behavior during the day for things you need to repent of will tell you what these are. Each action I change makes the journey lighter. The hard part here is keeping our focus because laying down a rebellious attitude is like setting down a large rock that I have been carrying, but each specific action is more like a pebble. Laying down one may not seem to make much of a difference, especially since everyday we will be picking up more pebbles because of the nature of mortality, but over time, after many pebbles have been dropped a difference will be felt. Eventually, the idea is the drop more than we pick up.

Another part of bring ourselves to Christ is according to Kearon, “giving up our desires to follow the world and to be respected and lauded by the world.” This fits right in with the vanity and pride mentioned earlier, but as those are actions this, again, is attitude. It is most likely a weapon of rebellion that required its own category because of its especially harmful effects. God wants and expects his covenant people to be different than the world. His standards are different for a reason and they will lead us to Eternal Life. His prophets teach just exactly what this standard is. By studying their words we will have a touchstone by which to judge all that we do . Following the prophets is vital to our salvation. There is too much of the beliefs of the world creeping into the attitudes of even the best of the saints. Keep in mind that the Lord as already warned that “even the elect will be deceived.” As the world gets more and more wicked the gulf between the righteous and the world will get bigger and bigger. We will find it more and more important to find ourselves standing on the right side of that gulf, avoiding that great and spacious building and the impossibility of straddling the gulf.

The great thing about the atonement is that all of this is possible. If we come to Him he will carry all of our burdens until we lay them down, in fact it will be easier to lay them down because we will have His help to make the change complete. The first step is to lay down our Weapons of Rebellion. To do this we need to change our attitudes about some things. We have to first humbly ask the Lord what weapons we are carrying and then take the time to root the evil out of our hearts. Then and only then, will we be able to lay down our sins, vanity, and pride. At the same time we will lose our desire for praise and acceptance in the world.

The Confessions of St. Augustine

The Confessions of St. Augustine was not very easy for me to read. It was like reading someone's personal journal. I can't help but hope that that was his purpose in writing, not to be used an doctrine. Regardless of why he wrote it, his writings have been canonized by the Catholic church, which is unfortunate. He hypothesized about many things that are not based on scripture and seemed to just be working the ideas out in his own mind for him personally, such as children being born sinners and living a celibate life. Unfortunately people have taken his writings to be true teachings of God with out taking time to research them.

Another problem that I have in seeing this as a scholarly work in theology is that he stated many theses that he did not back up with facts. This is too bad because people have believed what he had to say and possibly some suffering, especially for children, could have been avoided since this time. He wrote a lot about how awful man is, but it got to the point of being offensive after all we are created by God and the light of Christ shines in all of us. I do admit my baseness, but also acknowledge my divine nature as a child of God. He wrote about how he was sinful as a baby for crying to have his needs met instead of just trusting that God would take care of him. I can't see this, or even understand where the idea would come from, certainly not the scriptures. They are just communicating in the only way they know how until we teach them better. The sin would be in continuing to cry and pout and throw tantrums after we have been taught a better way and then only after the age of accountability. If it is a sin for a baby to cry for what it needs from mortal parents, how much more of a sin would it be to cry to God, our perfect, eternal Father, for what we need. Yet this is exactly what we are told to do over and over in the scriptures. If this were true than my first attempts at prayer would have been a sin. Before I knew how to properly say a prayer my utterances were primitive, to say the least, but as I have been taught by the Holy Ghost and those I trust my communication has slowly reached a higher level. All of my sincere prayers have been acceptable. They are not more acceptable now than they were in the beginning, nor are they less acceptable than President Thomas S. Monson's, even though his are definitely on a higher level than mine. On the same note, if my prayers were now the same as they were in the beginning, knowing what I have been taught, I would be sinning. “For to whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required¹.”

He also spends too much time on “pearly gates” questions. These are questions that don't really have any bearing on our salvation. We have been warned about this in the scriptures and living prophets.

