Moroni 1-6: To Keep Them in the Right Way

The Come Follow Me study for last week was Moroni 1-6. 

I am sharing a few of my slides from today's lesson. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I actually wasn't able to share any of my slides with the class. However, I have picked out some things to share here.

The first thing that struck me about Moroni 1 was his surprise that he was still alive, and thus his desire to share some messages with the Lamanites. He wrote for the benefit of those who had slayed his people because he recognized that we are all children of God, and that both the Nephites and the Lamanites had turned away from God. I think he may have had some comfort, as he finished abridging Ether's records of the Lamanites, in knowing that Ether had gone through the same thing as him, of being the last man standing of his people. I hope he was bolstered by Ether's fate, as he also hid, alone.

The Come Follow Me Manual for Individuals and Families states:

After finishing his father’s record of the Nephites and abridging the record of the Jaredites, Moroni thought at first that his record-keeping work was done (see Moroni 1:1). What more was there to say about two nations that were utterly destroyed? But Moroni had seen our times (see Mormon 8:35), and he was inspired to “write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth … in some future day” (Moroni 1:4). He knew that widespread apostasy was coming, bringing with it confusion about priesthood ordinances and religion in general. This may be why he gave clarifying details about the sacrament, baptism, conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the blessings of gathering with fellow believers to “keep [each other] in the right way, … relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of [our] faith” (Moroni 6:4). Precious insights like these give us reason to be thankful that the Lord preserved Moroni’s life so he could “write a few more things” (Moroni 1:4).

What a blessing, that we know that Moroni witnessed our times, and knowing what he knew, wrote these chapters. We get to know what he felt was most important for us to know, based on what he witnessed both in his own time and in our day. Knowing that, what scriptures stood out to you?

For me, it was Moroni 6:4-9. I have highlighted some of my favorite passages.

How do we "meet together oft" and "speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls?" I love this example of support for one another:

Today, my lesson did not go according to plan. Due to technical issues, I was not able to share my slides. I tried to adjust quickly and teach the lesson without slides. This meant skipping over areas I had meant to discuss and really changing the discussion. At one point, I also lost signal and dropped out of the meeting entirely for probably a full minute. The lesson continued and it was fine in the end but of course it was disappointing because I put a lot of work into the lesson. (What you see in my blog is a scaled down version. I also remove most of the images if I'm not sure because of potential copyright issues.) I am only sharing this story now because immediately after class, I received texts and emails from several of my neighbors that were in the session that were extremely kind, reassuring, and supportive of the effectiveness of the lesson, even without the visuals. It reminded me of the story above (that I did not share with the class) about the rest of the boys getting up to express their love for him. We need more kindness in the world, more love and support. We need the ministry of angels. Thankfully, when we have the light of Christ, we can spread our light, and in doing so, teach others how to spread their light, so that the light of Christ continues to overshadow the darkness. 

I recently shared this post on my social media account, that I friend send to me. She has gone through a divorce and other trials, but through it all, she has been surrounded by dear friends, essentially, angels on earth:

Although we individually need to remember that we can plug into the power of Christ, when we minister to others we are expanding the glow and teaching others how to turn on this light.

I'd like to close today's thoughts with this quote. Moroni 6:4 talks about being "nourished by the word of God." This has been a difficult year for many people all around the world. Yet, every day we can be be NOURISHED, we can be comforted, by the light of Christ and the good word of God.