Mormon and his Son Moroni were Faithful to the End - Mormon 7-9

This week's scripture study centered around Mormon 7-9. You can also read about it the Come Follow Me Study manual for Individuals and Families.

Two Hundred Years of Peace were Followed by Two Hundred Year of Pride and Destruction
For two hundred years after Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies and visited the Nephite people, there was peace throughout the land. The people remembered the joy of being with the Savior and they remembered the lessons he had taught. In addition, the Savior had called 12 disciples that continued to teach after the Savior was gone. They remembered to pray always (3 Nephi 20:1), that that spirit of contention was not of the Lord (3 Nephi 11:29). They were taught the beatitudes. It says in 3 Nephi 17:16, "The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father."

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people." (4 Nephi 1:15.)

It was devastating to see then, that the next 200 years proceeded in such a devastating fashion after those first 200 years. By the time 400 years had passed since the Savior visited the Nephites, they were all dead. 

Mormon Bids Farewell to a Once Great Nation, by Arnold Friberg

In one of the most heart-wrenching scriptures in the Book of Mormon, Moroni write in Mormon 8:5, "... I am alone, My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not." 

Despite being a man of God, and living faithfully, as his father had before him, the wickedness around them was so great that the Lord allowed them to destroy each other until there was nothing. Of the disciples, Moroni wrote, "the wickedness of the people was so great that the Lord would not suffer them to remain with the people ..." (Mormon 8:10). 

Mormon knew this was coming. His entire life, he was in despair over the unwillingness of their people to repent of their pride. I've created the chart below to show the course of his life among unrepentent Nephites:

(Click to zoom in:)

Timeline of the 400 years since Christ came to visit the Nephites as it relates to Mormon's age.

The Great Love of Our Father in Heaven
Yet, despite the terrible darkness and sadness of these scriptures, despite being frustrated that these people were willing to fight until they were wiped off the face of the earth, I find solace in the great love of God I see here.

First, the Lord ministered to Mormon when he was just fifteen. It says in Mormon 1:15, "And I , being fifteen years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus."

Then, in Mormon 8:11, Moroni, his son, writes that despite the disciples having been removed by the Lord because the people were too wicked, "... my father and I have seen them, and they have ministered unto us."

Second, the Lord instructed Mormon and Moroni to write in and protect the record for today, the latter-days, so they knew they had a purpose for being there in those awful times. It says in Mormon 8:22, "For the eternal purpose of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled." 

Third, we are assured that the Lord protected the records because of his great love for us, "... it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of the darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God."

Imperfections
I want to briefly also talk about imperfections. I had a conversation with a friend of mine on the East Coast who said that when she went to college as a Catholic woman, she tried to keep attending church. But, she was so stunned by hypocrites that did one thing right before church, then pretended to be devout while they were in church, that she stopped attending. This is not a criticism of Catholics as this can happen with any religion or group. My friend still believes in God but she had a difficult time seeing people not live the values they believed in. I told her that that although we have different faiths, no human on earth is perfect, and we are taught by our leaders to remember that Christ is perfect, that the gospel is perfect, and that the imperfections are from fellow humans. That doesn't excuse us in the sense that we should always be trying to improve but it does help us to not let the decisions of others impact how we choose to live our lives. 

In that same way, our leaders that we admire and respect and turn to for guidance are still human, and also imperfect. We still have much to learn from them. Moroni, son of Mormon, wrote, "And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you." (Mormon 8:12)

He writes in Mormon 9:31, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."

My Testimony
The Book of Mormon was recorded for us, in our day (Mormon 8:34). Humans are imperfect and mistakes can be made but we have a God that is unchanging, that "doth not vary" (Mormon 9:10). Our God is a "God of miracles" (Mormon 9:10) and if we remember him always he will bless and protect us. That doesn't mean the trials will fade but we will be able to endure them until the day we can return and live with him again.