I did feel compassion for him when he described his early school experiences. He was force dot learn much of what he didn't want to, and beaten when he didn't or couldn't. Later in his life he decided to become educated and undertakes that task himself. He wrote, “No doubt, then that a free curiosity have more force in our learning these things (languages), than a frightful enforcement.” This is the educational philosophy of our home. It is true that you can't make someone learn something, they may memorize a fact or two, but real learning does not occur until there is a desire for knowledge. We spend our time trying to foster that desire. H claimed that enforcement is only appropriate when it comes to God's laws, but I disagree. His original statement applies here as well. Forcing children or adults to keep the commandments doesn't lead to true conversion. We have to teach our children from the time they re small to love God and that He loves us too, then they will have a desire to please him by following his law. Actions are not the aim of gospel teaching in our home, a “mighty change in (their) hearts²” is our goal.

At the the time of writing this he was lamenting the fact hat his parents didn't do a good job of teaching him to control his appetites. His lack of discipline allowed him to fall into sexual transgression as a youth. We need to heed this warning and restrict access to possible evil influenced until children are mature enough and spiritually strong enough to handle them, carry the “suitcase” for them so to speak³. He also suggests that children should be taught scripture before we worry about grammar or history. These are definitely much more important, especially in the younger years.

He goes into a great deal of detail about his sings, not by today's standards, and in fact, I think he handled it well. He said that his purpose was to show that you can repent of anything. It does help me to see those I admire as human, but sometimes this backfires. Timing is important here. I was a little taken aback by revelations from a woman I really admired as a youth, but in the end I respected her willingness to repent. If I had learned this earlier, as an older youth, I may have been devastated.

His sexual transgressions are given in some detail, not graphic, though. He loved sex, not only the act, but the praise he go for having performed an act. In fact, he even lied at times about things he didn't actually do. He ends of concluding that sex is wrong. This doesn't surprise me because those who break the law of chastity always have a skewed view of sex, even after repentance. It is like a pendulum, the further you go astray the harder it is come back to neutral. He has many experiences where the Spirit touches him and he wants to repent, but his flesh is much stronger than his spirit. It is not until early adulthood, 32, that he finds out that the more often we suppress our flesh the stronger our spirit becomes.

A sad part was that at one point he had a lover whom he loved very much. They even had children together. Eventually his mother persuades him to get engaged to another girl who would need to wait two years to get married. He gives her up in order to be engaged. She moves to Africa and vows to never marry again. I really felt for this woman because I am sure it was because of her class status that Augustine didn't marry her and she lived the rest of her life alone. Then to add salt to her wound her finds that he can't control himself long enough to wait to marry the young girl and takes another lover. I really hope she never found out. I guess this is the type of situations that occur as a result of sexual immorality. His reason for this is that we can make good bitter by forsaking God for the good we love. He eventually gives up his plan for marriage all together, lucky for the other girl. I can't imagine what kind of husband he would have made at this point in his life.

Another of his sins that was probably the most difficult to overcome was his pride in his intelligence and education. His pride made him feel like he needed certainty before he can believe.

What he doesn't realize is that this is not belief, it would be knowledge. Belief takes faith, knowledge eliminates the need for faith. He also looks to prove things wrong instead of looking for truth.

A bright spot and turning point in his life is when he developed a relationship with a bishop at Milan named Ambrose. He was a great blessing to Augustine, who said, “To him was I unknowingly led by Thee, that by him I might be led to Thee.” Ambrose showed love to Augustine and Augustine began to love him back. Ambrose had a reputation as an eloquent speaker, but it is interesting that his influence on Augustine was through his friendship and not his sermons. This seems to me to be the point of visiting teaching. As we get to know our sisters and become friends our influence in their lives grows. This is also why member referrals to missionaries are the preferred method of finding people for the missionaries to teach.

He is finally, truly, converted through hearing the version stories of his friends and reading the stories of others. This is what makes fast and testimony meetings so powerful, or potentially so. As we are spiritually prepared by fasting we can be fed by the spirit while listening to the faith building experiences of others.

Overall it was a good thing to read. I wish that he would have been more clear about when he was stating his opinion and when he was revealing the word of God, although I don't consider him a prophet so his stewardship for revelation does not go beyond his family. I don't think it is necessary for me to read any beyond his conversion story.

1Luke 12:48

2Alma 5:14

3Boom, Corie Ten, The Hiding Place