LESSON PLAN FOR MOSIAH 7-10

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MAKING SENSE OF MOSIAH

If you wish to help your students understand the timeline of the Book of Mosiah, you could show them the PowerPoint slides and follow the following script:

So we’re going to start a number of years before King Benjamin arrives on the scene and travel back to about 200 BC when Benjamin’s father, Mosiah 1 has been appointed King over the land of Zarahemla. That’s where the Nephite population is concentrated.   The Lamanites, on the other hand, control the lands that Father Lehi had originally settled, the land of Nephi—which is kind of ironic that the Lamanites actually inhabit the land of Nephi. So keep that in mind.

• Chronologically speaking, the first chapter of Mosiah would be Mosiah 9. And at some point during Mosiah 1’s reign, a man named Zeniff and a group of Nephites decide to travel to the land of the Lamanites and make a treaty with them to inhabit the now decaying city of Lehi-Nephi. And lo and behold, the Lamanite King agrees. He moves his people out of the area and allows Zeniff and his people to occupy it and rebuild the city. To Zeniff, this is a pleasant surprise. However, it’s a trap. The King of the Lamanites is hoping that they will build up the area, and then later he will be able to attack them and put them into bondage before they get too strong.

• Well, after a number of years, the Lamanites do attack Zeniff’s people and attempt to overtake them. They try twice and they fail twice. Zeniff’s people are able to hold them off and maintain the city and that will take us all the way through Mosiah 10.

• Now Zeniff eventually dies but before he does he confers the kingdom on his son Noah. Yes, the infamous King Noah and he reigns in wickedness, so the Lord sends a prophet by the name of Abinadi to warn them and call them to repentance. The story and teachings of Abinadi comprise chapters 11 all the way to 17. Eventually, however, Abinadi is burned by Noah and his wicked priests.

• But before Abinadi is burned, one of those wicked priests, a man by the name of Alma believes what Abinadi says. King Noah orders his death, but he escapes and he secretly goes about preaching Abinadi’s words and leads a group of people to a place called the waters of Mormon, where he baptizes them. This is found in Mosiah 17-18.

• But back in town, the Lamanites attack the land of Lehi-Nephi and this time they do win. They conquer the city,  King Noah is burned (by his own people), but his wicked priests escape. Then Noah's son, Limhi (a righteous man) reigns in his stead as a sort of tributary monarch.

• In the meantime, while all this has been happening. Alma has established a new city with his followers called the land of Helam, and there they are living in peace. This is described in Mosiah 23.

• But those Wicked priests out there in the wilderness decide that they need wives, so they kidnap 24 of the daughters of the Lamanites and carry them into the wilderness.

• Well, at some point during their captivity, Limhi sends a group of men to try and find the city of Zarahemla. They are under strict taxation and bondage to the Lamanites and they want a way out. But they don’t find Zarahemla, they get lost. But they do come across a land covered in bones and ruins. What they’ve stumbled upon is the remains of the Jaredite nation from hundreds of years prior. So they return to the city of Lehi-Nephi unsuccessful, resigned to their lot. That story is found in Mosiah 21:25-27.

• Now back in Zarahemla, during all these years, Mosiah has been succeeded by Benjamin, who has then been succeeded by Mosiah 2. Mosiah 2 decides to send a man named Ammon and a group of others to try and find out whatever happened to the people of Zeniff who left all those years ago. In their search, they do stumble upon Limhi’s people in the city of Lehi-Nephi. That story takes us all the way back to Mosiah 7-8.

• Well, luckily for Limhi and his people, Ammon actually knows the way back to Zarahemla. So they devise a plan to escape. The Lamanite guards are made drunk and they sneak out through the city gates and make their way back to Zarahemla joining with Mosiah’s people. This happens in Mosiah 22.

• Well, what about Alma and those wicked priests out there? An army of Lamanites has been sent out to look for the priests that had kidnapped their daughters, which they eventually find. And they are about to kill them, but somehow the priests have convinced these girls to love them and they plead for their husbands.  The Lamanites are appeased and they allow them to join them. They want to make their way back to the land of Nephi, but of course, they get lost. And while they are wandering around, who do they happen to find but Alma and his people in the land of Helam. Now they promise Alma that if he will help them get back to the land of Nephi that they’ll let them be free. Alma agrees, shows them the way, but they don’t keep their promise, and who do the Lamanites decide to be put in charge over Alma and his people? None other than the wicked priests. So now they are in bondage to the Lamanites. This takes place in Mosiah 23-24.

