Moroni 7

Moroni quotes the teachings of his father Mormon and this is one of the great chapters of the Book of Mormon. Most people turn to it for its teachings on charity, but charity only comprises four verses. The first twenty verses he talks about what is good. That is an important word in the scriptures. When God creates the earth and mankind, he continually says it is good or very good. The gospel is the "good news." If you look in topical guide, the word good is listed as much or more than any other word in the scriptures. To me, it means that we are good, life is good, people are good; we should see the good in everyone and everything around us. Mormon tells us that everything that comes from God is good and then teaches us how to recognize and find all the good things that God has provided for us. With people, he says, "if their works are good, then they are good also." He wants is for us to give with goodness in our hearts and to receive what good is given us with thankfulness.

To me, the key verse in this is thirteen, "That which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, everything which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." All goodness comes from him, and all goodness leads to him. But he warns us to "take heed... that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that who is good and of God to be of the devil." Nowadays, so much of what is not good is rationalized into being good or masked as being good. Not always, but often there is a difference between what is pleasurable and what is good. Because it's pleasurable doesn't necessarily mean it's good and we need to be careful and wise in the judgments we make. Mormon's simple rule is, if it invites us to do good and helps persuade us to believe in Christ, it's good. If it takes us away from Christ, it's not.

Then Mormon teaches us that all of this relates to faith, for all good things are meant to increase our faith in God and in the gospel. He says God knows all things from beginning to end, and he sent angels to minister to people, to teach them all things, but especially the coming of Christ which is the greatest good to happen. Along with the angels, he has sent prophets to also teach us these things. Mormon especially emphasizes the role of angels. He says they haven't ceased to appear to men, that they show themselves to everyone who is "of strong faith, and a firm mind in every form of godliness." He explains that the purpose of their ministry is to call men to repentance, to help fulfill God's covenants with his people, and to declare the words of Christ to the prophets. All of this is given to us so that we can have faith in Christ. I think another thing we'll be surprised to find out is how often angels have appeared to, or influenced people. Mormon asks, "have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men?" Only when there wasn't sufficient faith.

All of this is given to us to increase our faith and hope. Faith and hope are cyclical, one doesn't precede the other. As our faith increases so does our hope, and as our hope increases, so does our faith. The more this cycle is operative in our lives, then Mormon says the more charity we will have and experience. And that to me is the crux of it all. The gospel, faith, hope, goodness, everything is calculated to increase love. If we have those things in our life, our ability to love and to be loved is increased. To me, it is the best measuring stick of the gospel and the best way to measure spirituality in ourselves and others.