Quick, Book of Mormon scholars, what kinds of weapons did the Anti-Nephi-Lehies lay down, as described in Alma 23? Well, most people would think, “I don’t know, swords, spears, shields, weapons of war in general.” That is of course what I thought.
But that’s not what Alma 23:7 says. It says they laid down their “weapons of rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.”
So, it appears that the primary weapons that these now pacific people laid down were the weapons that separated them from God.
What kinds of weapons of rebellion do you need to lay down?
This is not an original thought. We had an extraordinary meeting during the third hour of ward conference yesterday in which our stake president addressed the adults. He asked us to concentrate this year on three things:
1)Get your homes in order in terms of your budgets, getting out of debt and preparing food storage (but he emphasized that getting out of debt was more important than preparing food storage for many people — in other words, don’t go into debt to order food storage).
2)Lay down your “weapons of rebellion,” which he described as the actions that even the most righteous people have that separate them from God. He asked us to pray in a sincere way that we would know what our weapons of rebellion are.
3)Continue going to the temple as much as is practical. (For those who may be interested, our stake in northern Colorado had a signature year for temple attendance in 2008, with a much larger percentage of people attending than was expected.)
Our stake president pointed out that for many people weapons of rebellion may be simple things like not doing our callings the way we should or not being as helpful around the house as we should be. We might choose to ignore others’ failings rather than concentrate on them, so we avoid contention.
So this week I will be praying to get a better idea of what my personal weapons of rebellion are. I have some ideas but I’m pretty sure if I pray about it I will get more clarity.
It seems to me this advice is excellent for everybody, not just members of my stake. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.