• Well, Alma and his people suffer for a time. But they pray, and eventually, the Lord sees fit to deliver them from bondage. A deep sleep comes over their guards, and Alma and his people make their way back to the city of Zarahemla where they are welcomed by the people. That is how Mosiah 24 ends.

• So now, everybody is back in the land of Zarahemla and safe.

And one quick point here. The fact that Mosiah has such a complicated timeline to me speaks to the fact that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and didn’t write it himself. Can you imagine trying to keep track of all those storylines, and for it all to work out without any discrepancies or errors is a testament to the fact that this a true account and not a made-up work of fiction.

ICEBREAKER

Show the Mormon Message entitled “Painted into a Corner”

Have them keep in mind three questions.

1. What choices led Trevor to spiritually paint himself into a corner?

2. What were the consequences of those choices?

3. What did he have to do in order to “get out”?

TRANSITION

That young man’s story reminds me so much of what we learn in Mosiah. Much of the book of Mosiah is a study of sin. It’s effects, how people fall into it, and how they get themselves out of it. The message comes both literally and symbolically throughout the book. If I could sum up the major message of the entire Book of Mosiah in only three words, I would say “Don’t leave Zarahemla!” with an exclamation point. The city of Zarahemla, to me, represents righteousness, finding ourselves within the protective walls of commandments and standards, unified with other Saints in Christ’s church, that’s Zarahemla. But sometimes, we might start to feel that there is something better out there. The walls of the city begin to feel more like a barrier, a prison, rather than a protection. So we decide that we want to explore the world beyond the city gates. And so many decide to leave Zarahemla. The lands of the Lamanites, on the other hand, represent sin. Much of the narrative of Mosiah involves a group of people that leave Zarahemla to settle in enemy territory. That would be Zeniff and his people, and eventually, under Zeniff’s son, Noah, not only do they end up spiritually in the bondage of sin, but physically as well as the Lamanites attack and put them into literal bondage. Alma and his people have the same thing happen to them. Even though they escape for a time, they too are brought into literal bondage as a consequence of their previous sinful lives. Both groups paint themselves into a corner.  The Book of Mosiah then acts as a cautionary tale. Don’t make the same mistakes they did! Don’t leave Zarahemla! However, this is also a story of hope and does have a happy ending for most of the individuals involved.

MOSIAH 7

It begins with the story of Ammon searching for and finding the people of Limhi. That’s covered in verses 1-16.  Remember Limhi is Zeniff’s grandson, so we’re picking up the story near its end, and later in a flashback, we’re going to discover how they got there. So we’re going to first hear Limhi, in a speech to his people, reflecting back on where they went wrong, and how they got into their current predicament. Consider the following 3 Questions

1. Where did they go wrong? Or The Trap

2. What did that bring them? Or The Consequences

3. How did they get out? Or The Hope

Now the purpose of this study is not just to learn about them, but liken the scriptures. Keep in mind what this teaches you about sin and escaping it!

Take a piece of paper and just divide it up into three columns. Then, as you read, take notes on how this story answers those questions. You could also have them fill out the “Study of Sin” handout. Available at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingWithPower

Zeniff seems to begin with the message of hope.

:18 Lift up your heads and be comforted. What a great way to begin. It’s not with a reprimand, it’s not with an “I told you so”, it’s be comforted. There is a way out! We are going to be freed from our enemies!

:18 "I trust that there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made".  Repentance is not an easy process. I believe that forgiveness is easy. God loves to forgive his children. I think that comes rather quickly and freely from God. But repentance involves changing a heart. It’s not so much an effectual struggle with God, but with ourselves. We have to turn our hearts back to God. Like in the video with Trevor. He definitely had an effectual struggle to get his life back in order. With Limhi’s people. They are going to have to plan a risky escape and if it works, they will have to make their way back to Zarahemla, a long journey through the wilderness. Getting ourselves back to Zarahemla, or leaving behind the lands of the Lamanites, or the lands of sin is going to require a struggle.

