The Characteristics of a Great Man

We read in the Book of Mormon that "if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto [Captain] Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever," (Alma 48:17). Surely if there ever was a great man upon the face of the earth it would have been Moroni. If we were to look at what characteristics Moroni possessed that made him stand out, we would she that he was "a man of perfect understanding", he "did not delight in bloodshed", he gloried in "doing good" and in "preserving his people", and who found joy in the "liberty and freedom of his country".

All of this I found while doing homework for my Book of Mormon class. It was just a coincidence (or was it?) that that same day, I was able to watch a movie about John Adams, one of the key founding fathers. In the same week, I also read "Colossus of Independence" a chapter on the final congress meetings before the ratifying of the Declaration of Independence. Both of these forms of media emphasized the huge role John Adams played, but the movie entitled "John Adams" really made me see the similarities between John Adams and Captain Moroni.

When Great Britain began their attack on the colonies in Massachusetts, very near to where John Adams' house was, we see disgust and sadness on his face when he sees the wounded and dead men at the battleground. He obviously regretted that so many lives were lost, but he knew that they fought for a noble cause, and that's what strengthened him. Of all the members of Congress, nobody fought for independence as fervently and unceasingly as John Adams. He saw how Great Britain was taking away their liberties and freedom, and he did all he could to stop it, eventually persuading almost all the delegates to vote for independence and join the fight. I was also impressed with how the movie showed how spiritual John Adams was. He believed in God and he stayed close to him through the way he lived.

Now there are some major differences between John Adams and Captain Moroni. One was an army commander, and one was a delegate in the continental congress before becoming the 2nd President of the United States. Moroni's expertise was on the battlefield while Adams had great power in the political assemblies. Probably the most importance difference was that Moroni had the Gospel of Christ in his life, and John Adams didn't. Nevertheless, Adams was a God-fearing man, whose actions and influence helped cultivate a nation and a land where the God's true and living church could be restored. By comparing John Adams to Captain Moroni, I have come to see that John Adams was indeed a great man, and that we are very blessed to have had him as one of our founding fathers.