CORROSIVE FRUITS OF IMMORALITY

 

I was horrified the year I learnt how Eli’s sons seduced women by misusing their office of priest and engaged in adulterous acts at the very door of the tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:22). It reminds one of fertility rites and the groves of idolatry, does it not?

Eli paid a high price for not correcting this abomination as a parent and as the high priest. An unnamed ‘man of God’ came to him and pronounced the Lord’s curse upon Eli’s house because he honoured his sons above Him (vv 27,29). The inference was that Eli didn’t want to rock the boat with his sons but apparently he didn’t mind rocking God’s…..

When Alma of the Book of Mormon called his son Corianton to repentance for his sexual misconduct during his mission to the Zoramites, he pointed out that sexual sin is so serious, it is a sin next to murder (Alma 39:5). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explains this is so because of the connection between the worth of a soul and the Atonement:

“In exploiting the body of another – which means exploiting his or her soul – one desecrates the Atonement of Christ, which saved that soul and which makes possible the gift of eternal life. And when one mocks the Son of Righteousness, one steps into a realm of heat hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned.

“Please, never say: ‘Who does it hurt? Why not a little freedom? I can transgress now and repent later.’  Please don’t be so foolish and so cruel. You cannot with impunity ‘crucify Christ afresh’ (see Hebrews 6:6). ‘Flee fornication’ (1 Corinthians 6:18), Paul cries, and flee ‘anything like unto it’ (D&C 59:6), adds the Doctrine and Covenants. Why? Well, for one reason, because of the incalculable suffering in both body and spirit endured by the Saviour of the world so that we could flee. We owe Him something for that, we owe Him everything for that.

‘Ye are not your own’ Paul says, ‘Ye have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor 6:19-20). In sexual transgression the soul is at stake – the body and the spirit.”  (in Conference Report, Oct 1998, 99-100; or Ensign Nov 1998, 76)

Very often we think we have the principle of repentance up our sleeve so not all will be lost if we deviate from the path, thinking we can always repent later. Many people have ‘sowed their wild oats’ in their youth and later returned to God’. Elder Holland goes on to clarify the foolishness and unfairness of such attitude:

“There is peril in playing the prodigal son knowingly, expecting God to forgive us, expecting Christ to bleed for us, expecting mercy to cover us. Among the most grievous sins a mortal can commit is to crucify Christ ‘afresh’ to knowingly ask Him to suffer on the cross a little longer – or again and again and again – while such an one commits knowingly, with planning and premeditation, his or her ‘presumptuous sins’.” 

Will the sinner for whom you suffered,

Who rejected and reviled Thee

Weep in the end for Thy pain and Thy sorrow?

Will his heart understand

When he kneels before Thee

The debt he owes for the existence

Of his merciful tomorrow?

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Cross by Ron DiCianni)

WHAT WE DO MATTERS

 

Have you ever heard someone say, "It's my life, I'll do with it what I want"? I am pretty certain we are all familiar with this statement. A lot of us have heard it from our defiant children. People who have this mentality have the illusion that what they do has no or very little effect on others. There is a very powerful story in the BOM that proves this theory wrong.

I wrote a post recently about the Zoromites tribe in the Book of Mormon which had the tendency to swing between the Nephites and the Lamanites. In 74 BC, Alma organised a mission to the Zoramites to strenghten their alliance with the Nephites and be counted amongst the believers (Alma 31:1-6). Thus the Zoromite mission became a political move as well as a spiritual endeavour. The mission did yield some converts, who had to flee to Jershon to join the people of Ammon  but the mission overall was a failure (Alma 35:6). The majority of the Zoramites did not choose to repent and they joined the Lamanites and ignited the wars contained in the Book of Alma. Their initial aim was to reclaim and persecute the believers who had defected to Jershon (Alma 35:10,11).

And here is the startling part of the story: Zoramites' tipping point was Alma's son, Corianton who was part of the missionary force. Alma attributed the failure of the mission to Corianton because his misconduct caused the Zoramites to not believe in Alma's words (Alma 39:11). In his attempt to bring Corianton to repentance, Alma expounded on the seriousness of sexual sin which stands next to two unpardonable sins, that of murder and the denying of the Holy Ghost (Alma 39:5,6). Not only did Corianton abandon his mission in favour of iniquity but his behaviour was so sinful that he led many people into disbelief (Alma 39:3,4,11,12).

