King Benjamin

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King Benjamin

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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April Conference
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Note to internet readers

• The following lesson is intended to be Part 1 of
  a two part lesson.
• Part one establishes the pivotal role King
  Benjamin played in Nephite society for 167 years.
  His five laws became the core constitution for
  public and religious life. His name possibly was
  meant to unite two tribes of Israel necessary
  because of the potential that the Mulekites
  (Judah) could have come restless that they were
  of the Davidic Line, yet were not kings and
  rulers.
• It is also clear that King Benjamin sought to
  have his people develop a Zion society, doing so
  having them first change their hearts. Prophets,
  through out history, have sought to gain what
  Enoch did for his people. This becomes possible
  only through the principles Benjamin taught in
  this landmark address through submission, love
  and change of heart.
• Part 11, then, will focus on what is necessary
  for us to change our hearts.

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The Rule of Law

• Questions
• What rules and laws do
  you live by?
• Public laws we know
• What about personal and family laws?
• What laws did you grow up with?
• Did you have laws thought of as hard and fast,
  yet were often are not followed?

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A Little Nephite History
1000 Years of History!
164 Years
Nephite Dark Ages 300 Yrs
Nephite Golden Age 200 Yrs
King Benjamin
Almas
Nephis
200-385 A.D Mormon/Moroni
600 to 420 B.C Nephi/Jacob/Enos
Mosiah
Helamans
63 of the BoM
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King Benjamins Name
Old Testament
Northern Tribes
Kingdom of Judah
United under King Saul (Tribe of Benjamin)
Book of Mormon
Nephites (Manasseh)
Mulekites (Judah)
United under King Benjamin
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King Benjamins Lasting Legacy1- The Five
Public Laws

• He would not allow his people to murder or
  plunder, or steal, or commit adulteryor any
  manner of wickedness (Mosiah 213)
• Anti Nephi Lehies (taught by Sons of Mosiah)
• The people ought not to murder, nor to plunder,
  nor to steal, nor to commit adultry, nor to
  commit any manner of wickedness (Alma 233)
• Alma explains that he punished those who
• murderedrobbedstolecommitted adultryyea for
  all this wickedness they were punished. (Alma
  3010)
• Nephi (Helaman 623)
• Gadiantons sought to murder, and plunder, and
  steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of
  wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country
  and also the laws of their God.

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How Far Reaching?

• King Benjamin taught that the coming Messiah
  would be
• Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of
  heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things
  from the beginning. (Mosiah 38)
• Samuel the Lamanite, in 6 B.C, explained that it
  was his desire to warn them
• that ye may know of the coming of Jesus Christ,
  the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of
  earth, the Creator of all things from the
  beginning. (Helaman 1412)

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How about our society?

• Traditional Society
• Based on competition
• Winners/losers
• Consistent Pattern
• Rights and wrongs
• One right way
• Leads to wars and conflicts

• Evolving Society
• Based on cooperation
• Everyone is a winner
• Diversity
• No rights or wrongs
• Many right ways
• Leads to moral decline and societal breakdown

Based on cooperation
Everyone is a sinner
Diversity of Spiritual Gifts
Rights and Wrongs
Leads to Zion Society
Gospel Society (King Benjamin)
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Elder HollandWhile President of BYU

• Coach LaVell Edwards told me last week that as
  the team was returning to Provo about 200 a.m.,
  following an important game, he and his wife
  couldn't help overhearing two of his players
  talking in the seat just behind them in the bus.
  They were not talking about beating a traditional
  powerhouse... They were not talking about how the
  offense had sparkled or how the defense had dug
  in. They were not talking about a conference
  championship or an undefeated season, or about a
  national ranking.
• They were talking about the one player's recent
  baptism into the Church, along with his wife who
  is also a student athlete here. He spoke of his
  eager anticipation of receiving the priesthood
  and of a future sealing in the temple. Indeed,
  there seemed to be only one disappointment in
  this whole conversation, and it wasn't about the
  ball game.
• It was that this young man had not known--and
  joined--the Church early enough to be able to
  serve a mission. At that, the other player, in
  reply, spoke of how much his mission had meant to
  him and how it had given real direction to his
  life. Much of this young man's life had been
  spent without a father in the home and I happen
  to know what it has meant to his mother to have
  him bear the priesthood and serve a mission.
• Coach and Sister Edwards said they had a little
  trouble fighting down
  the lumps in their throats, thinking of these
  260-pound
  behemoths sitting behind them--kids who eat steel
  girders for breakfast
  and concrete slabs for lunch--talking quietly
  after one of
  BYU's greatest football wins ever, of baptism and
  priesthood and
  mission and temples
• "When we conclude to make a Zion," said Brigham
  Young, "we will
  make it, and this work commences in the heart of
  each person. I have
  Zion in my view constantly," he said. "We are not
  going to wait for
  angels, or for Enoch. . . to come and build it,
  but we are going to
  build it ourselves" (JD 9284).
• Sept 11, 1984