Begrudging Obedience (1 Nephi 2:11, Book of Mormon)
The Book of Mormon recounts the journey of a man named Lehi who left Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and came to the Americas by ship. Lehi had six sons. The oldest two sons, Laman and Lemuel, felt enough cultural or religious obligation to honor their father, that they followed him into the Arabian wilderness. But the pair complained almost incessantly. It's as if they are saying, "O.K. The 10 Commandments say we're supposed to honor our father that our days may be long upon the land (Exodus 20:12), but this guy is crazy!" Lehi was a visionary man. Laman and Lemuel's younger brother Nephi, who wrote the record, writes that Lehi, "hath written many things which he prophesied and spake unto his children," (1 Nephi 1:16). So, the older, rebellious sons follow their father into the wilderness, begrudgingly.
The question for me is, how often do I go through the motions in response to my cultural and religious traditions while harboring resentment towards God, Church leaders or family members?
#tradition #obedience #prophets #BookofMormon