:19. Lift up your heads and rejoice. Put your trust in God and this will work! The same with us. If we put our trust in God, he can deliver us! And then notice what Limhi says next. He gives two examples from the scriptures of peoples that God had delivered out of trouble. The children of Israel, and Lehi and his family. The message? Find hope in the scriptures. They will help you to trust in God and give you examples of what God can do for you! If God can forgive an Alma the Younger, certainly he can forgive me. If he can forgive a Paul, he can forgive me. If he can lead the children of Israel out of bondage, he can lead me out of spiritual bondage.

But now there’s a shift in his speech. He’s going to explain what got them there. Where they went wrong.

:20 Limhi says the reason they are in their current predicament is a direct result of their iniquities and abominations. Sin is where they went wrong. It’s just that simple. Disobedience to God’s laws will always lead us to undesirable ends in the long run.

:21 really gives a great description of how that often works. Limhi observes that his grandfather Zeniff was over-zealous to inherit the land of his fathers. I think that’s what happens to a lot of us when we sin. It’s because we are overzealous to obtain something we want. Overzealousness often leads us to be rash in our decisions because we want something right now.

• We are over-zealous to obtain a good grade, or the profit, or the victory, so we cheat.

• We are over-zealous to obtain love or intimacy, so we break the law of chastity.

• We are over-zealous to obtain good feelings, euphoria, relaxation, so we do drugs, or drink alcohol.

• We are over-zealous to obtain certain material goods, so we steal.

• We are over-zealous to fit in, so we swear,

Now you’ll notice that in each of those cases, the things that are desired are not bad things. Victory, love, happiness, it’s just that we’re tempted to pursue them in the wrong way, at the wrong time, or in degrees that are forbidden by God.

:21 The issue with over-zealousness is that there is always somebody waiting in the wings, ready to take advantage of that eagerness. Verse 21 tells us that Zeniff was deceived but the cunning and craftiness of King Laman. There are the cunning and the crafty who are ever ready to exploit your zealousness. The alcohol and tobacco industry are ready to feed your overzealousness to fit in or to feel good without having to work for those feelings naturally. The pornography industry is eagerly waiting to tell you that nobody gets hurt by its product, that you can enjoy sexual fulfillment without the work of fostering a relationship or making commitments to another human being. The fashion industry is ready to sell you it’s overpriced clothing that is often immodest, promising you attention and pride. Hollywood produces filth and passes it off as entertainment by appealing to our basest natural man instincts. It reminds me of Doctrine and Covenants 89 where the Lord explains why we need the guidance of the Word of Wisdom in the latter-days. Because of "evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days”. I’m convinced that there are groups of people right now sitting around tables in dark rooms, devising ways of drawing you into bondage by addicting you to their product. Their motivation, money. If they can get you hooked on what they are selling, they will be set up for life. And of course, there’s the greatest deceiver, the most cunning and crafty of all, the mastermind behind all of these individuals. Satan himself is always there ready to promise you freedom, pleasure, and good times, all the while chuckling under his breath “You’re mine”. Beware of overzealousness. The wise will temper their desires, they bridle their passions, they put off the natural man, they try to look further down the road to the long term consequences of their decisions. That’s one of the biggest secrets of life. Righteousness is giving up something your body desires right now for something far, far better in the long run. Wickedness is giving up something far, far better in the long run for something your body desires right now.

Well, what does this deception bring them? Limhi explains the consequences.

:22 subjection, bondage, they are forced to pay tribute, things are exacted of them.  In :23 these things are Grievous to be borne, bring great affliction, and give great reason to mourn. I’ve spoken to people in the trap. It’s grievous. My wife worked a long time in a rehab center for women. She saw people every day bearing grievous burdens, suffering great afflictions, mourning.

Bondage and severe taxation are such good metaphors for the consequences of sin. Why bondage. Sin always leads to a loss of freedom and agency.  Satan sought to destroy our agency in the premortal realm. Well, some things never change. He’s still trying to destroy agency. All sin leads to some kind of loss of agency. Don’t believe me? I’ll give you the sin, you give me the bondage.

Let’s start with an easy one: Alcohol/Tobacco/Drugs. What’s the bondage? Addiction. Ask the person who is addicted to drugs, tobacco, or alcohol how free they feel. But they’ve lost control. They no longer have the ability to say no to these things without a lot of help and work. They’ve lost agency.

