Eric Poulin

1 Nephi 17:20-22
“And thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart…
And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses…And after this manner of language did my brethren murmur and complain against us.”

Nephi’s brethren are now fathers, so they take this opportunity to complain about the hardships of their wives and how they could have been enjoying their possessions back in Jerusalem. There is no particular mention of Laman and Lemuel in this passage, which makes me think that even young Sam has joined in the complaining, leaving Nephi truly alone.
However, lets look at some of the problems with the complaints of Nephi’s brethren.

Distorted View of Reality

1. They are delusional. They claim that the people in Jerusalem were righteous, even though when they left, Jeremiah had been thrown in to prison and Lehi’s life was threatened for preaching repentance to the people. While they were still likely performing all of the rituals associated with the Mosaic Law, they were far from righteous. Righteousness is not defined by rote obedience to a strict ritualistic law, but by the intentions of the heart. Surely Jeremiah and Lehi were prophesying about similar things, turn your heart to Jehovah to avoid certain destruction. Eight years in the wilderness has a way of distorting perspective and truth, especially when coupled with a longing for relaxing and riotous living.
2. Despite seeing an angel and having their plight confirmed, they call Lehi’s visions and commandments “foolish imaginations of his heart”. They have seen several demonstrations now of the power of God, yet still they choose to turn a blind eye towards the truth.
3. The use the word “wander” in the wilderness, when they have been guided and directed by the Liahona.
4. They tie happiness with enjoying their possessions in Jerusalem. We all know money cannot buy happiness, so clearly this is delusional also. There are always problems to be found in any situation. Its how we handle life’s irritants that defines and determines our “happiness”.

Now, their complaints did have some truth mixed in with them for good measure, in order to strengthen their arguments and make their statements seem more persuasive. However, it is not difficult for anyone who recognizes truth to see through these weak arguments and complaints and refute them.

[Right… noted. But whats this got to do with money and budgeting?]

We often get into trouble when we make financial decisions that are not based on correct perceptions of reality. A few examples:

1. This network marketing scheme sounds SOOO easy. I can’t believe noone else has heard about it. I should quit my regular job and do this cause its easy money.
2. This investment that so and so is telling me about sounds too good to be true. I’m lucky to have been introduced to it before word gets out about it and its not so valuable. I should invest a bunch of money in it while its still a great investment.
3. This vacation property they are telling me about sounds great. Its not too expensive and I wish I could vacation more anyway!
4. etc…

Hopefully the refutes to these weak arguments are so obvious that I need not go through them… however I will anyway (in order).

1. Network marketing is really hard work. It takes up almost all of your evenings and you have to be REALLY sociable to make it work. Your current friends and contacts will be exhausted in less than 2 months, then you have to start meeting new people and it is the opposite of easy.
2. Investments that sound too good to be true ARE too good to be true. Its probably a scan… get out now while you still can. There’s a reason no one else knows about it… they are trying to keep their scam quiet and convince one person at a time to give away their money.
3. The reason you don’t vacation more now is because a) you don’t have the time for it and b) you can’t afford it. Buying a vacation property will only make things worse. Furthermore, you’re paying for a property you are hardly ever at. Now you have to work more to cover those vacation property payments, and have less time and money to use to “vacation”. These are almost always pressured sales pitches, “one time offers only valid while you are in this room” garbage. Again – get out while you still can.
4. Insert refute as applicable.

Ok – so how did Nephi’s brethren get to this point? How could their thinking become so distorted? I mean, they were with their prophet-father and Nephi was also a spiritual giant. They were on a mission from God. Lets take a look at how they arrived at thinking this way.

Well, surely the adversary knew all about their situation. Temptation is never more than an idle thought away. Yearning for an easier way of life can easily lead to the blame game if your mind is not focused on the goal and on the purpose. Rather than turn their hearts to God, Nephi’s brethren let their hearts wander and it didn’t take too long I’m sure for that wandering to come back and lay blame for their crummy situation on Nephi. All of a sudden their mission from God was converted into “wandering in the wilderness” and following the “foolish imaginations” of Lehi’s heart. Remember, it doesn’t take long for a heart to be poisoned.

So, to avoid that happening to you, stay close to your purpose; stay close to God. Thats why the standard Sunday School answers are so important (read scriptures, pray, keep commandments). They keep you close to God and help avoid your heart going down forbidden paths.

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