Tales of Two Cities

More than 2000 years ago in ancient America, a prophet came to a city with a warning: repent or be enslaved. One man listened, and, after the prophet was burned at the stake, he taught the prophet’s message of Christ to others. But the Christians were hunted, and finally fled into the wild to avoid capture.

This sets up an interesting opportunity for comparison and contrast. What happens when the same community divides, one choosing Christ, the other rejecting him? In heritage and culture, the groups are the same. Let’s see how their beliefs affected both communities.

As the prophet foretold, the original city was besieged and conquered. The people were taxed to the point of starvation, and their captors beat and drove them. The enslaved fought their situation at every turn, and suffered crippling losses. Finally, in their desperation, they turned to God, pleading for help.

And He does help. As the years pass, the situation eased, and eventually the entire city escaped into the night.

This sounds very much like my own life. There are times when I resist messages from God—I think my ideas, or worse, the world’s ideas are better. Maybe I don’t have confidence that His plan really is the best for me. Like the people of the original city, He allows me to choose, and I can choose lots of things that bring me misery. But when I finally set aside my pride and ask for His help, He stands ready to assist.

In the meantime, the Christian group created a city of their own. While their brothers faced hardship in the captured city, the faithful built a sharing community as they ministered to each other. But there was trouble ahead for them, too.

Out of the wilderness came the captors of their former city, and, true to form, the Christian group were enslaved, beaten, and even killed when they prayed. The conquerors were cruel, but the Believers chose the path of peace, and poured out their hearts silently to God. Miraculously, their burdens begin to feel lightened; the people even felt cheerful despite their abuses. One morning everyone escaped when their captors miraculously overslept.

These Book of Mormon stories from Mosiah 10-25 reveal this fascinating case study: Two branches of the same community experience harsh slavery—beatings, persecution, and ruthlessness. Both groups pray for God’s help, and both are able to escape their difficult situations with His assistance.

But the differences are telling. Though identical difficulties strike both groups, the outcomes are different. One group refused to consider that they might be in the wrong, and faced a quarter century of starvation, war and loss. Conversely, the Christians, already looking to God when their adversities came, felt protected by Him. The Christians experienced their slavery for only about a year.

Ultimately, both groups find asylum in the same ancestral community and are reunited. They all become Christians. In the end, every knee bowed and every tongue confessed God (Isaiah 45:23). However, some took much longer to embrace Him, and faced more sorrow as a result.

Matthew Watkins titles his review of these stories “The Easy Way or the Hard Way,” and I agree with his assessment. I can choose to focus on God (easy) or fight against God. (so much harder). “Wickedness never was happiness,” reminds a prophet. (Alma 41:10) But God respects our freedom to choose, and allows us to face the consequences of our choices, for good or for ill.

Though life has challenges, we aren’t meant to go it alone. Like the followers of Christ learned, their hard times became sacred memories of how they were nurtured by a loving Father. Even when subjected to brutality, they were able to be of good cheer. Simply put, being good made them happy, in good times and in bad.

Though these events happened more than two millennia ago, they cause me to reflect on how I treat God’s message. Turning toward Christ and keeping His commandments brings peace. Or, as He eloquently reminded us, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I shall give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Kristin Fry is happy to be a follower of Christ. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.