Joy and Rejoicing

The story of the Old Testament is one of family. One family. The ancient Patriarchs found beautiful, virtuous wives and lived happily ever after with them, having joy and rejoicing in their posterity (more or less, give or take a few big "hiccups"). Adam and Eve, Noah and his wife, three of their sons with their wives. Lot, losing his wife (who turns back, in my mind, out of compassion for her other children). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with their wives -- they all have stories of strife and success, sometimes failure, keeping their families together. Having "power in the priesthood be upon me and upon my posterity, through all generations of time, and throughout all eternity" was evidently supposed to be the focus of my life. "Adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25).

Joy in what? Joy in the Lord? Absolutely! But what is the Lord trying to get us to do? To be like Him! To have a continuation of the lives! To have seed everlastingly, even as the stars of the heavens or as the sands of the seas. 

(This world is but a blip, I suspect, in that process.)

Was Christ Himself married on this earth? Did He have a wife (or wives) and biological offspring? 

I don't know. 

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. (Mark 3:33-35.)

Jesus' message was that we ought to be "one" with God and one with each other (see John 17:11, 21-22) in such a way that there be no divisions between us, no contentions among us. (See 3 Nephi 11:29-30.) He sought for us to become men and women of peace and holiness. He showed us how. 

Paul counseled: 

18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:18-20.)

The Old Testament is one anthology of a tribe of fallen men and women striving to return to godhood. It's all about family and having faith in one's future through one's bloodlines and having faith in one's past because of one's genes.

The Book of Mormon is strangely different.

Except for a few instances, women in particular are never mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Men serve out their lives with reference to their wives, but not as personalities. Mothers are honored in the abstract and collective. Helaman's valiant warriors are taught on their mother's knees and Captain Moroni rallies his warriors in their wives' defense. But women are usually implied (Mormon has a son named Moroni, but who is Mormon's wife?) and seldom identified. (Sarai? Yes. But who is Nephi's wife?) Alma and Mosiah come and go, having notable offspring, but who are their boys' matriarchs? Wicked kings and wayward priests bandy about women as if they are prizes to be doled out or chattel to be had. Righteous followers of Christ focus on Him, not on the individuals they live with. Their hope is in Christ, not in their posterity. Nephi, after all, lives to see (in vision) the destruction of his entire race. There is no trusting in the arm of flesh for them.

As Denver Snuffer has written (don't ask me where), it's too late for us to follow the Patriarchs now. This world was given to them -- set up for them, designed for them, built by them! -- so that they might fulfill their destinies as gods sitting upon thrones, establishing unlimited increase that would endure for ages and worlds to come.

But us? We will barely escape this orb with our lives. The farther one looks back into the past, the longer the bloodlines grow. The farther one looks forward into the future, the shorter they become -- until you have just "one of a city" and "two of a family."

I was raised (by the Mormons) to believe that "happiness" -- exquisite happiness -- was to be had only by joining eternally with one woman and maintaining that family forever. "Families are forever" I was told.

My experience has taught me otherwise.

Just keeping one woman "happy" enough to stick with me for very long has proven impossible. Now I'm witnessing my own offspring turn away from me, one by one. They do not appreciate nor embrace my biblical view of the world...as thoroughly, fervently or forcefully as I have taught it to them! They do not know the God I worship as I know Him, they having only heard stories of Him from me. These stories must compete with all the distractions of their day -- the music, activities, labors and entertainments. "Who needs God?" they say to themselves. "All things continue as they were from the beginning." (See 2 Peter 3:4.) I am, for the most part, a fool in their eyes. (See 1 Nephi 2:12.) And a hypocrite.

Now, I'm torn, wondering what to do, if anything. I don't even know what to pray for. The salvation of myself? My family? My wife and children? What do you do when the ones you are seeking to save are only running away from you? Do you run after them?

Or do you call them to you..and run toward them only when they come your way? (See Luke 15:20 and 1 Nephi 8:17-18.)

Anything more than that (forcing someone to follow you or remain with you) smacks of neediness and oppression. Laman and Lemuel, even Lehi's wife, murmured that Lehi "dragged" them into the desert, where they were obligated (by custom and commandment) to "follow" him. Because of that, Lehi's oldest sons grew resentful, even tried to kill him!

Compulsion doesn't work. Even running away (as Nephi and his people did, taking with them the sacred oracles and artifacts) doesn't guarantee peace. The wicked seek to slay and oppress the righteously peaceful.

It's a never-ending saga.

"[A]ll these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7.)

And, hopefully, for our joy.