Ben Lomu Wonder of Scripture Lecture
Transcript
Steve, thank you. I would say thanks for that wonderful intro, but I gave it to him. And so how do you brag about that? And, so many familiar faces. This is great. I'm really happy to be there. I was really expecting some jeers when it was said that I graduated from the University of Utah. Everybody thinks I hate BYU, and it's so unfair, because we can be friends, right? We can totally be friends. I had an opportunity. So as the host of come follow up, I'm on BYU campus all the time, and everyone's so nice to me, and they treat me with just such kindness and generosity. And so I have just this soft spot in my heart for BYU. Now, I do get teased a lot, of course. McClain just reminded me that this week is the basketball game BYU and Utah. I was actually at the previous game that was in Salt Lake, and as we were leaving, I was just content to be there, whatever. And somebody said, a BYU fan said, “Just wait till March”. I was like, Oh yeah, that's gonna be quite ugly.
So, you know. I'll tell you a funny story. So I get a chance to meet a lot of people on the show. Kim Matheson, of course, who's a genius, brilliant. But I had a chance to have President Lund, the Young Men’s General President, he's been on the show a couple times, and he's a big time, big time BYU guy, and so we were kind of just going a little back and forth, just teasing. And he said, because, you know, I actually applied to the University of Utah, and I'm like, Oh, how sweet. He's trying to endear himself to me. And I said, really? And he goes, “Yeah, then they found out I could read,” and just walked away. I was like, that's it, that's what you, you're gonna leave me with. It was awesome. A little trash talk from the Young Men's General president. It was wonderful.
So, I kind of want to focus on all my favorite stories, as was mentioned. I did portray King Lamoni in the Book of Mormon series. It was awesome. Super, super intimidating. It was hard because, and trust me, you can criticize those videos all you want. I'm super, super critical of them, especially when you watch the Chosen you're like, wait, how could we, how did we miss this? It's so much better. But it was really tough and because we don't know a lot of information about King Lamoni. So they sent me down this journey of trying to discover what was he like. And so I was working with an acting coach, and she told me, she said, Okay, you need to create a backstory for him. And I was like, Well, how do I do that? And she said, Well, you need to read what we have, and then you have to try to decipher, okay, how do I take what I know and then create something that makes sense when you catch up? And so I did that. And it was, it was probably the most enlightening part of that whole experience, one of them, just to be able to really dig into a character and dive into the scriptures. Okay, what do I know here? And then what can I create here so that it makes sense when you come back?
So I want to start off by just kind of sharing a few thoughts from that backstory and how I came up with some of the things that I did. So I started with his early life and his childhood. What was he like as a child growing up? And so I just started writing, and it was really, really fun. If any of you are writers or have a creative mind, you'll understand this. So this is what I came up with. He was born into a royal family of the Lamanites, powerful war-like people who had long harbored resentment against the Nephites. His father, the king of the Lamanites ruled with absolute authority, enforcing strict loyalty to Lamanite traditions and a deep-seated mistrust of the Nephites. As a child, he was raised in luxury, surrounded by servants, warriors. He was trained in combat. He grew up hearing the stories of the supposed betrayal of their Nephite ancestors, who were labeled as deceivers and usurpers. So this was the environment that he was raised in. Well, where did I get this from? Well, we read that in Mosiah. They were taught to hate the children of Nephi from beginning. So I'm starting to create my mind, okay, what is this process like? How is this building up to his encounter with Ammon? They believed they had been wronged by their fathers, and therefore they were angry (See Mosiah 10:12-17). So this deep seated resentment, this is something he was taught.
