These Things Matter Not

Alma 54 records the letters written between Moroni and Ammoron. Ammoron originally asked to exchange prisoners (we don’t have that first letter in the text), and Moroni responded with harsh words against Ammoron for leading the war against his people that had caused so much suffering and death. Ammoron’s response tried to justify the war, and his logic is simply ludicrous. He wrote, “For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged unto them. And now behold, if ye will lay down your arms, and subject yourselves to be governed by those to whom the government doth rightly belong, then will I cause that my people shall lay down their weapons and shall be at war no more” He was suggesting that because Nephi somehow wronged Laman and Lemuel (which was about 500 years in the past), his people were at that point justified in killing the Nephites and taking over their government. Not only did Nephi not wrong Laman and Lemuel in any way (Nephi simply departed from them), but surely whatever happened between those brothers centuries before should have had little bearing on the events in the days of Moroni and Ammoron. Ammoron also wrote, “I am Ammoron, and a descendant of Zoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem. And behold now, I am a bold Lamanite; behold, this war hath been waged to avenge their wrongs, and to maintain and to obtain their rights to the government” (Alma 54:17-18, 23-24). What’s ridiculous to me is that Ammoron, despite his claim, was not a Lamanite. He was a Nephite by birth—a Zoramite—and so his ancestor had sided with Nephi in the schism between Nephi and his elder brethren those many years before. Though he claimed that Zoram was “pressed” to come, Zoram was “a true friend unto [Lehi’s] son, Nephi” and willingly stayed with Nephi and the revelations of God his whole life (2 Nephi 1:30). Perhaps most preposterous of Ammoron’s words was his reference to “whom the government doth rightly belong.” That certainly wasn’t Ammoron whose brother had killed the Lamanite king and usurped authority through treachery! Ammoron had no leg to stand on.

               Part of the dialogue between Moroni and Ammoron included words about the effect of our choices in this life on our state in the next life. In Moroni’s letter he said this, “I would tell you concerning that awful hell that awaits to receive such murderers as thou and thy brother have been, except ye repent and withdraw your murderous purposes, and return with your armies to your own lands.” Ammoron responded to this comment with these words, “And if it so be that there is a devil and a hell, behold will he not send you there to dwell with my brother whom ye have murdered, whom ye have hinted that he hath gone to such a place? But behold these things matter not” (Alma 54:7, 22). Of course, Ammoron was wrong in equating the Nephite assassination of the single man responsible for the war with the thousands of deaths caused by that man and his brother. What struck me was Ammoron’s final phrase, “But behold these things matter not.” How wrong he was! Within about two years he was dead, and at that point he surely realized how much it mattered to him then. Far too many in our world today would similarly say “it mattereth not” when asked about spiritual things and the state of their souls. And yet, what might seem unimportant based on a very shortsighted view of our existence is what matters most. Amulek powerfully taught, “For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed” (Alma 34:32-33). Surely Ammoron and Amalickiah found that they entered that night of darkness after their horrendous acts in mortality, and Ammoron’s words should remind us that these things do indeed matter. Now is the time to prepare to meet God and to help others do the same.