I am certain that Corinaton never knew that his choices would lead to wars as he made his way to the land of Siron in search of Isabel (Alma 39:3). Imagine heading a missionary expedition and preaching repentance to a group of people while your son is going against the very principles you are expounding in open defiance. I am also certain that Alma had no idea that his persecution of the Church and his riotous living would lead others into spiritual destruction he later deemed was as good as murder (Alma 36:14). This is something he deduced through many years of reflection, following his repentance. And this might be another thing he learnt: what pain you inflict on others, one day becomes your own. It is no coincidence that he had an erring son because once upon a time, he was one too. He too led away many believers and caused his father, who was the high priest of the whole land of Zarahemla, great embarrassment and sorrow (Mosiah 27:14). This lesson is reflected in his advice to Corinaton: “For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again….” (Alma 41:15), whether good or bad.

What we do matters. There is not one action we perform that does not affect another human being, directly or indirectly, for we are all connected. We lead each other into light or darkness. We are beacons of faith or destroyers of truth. Imagine if the light of this world was taken away and Satan reigned supreme. Imagine if there was no Christ to light the way, and because of it, we knew no love, compassion, faith, hope, joy. We do not want to cower in the shadows of darkness. As we journey on life's many roads, may we leave a trail behind us for others to follow into the light of His love where awaits eternal life.

I will spread the light

Your gift of salvation to honour

And satisfy man’s hidden hunger;

I will help them know

Your arms are their shelter,

Your heart is their home,

Their only hope

For protection from the storm.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As I Have Loved You by B. Laura Wilson)

WHAT YOU DO MATTERS

Have you ever heard someone say, "It's my life, I'll do with it what I want"? I am pretty certain we are all familiar with this statement. A lot of us have heard it from our defiant children. People who have this mentality have the illusion that what they do has no or very little effect on others. There is a very powerful story in the BOM that proves this theory wrong.

The BOM always lists the seven Lehite tribes in this order: Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites (Jacob 1:13; 4 Nephi 1:37-38; Mormon 1:8-9). The Nephites, Jacobites and Josephites were the believers in Christ and were collectively called Nephites while Lamanites, Lemuelites and Ishmaelites were non-believers, referred to as Lamanites.  Zoramites are always listed in the middle of the tribes, because Zoramites were the swinging tribe. Sometimes they sided with the the Nephites and sometimes with the Lamanites.

About 74 BC was a particularly tense period of time during which the Nephites feared that the Zoramites would 'enter into a correspondence with the Lamanites' (Alma 31:4). To prevent this, Alma the Younger organised a mission to the Zoramites to strenghten their alliance with the Nephites and be counted amongst the believers. Thus the Zoromite mission became a political move as well as a spiritual endeavour. The mission did yield some converts, who had to flee to Jershon to join the people of Ammon (Alma 35:6) but the mission was overall a failure. The majority of the Zoramites did not choose to repent and they joined the Lamanites and ignited the wars contained in the Book of Alma. Their aim was to reclaim and persecute the believers who had defected to Jershon. And here is the startling part of the story: Zoramites' tipping point was Alma's son, Corianton. Alma attributed the failure of the mission to Corianton because his misconduct caused the Zoramites to not believe in Alma's words (Alma 39:1-4). Not only did Corianton abandon his mission but his behaviour was so sinful that he led many people into disbelief (Alma 39:3,4,11,12). In his attempt to bring Corianton to repentance, Alma expounded on the seriousness of sexual sin but he specified that leading people to spiritual destruction was worse and that this conduct stood next to two unpardonable sins, that of murder and the denying of the Holy Ghost   (Alma 39:5,6).

I am certain that Corinaton never knew that his choices would lead to wars as he made his way to the land of Siron in search of Isabel. And I am equally certain that Alma the Younger had no idea that his persecution of the Church and leading people into sin (Mosiah 27:8) was a sin next to murder. This is something he learnt through many years of reflection, following his repentance. And this might be another thing he learnt: what pain you inflict on others, one day becomes your own. It is no coincidence that he had an erring son because once upon a time, he was one too. He too led away many believers and caused his father, who was the high priest of the whole land of Zarahemla, great embarrassment and sorrow (Mosiah 26:38,39; 27:14)

We are spiritual beings. We are energy that spreads far and wide and affects all those around us. What we do matters. We lead each other into light or darkness. We are beacons of faith or destroyers of truth. Imagine if the light of this world was taken away and Satan reigned supreme. Imagine if there was no Christ to light the way, and because of it, we knew no love, compassion, faith, hope, joy. We do not want to cower in the shadows of darkness. As we journey on life's many roads, may we leave a trail behind us for others to follow into the light of His love where awaits eternal life.

- Cathryne Allen, Did Not Our Hearts Burn When He Opened To Us The Scriptures?

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