Day 64 - Mormon 5-8

Spiritual Thought:
“Great nations do not fall because of external aggression; they first erode and decay inwardly, so that, like rotten fruit, they fall of themselves. The strength of a country is the sum total of the moral strength of the individuals in that country.” (This Nation Shall Endure, p. 95 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 477)

Daily Focus Scriptures to mark and ponder:
Mormon 5:1 - "And it came to pass that I did go forth among the Nephites, and did repent of the oath which I had made..."
Mormon 5:2 - "But behold, I was without hope, for I knew the judgments of the Lord which should come upon them; for they repented not of their iniquities, but did struggle for their lives without calling upon the Being who created them."
Mormon 5:16 - "For behold, the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers; and they are without Christ and God in the world and they are driven about as chaff before the wind."
Mormon 6:17 - "Oh ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord!"

Daily Questions: 
Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.  What lessons can I learn from the tragedy that Mormon describes happened to the Nephites?  Do I have a tendency to vacillate with my testimony like the nephites and the lamanites did?  What are some things I can start doing today that will keep me strong when the winds blow in my life?

EXECLLENT SEMINARY VIDEO:
Click here to watch the final battle of the Nephites and the Lamanites - Oh Ye Fair Ones - 5 min.

Food for Thought: 

Final Battle estimates:

–       230,000 Nephites Killed

–       Over 300,000 Lamanites Killed

Jeffrey R. Holland

“Mormon himself fell wounded, but his life, for a time, was spared as the Lamanite armies swept on. Only he, Moroni, and twenty-two other Nephites remained; 230,000 of their nation had fallen.

“The scope and significance of that horrible slaughter may be seen more readily when we realize that the great American Civil War of the 1860s, the costliest war, in terms of human life, that the United States has ever known, took the lives of 140,000 men in a five-year period. Here, 230,000 fell in a single day.” (Ensign, Mar. 1978, “Mormon: The Man and the Book, Part 1”)

BOMING Picture: 

Mormon laments:  O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!"