Deseret Book is pleased to present you with this free digital copy of Digging Deeper by Robert Eaton. To order a print copy of this book, please click here. Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 3:46 PM Page A WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT DIGGING DEEPER “Rob Eaton’s treatment of ‘The Pahoran Principle’ is fresh and very interesting. It’s full of well-written insights and practical applications.” John Bytheway, author and speaker “Rob Eaton has masterfully woven together Book of Mormon teachings that will inspire and challenge the sincere disciple.” Nathan Williams, professor of Religious Education, BYU–Idaho “Coming together in Rob Eaton you have a brilliant mind, an accessible manner, a vibrant love for the Book of Mormon, and a great heart, all leading to powerful insights. The experience his students are able to have can now be somewhat replicated through this powerful book.” Greg Palmer, professor of Religious Education, BYU–Idaho “With just the right mix of application and scripture, Rob Eaton reminds us that the Book of Mormon is full of lessons for everyday living. Beginning and ending with the perspective that ‘the crux of the matter is Christ,’ Eaton teaches the reader how the Book of Mormon helps us understand and learn from affliction, of the need to flee evil and embrace good, how not to let prosperity divert us from righ- teousness, and that Satan is real and has an army of allies. I learned from this book and enjoyed its applicability to everyday living.” David Magleby, Dean of the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page B Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page i DIGGING DEEPER Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page ii Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page iii DIGGING DEEPER Discovering and Applying Life-Changing Doctrines from the Book of Mormon ROBERT EATON d® SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 10:25 AM Page iv To my mother, whose example and teachings helped me learn to love the scriptures © 2006 Robert I. Eaton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, P. O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the respon- sibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company. DESERET BOOK is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company. Visit us at deseretbook.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Eaton, Robert Digging deeper : discovering and applying life-changing doctrines from the book of Mormon / Robert Eaton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10 1-59038-618-3 (hardbound : alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-1-59038-618-7 (hardbound : alk. paper) 1. Book of Mormon—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Christian life—Mormon authors. I. Title. BX8627.E22 2006 289.3'22—dc22 2006010407 Printed in the United States of America Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT 10987654321 Digging Deeper live 6/16/06 11:00 AM Page v CONTENTS z Acknowledgments. vii Introduction. ix LESSONS ON LIFE’S JOURNEYS Prepared against the Winds and Mountain Waves . 1 Our Light in the Wilderness. 13 When Fleeing Is Honorable . 19 LESSONS ON PERSPECTIVE Recognizing God’s Hand So We Can Hear His Voice . 29 Of What Have Ye to Boast? . 34 You Cannot Carry Them with You . 46 LESSONS ON GOD’S GUIDANCE Swimming without Lanes . 67 Not of Myself but of God . 75 LESSONS ON LEADERSHIP Playing to Small Crowds . 87 The Gift of a Calling . 95 The Pahoran Principle . 113 v Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page vi CONTENTS LESSONS FOR THE CONFLICT Satan’s Slippery Slopes . 123 Spiritual Combat Training . 133 The Consequences of Sin. 148 Therefore, What?. 159 Notes . 173 Index . 187 vi Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS z In writing this book, I am grateful for the suggestions and encour- agement of many individuals. My wife, Dianne, and my daughter, Rebecca, provided helpful editorial feedback, as did my friends Mark and Kim Beecher, and Kevin Packard. Cory Maxwell at Deseret Book has been remarkably kind, supportive, and insightful throughout the publication process; this book is better book because of his efforts. I also appreciate the encouragement and efforts of Jeff Simpson at Deseret Book, who helped sharpen the focus of this manuscript. Dave Magleby, Greg Palmer, Nate Williams, and John Bytheway provided helpful encouragement along the way as well. Others at Deseret Book were also very helpful in the publication of Digging Deeper. Richard Peterson provided careful editing, Shauna Gibby was the designer who (among other things) provided the nifty graphics that would make the most pedestrian of thoughts seem pro- found, and Laurie Cook did the typesetting. I appreciate the help of the many other Deseret Book employees whose names I don’t know who helped in the production and distribution of this book. I am particularly grateful for my students. I have benefited immensely from their ideas, some of which undoubtedly have made vii Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS their way into Digging Deeper. Above all, to the extent any of my insights are inspired, I freely acknowledge the Lord as the source of such inspiration. And to the extent any of my statements are unin- spired or doctrinally inaccurate, I’m afraid I’m solely responsible for such errors myself. viii Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page ix INTRODUCTION z When he was still relatively new to the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Dallin H. Oaks humbly submitted a draft of one of his talks to one of his senior brethren for some feedback. His fellow Apostle wrote just two words on the talk, but they were profound: “Therefore, what?”1 The moral Elder Oaks drew from the story was that his talk was incomplete because he hadn’t included a “vital element: what a listener should do.”2 We learn from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland that President Boyd K. Packer often asks that same question after a presen- tation or exhortation. Even the Savior’s “sermons and exhortations were to no avail,” observes Elder Holland, “if the actual lives of His disciples did not change.”3 Gospel scholarship, then, is about more than just getting doctrines into our heads; it’s about getting them into our hearts and lives. As Elder Oaks later explained in the context of gospel teaching: A gospel teacher is concerned with the results of his or her teach- ing, and such a teacher will measure the success of teaching and testifying by its impact on the lives of the learners. A gospel teacher will never be satisfied with just delivering a message or preaching a ix Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page x INTRODUCTION sermon. A superior gospel teacher wants to assist in the Lord’s work to bring eternal life to His children.4 Of course, if we simply focus on changing behavior without understanding doctrine, our efforts never seem to have much lasting effect. Thus, President Packer has also repeatedly reminded us that the “study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”5 Simply discussing behavior without understanding doctrine may be like hacking away at the branches of life’s problems rather than dealing with the roots.6 President Packer’s teachings remind us that, taken together, we should strive both to understand doctrine and to apply it to our lives in order to bring about change. This book strives to do both. Nephi himself loved to “liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23). My aim is to emulate Nephi by examining several of my favorite stories and themes in the Book of Mormon with an eye to answering the therefore, what? questions of life. My hope is that each chapter helps readers understand the Book of Mormon’s doctrines better while simultaneously inspiring them to apply those doctrines in their lives. By both discussing doctrine and attempting to apply it, this book falls somewhere in between a doctrinal commentary and a devotional or self-help book. While I own and use many wonderful scriptural commentaries, the breadth of their scope necessarily limits the depth of their analysis. Elder Neal A. Maxwell once likened the Book of Mormon to “a vast mansion with gardens, towers, courtyards, and wings.” Such a theological estate is fraught with opportunities for exploration, yet “we as Church members sometimes behave like hur- ried tourists, scarcely venturing beyond the entry hall. There are x Digging Deeper live 6/13/06 9:47 AM Page xi INTRODUCTION rooms yet to be entered, with flaming fireplaces waiting to warm us.”7 Because this book does not try to systematically tour every room of this scriptural mansion, we are able to thoroughly explore the rooms we do visit, as it were, spending much more time in them than the typical “hurried tourist” or the author of a comprehensive commentary. This book is also different from doctrinal commentaries in an even more fundamental way than its more limited scope. While more schol- arly works tend to focus solely on helping gospel students understand doctrines, I also discuss the therefore, what? questions—something beyond the scope of a more scholarly work.