My beautiful wife and I are preparing for the birth of our first child in May. We recently found out that we will have a boy. As I ponder the responsibility of raising a son, my mind often returns to the story from the Book of Mormon about an army of two thousand young men whose mothers had taught them to have mighty faith in the Lord.
Their parents had turned from their former lives of violence and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they had buried all their weapons as a promise that they would not kill again. Later, when the followers of Christ were under attack, these righteous young sons went to battle to defend their freedom to worship. Their leader, Helaman, wrote:
For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.
They were successful in their battle, and miraculously spared:
And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.
But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.
I have always been impressed by the faith of these young men, but I am gaining a new appreciation for the faith of their parents. It was the righteous teachings of their mothers (and I am sure the righteous lives of their fathers as well) that equipped them with the faith that gave them strength.
In the Mormon Church today, the children sing:
We have been born, as Nephi of old,
To goodly parents who love the Lord.
We have been taught, and we understand,
That we must do as the Lord commands.We are as the army of Helaman.
We have been taught in our youth.
And we will be the Lord’s missionaries
To bring the world his truth.
They work to be worthy of the Aaronic Priesthood, which is the authority to perform certain ordinances, such as baptism. They prepare to serve as full-time missionaries. They stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ among their peers.
I do not know who my son will become, but I want to live my beliefs with consistency and conviction so that he will know that I know Jesus Christ lives. Thus I can become a “goodly parent.”
MP3 of “We’ll Bring the World His Truth”