So I continued on. He, despite this upbringing, there was something, as he went through this process, he kept thinking he was a little bit different, little more introspective than his brothers. He admired his father, but sometimes questioned the endless cycle of bloodshed and revenge that defined Lamanite society. And I remember going through this process, and I reflected back on my own childhood. I was raised by a very similar type of father, who was very harsh and I kept trying to think, what was my dad's childhood like? How can I better understand him so that I can reconcile some of these thoughts and feelings that I'm having? And I connected a lot with that. He admired the Nephites as much as they hated the Nephites, he recognized, the Lamanites recognized their superior knowledge and their industry and their power that they had. And so as you look at the text, we see that, as he's being taught, he recognizes “is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders” (Alma 18:2), talking about Ammon “cannot be slain by the enemies of the king... because of his expertness and great strength.” (Alma 18:3) There was something that they noticed was different about them.
And as I dove into the story, I knew that there must have been some sort of exposure to Nephites early on in his life. So I came up with this idea that he had observed, that the Nephites, conducted themselves a great integrity, even as they were prisoners. There was an experience that I created that he met a Nephite slave who was captured, and instead of cursing his captors, he treated them with kindness, and then he just kind of wrestled with this idea of, were the Nephites really as bad as he was taught? And you see this in his encounter with Ammon, where he first meets him. And you know, he asked him, like, you gonna stay with us? And he's like, yeah, and then he gives him one of his, invites him to take one of his daughters to wife, which was really funny when we actually shot that scene, they forgot to tell the daughter that she was supposed to be there that day. And so I'm sitting here, and it was really awkward, because I'm like, “Would you like to take one of my daughters to wife?”, and they were only boys. All my sons were there. And so you talk about acting chops, man. So they later inserted the girl, the actual daughter who's supposed to be there. So you can see throughout his life that there was definitely some interaction.
I had a chance to be on Kerry Muhlestein’s podcast. And we were discussing these chapters. And one of the things that stood out was this, this word “Lamanitish”. It's the only time in the Book of Mormon where you get this. We hear a lot about Lamanites, but “Lamanitish”, this is the only time. And I thought about that a lot. Like, what does it mean to be Lamanitish? I was like, are you like, half Lamanite, half Nephite? My dad is from Tonga. My mom is from England, so I get accused of being Lamanitish sometimes. And so I was like, Okay, there's something here that they definitely had some sort of interaction with the Nephites that is softening Lamoni to be receptive. So when he meets Ammon, there's something different about him, he's not just like, Okay, let's go kill him. There is definitely something that he is wrestling with.
I kind of got into this idea of what was his relation with his father like? His father was, you remember the encounter that he had with him. He gets really, really mad. There's high expectations, maybe not a lot of love there, but there is something that Lamoni was fighting against with his dad, and we see that when he encounters him on his way to free his brothers, his dad gets really, really angry, asked him why he didn't come to the feast, why is he with this Nephite? He, you know, tells him You got to kill this guy. And so I look at this as I created this backstory, it added so much depth to this transformation idea. Looking at somebody who was raised in this very strict war-like culture, getting exposed a little bit to some Nephite goodness, but then really struggling with the expectations of being a powerful leader like his dad, really is priming Lamoni for this, this incredible change, and that's the main point that I want to focus on today, is that the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's not for perfect people. It's not for the salvation of imperfect people. It is the gospel of transformation.
And we see that. In the beginning of the story, Ammon and his brothers that go there. Look at this description: “They are a wild, hardened, ferocious people... [they] delight in murdering the Nephites” (Alma 17:14) and hey, let's go talk to them. Let's go knock on their door and see if they'll talk to us about Jesus. “They sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering.’ And I love this principle we get later on. And perhaps it came from this experience as Alma is teaching the Zoramites. He talks about how powerful the word is, even more powerful than the sword. And interesting you see how as King Lamoni is being taught, what's the first thing that Ammon teaches him? He teaches him about the creation. He teaches about the plan of salvation. “He expounded unto them the plan of redemption... the coming of Christ and all the works of the Lord” (Alma 18:39), and just like that, in moments, of course, you know, he taught for a long time, but you know, within a span of a few hours, the king believes in his words, and he starts pleading for mercy to a Creator that he had not even known before. And all of a sudden he hears a testimony of Ammon, and it totally changes his life. And he's ready to beg for mercy upon himself. He's begging for mercy upon his people.
