Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:21 I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. I'm thinking about this notion of profitable servants. If you are rich enough to afford servants, you must believe that what they are giving you is worth the money you are paying them for performing those tasks, or else you would not employ them, right? And yet, servants are not supposed to contribute to actual profitability, they're jut supposed to do tasks that you don't have the time or willingness to do yourself. So if we provide literally nothing to God, the why does he continue to bless us? My kids don't perform any actual work for me, and when they do help, it's rarely actually helpful, but they provide me joy and fulfillment in my life, which is why I like them. Perhaps God gets something else out of the relationship with us than "profitability."

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another? Who in my life could say this to me? And who could I say it to? As parents, are we able to say this to our children? "Hey, kids, I have served you, so you should serve one another?" Or are we precluded from calling that revive since we created those kids, and they didn't exactly elect us to our jobs as their parents? In America, we have the mindset that we owe our kids a decent upbringing, and the best shot at success in life, since we brought them into this life. In most of Asia, however, they take a completely different view—the kids owe the parents because the parents created them and brought them into this life. Which does the scripture support? Moses said to honor thy father and thy mother. The proclamation to the world says that children have claim on their parents for support. Psalms says that children are an inheritance to the lord.

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:15 Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you; but I tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear conscience before God this day. Mosiah is concerned that his people know that he has a clear conscience. Why is it important that others know the state of your conscience? I feel like this is not the only case where this is said. Maybe it is, though. I just retread the end of 2 Nephi and the start and finish if Jacob, and didn't see it, so maybe I'm just remembering this section.

Still, though, why do you need others to know the state of your conscience? To that end, why do you need to let others know whether you have a testimony at all? We have our sacrament meetings where we take turns sharing what we know with the other people who have come to church that Sunday, and it often includes the line, "I want you to know..."

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:9 I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view. King Benjamin here asks for three faculties: ears, hearts, and minds. The first to actually take in the message, the second to be prepared to feel something as you do so, and the last to think through what he says in order to have some intellectual understanding of what he is saying. I notice that this is in fair contra position to the mindset or expectation of non religious activists in the US today, who produce bumper stickers saying things like, "the more you know, the less you believe." When I was a missionary, one of the things we told ourselves was that somebody had done a study of religiosity and education that showed that religiosity decreased as education increased except in a few notable cases, Mormonism being one. Thanks to the questionable reliability of Wikipedia, I have found that educational attainment drives or is correlary to religious involvement: "Similarly, studies of Mormons in the US show that Mormons with higher education attend church more regularly than uneducated Mormons. Survey research indicated that 41% of Mormons with only elementary school education attend church regularly, compared to 76% of Mormon college graduates and 78% of Mormons who went beyond their college degrees to do graduate study attending church regularly.[19]

Mosiah 2

Mosiah 2:3 And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses; 4 And also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God. This idea of sacrifice as an expression of gratitude is one that I wonder whether it still exists. It was not only common in the Old Testament, but commanded. Is it still commanded? Is tithing a "sacrifice"? I haven't thought of it that way, but I feel that a significant part of the reason I pay it is gratitude. When we fulfill our callings, is that a sacrifice made to show gratitude? Should we think of it that way? I wonder how it changes the thing that you are doing if you change your mindset to be, "I am teaching this lesson to express gratitude to heavenly father for the blessings he has given to me."

Mosiah 1

Mosiah 1:16 And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him. This is king Benjamin to his son, king Mosiah. I know it s conspiracy theorist but wouldn't it be cool if president Monson has the sword of Laban? He may.

There's a really interesting article that explores a few things you might not have thought about in connection with the sword of Laban here.

Mosiah

Mosiah 1:11 And moreover, I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I do because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord. The name that he is going to give them is the name of Christ. I think it is interesting that he is giving it to them because they have been diligent in keeping the commandments, I.e. you earn the name of Christ through obedience.

I remember the first time I heard this and actually heard it. I was in high school, and a newly returned missionary was giving his welcome me home talk and he focused on this idea of being called by the name of Christ and I thought it was a weird thing and it took me a while and another reading of the chapters to feel like it was correct and appropriate. It is interesting to me still. We are striving to literally become like Christ, not figuratively, but in every sense. We aspire to be called by his name, we hope to reflect his image in our countenance, we try to align our wills to him so that our behavior becomes the same thing he would do if he were here. Basically, we are trying to become exactly like him in looks, name, behavior, and even authority (throug the priesthood).