Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Our Swords Are Made Bright

Our Swords Are Made Bright
by Allie Lightflower
6/26/11
When the Lamanites were coming against the people of Anti-Nephi Lehi in their own land, the new converts, soon thereafter to be known forever more as Ammonites, buried their weapons of war and laid themselves down before their attackers, going gladly to their deaths rather than stain their swords ever again with the blood of their brothers.  This great love of their brothers and their hatred to sin came as a result of true and perfect repentance and true conversion.  They put all their trust and hope in God to the extent that they felt no need to protect or defend themselves.  In fact, it was just the opposite:
"... rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their own hands."  Alma 24:18
This morning when reading Alma 24, I noticed a parallel between this and and the trust the Gentile world places upon material wealth in Babylon.  While the Lamanites put their trust in their swords, we today put our trust in our incomes, our investments, 401K's, IRA's, and retirement savings.  What would happen if we changed our focus to be the same as that of the Ammonites? -- "rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him".  What if we were so focused on making sure that everyone around us in our circle of influence was okay that we actually stopped worrying about ourselves at all -- to the point of being willing to die rather than to see a brother, a neighbor suffer?
"Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you."  Jacob 2:17
In February of 2009, Arthur C. Brooks gave the Forum Devotional at the BYU Marriott Center talking about "Why Giving Matters”.1   Although not a member of the Church, he has noticed in the business world and as the President of the American Enterprise Institute what a difference it makes to be generous and giving.  The results of his research using data gathered by Harvard University researches on 30,000 American families from 41 communities across the entire country proved that people prosper as they give, and they not only prosper financially but have happier lives with less stress, better health, more success, and the list goes on and on.  And this works in all the above ways with any kind of service -- even giving blood.
Many of you have seen Walt Disney's Pocahontas.  I remember forever the song Pocahontas sings to John Smith:  "How high will the sycamore grow?  If you cut it down, then you'll never know..."  These words are a good embodiment of a main difference between indigenous cultures and Gentile cultures.
In order for us to get the full impact of what's going here, we need to comprehend who the Gentiles are and what their history has been.  Gentiles are classically defined as people who are not Jewish.  A little broader definition terms Gentiles as those who are not of the House of Israel.  But The Book of Mormon gives a twist to this that is very significant, saying that The Book of Mormon would come forth to the Gentiles and then be taken to the remnant of the House of Israel.  The Book of Mormon came forth originally to Joseph Smith and thousands of converts who stemmed from Europe.  Until fairly recently, the bulk of the Church has been of European descent, but through the missionary efforts of these Saints, the Book of Mormon has gone forth to millions of Hispanics, who now outnumber Europeans in the Church.  
We know the House of Israel was scattered throughout Europe and many other places in the world.  And from patriarchal blessings we have seen that our missionary work now and from the beginning has been "gathering" in members of the House of Israel from all over the earth.  But whether any given individual is truly blood Israel, or part blood Israel, or just plain "adopted in" doesn't really matter.  What does matter is that we realize that WE are the people referred to by The Book of Mormon as the Gentiles who would take the Gospel to the remnant.  And so the Gentiles, as used in The Book of Mormon, is referring to the European nations and those of the European nations, namely white America.
The Gentile nations defined in this way are and have been for thousands of years the countries of technology.  Historically, leadership in technology has been centered in Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Europe, and in more modern times the United States.  Other countries have gotten in on the act over the past 150 years as they've become "westernized", or in other words, as they've adopted American culture.
So what does this mean and what does it have to do with the original discussion?  It means that people of European descent have thousands of years of generational background of Babylonian and technological culture and not indigenous culture.  For thousands of years we've been cutting down those sycamores and building gorgeous cabinets to house our technological advancements.  The way of giving freely is not part of our culture and is extremely foreign to what we've known, what we've been taught, and how it has worked for us -- going back for a very, very long time.
"It is an imperative duty that we owe to God, to angels, with whom we shall be brought to stand, and also to ourselves, to our wives and children, who have been made to bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity."  D&C 123:7
Cultural influence is an enormous thing which no one frees themselves from easily, if ever.  A Gentile cultural background teaches that it is natural, logical, and necessary to secure our future through our industry and sound principles of saving and investment.  The thought that we could, let alone should, secure our future by letting go of trying to secure our future and by focusing on the well-being of those around us is foreign at best, and more likely feels outright crazy.  Yet this is what those have done who have secured for themselves eternal life:  the Ammonites who perished under the swords of their brethren; the widow of Nain, who fed Elijah the last of all her food, though she and her son were preparing their last meager meal as they readied themselves to die; the widow with her mite, who out of her poverty gave all she had - even her entire living ...
The principle discovered by Arthur C. Brooks is amazing.  We prosper as we give.  But what if we trust our God so much that we don't even worry about that -- about prospering -- but instead have our entire concern be to love and bless those around us as much as we can?  If that becomes our focus, then there is nothing to fear -- not death, not poverty, not loss.  To be free from these worries would be to enter into the rest of the Lord, now, even in this life. 
"Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven."  Moroni 7:3
As I read the scriptures, the Spirit whispers to me that there is another way, a way not taught in the Gentile world, a way that seems crazy to our culture, but a way to eternal life.  It is to do as the Ammonites did and to labor abundantly with our own hands and to then give to our brothers even if it means giving up our own lives.  It is to change the famous bumper sticker and book title "I'm Okay, You're Okay" to read, "I'm Not Okay Until You're Okay, and if necessary, we'll go down together".  Like the Ammonites, our swords/material wealth can be made bright forever by consecrating its use to bless everyone around us, no longer thinking upon our own lives but upon the lives of all those we can help.
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posted by Allie @ 7:14 AM   0 Comments