Great Nothingness - Principle One

Day 6 - Helaman 12:7 "O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth."

This is a pretty plain statement. Notice the phrase “the children of men.” That expression is used repeatedly through the scriptures, applied to those who have not yet been born of God and become His sons and daughters (see Mosiah 27:25). Write about this verse. (Look back to the previous verse [6] for some clues as to why we are nothing when we are the “children of men.”)

Mosiah 27:25 "And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughter.."

Helaman 12:6 "Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide."

Before this course, I thought these verses referred to non-believers, those who would not accept the gospel.  But how about when I ignore General Conference, or don't regularly say my prayers, read my scriptures, skip church, etc.  Then it is me who sets his council at naught, and am not tapping into those powers of guidance.  This certainly isn't a state of righteousness, so I'm back to choosing the carnal over the spiritual.  Right now I do a dance between carnal and spiritual.  I can't claim I'm completely spiritual or spend all my time being a daughter of God, so to speak.  So the daily battle, even the moment-to-moment battle is choosing the carnal, or choosing the Spirit.  I need to be more conscientious of what I am choosing.