I really, really enjoyed this talk. I love when one of the talks gives you new insight on scripture stories, and this talk did that for me with the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Elder Kearon said, "The Anti-Nephi-Lehies in the Book of Mormon laid down their weapons of war and buried them deep in the earth, covenanting never again to take up arms against their brethren. But they did more than that. "They became a righteous people" because "they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more." Their conversion was so complete and so profound that they "never did fall away."
I've read the Book of Mormon who knows how many times and this point never occured to me before. It wasn't just that they buried their weapons of war that made them so converted to the gospel, it was that they laid down their weapons of rebellion to God. The connection between their physical act of burying their weapons and their spiritual act of choosing to no longer live sinful lives is so perfect. They submitted their whole hearts to Christ and he in turn made them a holy joyful people. Their strength in the gospel and willingness to remain loyal to the covenants they made with God allowed them to be instruments in converting thousands more to the gospel. Just one more example of how the scriptures have so much to teach us even if you've read them before many times :)
I agree- I really enjoyed that he pointed out they also laid down their rebellion to God.
ReplyDeleteI also thought how much the idea of laying down rebellion could mean. No more rebellion against God or others. I have a tendency to look for the bad in people I don't want to like and I took this as also laying down fault finding because that breads rebellion.
Good point, I hadn't thought of it that way either :)
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