And it was interesting, during the filming, there was a moment where, I think there's times where God just kind of touches you, and He's like, all right, I'm gonna give you a little glimpse and help you feel something. And I had a chance to really just, I don't wanna say, like I was some weird spiritual tuning in with King Lamoni. It was just, but I feel like God at that moment kind of helped me see my own sins and how good he is in his efforts to teach, to forgive, to change.
He's so good. I was reminded of one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon is the story of Enos. I love this account, as he talks about the wrestle that he has, as he is seeking a remission of his sins, as he says, “My soul hungered, I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul all the day that I cry unto him, Yea and when the night came, I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.” (Enos 1:4) I see this connection throughout the scriptures of God's goodness in allowing us to change and allowing us to transform ourselves, even if we are in the depths of darkness and despair. And I love this in verse five of Enos, he says, “Enos, thy sins are forgiven.” (Enos 1:5)
I've often thought about this. You ever have that feeling where you do something and you feel so bad? And then I remember when I was a kid going to the bishop's office, and you know, as a kid, you think that everything you do is going to send you to hell. And that was me, and I was like, I'm headed straight down there. And I remember, I go talk to bishop, and he kind of chuckled, and because he was no big deal, something so silly. So I walk out of his office, and you really, you feel like you're floating. You just feel this lightness. And it's like, how does that happen? How is it possible that you can feel one moment so guilty for something you've done? And then you meet with somebody who has priesthood keys, and they say some nice things, and you walk out and you're just floating. Elder Uchtdorf says, “once we have truly repented, Christ will take away the burden of guilt for our sins. We can know for ourselves that we have been forgiven and made clean. The Holy Ghost will verify this to us. He is the sanctifier. No other testimony of forgiveness can be greater.” (Elder Uchtdorf, April 2007, Point of Safe Return)
My favorite question of the entire Book of Mormon is the question that Enos then asks after he receives the remission of his sins, he says, “Lord, how is it done?” How is it possible that I could feel so bad and so guilty and so shameful one moment, and then all of a sudden, you say, I'm forgiven, and it goes away. I thought about this a lot as studying this has really led me down a study of the life of Christ and what he did. And how his gospel truly transforms people. I love the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, and just the hostility reminded me this conflict between the Nephites and Lamanites really reminded me of the conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans and the deep seated hatred. And as much as I've known about this, I really wanted to discover why, was it so bad? Why was the conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans so bad? And I think that's the beauty of scripture, is it allows you to explore. And I was talking to Kim, it sent me down this rabbit hole of like, I want to find all these connections, because here you have this woman who admits, you know, as she meets Christ, she's like, why are you talking to me? Like, we don't talk to each other, Jews and Samaritans, we don't talk to each other. Utes and cougars. We're not supposed to get along, all right? And so I started, okay, I want to know, okay, what's, what's the connection here? What's, what is this beef between Jews and Gentiles?
And so I did some research, and it was really fun. Some of it I knew, and others, other things I kind of had to be reminded of, but the division between the Jews and Samaritans, it goes back to the split of the two kingdoms after Solomon's death. The northern kingdom Israel, capital of Samaria, included the 10 Tribes. Southern kingdom of Judah, capital of Jerusalem included Judah, Benjamin. In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom. They deported many Israelites and brought in foreign settlers who intermarried with the remaining Israelites. This mixture led to a new ethnic and religious identity, the Samaritans. And so with this, the Jews and the southern kingdom, they viewed the Samaritans as impure half breeds, traitors for intermarrying with the Gentiles. It was interesting, because, growing up as a half breed, it was hard, because I was raised in a large part of my childhood in a Tongan community, and I remember one time we were at church, going to a Tongan Ward, and me and my siblings, we were in primary, and they were doing the primary program, and we were up on the stand, and they literally walked up and they removed us because we didn't like, speak Tongan, and we weren't like, full and they're like, No, you guys need to come sit down here. I was like, it still hurts me that that happened. But these things really happen in real life. There is a lot of deep seated anger. And if you look in society today, I think you can see that still, that there's a lot of hatred towards other cultures, ethnicities, for one reason or another.
