Buring Our Weapons of War

Like the Lamanites, we all have weapons of war. Due to our fallen state we end up relying on and creating habits that served the natural man within us. The converted Lamanite's addiction was killing people or blood lust. All they could do to be saved by grace was to repent of their sins. For them, the process of repentance required them to stay away from the shedding of blood. In Alma 24 we read,

11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—
12 Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.
13 Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords again they can no more be washed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins.

The converted lamanites could not return to their old ways. These old ways would require them to return to their addiction. Leaving their weapons lying around would be like a alcoholic leaving alcohol around the house. Like an person with addictions, they made an absolute commitment by burying their weapons of war. They would rather die than go back to their old habits. God had healed them through his grace. There could be no going back. Here's what the king says:

15 Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby.
16 And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved.

And they did exactly that. There would be no going back. In verse 17-19 we read,

17 And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth.
18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.
19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.

Do these verses apply to us? We haven't physically murdered anyone. We don't have any weapons to bury. Or do we? Do we have weapons of war that we pull out and use? Depending on our level of spiritual effort to change our lives, we tend to recognize the our personal weapons to varying degrees. Bad habits are like knee jerk reactions. When the right stimulus occurs we almost unconscously react. This happens so instantaneously that we only realize later, when our reposte has calmed down, what we have done. We feel bad but can't figure out how stop doing the same thing over and over again. These are natural man habits that we have developed over the years. They may have had effective results in the past. We got what we wanted. But, as we embrace the gospel of our Lord we realize that these habits are sin and we no longer want to get what we want by sinning.

We have been so blinded by our cultural traditions that you can't even recognize what I am talking about! If this is the case, then repentance has not yet been granted unto you. To have deep, heart rending knowledge of all of our weaknesses is a step in the right direction. To seek to quietly cover them up will only make you a recidivist.

What am I talking about? What do we need the bury and never use again? King Benjamin said 'And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.' (Mosiah 4:29). Everyone has their own (sins, bad habits or addictions) but here's a few: shaming others, manipulating others for your gain, getting angry to fight back when you are emotionally hurt, denying what you just did since to the victim or those watching it is plausible that your really didn't say it or mean it with evil intent to satisfy your desire to win at all costs; holding back information that is requiried for another to make an important decision. These are only a few. I could go on and on. All these things are what we naturally do when we feel threatened and need regain the upper hand. The Gentiles are full of all manner of lyings and deceivings and so are we.

As we come unto Christ, we repent of everything that isn't in harmony with Christ's teachings. Like the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, as we become aware of our evil habits, addictions, etc., we repent of them. To keep our swords bright, we bury them. We never pick up our weapons of war again. We put them far from our minds asking God to make our personal weaknesses into strengths for the rest of our sojourn on this earth. We abhor our sins so much that we retract from the thought of using them once again. As we show our God our humble resolve, God, in His due time, will bless us with a knowledge that our sins have been remitted and we shall sing the song of redeeming love and become part of the ransomed host.