(verses 9-10) We wonder how such a good man like Lehi can
have a couple of wayward and rotten sons.
I don’t know that there is an answer –or an easy one at least. Lehi’s constant efforts to bring them around
are remarkable. He never gives up,
rather he keeps trying. You would think
at some point, especially after being shown future events, Lehi might turn
fatalistic (he is going to lose the battle for his sons and they will be lost)
and give in… he never does.
It is also interesting that Nephi remembers
the event and includes it in his record.
I suppose that he paid more heed to these words, spoken to his brothers,
than they did.
“firm and
steadfast, and immovable”
-keeping
the commandments, being on the Lord’s side requires a proactive or offensive
stance. It is not a defensive or default
position. The forces of Satan, the
natural appetites and the conditions of mortality are all exerting an inertia
toward the profane. We live in the muck
and it is God’s commandments, a Godly life that protect us from being stained
and sucked down to the level of this life.
We must be committed and constant in our resolve. We must be defiant when forces try to move us
from our godly behaviors (obedience).
-there is
a battle that is playing out in every individual as well as in the greater
masses of people. It is a contest
between the sacred and the profane.
These are two opposing ideals. Our
behaviors, our relationships, our language, our actions all tend toward one or
the other. Life itself is either an
experience in the sacred or in the profane.
Our actions daily contribute to our life becoming one or the other. There are those who consider life to be
special, holy, part of a journey to a destination with deep significance, a
venture of profound opportunity (to serve others, to discover the good lifr, to
develop our character, etc). There are
others who consider our experience in this life as nothing more than an
accident, that we ourselves are a higher animal with all the appetites and
urges of any animal, that we are here to eat, drink, enjoy ourselves and
die. One is a sacred lif, the other is a
profane life.
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