A Day of Wickedness and Abomination
READ
Mormon 1:2-4
What was
Mormon like as a child and why did this appeal to Ammaron?
READ
Mormon 1:13-14 and 4 Nephi 1:45-46
What is
the spiritual effect of a society steeped in wickedness and unbelief?
READ
Mormon 1:15
What
happened to Mormon at age 15?
How did
this happen in a world as wicked as Mormon’s?
READ
Mormon 1:16-19
Why did
the Lord forbid Mormon to preach unto the people – couldn’t it have enabled
their repentance?
Can the
Lord really “curse” the land so that treasures become “slippery” and what does
this mean?
When the
Holy Spirit is withdrawn, where do the people turn?
READ
Mormon 2:1-2
What does
the fact that the Nephites chose a 16-year-old Mormon to be their General tell
us about him and about them?
READ
Mormon 2:8
What does
it mean that it was “one complete revolution throughout all the face of the
land”?
READ
Mormon 2:10-15
What is
the difference between the sorrow of the damned and the sorrow of the
repentant?
Why do
they wish to die but struggle for their lives at the same time?
What does
it mean that the “day of grace was past with them”?
READ
Mormon 2:17-19
What did
Mormon do when he first retrieved the record from the place where it was
hidden?
What hope
does Mormon’s life give those of us living in the latter days?
READ
Mormon 2:20-21
Describe
the state of Nephite society?
READ
Mormon 2:25-27 and Mormon 3:8-10
Despite
the Lord withdrawing from the Nephites, how did they beat the Lamanites whose
army was almost twice as big?
How are
the Nephites violating the principles of “Christian war” that we read about
during the Great Lamanite War in Alma?
READ
Mormon 4:4-5, 17-18
What
happened to the Nephites because of their “preventative war”, when they
attacked the Lamanites to exterminate them?
READ
Mormon 3:11-16
Why does
Mormon refuse to lead the Nephite armies from that time forward, even though
they had always been a group of vile sinners during his lifetime?
How can
Mormon still love his people, as wicked as they are?
Why would
Mormon cry all day long in prayer for his friends, yet do it “without faith”?
READ
Mormon 3:20-22
Why is
Mormon writing to the latter-day Gentiles, Jews and the Remnant of Israel?
READ
Mormon 4:5
How do
the judgements of God punish the wicked?
READ
Mormon 4:11-15
Why did
the Lamanites beat the Nephites?
Why did
the Nephites beat the Lamanites?
What do
the Nephites and Lamanites have in common?
READ
Mormon 5:1-2
How did
the Nephites view the “Return of Mormon”?
Why did
Mormon return to lead the Nephites?
READ
Mormon 5:8-9 and Mormon 5:21-24
Why does
Mormon “harrow up our souls” with his account of carnage?
READ
Mormon 5:16-18
How are they
without Christ and God in the world?
What is
chaff and what does it mean to be driven like chaff before the wind?
How could
a people move from being led by the Father Himself and being shepherded
personally by Christ to this level of degeneracy?
Mormon’s
Letter to Moroni: A People Without Civilization
The
following is a letter from Mormon to his son Moroni which fits into the
chronology of the story at this point (after Mormon has rejoined the Nephite
army but before their ultimate destruction).
READ
Moroni 9:3-5
How does
Satan influence the Nephites not to repent, despite all the losses they are incurring,
which should humble them or at the least scare them into repentance?
How do
the Nephites react to Mormon’s counsel and preaching?
READ
Moroni 9:6
So why
does Mormon counsel Moroni to continue to try to influence the Nephites?
READ
Moroni 9:7-12, 18-20
Why did
Moroni transcribe this letter with all its gory and offensive detail into his
account?
What does
it mean to be “past feeling”?
What does
it mean to be “without civilization”?
How can
people go from being civilized to being depraved in the course of only a few
years or less?
Who is
most at risk in a society like this?
Why would
God allow these atrocities?
READ
Moroni 9:13-15
What does
Mormon ask God for?
READ
Moroni 9:21-23
Why can
Mormon no longer intercede with God for the people?
READ
Moroni 9:25-26
How could
Mormon’s letter not grieve Moroni and weigh him down unto despair?
Why does
Mormon want “the showing of (Christ’s) body unto our fathers” to rest in
Moroni’s mind forever?
The
Destruction of the Nephites
READ
Mormon 6:1-6
Why did
Mormon propose a battle?
Why would
the Lamanites destroy the scriptural records if they could?
READ
Mormon 6:7-11
How many
died in this great battle?
READ
Mormon 6:16-20
These are
an extremely wicked group of people who have reached the fullness of iniquity;
why does Mormon mourn them so terribly?
What does
Mormon mean by the term “fair ones”?
Did Jesus
stand with open arms to receive even the Nephites at 99% on the “Fullness of
Iniquity Scale”; right up until the tipping point?
READ
Mormon 6:21-22
Why does
Mormon say “and if it so be that ye are righteous…” when they clearly weren’t
or they would not be dead?
Does God
still love the sinner after their opportunity to repent is past?
How did the
Nephites fulfill the requirements of the Fullness of Iniquity, such that they
deserved to be swept away (see Ether 2:9-10)?
READ
Ether 2:11
Where are
we today on this scale? What do we
deserve?
