The Quickest 180 in Scripture

At the end of Mosiah chapter 2, there's a strong contrast between the results of wickedness and righteousness.

Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.

 And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment.

 O, all ye old men, and also ye young men, and you little children who can understand my words, for I have spoken plainly unto you that ye might understand, I pray that ye should awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression.

 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

Mosiah 2: 38-41

I find it odd how quickly King Benjamin could shift from talking about "final doom" and "never-ending torment" to "the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments," but it makes sense that he should talk about both. There are consequences for our actions. If we do good, we're blessed. If we do evil, God revokes some of His blessings, leaving us on our own.

Still, the question remains why he spoke of both sets of consequences almost in the same breath. My first thought was motivation. Some people are more motivated by threats of punishment, and others are more motivated by promises of rewards. By speaking about both at the same time, King Benjamin could convince persuade a greater percentage of his audience to heed his admonishments. But I think there's more to it than that.

The verses about wickedness and the consequences thereof start well before verse 38, and before that, King Benjamin spoke about how, even if we were to serve God as well as we could, we "would [still] be unprofitable servants." Any people in King Benjamin's audience who had any feelings of guilt or low self-esteem would probably feel pretty badly about themselves by the end of Mosiah 2. I think that that final verse was given to us as sort of a pick-me-up. I think that it was meant to give us something to hold on to and look forward to. I think it was meant to give us hope.

There may be other reasons King Benjamin said what he did when he did. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly why King Benjamin shifted from talking about never-ending torment to never-ending happiness so quickly. But I do know that we can change our lives as quickly as he could change the subject. Through the power of the Atonement and repentance, we can change our future from leading us to our "final doom" to preparing us for a state of eternal happiness. We can turn our lives around completely, if we have to, and we can do it as quickly as we decide to.