Keeping the Record
READ Alma 37:6-9
With what small and simple means
does God bring great things to pass?
Small and simple = things that seem of no substantial value; of
little consequence; easy to understand and without the complexity or
sophistication to address significant problems; something anyone could do or
figure out.
Great things = the immortality and eternal life of man; something
no one but God could do or figure out.
God uses small and simple things like the testimonies/experiences
and teachings of uneducated people, books of scripture that very few find value
in, anonymous acts of kindness or sacrifice, etc. to help Him bring to pass our
immortality and eternal life.
God uses His word, contained in scriptures, to change the hearts
of those who will read them with openness and real intent.
READ Alma 37:10-12, 17-19
What is the wise purpose God has
with regards to these records, which is still a mystery to Alma?
How the Book of Mormon will find the Remnant of Lehi/Jacob and
facilitate the turning of their hearts to God prior to their building Zion in
the Last Days.
READ Alma 37:13
Why are the commandments of God
so strict?
Because salvation consists in the glory, authority and power that
Jehovah possesses (see LoF 7:9).
Salvation depends on being precisely what Christ is – a just and
holy being lacking in no attribute of perfection - and nothing else (see LoF
7:9, 15-16).
The commandments are so strict because they are what they are –
they define what it takes to be saved or what it takes to be like God; they are
not arbitrary – they are simply requirements.
The Fullness of Iniquity
READ Alma 37:21-22, 25-29, 31-32
Why did the Lord want Alma to
preach about the results (wickedness and eventual destruction) of the
Jaredites’ secrets but not the details of the covenants themselves?
Preaching about the wickedness and eventual destruction because of
that wickedness is a cautionary tale to anyone who is following or considering
the same general path.
But the specific secret plans, oaths, covenants, abominations or
ceremonies/rites that the Jaredites used were powerful enough that it was
better not to reveal them to the people, as they could be too big of a
temptation to many.
The Jaredites seem to have acquired secret knowledge which allowed
them to gain and exercise great power -
Why are the secret plans and
abominations so powerful that they must be kept from the people for fear of
their destruction?
While part of these secrets were the Master Mahan principle
revealed to Cain of profiting from sinning or killing and never being brought
to justice because of the secret brotherhood or association or “priesthood”
among the conspirators (see Moses 5:13-51), this idea is not too difficult to
figure out on one’s own…
Just as the Fullness of the Gospel requires rending the veil and
entering into the presence of the Lord to receive blessings heaven and power to
perform His work on earth, Satan – who has set up his kingdom in imitation of
God’s (see Abraham 1:21-27) – enables his worshippers to have the same
experience (enter into his presence) and power (supernatural power through
“priesthood” or an association mortals can have with spiritual entities through
the veil) but without the eternal blessings (see Alma 30:60), as in fact they
receive a curse in the eternities – so we’re likely talking about
supernaturally aided power and/or advanced scientific knowledge gained from
supernatural beings who required service in return.
What is the curse laid on
America?
The wicked will be swept off when they are fully ripe in iniquity.
What does “fully ripe” in
iniquity mean; does it mean “generally wicked” or are their certain types and
magnitudes of wickedness that constitute a fullness of iniquity?
There are specific elements to “ripeness”…
Secret combinations or organizations – the Jaredites and Nephites
before Christ’s visit (see Ether 8:16-25; 3 Nephi 6:28-30).
Violence – the generation of the Flood (see Moses 8:20-30; Genesis
6:11-13).
Without civilization or the victimizing of women and children –
Mormon’s Nephites (see Moroni 9).
Sexual immorality and perversion – Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis
18:20; Jude 1:7).
Fascination with evil and the occult – the Canaanites (see
Leviticus 18:3, 24-25; Deuteronomy 18:10-12).
Worshipping false gods like the arm of the flesh, i.e. materialism
and military might and oppression of the poor, as a result – Israelites before
the scattering by Babylon (see Deuteronomy 4:25-26; Deuteronomy 8:19-20;
Jeremiah 2:13; Isaiah 2:7; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 56:11; Ezekiel 22:29; Amos
2:6-7; Amos 4:1; Amos 8:4-6; Jeremiah 22:13; Isaiah 3:14-15).
Rejection of all that is good by removing God from the law and
mores or culture of the people, and by casting out or killing the righteous –
Ammonihah and the Nephites before Christ’s visit (see Alma 8:17; Alma 11:20;
Mosiah 11:1-4; Mosiah 29:26-27; Helaman 5:2; Alma 10:22-23; Helaman 13:12-14; 3
Nephi 9:11).
Note: see Michael Wilcox’s book A
Nation at the Crossroads for more information on this topic.
READ Alma 37:33-34
What is the antidote to a
fullness of iniquity?
