“Every Creature”, “Any Human Soul”

Following the miraculous conversion of Alma and the sons of Mosiah, they immediately got to work, “zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church” (Mosiah 27:35). That makes sense. This is what we do when we realize we’ve done something wrong: we look for ways to fix or at least limit the damage.

But not long after, the sons of Mosiah raised the bar substantially. They asked their father, the king, to authorize them and a group of like-minded colleagues to “go up to the land of Nephi,” the very land where Limhi’s people and Alma’s people had recently lived in bondage to the Lamanites. Why did Mosiah’s sons want to go there? Because they wanted to preach the gospel to the Lamanites:

They were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

Mosiah 28:3

This was not necessarily a new feeling. Mosiah’s people, after hearing the stories of Limhi’s and Alma’s people, had felt empathy for their enemies:

When they thought upon the Lamanites, who were their brethren, of their sinful and polluted state, they were filled with pain and anguish for the welfare of their souls.

Mosiah 25:11

However, it doesn’t sound like anyone had done anything about that pain and anguish. After all, it’s one thing to feel badly for the plight of a distant unnamed neighbor, but it’s quite another to sacrifice your time and even put your own life in danger on their behalf!

The sons of Mosiah not only proposed this mission, they lobbied relentlessly for it. “They did plead with their father many days that they might go up to the land of Nephi” (Mosiah 28:5).

Besides convincing their father, they had to weather the ridicule of their other friends and neighbors. As Ammon later recalled, they were subjected to questions like: “Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning?” (Alma 26:24).

Some people even advocated preemptive violence: “Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us” (Alma 26:25). How quickly “pain and anguish” gave way to “catastrophism and tribalism!”

But the motives of the sons of Mosiah transcended tribal or national boundaries. “Every creature” mattered to them. “They could not bear that any human soul should perish.” There is no room for dehumanization or “othering” in that sentiment. All of God’s children count. They’re all precious, and the welfare and happiness of each of them is important.

In 1840, Joseph Smith wrote a letter expressing gratitude to fellow church leaders who had left their homes in Illinois to preach the gospel in England. He said:

A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the world, anxious to bless the whole of the human family. This has been your feelings and caused you to forego the pleasures of home, that you might be a blessing to others, who are candidates for immortality but and who were strangers to the principals of truth and for so doing I pray that Heaven’s choicest blessings may rest upon you.

JS, Letter, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL, to the Quorum of the Twelve, England, 15 Dec. 1840

President Russell M. Nelson recently reminded us that the gathering of Israel, the gospel of Abraham, and the sealing power are all evidence that “God loves all of his children everywhere” (“Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys,” General Conference, April 2024). When God fills us with His love, we naturally value all of His children, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or any other identifier. Like the sons of Mosiah, we want all people to be eternally happy, and we are willing to make sacrifices to help them receive that blessing.

Today, I will strive to feel the love that God has for all of His children. I will be careful not to let anxiety or busyness cloud my recognition that each person I interact with is a beloved son or daughter of God, and I will do what I can to contribute to their individual happiness.