Attributes of Stripling Warriors

Attributes of Stripling Warriors

• Had faithful parents who taught them well (Alma 23:5-18, Alma 27:25-30)
  "For youth, there is no substitute for seeing the gospel lived in our daily lives. The stripling warriors did not have to wonder what their parents believed. They said, “We do not doubt our mothers knew it” (see Alma 56:47–48)." Elder Robert D. Hales - Our Duty to God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation - April 2010 General Conference

• Chose to be led by prophet (Alma 53:19)
  "Just as the 2,000 soldiers responded to the battle cry of their leader, Helaman, and marshaled their valiant courage, you too can do the same by following your prophet-leader, President Thomas S. Monson." Bp. Gary E. Stevenson - Be Valiant in Courage, Strength, and Activity - October 2012 General Conference
  
  
• Helped parents keep covenants (Alma 53:13-16)
  The fathers of these Ammonite families had previously made an oath to the Lord never to take up arms again. Helaman, the Nephite prophet, counseled these men to keep their promise to the Lord (see Alma 53:15). Helaman relates what transpired after he shared that counsel: “But behold, it came to pass they had many sons, who had not entered into a covenant that they would not take their weapons of war to defend themselves against their enemies; therefore they did assemble themselves together at this time, as many as were able to take up arms, and they called themselves Nephites." ...Helaman and his young stripling soldiers understood the importance of making covenants with the Lord. They were also recipients of the blessings that come to those who faithfully keep their covenants." Elder Richard J. Maynes - Keeping our Covenants - October 2004 General Conference
  

  
  
• Covenanted to fight for liberty (Alma 53:17)
  
  
• Willing to give their lives in service (Alma 53:17)
  
  
• Exceedingly valiant for courage (Alma 53:20)
  "Many young women and men in the Church today are blessed with spiritual strength and courage equal to or greater than that exemplified by Captain Moroni or the stripling warriors. They stand firm against the mocking and scorn of the world and live and defend principles of virtue, integrity, chastity, worthiness, and obedience. Thus, in Captain Moroni, in the stripling warriors, and in so many Latter-day Saint youth of today, we find the characteristics of firmness, of resoluteness, and of an absolute focus upon a compelling and correct purpose." Elder David A. Bednar - Steadfast and Immovable, Always Abounding in Good Works - January 2008 New Era
  

  
  
• Exceedingly valiant for strength and activity (Alma 53:20)
  "Listen to those words, my young brethren: valiant, courage, strength, active, true. We don’t need spiritually weak and semi-committed young men. We don’t need you to just fill a position; we need your whole heart and soul. We need vibrant, thinking, passionate missionaries who know how to listen to and respond to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t a time for spiritual weaklings." Elder M. Russell Ballard - The Greatest Generation of Missionaries - October 2002 General Conference
  
  
• True at all times in whatsoever things they were entrusted (Alma 53:20)
  
  
• Supported by parents (Alma 56:27)
  
  
• Striplings - young (Alma 53:20, Alma 56:46)
  
  
• Through their example, provided encouragement and inspiration to adults (Alma 57:25)
  
  
• Physically strong (Alma 56:39-43, 56)
  "When I was teaching an early-morning seminary class a number of years ago, we paused at the end of the year to review some principles we had learned from our study of the Book of Mormon. One young lady held up an illustration in her Book of Mormon, painted by Arnold Friberg. It depicted the two thousand sons of Helaman known as the “stripling soldiers.” (See Alma 53:22.) Then in all seriousness she asked, “Tell me, Brother Pinegar, why aren’t our young men built like this today?” Now, I don’t know that the young men in the days of the Book of Mormon were built the way Arnold Friberg depicts them, but her question gave me the opportunity to ask, “Where did the strength of these young men come from?"...Their faith in God was their “miraculous strength” and “mighty power.” Elder Rex D. Pinegar - Faith - The Force of Life - October 1982 General Conference
  

  
  
• Great courage (Alma 56:45)
  "Who can help but be inspired by the lives of the two thousand stripling sons of Helaman who taught and demonstrated the need of courage to follow the teachings of parents, the courage to be chaste and pure?" Pres. Thomas S. Monson - Courage Counts - October 1986 General Conference
  
  
• Did not fear death, but thought more on the liberty of their fathers (Alma 56:47)
  
  
• Taught by their mothers (Alma 56:47-48, Alma 57:21)
  Generally, those children who make the decision and have the resolve to abstain from drugs, alcohol, and illicit sex are those who have adopted and internalized the strong values of their homes as lived by their parents. In times of difficult decisions they are most likely to follow the teachings of their parents rather than the example of their peers or the sophistries of the media which glamorize alcohol consumption, illicit sex, infidelity, dishonesty, and other vices. They are like Helaman’s two thousand young men who “had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them” from death. “And they rehearsed … the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” (Alma 56:47–48.) Pres. James E. Faust - The Greatest Challenge in the World: Good Parenting - October 1990 General Conference
  
  
• Turned the tide of the battle against evil (Alma 56:54)
  
  
• Obedient (Alma 57:21)
  
  
• Performed every word and command with exactness (Alma 57:21)
  Praying, studying, gathering, worshipping, serving, and obeying are not isolated and independent items on a lengthy gospel checklist of things to do. Rather, each of these righteous practices is an important element in an overarching spiritual quest to fulfill the mandate to receive the Holy Ghost. The commandments from God we obey and the inspired counsel from Church leaders we follow principally focus upon obtaining the companionship of the Spirit. Fundamentally, all gospel teachings and activities are centered on coming unto Christ by receiving the Holy Ghost in our lives. You and I should strive to become like the stripling warriors described in the Book of Mormon, who did “perform every word of command with exactness". Elder David A. Bednar - Receive the Holy Ghost - October 2010 General Conference
  
  
• Their minds were firm and they trusted in God continually (Alma 57:27)
  "Today, another battle of far more serious consequence is being waged. It is a battle being fought for the souls of men. Its outcome likewise depends on the steadiness of the soldiery. The clarion call of the chieftain is heard above the fierce artillery of the archenemy, “Stand firm! Be true!”  Brothers and sisters, I am grateful that most within the sound of my voice are standing firm and remaining true to the kingdom of God. Like Helaman’s stripling warriors, “they stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has made them free". Pres. Howard W. Hunter - Am I a "Living" Member? - April 1987 General Conference
  

  
  
• Wounded in battle, but none fell (Alma 56:55-56, Alma 57:25-26)
  
  
• THEY DID NOT DOUBT (Alma 56:48)
  "In the spiritual battles you are waging, I see you as today’s sons of Helaman. Remember well the Book of Mormon account of Helaman’s two thousand stripling warriors and how the teachings of their mothers gave them strength and faith. These marvelous mothers taught them to put on the whole armor of God, to place their trust in the Lord, and to doubt not. By so doing, not one of these young men was lost." Pres. Ezra Taft Benson - To The "Youth of the Noble Birthright" - April 1986 General Conference