Book of Mormon Examples in Getting Along

-
What can the Book of Mormon teach us about dealing with other people? This has been my topic of study for the last week or so. Here is some of what I learned:
Nephi had abusive brothers. They beat him with rods (1 Nephi 3:28-29). They were rebellious (1 Ne 7:7). They were disrespectful (1 Ne 18:9) and even threatened to kill Nephi (1 Ne 7:16; 2 Ne 5:2). How did Nephi deal with this? 



What happened? After Nephi left his brothers, he and those who went with them were able to build a civilization and live happy lives. (2 Ne 5:27)
---------------------------------//--------------------------------
Alma the Elder's son was going around trying to tear down everything that Alma had spent his life building up. (Mosiah 27:10) What did Alma do?
  • He prayed with faith that his son could know the truth. (Mosiah 27:14)
  • He gathered others to join him in fasting and prayer. (Mosiah 27:22-23) 
  • When his son had an experience only God could cause, Alma rejoiced. (Mosiah 27:20)
What happened? Alma's son had a life changing experience, repented and became an amazing missionary.
---------------------------------//--------------------------------
King Mosiah's sons didn't want to follow their father's footsteps, didn't want to live the lives Mosiah had intended them to live. Instead, they wanted to leave the country, embracing hardship and danger far from home. (Mosiah 28:1-5) What did Mosiah do about it?
  • He asked God for guidance, then followed the promptings he received. (Mosiah 28:6-8)
  • He did what he could to protect his sons. (Mosiah 29:6-10)
  • He figured out another way to take care of what he had wanted his sons to do. (Mosiah 29:25-29)
  • He supported his sons' decision. (Mosiah 29:37-38)
What happened? King Mosiah's sons left to teach the Lamanites and became awesome missionaries (Alma 17:4), and Mosiah was loved and esteemed by his people for ever after. (Mosiah 29:40)
---------------------------------//--------------------------------
Alma the Younger's son sinned grievously, not only hurting himself, but also making Alma's efforts to teach the gospel harder. (Alma 39:3) What was his reaction?
What were the results? Alma the Younger's son repented and preached the word himself. (Alma 43:1-2).
---------------------------------//--------------------------------
The chief judge Pahoran was chastised by a friend and accused of many things - neglect (Alma 60:6), being in a thoughtless stupor (Alma 60:7), slothfulness (Alma 60:14) and even of being a traitor (Alma 60:18). He was even threatened (Alma 60:20), all for things that he'd had no control over. He was innocent! How did he react?
  • He calmly explained the facts of the situation. (Alma 61:3-8)
  • He assured his friend that he wasn't angry, that he hadn't taken offense. (Alma 61:9)
  • He suggested a solution to the difficulty that they were in. (Alma 61:15-18)
What happened? Pahoran's friend was happy with Pahoran again (Alma 62:1). He took his suggestion and they were able to join forces to get out of the difficulty they were in. (Alma 62, esp v.6-8, 11, 14, and 26)

Who else in the Book of Mormon has something to teach us about getting along with others?

Comments

  1. AprilSeptember 4, 2013 at 1:21 PM

    Enos prayed for his enemies, and the sons of Mosiah decided to go be missionaries to the Lamanites instead of fighting them. They loved and served the lamanites who were supposed to be their enemies.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Talk about Gratitude

-
I recently told my bishop that I enjoyed giving talks in Sacrament Meeting, and it is true. I didn't expect, however, that I would get an email from a bishopric member on Thursday last week to say that his talks for Sunday had to leave town, and would I be willing to speak? Here is the talk that I gave on Sunday, May 27th, 2012: For my topic today, I was given a talk which was given by President Monson in 1992, entitled “An Attitude of Gratitude”. In his talk President Monson begins by telling the story of the 10 lepers. I would like to share it with you. In Luke 17 we read: And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” And when he saw them, he said unto them, “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” And it came to pass, that, as they went,
Read more

How Clean is Clean Enough?

-
Image
How clean is "clean enough"? I realize this question is loaded and the answers are very individual, so for a moment, think about yourself and your home and consider, for you, how clean is "clean enough"? What is the difference between a "quick clean", a "daily clean" and a "deep clean"? At what point do you consider your home "clean enough"? Does "clean enough" mean having a clear path from the front door to the other rooms in the house? Is it having the clutter picked up and the floors vacuumed? Must it be dusted every week, every month, or at all? Is it a quick swipe on the surface to remove the dust or crumbs? Is it a scrub with disinfectant? Is it clearing tables and desks, or delving into cupboards and drawers, purging and organizing?    Does it depend on the day of the week? Is "clean enough" on a weekday the same as "clean enough" on a weekend? If not, is it more clean, or less? Is there a
Read more

School closing, Josh adventures, Back pain relief...

-
On Wednesday school was cancelled all over the Denver area because there was a credible threat that an 18 year old woman with a fixation on the Columbine shooting would attack a school. Apparently she arrived in Denver and bought a gun and then vanished, so they shut down everything just in case. (They found her body later that day... She committed suicide. More info here .) John was frustrated that school was cancelled because one acts are coming up (they are this week!) and he needed the rehearsal time. Instead, John took advantage of the free day to go to School of Mines to check out the campus and talk to someone about getting his admission deferred. I got a ride to my book club, and both of us were home again before Josh and Peter rolled out of bed. Early in the afternoon I took Josh to Children's Hospital to see a cardiologist about his seizures . They did an EKG, but the results were normal. He doesn't have a heart murmur or anything else they could identify. I still thi
Read more