The Cause of All Their Destruction

The Nephites started to have contention among themselves. Some people wanted to change back to having kings rule over them again. It hadn't been too long since they had kings before, but when they set up the form of government, with judges, they decided to do away with kings because while it is possible to have a righteous king, it's also very easy for a king to become corrupt, or greedy, or more wicked, and then lead their entire people astray.

Some of those who argued to do away with judges and go back to having a king were those who imagined themselves to be either the next king, or someone in a high station in a kingdom.

They even went so far as to not support the army of the Nephites because I guess they saw it as an opportunity to take over the government and things. Moroni wanted to put this little rebellion down because there was a bigger problem brewing...that of the Lamanites preparing to come to war against the Nephites. So Moroni had to take care of his own house before he could defend it.

He describes what happens to people that fight internally:

"For it was his first care to put an end to such contentions and dissensions among the people; for behold, this had been hitherto a cause of all their destruction." (Alma 51:16)

The cause of all their destruction. This is a bold statement. Once that seems accurate. The times the Nephites got in trouble were either because of wickedness and pride, or because of a group of dissenters who fought against the Lord's way.

I hope that my family never feels like it can't do what needs to happen because of internal fighting and contention. We need all our "fighting" and focus to be on the external evil and negative forces out there. Standing together to fight against this is the only way we have a chance of staying strong.