"And they were scattered upon much of the face of the land, and the Lamanites also. And they were exceedingly more numerous than were they of the Nephites; and they loved murder and would drink the blood of beasts."
Jarom 1:6
It seems scary to me that anyone could get to the point where they "loved murder." I think that is the result of extreme desensitization... and probably can happen with almost anything. Something that should be shunned, or avoided, we can start to be attracted by, if we choose incorrectly often enough. It's like music that you don't particularly like... if you are in a place where you hear it a lot, you start to recognize different songs, and then you know the lyrics... and you might actually (*shudder*) start to smile when you hear it come on the radio, because you are used to it... you recognize it. I think that bad habits can start that way. You start to identify with what you choose, and even though it starts out with justification or whatever... it becomes part of you, part of what you are, and what you like. Then repentance seems like this big scary deal, because you feel like you have to give up part of yourself... you don't remember what it was like back before you learned to like the bad habit, or the formerly unliked music... :)
The thing is though, your old self remains intact under there somewhere... the person without the habit... the person with good taste in music. :) If you actually take the steps and change what you are doing (or listening to), then you recover that old self, and you've gained something that you needed to learn. Taking that step is difficult... the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi learned that when they stopped murdering people. They couldn't even allow themselves to fight a "righteous" war, presumably because of their habit in that regard. It was better to be safe than to even come close to the former sin.
So, let's work on not acclimating ourselves to sin... and if we already have, let's try to edit those habits out of our lives. :)
Jarom 1:6
It seems scary to me that anyone could get to the point where they "loved murder." I think that is the result of extreme desensitization... and probably can happen with almost anything. Something that should be shunned, or avoided, we can start to be attracted by, if we choose incorrectly often enough. It's like music that you don't particularly like... if you are in a place where you hear it a lot, you start to recognize different songs, and then you know the lyrics... and you might actually (*shudder*) start to smile when you hear it come on the radio, because you are used to it... you recognize it. I think that bad habits can start that way. You start to identify with what you choose, and even though it starts out with justification or whatever... it becomes part of you, part of what you are, and what you like. Then repentance seems like this big scary deal, because you feel like you have to give up part of yourself... you don't remember what it was like back before you learned to like the bad habit, or the formerly unliked music... :)
The thing is though, your old self remains intact under there somewhere... the person without the habit... the person with good taste in music. :) If you actually take the steps and change what you are doing (or listening to), then you recover that old self, and you've gained something that you needed to learn. Taking that step is difficult... the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi learned that when they stopped murdering people. They couldn't even allow themselves to fight a "righteous" war, presumably because of their habit in that regard. It was better to be safe than to even come close to the former sin.
So, let's work on not acclimating ourselves to sin... and if we already have, let's try to edit those habits out of our lives. :)
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