A Brief Review

[Jared Livesey]

To review, in the previous posts in this series, we saw:

1. Benjamin noted that if his people had obtained and were retaining a remission of their sins then they would freely and personally succor the poor and needy and not suffer the beggar to put up his petition to them in vain. (Mosiah 4:11-23)
2. Benjamin divided the rich from the poor by the sole criterion of ability to give to beggars.
   1. Benjamin defined the rich as those who have more than enough for their immediate needs and thus have substance they can give to the the beggars. (Mosiah 4:16-23)
   2. Benjamin defined the poor as those who do not have more than enough for their immediate needs and thus have literally nothing they can give to the beggars (Mosiah 4:24).
   3. He further divided the poor into two groups:
      1. Those who have just enough for their immediate needs. (Mosiah 4:24)
      2. Those who do not, who are thus the beggars and the needy.
3. Benjamin taught that if one would not freely give upon request, one covets and is condemned.  (Mosiah 4:24-25)
4. Repeating the words of the Lord God, Jacob told us that they who are rich as to the things of the world despise the poor and persecute the meek because that they are rich, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
   1. The hearts of the rich are upon their treasures, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
   2. Their treasure is their God, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
   3. They shall perish along with their treasure, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
5. The Lord God despises the wise, and the learned, and the rich, which are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches. (2 Ne 9:42)
   1. The Lord God will not open the gate of the kingdom of God to the wise, the learned, and the rich unless they cast away their learning, their wisdom, and their riches, and consider themselves fools before him, and come down into the depths of humility. (2 Ne 9:42)
   2. Except they do this they are not and cannot be saints. (2 Ne 9:43)
6. Jacob, again on errand from the Lord God, outlined what do do:
   1. Think of your brethren even as yourself. (Jacob 2:17)
   2. Treat everyone as family. (Jacob 2:17)
   3. Freely distribute your substance so that everyone can be as rich as you. (Jacob 2:17)
   4. Do not try to obtain riches but instead first try to obtain the kingdom of God. (Jacob 2:18)
   5. Once one has obtained a hope in Christ, then if one seeks riches one shall obtain them. (Jacob 2:19)
   6. And one will seek riches with the intent of doing good with them; for example:
      1. clothing the naked,
      2. feeding the hungry,
      3. liberating the captive (by, for example, paying off their debts),
      4. and administering relief to the sick and the afflicted. (Jacob 2:19)

Questions:

1. Were Jacob and Benjamin's precepts given by the power of the Holy Ghost?
2. The Liahona had two spindles in it (1 Ne 16:20; Alma 37:20).  Apparently, when the people exercised faith that God would show them the way through it, God would cause both spindles to point in the same direction.  With this in mind, is it significant that Jacob and Benjamin's teachings on the dispensation of one's earthly substance align?

In the next post, we will look at the greatest prophet ever born to woman, and see if his teachings also points out this same straight and narrow path.

[Robert F. Smith]

5 hours ago, Jared Livesey said:

To review, in the previous posts in this series, we saw:

1. Benjamin noted that if his people had obtained and were retaining a remission of their sins then they would freely and personally succor the poor and needy and not suffer the beggar to put up his petition to them in vain. (Mosiah 4:11-23)
2. Benjamin divided the rich from the poor by the sole criterion of ability to give to beggars.
   1. Benjamin defined the rich as those who have more than enough for their immediate needs and thus have substance they can give to the the beggars. (Mosiah 4:16-23)
   2. Benjamin defined the poor as those who do not have more than enough for their immediate needs and thus have literally nothing they can give to the beggars (Mosiah 4:24).
   3. He further divided the poor into two groups:
      1. Those who have just enough for their immediate needs. (Mosiah 4:24)
      2. Those who do not, who are thus the beggars and the needy.
3. Benjamin taught that if one would not freely give upon request, one covets and is condemned.  (Mosiah 4:24-25)
4. Repeating the words of the Lord God, Jacob told us that they who are rich as to the things of the world despise the poor and persecute the meek because that they are rich, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
   1. The hearts of the rich are upon their treasures, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
   2. Their treasure is their God, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
   3. They shall perish along with their treasure, without noted exception. (2 Ne 9:30)
5. The Lord God despises the wise, and the learned, and the rich, which are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches. (2 Ne 9:42)
   1. The Lord God will not open the gate of the kingdom of God to the wise, the learned, and the rich unless they cast away their learning, their wisdom, and their riches, and consider themselves fools before him, and come down into the depths of humility. (2 Ne 9:42)
   2. Except they do this they are not and cannot be saints. (2 Ne 9:43)
6. Jacob, again on errand from the Lord God, outlined what do do:
   1. Think of your brethren even as yourself. (Jacob 2:17)
   2. Treat everyone as family. (Jacob 2:17)
   3. Freely distribute your substance so that everyone can be as rich as you. (Jacob 2:17)
   4. Do not try to obtain riches but instead first try to obtain the kingdom of God. (Jacob 2:18)
   5. Once one has obtained a hope in Christ, then if one seeks riches one shall obtain them. (Jacob 2:19)
   6. And one will seek riches with the intent of doing good with them; for example:
      1. clothing the naked,
      2. feeding the hungry,
      3. liberating the captive (by, for example, paying off their debts),
      4. and administering relief to the sick and the afflicted. (Jacob 2:19)

........................................

You make the same mistake made by the Protestant reformers.  Rather than stepping back and looking at Scripture as a whole, they made certain narrow assumptions and then attempted to fit everything into that narrow set of strictures.  That is why God rejected their theology, making  that explicit to Joseph Smith from day one 200 years ago.

[Jared Livesey]

I understand your position, Robert.