The preaching of the word of God (see Alma 31:5)
As typified in these verses: repentance, faith in Christ, humility
and meekness, resist temptation with faith, always do good works or follow the
example of Christ and keep His commandments to accumulate light so that you can
find and enter into the Lord’s rest or the fullness of His glory
Learn Wisdom Through Revelation
READ Alma 37:35-37
Why is it wise to keep the commandments
of God?
A fullness of joy can only be had in God’s presence in a celestial
body or in other words, we must be saved (see Psalms 16:11; 3 Nephi 28:10;
D&C 93:33-35).
To be saved we must precisely as Christ is and nothing else (see
LoF 7:9, 15-16).
The commandments of God are really a codification of how God
behaves or the law to which He complies to be who He is.
So if we want to be saved and have a fullness of joy at some point
in the future or in other words, if we want to become gods ourselves, it would
be wise to learn how to be precisely as Christ is (see TPJS 391:2); and the
sooner in this life we begin that journey, the wiser we are.
What follows directly after
Alma’s counsel to keep the commandments – and why?
Cry unto God for all your support.
Do everything you do “unto” or “for” or “as an offering unto” the
Lord; including directing all your thoughts to Him and the deepest affections
of your heart to Him.
If you love Him, you will keep His commandments (see John
14:15-21; John 15:1-15) or in other words, you will follow His guidance (given
through His Spirit) to you in all things so that you are following His will for
you to the best of your current capability at all times. But you do it out of love for Him and not for
a reward or fear, etc.
We cannot begin to keep the commandments unless we are filled with
His Spirit, which requires that we cry unto Him for support.
Can “all our thoughts be directed
unto the Lord” – if so, then how?
We think, feel and act out of the deepest desires of our hearts.
If we love God with our whole souls and that love and relationship
is the deepest desire of our heart, it will influence directly and latently,
all of our thoughts.
In addition, the Holy Spirit is the mind of God (see LoF 5:2); if
we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will share the same mind as God and will
be one with Him (see John 17:21-23; D&C 93:3-5; Galatians 2:20; D&C
35:2; Moses 6:57-68).
READ Alma 37:38-47
Can
you have a Liahona?
Yes – there are various types of
“liahonas”…
The scriptures, as read with the
Spirit of revelation.
Prayer, fasting and inspiration
through the Holy Spirit.
Personal revelation and the ministry
of angels.
Objects or physical tools including seer
stones (see D&C 130:10), divining rods/the “gift of Aaron” (see D&C
8:6-11; Exodus 7:12; Numbers 17:10; Hebrews 9:4), silver cups (see Genesis
44:2, 5); Urim and Thummims (see JSH 1:35); and a brass ball of curious
workmanship which displays written words from time to time, with a compass
functionality (see 1 Nephi 16:10, 26-30).
How
do you get the “Liahona” to work?
Faith – belief unto action that Jesus
is the Christ and that He has the power, fueled by love, to make His will known
unto you (37:40).
Diligence – dedication and
faithfulness (37:41).
Heed – listen and be obedient to
(37:43-44).
How
does “new writing” appear on our modern day scriptural Liahonas?
Principle of “live and learn” – we
cannot truly understand what we have not learned or gained knowledge of through
our actual practical experience.
Go back to the well – to the point
that it becomes a well of living water in you through righteousness in covenant
and faith, diligence and heed to the light you already have received (see 2
Nephi 22:3).
Through faith and as directed by the
Lord, using the seeric tool(s) and gift(s) the Lord has given you.
How does one learn wisdom?
Directly through revelation from God.
By planting the seed of the word of Christ in our hearts and
nourishing it.
Through personal experience exercising your agency.
From getting to know and learning from Heavenly Mother, who is the
embodiment of wisdom, as it is even one of her names.
How easy is the way to salvation?
Easy, as “all” we must do is look to Christ to save us and let go
of our prideful wills and sinful desires, and sacrifice our whole souls to Him…
Difficult, as we must become precisely as Christ is and nothing
else.
READ Alma 38:13-14
How is acknowledging your
unworthiness before God at all times not self-loathing?
At the heart of self-loathing is an assumption that you should be
better than you are – there is an insidious but paradoxical element of pride.
It doesn’t mean that the self-loathing is put on for others or
fake – it can be very real, in that the individual truly hates their weaknesses
and unworthiness (and hates themselves) and genuinely feels to acknowledge
their unworthiness before God at all times.
Acknowledging your unworthiness before God at all times in the way
that Alma is referring to it here comes from a much more meek and humble place
– there is no expectation of excellence in worthiness or strength, so there is
no violation of expectations that leads to self-loathing.
It is not that these people have lower standards for themselves,
it’s that they are stripped of pride – they’ve seen themselves compared against
the standard of a just and holy being and have no illusions whatsoever of their
ability to even begin to measure up – and it’s not that they don’t try, it’s
that they’ve seen the truth and the distance between the themselves and their
God is so vast as to make any attempt at higher expectations along a journey to
the destination of godhood absolutely laughable.