Lying: What’s the bondage? We’re trapped by that lie. We have to cover it up or keep lying to maintain the legitimacy of the first lie. We have to keep track of all our lies and who we told what. Not to mention all the consequences that most likely will come when the truth comes out. The bondage of always worrying that we might be caught.

Pornography or Gambling: Again, addiction, we feel we can’t stop as it pulls us ever deeper into its clutches.

And then there’s crime: Where’s the bondage there? In that case, it can lead you to actual prison. How free do you think they feel?

How about some tougher ones. What about anger? Where’s the bondage there. The way we feel when we can’t take back that thing we said or did to someone we love.

How about not keeping the Sabbath day holy? The bondage of isolation from God’s people and church.

And in each of those cases, there’s always something the adversary exacts of you. There is a tribute to be paid, a heavy taxation. What are the taxes of sin?

• When we break the WofW, we pay with our health

• Lying: loss of trust

• Pornography: our peace of mind, our ability to have meaningful relationships with actual human beings.

• Gambling: A loss of all our money

• Crime: our physical freedom

• And then one of the biggest things we pay for whatever sin we commit is the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We lose the Spirit which is a type of bondage all on its own. We may have to pay with our happiness, our knowledge, our opportunities, our self worth, or our peace of mind.

When you really stop to consider the consequences of sin, it’s just not worth it, is it?  These things are truly grievous to be born, cause great affliction, and give us great reason to mourn.

:24-28 I would place in the "how to get out" category. It’s almost as if Limhi is humbly recognizing what brought them to that state. All because of iniquity in 24, a recognition that “if this people had not fallen into transgression the Lord would not have suffered that this great evil should come upon them in 25. And then after describing what they did to Abinadi, he says “Therefore, who wondereth that they are in bondage and that they are smitten with sore afflictions” in verse 28. Sometimes it takes people a long time to come to this conclusion. Often they will fight against the consequences or deny their role in bringing them about, or they get angry at God because “the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin” as Mormon says. We’ll take a closer look at this phenomenon in chapter 21. You’ll see that it took Limhi’s people some time to get to this level of humility and accepting that responsibility. They didn’t get to this point quickly or easily.

:30-32 we find the fundamental principle of sin. This is the dark side of the law of the harvest. You reap what you sow. If you plant filthiness, you will harvest chaff in the whirlwind, poison, the east wind, immediate destruction, and you’ll be smitten and afflicted.  I know that many wish to party in the great and spacious building and then still partake of the fruit of the tree of life, but it just doesn’t work that way. That’s contrary to the law of the harvest. In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, his symbol for sin is Turkish delight, a very sweet candy given to Edmund by the White Witch. The cunning and crafty deceiver takes advantage of his over-zealousness for sweets. But where does he eventually end up when he comes back for more after betraying his brothers and sisters? In bondage in her frozen palace.

:33 But, lest we get too discouraged with all of this, Limhi is going to end on a note of hope. "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."  

There is a way out. Even when we have painted ourselves into a corner, when we’ve put our foot into his trap, when we’re shivering in his palace prison and the taste of Turkish delight is only a distant memory, Christ provides rescue, and escape. We’ll take a look at how that escape takes place for Limhi and Alma’s people in Mosiah 21 and 24 and dive a little deeper into this principle. But let me end with this. If you are in a similar circumstance or if you ever find yourself in the bondage of sin, if you feel like you’ve painted yourself into a corner. Remember, there is a way out. You can get back to Zarahemla! I know you might be tempted to say, “But it’s too late for me, I’m a lost cause, the walls of Zarahemla are too distant and its citizens wouldn’t want me back anyway”.  No, you will be welcomed! It’s not too far! It’s not too late! If you’ve left, I plead with you to come back to Zarahemla. Just like Trevor found his way back in the video, you can too! There is hope.

