Blogger of Jared

The Abinadi Effect

Posted by Connor on October 24th, 2006

Abinadi is one of my favorite prophets in the Book of Mormon. This morning I was reading in Mosiah where he’s standing in King Noah’s court, rebuking them for not teaching the true meaning of and reason for the Law of Moses.

One thing I’ve thought about many times is what I call the “Abinadi Effect”. As best as we can tell from the account we have, Abinadi was ignorant of any success. I mean, they burned him at the stake immediately after he delivered his message! (As a side note, I love the “karma” that King Noah got turned back on his evil keister.)

But Abinadi did have success. As a result of his teachings, Alma believed, started the Church, gained thousands of followers, became High Priest (and his son after him), converted many more as a missionary, and on and on.

It’s the pyramid effect, but applied to Abinadi’s situation. Abinadi didn’t live to see the effect. He wasn’t aware of his success. He simply obeyed God’s commandment to open his mouth and deliver the message, come what may.

The effect can be applied to us as well. We don’t know what effect our words and actions will have on others. I think we can all agree that others are observing us as we observe them, and the example we set and life we lead can and does have an effect on others. Like Abinadi, we aren’t aware of the influence we have on others. For all we know, we have been the means of helping convert many without our knowledge.

For this reason it is imperative that we “let [our] light so shine before this people, that they may see [our] good works and glorify [our] Father who is in heaven.” (3 Nephi 12:!6)

7 Responses to “The Abinadi Effect”

Your exactly right. I believe there are moments when the ‘torch’ is passed to us, and for better or worse we are the church, we are the gospel. We seem to literally take upon us the name of Christ at times. Hopefully we can represent that well.

Comment # 1 left by Eric Nielson on October 24th, 2006

My favorite followup comes in Helaman 3:

24 And it came to pass that in this same year there was exceedingly great prosperity in the church, insomuch that there were thousands who did ajoin themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance.
25 And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure.

Any missionary who has served in a… more difficult region feels a little like Abinadi sometimes. All you can do is hope that maybe one person you talked to can turn the tide of frustration into success.

Comment # 2 left by John on October 24th, 2006

Amen

Comment # 3 left by Okie on October 24th, 2006

Wonderful insight. Thank you for sharing.

Comment # 4 left by Michelle on October 24th, 2006

A simple testimony by my friend during our senior year in high school led me to investigating the church seven years later.

Can you imagine his reaction when I called him and told him I was getting baptized?

Comment # 5 left by Bookslinger on October 24th, 2006

I went to Georgia on my mission. I have never been back since. One of my fears is that if I do, I will find those whom I taught and saw baptised will not be active any more, and not remember me at all.

Comment # 6 left by Eric Nielson on October 24th, 2006

It’s the pyramid effect

Connor, if this is your underhanded attempt at using Blogger of Jared to condone the Mormon affinity for multi-level marketing scams… I will be sorely disappointed