This view also puts into context the relative standing of all
others against the measure of God’s perfections; one loses the desire to compare
oneself to others’ progress toward perfection as all are so far away; in fact,
one sees their peers with pity and desires to petition God to be merciful to
them, in their unworthiness and weakness, for fear that they might be cast off
– as the individual sees the good within the flawed soul and hopes to call that
to the attention of a perfect God, as well as to intercede on their behalf by
petitioning God for His mercy toward them.
Sexual Immorality
READ Alma 38:12
What does it mean to bridle one’s
passions?
Bridle = to restrain, guide, govern, check, curb or control (see
1828 Webster’s Dictionary).
It does not mean to fight to destroy one’s passions; this implies
that those passions are a gift from God to be used with prudence and skill, not
an evil disposition to be overcome.
As with a horse, the bridle is meant to enable the rider to make
constructive use of the natural power and abilities of the animal; implied is
that the rider has legitimately higher or better aspirations for the use of the
animal’s capabilities than does the animal itself.
READ Alma 39:1-4
What
did Alma’s son Corianton do while on his mission to the Zoramites?
He left the mission after a “harlot”.
He allowed her to “steal way” his
heart.
It is not stated that he committed fornication,
but it is implied (39:3).
He boasted of his own strength and
wisdom (39:2).
READ Alma 39:5-6
How
serious a sin is sexual transgression; why is it “most abominable above all
sins save it be murder or denying the Holy Ghost”?
Adultery and fornication threaten
families and society – adultery merited capital punishment under the Law of
Moses (see Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; John 8:1-11).
Thinking of exaltation and the highest
degree of glory in the Celestial kingdom, it is the power of eternal
procreation that separates the gods from the angels.
God has granted this deifying power to
men and women on this earth for this short probationary period. How we use it
and the attitudes that we develop about it determine whether we will have the opportunity
to possess it during the eternities.
With God calling out murder and sexual
transgression as two of life’s most serious sins, He is telling us that two of
His greatest concerns are how we enter and exit mortality – and that we are
never to enable these two matters illegally, illicitly, unfaithfully or without
His sanction.
Joseph Smith taught that adulterers
could not inherit the Celestial Kingdom (see DHC 6:81; D&C 76:98, 102-104),
as did Paul (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Alma taught his son Corianton (who
committed fornication not adultery), that his sin was most abominable in the
sight of the Lord (after murder and denying the Holy Ghost) – Alma 39:5.
While adultery committed by a Temple
endowed member is more serious (because they sin against the greater light and
explicit covenant they have made to live the law of chastity and to be true to
their spouse for all eternity), fornication is a very serious sin as evidenced
in this scripture.
READ Alma 39:7-9
What does it mean to harrow up a
person’s soul and is it a good thing?
Harrow = to break up clods of dirt preparatory to planting; to
tear or lacerate; to disturb or agitate.
It is to break up what is preventing the word of God from being
sown successfully in one’s soul – pride, false traditions and unbelief,
attachment to sin, etc.
While it is a painful, destructive process (to the natural man),
it is required if one is to come unto Christ and be changed – similar to the
“refiners fire” and the steel it purges.
The device or harrow is the spiritual gift of godly sorrow.
Is it possible to be forgiven of
adultery?
Yes, but it is difficult and requires repentance with “all your
heart” (see D&C 42:24-26).
Yes, but the collateral damage that adultery imposes is massive –
to spouses, children; many times it also leads to financial struggles resulting
in lost opportunities – all inflicted upon the innocent; the regret of the
repentant adulterer who finally sees the full impact of all they have done is
huge.
Isn’t the repentant sinner
“stronger” for having overcome the sin?
No one is stronger for committing immorality and overcoming it – a
person is stronger if they successfully fought the temptations to sin, as Satan
will use the sin as a thorn in the flesh if given the chance, both to tempt the
individual and to drive them to despair that they are beyond saving.
Is it possible to be exalted if
one has committed adultery?
That is the question, and perhaps only the Lord can answer it.
But the Lamanites, who had been a savage and murdering people,
were able to obtain not only forgiveness but a promise of exaltation, so most
anything is possible – but that does not discount how difficult the road will
be and how few will make it to the end.
While direct restitution for much of the effects of these sins is
not possible, dedicating one’s life to warning of sin and preaching repentance
to others so that they do not fall into the same awful situation, is an
important component to one’s redemption and possible exaltation (see Alma
42:31; James 5:20).
How did the Lord raise the bar
even further during His mortal ministry?
The Law of Moses prohibited sexual transgression…
But Christ taught that if a man looks on a woman to lust after
her, he has already committed adultery in his heart (see Matthew 5:28).