MOSIAH 8

Much of what I would share in Mosiah 8 I already taught in depth a few weeks ago in the video I did to help you prepare for General Conference which I entitled the Vision of Seers. Much of what I shared there comes from this chapter, specifically verses 12-21 where Ammon explains what a seer is. The way I would teach this chapter you can find in that video. But I think the tie in with our overall theme is fairly clear. Prophets are seers or see-ers. Special servants of God who can help us to see dangers in certain actions that may not see. When the prophets give us standards and commandments and counsels, we may be tempted to think, oh what’s the big deal, I don’t see any problem with that, he’s overreacting. There’s no danger here. The seers can help us to see through the cunning and craftiness of the deceivers. If we wish to avoid the bondage and the payments of sin, we would do well to trust the vision of the seers. You can watch that video here: https://youtu.be/6gcR5io1Evc

MOSIAH 9-10

I would like to cover chapters 9-10 together. Much of what we read in these chapters is historical and we covered that basic story at the beginning of the video.  This is where the record of Zeniff begins, our major flashback in Mosiah.

But for the sake of this part of the lesson, we are going to start at the end of chapter 10 and examine one of the biggest problems we find in the entire Book of Mormon: the conflict between Nephite and Lamanite. Zeniff gives what I feel is the best description of how issues like this begin.

ICEBREAKER

So an icebreaker you might use for this would be to show a few headlines from world conflicts and atrocities from over the years.  I try not to be too graphic or discouraging but I think it’s important to help your students recognize the reality of these kinds of situations in our world today and the relevance the Book of Mormon has in helping us to understand and cope with it.

Ask "What motivates people to do such terrible things to each other?” Things like the Holocaust, suicide bombings, genocides, and Terrorist attacks.

Whatever your answer, see if you can find a parallel to it in Mosiah 10:17. The motivation that I believe explains much of these kinds of horrific actions is hate, or at its most extreme manifestation, eternal hatred. The Lamanites have an eternal hatred for the Nephites. That means long-lasting, abiding, or persistent hatred. Enos gives us another good descriptive word: he calls it a fixed hatred.

Is this a relevant problem to our day? Can you think of some modern-day examples of eternal hatred?

• Militant Islam and the Western world. Events like 9/11, bombings in Bali, Spain, France, and London, and various ISIS attacks throughout the world come to mind.

• Deadly attacks carried out on Muslim mosques in Canada and New Zealand

• Tribal factions in Africa carrying out kidnappings and killings such as Boko Haram, and conflicts in Sudan, the Congo, and Uganda.

• The Israeli’s and Palestinians, that’s a conflict that has been around for decades.

• Race relations in America or South Africa.

• The Sunni--Shiite conflict within Islam throughout the Middle East, a conflict going on for centuries.

• The Drug Wars in Mexico.

• Gang conflicts, political strife, and even sports rivalries have turned ugly throughout the world.

There are conflicts between neighbors, classmates, and even hatreds between siblings and spouses.

Almost everywhere you turn, you will see examples of hatred causing some of the most painful and destructive scenes in our modern world.

Well, where does it come from? What causes eternal and fixed hatreds to develop? How do people get to the point where they are willing to carry out destructive and even murderous acts on other people? Even on innocent people and children. Well, in Mosiah 10, Zeniff’s people are being attacked by the Lamanites, and he’s going to try to help his people understand why the Lamanites have this desire to destroy them. He’s going to trace that hatred back to its genesis. We’re going to look for the keywords that lead to eternal hatred. See if you can fill out a chart of this process with these keywords while studying Mosiah 10:12-18. This will be available as a handout at  https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingWithPower

In vs 12-13, can you see our first keyword? What’s the first step towards eternal hatred?

Wronged. There is a real or perceived wrong that has taken place. One party feels like they’ve been mistreated or harmed in some way. With Nephites and Lamanites, this goes all the way back to Nephi and Laman, that’s about a 500-year-old conflict at this point, and they’re still referring to it. All of the situations we mentioned above can be traced back to some similar kind of incident. One side has felt wronged by the other.

Well, after you feel like you’ve been wronged, what does that lead to? Find the next keyword in Mosiah 10:14-16.

Keyword here? It shows up many times. Wroth. You feel wronged and it makes you wroth or angry with the other person or group.

Now the rest of the keywords all appear in verse 17. Feeling wroth towards somebody leads to another emotion. What is it?

Hate. When anger is planted, hatred is grown.

And that hatred leads to what? Murders, robbing, and doing all you can do to destroy them—or the will to destroy. That’s where we get horrific acts like 9/11, the holocaust, wars, terrorism, and killings.

