The Title of Liberty
He rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it — In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children — and he fastened it upon the end of a pole…and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land… (Alma 46:12-13)
This is a followup to my previous writing on the difference between Agency, Freedom and Liberty.
Moroni’s Title of Liberty is another example that illustrates the difference between Freedom and Liberty. God, Religion, Freedom, Peace, Family – these things combined are labeled the Title of Liberty, for Liberty is only achieved by remembering and being good stewards in all of these areas.
As I previously stated, Liberty comes as a result of following God’s plan and choosing to be righteous.
Captain Moroni, saw that many of the people were being led astray and forgetting the Lord their God. They were falling into iniquity and complacency. Moroni recognized what it takes for a people to experience true Liberty and therefore he had this standard of Liberty hoisted upon every tower in the land as a reminder to the people.
The Foundation of Liberty:
- God – Moroni knew that God would support them so long as they were faithful unto him and to His commandments. He also turned to God for inspiration, even in battle.
- Religion – He recognized the importance of religion, that they might understand the words of God and worship Him.
- Freedom – Moroni enjoyed freedom from slavery and was willing to fight in defense of His faith, country and family.
- Peace – Moroni did not delight in bloodshed. He allowed the enemy every opportunity to enter into a covenant of peace and allowed them to depart with their lives. He also never waged a preemptive or offensive war, only defensive.
- Family – He recognized the stewardship that men have for their wives and children and the sacred support which they owed to them.
(see the Book of Mormon – Alma chapters 43 to 46)
And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people. Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood. …if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. (Alma 48:11-13,17)
It’s interesting to read articles like this. We see our rights being stripped away for over a hundred years by the Government. Look at what they were doing with the Edmund Tucker act of the late 1880’s. Stripping the Church of it’s property and putting it’s leaders in jail over polygamy.
It is interesting to see what’s happening today especially after the 2004 Supreme Court ruling on the Texas sodomy law. Repealing it and opening the way to bring back polygamy. Yeah I know but it’s true. We’ve even been writing letters to politicians about at least decriminalizing polygamy if not legalizing it.
Today there is no legitimate reason not to bring it back. After all, it’s in the D&C still (section 132) and still doctrine. Might as well start working on this now.
Thank you so much for creating this wonderful site. It gives me good feelings. We msut not do nothing. We must stand for freedom, righteous and love. Tell and be an example to others.
There is so much horrible things on the internet. But there is also so much good, as like this site.
Thank you so much David. You are so on the right side. We must link arms and join together in love and harmony.
This is a misguided notion that the Supreme court should be involved in creating legislation. This is a userpation that was taken from the 14 th ammendment. Issues like these were to be left up to the states or to the people, acording to the constitution. Do not run ahead of the church. I do not believe that anything good will come as a result of this userpation of power. Poligamy is a non issue at this time as we are concerned
I agree to the above, the Supreme Court has been crossing dangerous grounds for a long time, or at least legislative branches among the state have. The news media often presents how the Courts uphold same-sex marriage. But little else do they tell you how they also have ruled on laws regarding politicians’ pay, or on immigration, such as Proposition 187, or Proposition 15. In both cases, the court struck down the will of the people when the people’s will stated that people should be registered with the State to receive taxpayer benefits such as free healthcare on the grounds that those who were illegal immigrants had some time to register and transition to becoming legal, taxpaying residents of the country. Proposition 15, which I could be wrong about, was a measure to limit the pay raises of politicians in a time of recession and rising unemployment. What is wrong with that? Especially when some incentives are needed for politicians to cut spending in various areas to reduce the state deficit. While I can be disagreed with, it certainly is something to think about when one realizes that the Court can “legislate from the bench” regarding our economy, and attempts to make citizenship meaningful, and more, beyond just dictating valid religion in the U.S., such as “marriage”, or “recognized unions”.
There is little reason I would have to just sit by and accept court rulings as established doctrine, for any reason, after realizing they could rule on such a diverse set of issues in our country, overturning existing laws so comparatively easily. I don’t know about anyone else, but it literally gives me the creeps.
It is humorous to me how mormons always try to tie the Title of Liberty to country, government, constitution, etc.
The Title of Liberty states NOTHING about these things. God, religion, freedom, peace, and family are the things proclaimed on rent coat. Our first priority to securing liberty is to hold these things inviolate. Country, government and constitutions should only be respected in the degree in which they hold God, religion, freedom, peace, and family above themselves and serve purely to support those things.
It is against the very nature of government (the arm of flesh) to restrain itself. Government can never be trusted and must always be stuffed back into the confines of it’s founding. If it cannot be done, then it is time to revisit the Spirit of Liberty as defined in the Declaration of Independence and the Title of Liberty.
Like it or not, the Constitution is not part of the standard works. The Constitution was either designed to provide the kind of government we are burdened with today, or it was powerless to prevent it. We must quit looking to government as the provider of liberty and see it for its true nature as the antithesis of liberty. Government should be nothing more than a tool to protect individual liberty. It the tool doesn’t work anymore, take it to DI.
Moroni and the reign of the judges were one of the most repressive governments the nephites had. They turned the military loose on its own civilian population, killed political dissenters, redistributed wealth etc. There is a reason why so many of the nephites wanted the kings back they were being oppressed by their government in a way that the Kings never did. The time of the kings lasted about 500 years and ended peacefully. The time of the judges last approximately 120 years with hardly any peace and internal and external strife. The beginning of the end for the reign of the judges was the standard of liberty – not a good time for the nephites.