The beauty is that through the gospel of Jesus, Christ, wounds can be healed, relationships can be mended. And we see that. We see that. After this discussion with Jesus as he talks to her for a few moments, all of a sudden, just like King Lamoni, she is out testifying of Christ, yelling and telling everybody how great it is. And I go back to that question, like, how is it done? How is it done that you can get somebody that there's so much hatred and so much animosity and through Jesus Christ, that all changes. And I thought about this. I thought about those “how is it done” moments of my life, and I've had a few of them, where it's really caused me to marvel at his goodness. And one of them came to. I had a friend I grew up with. His name is Ben, and Ben was a total pot head. This was the best picture I could find that really illustrates my friend Ben. I worked with him, and I didn't know he was a member of the church for months, and one day he just stopped showing up for work. And when I say he was a pothead, he was a total pot head, I remember I had to go pick him up for work one day, and I knocked his apartment door. It was 7am he answers the door in a robe, and he had a bowl of cereal and a little marijuana pipe, and like, that was, that was his breakfast. And I was like, What in the world are you doing? And so one day, he didn't show up for work, and I found out that Ben had gotten a DUI, and he'd been fired from work, and I was really sad, because I really liked him. So a couple months later goes by, and I was at an institute dance. This is right before my mission. I go to this institute dance, and I'm sitting there, and I'm just kind of like trying to be cool, but not too cool, because if you try to be too cool, you look like a dork. And so I was just trying to, like, I was just swaying, and I noticed from the corner of my eye, I noticed that somebody was looking at me. And so I kind of stopped, and I kind of glanced, I was like, why is that dude looking at me? And so I kind of just went back to my own thing, and he kept looking at me, and so finally, I'm gonna look this dude. I'm gonna match his gaze. So I turn, I look, and he's just standing like this, just staring. And I was like, I looked real close. I was like, oh my goodness, that's Ben. It was my friend. Ben, totally different. Total, total transformation. There was, of course, like, some physical things, like he had a haircut, shaved, he lost like 40 pounds, and but there was something different. There was just this, like it was his light about him. And so I walked up to him, and I was like, Dude, what are you? What's going on? He goes, "I'm going on a mission”.
I couldn't believe it. How do you get to that point where you're so on this side and you find Jesus, and you're going on a mission? And he did. He made this complete transformation. He ended up serving mission. He admitted. He goes, it's gonna take me a while, which it did. He had a lot of things he had to change in his life. But man, he goes in and he serves a mission and comes back and marries his high school sweetheart in a temple. And it's just awesome. I'm like, Man, how, how is that done? How does that happen, where you have this massive transformation? I'm serving as bishop right now, and I had a guy come talk to me, and he said, Bishop, I want to get my temple recommend back. And I said, Okay, let's look at this. So I look his name up, and he hasn't had a temple recommend since 2011 and I was like, oh, it's been a while. And he goes, Yeah, I've been into some things. And I was like, Okay, well, tell me what you've been to, and it's some heavy stuff, like, he's in a lot of things, and he's just in this pit of darkness and despair. And so we met, and we did a whole thing, you know, of trying to help him get on the path of repentance and one of the things I invited him to do is, I said, Okay, I want you to every single day you have to read the Book of Mormon, and you have to take a screenshot of what you're reading, and you have to text me your thoughts on it, and like it might just be a “this is what I liked”. I said every single day, this is what I want you to do. And this was back in late January, and this dude has not missed a day. Every single day I get that text, and he sends it to me. He missed one day, so the next day he sent me two. He was like, I'm so sorry, Bishop, I was sick, and so I'm going to send you two today. And I was in a meeting from Ward Council, and one of the auxiliary said, Hey, I'm thinking about asking so and so to serve in my presidency. And I said, I said, Oh, you know now is not the time. This is the guy I'm working with. I said, now's not the time. And I said, just out of curiosity, I was like, Why do you want to work with him? Because I don't know he goes, I don't know him. But he said, there's just this light about him, and I just want to work with him. I was like, Man, I got all teary eyed, and I was like, Are you serious? There is a transformation when you, when you turn your life over to Christ, and the fact that he has been in the scriptures, he's been in the Word of God, he's been studying the book, and it's amazing. He takes notes, he cross references, and they get better and better, like he'll have a conference talk attached to it, as he is going through this study and learning. How does that happen? How does it happen where you can have such a massive transformation?