But I believe there is one more step here between the will to destroy and eternal hatred, and it’s probably the saddest and most tragic. Look very closely at verse 17 and see if you can find the step that turns hatred into eternal hatred. What can perpetuate it for years and even centuries?

They teach their children to hate. How sad is that? Where you take an impressionable and innocent child and plant in its mind and heart, hatred for other human beings. That’s what makes these conflicts drag on and on forever, making it almost impossible to eradicate.

I remember reading a news story a number of years ago where the mother of a Palestinian suicide bomber was interviewed. Her son had gotten onto a crowded bus and blown it up, killing most of the Jewish passengers on board.  Well, the interviewer expressed his condolences for her loss, to which she replied with something like, Oh I’m not sad at all, I’m proud of what he’s done, I have a 10-year-old son that I hope dies in the same way! And I think, really. How sad is that?  Her hatred was so strong that she hated her enemies more than she what? More than she loved her own children. That’s really strong hatred. That’s eternal or fixed hatred.

Another story that comes to mind comes from Frederick W. Babbel who toured Europe after World War II with Ezra Taft Benson. He tells a story where the parents of a 3-year-old deaf child came seeking a priesthood blessing from him. He says:

"Before I could say a word, I was told by the Spirit, “This young boy could be healed this very night if his parents would lose the hatred which they have in their hearts.”  I was decidedly shocked and troubled, because I had never before met this family and did not want to question their attitude. But I was restrained from sealing the anointing.

After a moment’s pause, I removed my hands from the boy’s head and said to his parents, “What is it that you hate so deeply?”

They looked startled.  Then the husband said, “We can’t tell you.”

“I don’t need to know,” I replied, “but as I placed my hands upon your son’s head, I was assured that he might be healed this very night and be restored to you whole if you will only you lose the hatred which you have in your hearts.”

After some troubled glances back and forth between the couple, the husband again spoke.  “Well, if that is the case,” he said, “our son will have to go through life as he is, because we won’t give up our hating!”

Frederick W. Babbel (On Wings of Fath, p. 160-161).

Hatred is truly tragic.

I like what Golda Meir said: “When parents love their children more than they hate their enemies, only then will the flames of eternal hatred be extinguished”.  –Golda Meir

Is there any hope for situations like this? How do you cure eternal hatred? Are there any possible solutions to this problem? I believe there is. And a part of that solution I feel is found in chapter 9. I call it, seeing with Zeniff’s eyes. The only way these eternal hatreds can be solved is if we begin to see with Zeniff’s eyes.

SEEING WITH ZENIFF’S EYES

Read Mosiah 9:1-9 looking for a solution. What do you see?

The first step comes in the very first verse. When Zeniff goes down with his group of spies initially with the intent to destroy them, he says “When I saw that which was good among them I was desirous that they should not be destroyed”.

That’s the first step. We’ve got to change the way we view our supposed enemies. Stop looking for the faults, stop looking for the negative, and start looking for what’s good in them. Look for the good in your spouses, your children, your neighbors, your ward members, and people of other religions and cultures. If you look for it, you are certain to find it. Maybe that’s why Christ taught us to pray for our enemies; it conditions our minds to look for the good within them. If the Israelis would look for the good in the Palestinians, and the Palestinians could look for the good in the Israelis, that problem might begin to be resolved. If the Sunni’s could look for the good in the Shiites, and vice versa, the whites and blacks, the democrats and republicans, estranged siblings or husbands and wives. Any kind of conflict can begin to be resolved when opportunities are sought to see the good.

MAKE A TREATY/CHANCE YOUR ARM

The next step I see is in verse 2. Zeniff desires to make a treaty with them. So seek to find a resolution to your conflict. Seek to understand why they feel wronged and wroth. Perhaps you can find a win/win solution to your problem or at least an acceptable compromise. Then step 3 I see come later in verse 5 when Zeniff desires to possess the land in peace. Zeniff was certainly an idealist. He wants to put the past behind them. He believes, sincerely, that Lamanites and Nephites could live side by side in peace.

