Stripling Warriors

We have heard of the word stripling as way to describe the young sons of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. For a long time I thought it meant strong or warrior. It turns out that stripling means young boy. In fact, when I looked it up in a dictionary it gave an example of stripling being used in a sentence with the word mere before it as an adjective. Just so we understand, the stripling warriors were like a bunch of deacons, teachers and priests going up against the seasoned lamanite warriors to fight to the death.

They are a great example to us because of their amazing faith. It is hard to imagine having that much faith when you are going up against all odds. But these young boys knew they had God on their side and they knew that with His help they would win. 

Although this is a relatively well-known story, I don't think we put in the amount of study that it deserves. It is more than a good story to tell young Primary kids. It is something we should emulate every day in our own lives as we go to fight battles against enemies even more deadly than the lamanite warriors. 

We need the kind of faith that the young stripling warriors had. Like these warriors had their moms to teach them in the ways of the Lord, we too have parents and leaders to help us understand better the commandments of God. 

May we all do our best to emulate these faithful young stripling warriors as we wage our own battles against the evils of today. 

Nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy

Alma 36 is filled with scriptures that can help us understand the pain and sorrow of sin. On the other hand, we also learn about beautiful and clean repentance can be.

This chapter is where Alma the younger is recounting the story of his conversion to his son, Helaman. Alma describes how his sins were great because he was leading members away from the church. It was not a good time for the church, or for Alma's father.

Alma was eventually reprimanded by an angel of God that came to visit him. While Alma lay paralyzed, unable to even speak, he was being racked with the eternal torment of his sins. When Alma describes this we can related how terrible we feel when we sin. He cries out in his mind unto Christ, asking for mercy. When this happens, Alma describes to his son that he was no longer harrowed up by the memory of his sins.

Repentance comes through true sorrow. It is not just when we feel bad because we did something wrong, it is when we truly recognize that we have erred in the Lord's sight and need His help to repent.

From all of this we get this beautiful scripture, "...there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy" (verse 21).

What would you give to know God?

In the well known story of Alma and sons of Mosiah and their missions among the Lamanites we can learn much about missionary work and its role in the gospel.

One of the things that we talked about in class this week had to do with the king of the Lamanites. There is a part where the king tries to kill Ammon. Ammon defends himself and then holds the king at swordpoint. The king then offers Ammon half of the kingdom if he will spare his life. Here we can see that the king saw his life as equal to half of his kingdom.

Later, when the king is being taught by Aaron, the king desires to know God. He prays and says that he will give up everything to know God. It is interesting to see how knowing God, according to the king, is worth giving up everything.

As we talked about this concept during class, I could see how we could apply that same principle in our own lives.

What if we've been wronged?

This week we had a beautiful discussion on wrongs, both perceived and real. We talked about how we react to being wronged, whether we were truly wronged or we just imagined ourselves to be.

We can see the two result of being wronged in the Book of Mormon. We know that Laman and Lemuel had a hard time when they traveled to the Americas from Jerusalem. They felt that they had been wronged because of all that they had to endure. They murmured and refused to keep the faith. Their perceived wrongs led them to feel wrath. This wrath festered and grew into hate. Later, (about 413 years later) the descendants of Laman and Lemuel still hate Nephi's people because of these perceived wrongs. How long can someone hold a grudge?

On the other hand, Nephi was actually wronged by his brethren. They treated him terribly. Laman and Lemuel tried to kill him several times. Nephi, however, did not become wrathful because of his wrongs. Being wronged led him to love more.

What side will we choose if we are wronged?