When I was a kid, I was raised, this is my family. There's eight kids in my family. I'm the cute one up there. You take your pick. So we were really poor growing up. My mom and dad, both of them are foreigners. I'm a first generation American on both sides. And so we were raised a little bit different culturally. Both my parents are converts as well, and my relationship with my dad really wasn't strong. And as I think back to that story of King Lamoni and I reflect on his life, I've often thought about the why I was asked to portray him, and part of it, I feel like, is because of my my upbringing. And so my dad was, he was really harsh, and he's a disciplinarian and I'll give you an example. So when I was in first grade, my dad decided that it was time for me to learn my times tables. And so he sat me down with a book and lovingly went over them one by one. I'm just kidding. He did not do that. He got me, and he put me right in front of him, and he grabbed the belt in his hand, and he said, What's nine times seven? I was like, what? What's nine times seven? And every answer I didn't know which I didn't know any of them I would get the belt. And this went on for years, and I was terrified. I was terrified of my dad, and it was as a kid, he was my greatest fear. Every time he came home, I'd want to run because I knew something was coming. And so it came the worst, the worst part, I could honestly say this was the worst, worst day of my life. So when I got a fight with a kid who was two years older than me, and he beat me up, and I'm so ashamed to admit that, but he I got beat up by this older kid and my brothers, after this fight, they were making fun of me, and so I was super embarrassed, and so I decided to run away. And so I did. So I grabbed like some snacks, and even put it in a little, those little hobo things, you know, I wrapped it up. I was like, I'm running away. So I ran away. And I went a couple miles to this park, and I remember there was this little green turtle, and I hid under the turtle. My nose is all bloody, and I've got blood all over my shirt. And I hid in this turtle for hours. I was there all day, Arizona, hot sun, and finally, when I had decided that I wanted to go home, I walked all the way back home. And I remember walking in the house, and I heard my dad was really, really mad. Everyone was looking for me, and I heard my dad tell my mom, I remember this is, I'm probably 10 or 11 years old this time, and this guy, who's supposed to be my hero, uh, he tells my mom, he goes, Why don't we just go find a dress and put him in it, talking about me and that's the that's the impression. I was devastated. It was so, so hurtful.
Fast forward a few months. My dad gets really sick, and he passes away. And I thought about that, it took me a while to finally admit that that was hard, but I realize and understand my life is better without him and in no way is this a slight to my dad or how I was raised. But here's the interesting thing, I know someday that I'm going to die, and you know, the first person I cannot wait to see when I die, it's him. I cannot wait to see my dad and give him the biggest hug. How is that done? How do you get to a point where so much anger, resentment, maybe hatred can be torn from you after a childhood of abuse. How can so much pain from sin and sorrow be removed? How is that done?
This is how it's done. It's the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love this quote from Elder Holland “It is not possible for you to sink lower than the Infinite Light of Christ atonement shines.” (2012, The Laborers in the Vineyard) I'm so grateful for the atonement. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ, for his life, for his sacrifice for us. I will forever be a defender of him. I will forever stand by him because of everything that he did for me. I'm grateful for the scriptures that give us opportunities to learn of him, to learn of His life and His love for us. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.