In ancient America, about 90 BC (according to the timekeeper of the Book of Mormon), there were church members and church antagonists.
"But it came to pass that whosoever did not belong to the church of God began to persecute those that did belong to the church of God and had taken upon them the name of Christ." Alma 1:19.
This seems to be a consistent pattern in ancient times as well as modern times.
The persecuted church members refrained from fighting back because "there was a strict law among the people of the church, that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves (21).
By this decree, the church members were guaranteed a measure of peace among themselves, foremost because they wouldn't engage with their naysayers nor persecute one another. This standard protected them from the unavoidable hate that comes with conflict.
But things changed quickly. In the verse following (22), "Nevertheless, there were many among them who began to be proud, and began to contend warmly with their adversaries, even unto blows; yea, they would smite one another with their fists."
Those who began to be proud, rejected the mandate not to fight, a mandate that came from prophets or leaders of the church. As church members, they rejected God's desires.
From a modern day point of view, persecution cannot be tolerated and it's our mindset not to accept persecution. In many cases it is absolutely requisite to resist, to change, to fight back. It's what the French Resistance did in WWII, it's what Israel does today based on past persecution.
But in the Church of God in 90 BC, the people were commanded not to contend with their adversaries. Some couldn't resist.
Because they chose to fight back, we learn, "For the hearts of many were hardened, and their names were blotted out, that they were remembered no more among the people of God." In their failure to resist retaliation, they became the persecutors and lost what kept their hearts soft and loving. They lost their membership among the people who loved God and their fellowman even when persecuted. But those who persevered in refraining from contending with their adversaries were blessed to love even their enemies. Those who gave in to their natural feelings of wanting to fight back, traded gold for tin.
I'm watching my family resist the temptation of retaliating against our persecutor. Like the temperature rising in a tea kettle, they feel their own steam rising against the lies and conniving words of a misguided soul. There are threats of "Telling him off," of responding cruelly to his text message, of giving in to the hate he is compelled to spread.
If we give in, we give away our hearts.
This is what I worry about most. Not about the persecutor, but about the loss that will surely come to my family if we allow the hate to permeate our actions, if we allow the steam to rise and blow. For hate is a thief that sneaks in in the night, and it isn't until we awake that we realize our treasure has been stolen.
The prophets of the Book of Mormon continually warned "Remember the captivity of our fathers." The reference is to physical captivity, but also to the captivity of sin, and even more so to hate's captivity if we give in and fight back against the persecutions of our enemies.
Then how do we resist our persecutor, our desire to return the persecution? It is with hope, and "hope, in a word, is the Savior. Hope is a part of the deity in us that attaches us to the Savior. Don’t let that thread be cut." John Groberg
Beloved, now are we the sons (and daughters) of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 1 John 3:2–3:
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