Book of Mormon Mondays - Forgiveness

I came across one of the best stories of forgiveness in the Book of Mormon this weekend.  It's one that I hadn't really taken much notice of because the person being forgiven is a character we usually consider practically perfect, Captain Moroni.  I mean afterall, in Alma 48:17 it reads, "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had ceen, 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."

Moroni is amazing.  If I was in his shoes, I definitely wouldn't have stepped up to the plate as he did.  But Moroni isn't perfect.  Nobody is but Christ.  And in Alma 59-60, he makes a mistake.  In these chapters, Moroni becomes angry with Pahoran, the chief judge of the Nephies, because his armies hadn't received enough supplies and man power to fight the war.  Moroni writes Pahoran a letter chastising him for not sending him the things that he needs and speaks very strongly to Pahoran.  There's too many things to quote, you'll have to read chapter 60 to see what I mean.

As it turns out, Pahoran was having just as many problems, if not more, as Moroni was having.  Pahoran was dealing with rebels who were so against him and the war, that they joined with the Lamanites and were planning on taking over the Nephite lands.

Now if I were Pahoran, I would be pretty angry for getting such an angry letter with no provocation (at least any that I knew of).  Moroni hadn't asked why he wasn't getting the supplies he needed, he just accused Pahoran of various things. 

But amazingly, Pahoran didn't respond with anger; he doesn't fire back with a why are you treating me this way response.  First he is understanding of Moroni's feelings and says in Alma 61:1, "...I do not joy in your great afflictions, yea, it greaves my soul."

He then goes on in verses 2-8 to explain why things were the way they were in a non-defensive way.  And then he ends his letter to Moroni by asking him to come to his aid to defend their land from the Lamanite-rebel army.

As I was reading these two letters, I was really impressed with Pahoran's kindness and forgiveness.  If I had received a letter like that, I would be so angry and probably would have written an angry letter solving nothing.  Pahoran is an example to me of how we can respond to things that have the potential to offend us.