This reminds me of an experience I had while visiting Ireland. Maybe some of you are familiar with the saying “to chance your arm”. Well, I discovered the origin of that phrase while visiting St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin. I was walking around the cathedral when I saw an old door on display with a large hole cut out of the middle of it. That caught my attention and I decided to read the placard next to it. It said that in 1492 there were two Irish families in the middle of a bitter feud, the Butlers and the Fitzgeralds. Offenses had been committed on both sides, and as the conflict got more out of hand, the Butlers sought refuge from the attack in the cathedral while the Fitzgeralds surrounded the building. After some time for tempers to cool off and reason to return, the head of the Fitzgerald family pounded on the door telling the Butlers that they could come out now, that he wanted to make peace. The Butlers refused thinking it was a trick to get them to come out so they could be slaughtered. They refused to open the door. That’s when the leader of the Fitzgeralds ordered that a hole be cut in the door, after which he reached his arm through and offer a handshake for peace. Now you can see the risk in that right? If the Butlers wished, they could very easily have cut off his arm. But this gesture, this “chancing” of his arm, convinced the Butlers that he was sincere. And I’m sure that must have been quite unsettling to reach that defenseless arm through the door in the darkness. But what a relief when he felt that other hand grasp his in a token of peace, the door opened and the conflict resolved. I think that a lot of the world’s conflicts could be solved if one side would sincerely and willfully "chance their arm" so to speak and offer a treaty of peace.

With that in mind, I encourage you to reflect on your own life. Now you may not be able to do anything about the world’s conflicts. But are there any conflicts or hatreds that you have been caught up in? Is there another individual or group of people that you are hostile toward, in your family, in your ward, in your community, in the world in general? If so, I encourage you to learn from this story and consider the following question:

Is there any way that you could apply Zeniff’s example to your own life? If so, how?

I encourage you in those situations to look for the good, to make a treaty or “chance your arm” with them, to make an attempt to establish peace. At the very least, don’t preserve hate into the next generation. Let the conflict end with you. Don't create or perpetuate a heritage of hatred in your children.

FAILED EXPERIMENT?

Before we end, I can imagine that some of you are wondering about my conclusion here. You might argue, but wait, Zeniff’s experiment failed. The only reason the king of the Lamanites made a treaty with him was so that he could later take advantage of him. It was all a trick. Perhaps he would have done well to heed the Savior’s advice when he instructs us to be “wise as serpents, but harmless as doves”. But you very well could argue. "Zeniff’s idealism and overzealousness betrayed him! See, you can’t eliminate eternal hatred even if you try. In fact, one of the saddest problems with trying to see the good in your enemies is what happens in verse 2.

How do some of our own people react when you try to see the good or make peace with the enemy? You become the enemy now. The conflict is no longer a horizontal conflict, between you and your enemy, but now it creates a vertical conflict amongst your own community. Your own people or kindred may turn against you. They say things like, "any friend of my enemy is also my enemy". It just goes to show you how difficult a problem like eternal hatred is to get rid of.

A modern example of this. When Anwar Sadat of Egypt decided to make peace with Israel, he was assassinated. But who assassinated him? Israelis? No, some of his own people. When Yitzhak Rabin wanted to make peace with the Palestinians, he was assassinated. By who? Palestinians? No, one of his own people.

So, is it even worth it to try? Does the world have any hope for curing eternal hatred? I think it does. The answer comes later in the Book of Mormon. The sons of Mosiah are a good example of this. They decide to go into the Lamanite nation and teach them the gospel, and many of them laugh them to scorn. But they go anyway. And does it work? Yes and No. They are able to convert a large portion of the Lamanite nation. King Lamoni and his father. They succeed with them. But again, we have an example of horizontal conflict becoming vertical conflict where those Lamanites that have not been converted start to slaughter those that have, the people that become known as Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s. So maybe that suggests that you can conquer eternal hatred in individuals but not in entire nations.

But, eventually, later in the Book of Mormon, the idealism of both Zeniff and the sons of Mosiah will be vindicated when two idealistic brothers by the names of Lehi and Nephi manage to teach and convert the entire Lamanite nation. So much so that the Lamanites give up their conquered lands and make peace with the Nephites, and you have this wonderful portion of the Book of Mormon where there are no conflicts or wars between the two cultures. And what is it that worked? What really is the only solution to the world’s eternal hatreds? It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the only lasting solution. I believe that missionaries do more to create peace in this world than all armies, charities, governments, and peacekeeping forces of the world combined can do.

CONCLUSION

Bear your testimony of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to cure eternal hatreds.