Moroni 9-10: Navigating Captivity to Liberty Through Divine Gifts

1. Moroni 9-10 This is a “scriptural foil” This is a technique used by scriptural writers who place “two contrasting principles or examples side by side to show even more clearly what they are trying to teach. Clearly Mormon was challenging us to come unto Christ in Moroni 9, and is doing the same thing in Moroni 10.

2. 2 Nephi 2:27 seems to be the major theme. You’ve read both chapters, now you decide what it will be for you! Moroni 9 = captivity and death = Satan Moroni 10 = liberty and eternal life = Christ Moroni 10 is more than just an invitation to come unto Christ. Moroni teaches us how to do it.

3. Moroni 9:4-10, 20 “Past Feeling” President Harold B. Lee has called our attention to the phrase ‘past feeling’ which is used several places in the scriptures. In Ephesians, Paul links it to lasciviousness that apparently so sated its victims that they thought ‘uncleanness with greediness.’ Moroni used the same two words to describe a decaying society which was ‘without civilization,’ ‘without order and without mercy,’ and in which people had ‘lost their love, one towards another.’… Nephi used the same concept in his earlier lamentation about his brothers’ inability to heed the urgings of the Spirit because they were ‘past feeling.’ The common thread is obvious: the inevitable dulling of our capacity to feel renders us impervious to conscience, to the needs of others, and to insights both intellectual and spiritual. Such imperceptivity, like alcoholism, apparently reaches a stage where the will can no longer enforce itself upon our impulses” (“For the Power is in them,” 22).

4. Moroni 10 is the Book of Mormon’s concluding doctrinal dissertation. It defines the relationship among grace, gifts, and godhood. The grace that flows from the Savior’s atoning sacrifice opens the gate to the divine road, the gifts are the vehicle, and godhood is the destination. By the grace of God the gifts come, and with the acquisition of the gifts, godhood emerges (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 277).

5. Moroni 10:3-7 “The Promise” “As soon as Elder Taylor preached the gospel to her family, Mrs. Cannon was ready to be baptized, knowing for herself, as she did, that the principles he taught were the true gospel of the Son of God. Her husband (George Cannon, father of George Q. Cannon) read the Book of Mormon carefully twice before his baptism. After finishing it the second time, he remarked, ‘No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so’ (Andrew Jenson, Historical Record 6:174).”

6. Moroni 10:8-18 “Nine Gifts of the Spirit” I Corinthians 12 = 9 D&C 46 = 13 Alma 9:21 = 6 “By the grace of God --- following devotion, faith, and obedience on man’s part --- certain special blessings called gifts of the spirit are bestowed upon men. Their receipt is always predicated upon obedience to law, but because they are freely available to all the obedient, they are called gifts. They are signs and miracles reserved for the faithful and for none else.”

7. “Their purpose is to enlighten, encourage, and edify the faithful so that they will inherit peace in this life and be guided toward eternal life in the world to come. Their presence is proof of the divinity of the Lord’s work; where they are not found, there the church and the kingdom of God is not. The promise is that they shall never be done away as long as the earth continues in its present state, • except for unbelief, but when the perfect day comes and the saints obtain exaltation, there will be no more need for them. As Paul expressed it, ‘When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.’ • “Faithful persons are expected to seek the gifts of the Spirit with all their hearts. They are to ‘covet earnestly the best gifts” (Bruce R. McConkie).

8. What are gifts of the Spirit? “Let me mention a few gifts that are not always evident or noteworthy but that are very important… The gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost” (Marvin J. Ashton, Ensign, Nov. 1987, 20).

9. Elder McConkie taught, “These gifts are infinite in number and endless in their manifestations because God himself is infinite and endless (McConkie, New Witness, 270). Certainly divine qualities such as patience, humility, integrity, kindness, and unselfishness, are also spiritual gifts worthy of pursuit. Elder Marvin J. Ashton described some of these “gifts not so evident but nevertheless real and valuable” as the “gift of listening,” the gift of caring for others,” and the gift of being able to ponder” (Ashton, Measure of Our Hearts, 17).

10. Moroni 10:20-21 The three greatest gifts! faith = 260 times! hope = 50 times! charity = 27 times!

11. No wonder we despair when we sin, because we act against our own interests who we really are. When we are imprisoned by iniquity, we turn the cell lock on ourselves (Neal A. Maxwell, Things As They Really Are, 8). Moroni 10:22-23 “Despair cometh because of iniquity!” • Moroni 10:27, 32-34 • “Moroni’s final testimony to the World!”

12. Moroni 10:32-33 Perfection comes little by little and only through Christ. “We can make great strides in the direction of perfection in our personal behavior. We can be perfect in our prayers to our Father in Heaven. There are some things in which it is very • difficult to be perfect, but I hope that everyone here, every man and woman and boy and girl, will get on his or her knees night and morning and thank the Lord for His blessings… We can be perfect in our prayers, my brothers and sisters” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, July 1998, 2).