Ether 15; Moroni 1-6

(December 27, 2014)

                The experience of Coriantumr is a tragic one, as every indication that we have is that he was a generally good person.  He didn’t want to repent in his prosperity, but that is sadly common amongst many of us.  When, in the time of his adversity, he turned to the Lord and wanted to repent he found himself surrounded by those who hated him and hated the Lord.  He would have made amends for his mistakes and saved his people, but the evil of others prevented it.

                Not surprisingly, I found myself identifying with Coriantumr.  I have made my mistakes in my prosperity, and now I find myself doing my best to repent.  I find that I cannot make things right because of the anger of others.  Like Shiz, the actions they are taking against me will lead to their own destruction rather than mine, but I don’t long for vengeance.  I just wish that I had the opportunity to care for others who will be hurt.

                I hope that there is room for Coriantumr in the Kingdom of God – that the Lord will look to his heart and his actions and bless him for his efforts.  Not surprisingly, I hope for the same for myself.  And, to take a pair of lessons from this, (1) we need to leave vengeance to the Lord when we have been hurt so we don’t destroy ourselves as did Shiz; and (2) we need to be willing to repent when things are going well so we don’t lose the opportunity to repent in our adversity.

                I was also struck by Moroni’s statement that he would not deny the Christ and therefore he made efforts to avoid the Lamanites so he survived.  This struck me because my understanding of the Plan is that the Plan is so comprehensive that I could be accused of being Panglossian in my approach.  I still think that is correct, but we are each obligated to do what we can to protect ourselves, to build for our families, and so forth even though we know that success or failure is wholly in the hands of the Lord.