It is not just the act but the heart (and mind) that must be clean
from “adultery”.
What does it mean to “cross”
yourself?
Cross yourself = to erase or cancel; to pass from side to side or
to pass or move over; to thwart; to obstruct; to hinder; to embarrass; to counteract;
to clash or interfere or be inconsistent with; to counteract; to hinder by
authority; to stop; to debar or preclude (1828 Webster’s Dictionary).
It is a similar idea to the Lamanites burying their swords; it is
doing whatever you can to thwart your weakness by avoiding it and making it as
difficult as possible to engage in it.
Temptations were never meant to overwhelm us if we do all we can
to humbly connect with God daily - He will make a way to escape (see 1
Corinthians 10:13).
If
sexual transgression consigns a person to a Telestial estate, why would any
member of the Church contemplate committing such a sin?
Because they do not appreciate the
seriousness of it (see Proverbs 6:32-33).
They do not find the sin abhorrent, as
they should – in other words, they are still natural men and women and have not
been born of God through the baptism of fire.
Souls, Symbol and Sacrament
Note:
Jeffrey R. Holland first gave a talk with this title in 1988 while he was
working as the President of BYU. It contains
some great insights which are particularly important to understanding the
doctrine Alma is teaching here, so I’ve included some general questions to
delve deeper into some of the aspects of these ideas.
What
is the doctrine behind the standard of behavior of staying morally clean?
One must understand the sacred nature
of souls, the symbolism behind intimacy, and how it is a kind of sacrament as
we join with God to enable Him to bring to pass the immortality and eternal
life of man through procreation (see Jeffrey Holland’s talk “Of Souls, Symbols
and Sacraments”).
What
is a soul?
The spirit and the physical body (see
D&C 88:15).
What
is the importance of the body to the soul?
A body is not an evil or hedonistic
trap for a pure and innocent spirit – our bodies are THE gift of mortality,
which Satan, who will never have his own, would love to possess.
They are an “avatar” which enables us
to experience this probationary earth outside of God’s direct presence and gain
more light and knowledge if we will follow the Holy Spirit and submit to God’s
will.
God himself is an embodied personage
of light – His is a perfected, glorified version of the physical bodies that we
now have.
The spirit cannot qualify for a
fullness of joy without the body – it requires a “soul” (see D&C 93:33-34).
You can’t say “it’s my life, it’s my
body” as you were bought with a price (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) – your life
and body are truly a gift from God.
In trivializing or “playing” with or
“exploiting” the soul (body and spirit) of another for one’s own gratification
or gain, we trivialize the Atonement that saved that soul and we trivialize our
Lord Himself (see Hebrews 6:6), and we inflict pain and spiritual darkness or
fragmentation upon that other soul, as well as our own.
What
is the symbol that intimacy represents?
To be “one” – in all things.
It is a symbol of total union – an
unbreakable sealing or inseparable welding.
It is a symbol of eternity on earth because
the descendants of that union go on to live “forever,” as they continue
themselves in the same union of marriage and have their own children down
through time – passing the same genes down from their ancestors.
What
does it mean for a couple to be “one”?
To share all things – work, joy,
suffering, plans, successes, etc. - all physical, mental, emotional, and
spiritual things – to the degree we can in mortality (as we can’t seem to do a “Spock
mind-meld”…).
To have an unbreakable covenant
relationship with each other – like Heavenly Father and Mother have; like
Father and Christ have; like we can have with Christ; like we can have with a
spouse – it is the permanent union of all each possesses.
To be interdependent with each other –
to each bring capabilities that the other doesn’t have but both need to
optimize themselves and each other – it is the ultimate synergy and can be seen
in the relationship between Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother when the
questions are asked: did Mother bring anything to the relationship that Father
did not possess (yes – wisdom), and did Mother enable Father to do things that
He couldn’t already do (yes – create spirit children to act and not be acted
upon, from spirit/light/glory – they needed each other to do this as one alone
could not create life).
What
are the psychological and spiritual effects of symbolically giving yourself,
your “all” in one area (physical), without being willing or able to give the
rest?
Fragmentation of yourself spiritually
and emotionally can result - spiritual and emotional schizophrenia comes from
having pretended you are one for a short time (having shared physical intimacy)
then retreating and severing those bonds and symbols of what was meant to be a
total obligation, only to unite again furtively some other night or with some
other person to share a symbol of something that was meant to be a complete
union.
As a result, you may not be able to
give yourself emotionally, when the season or time is right to do so (marriage)
– you may have undermined both your feelings for physical intimacy with guilt
and your wholehearted devotion to your spouse, having already shared fragments
of love with others.
What
is a sacrament?
Acts or ordinances that unite us with
God and give access to His unlimited powers.
“These are moments when we quite
literally unite our will with God's will, our spirit with his spirit, where
communion through the veil becomes very real. At such moments we not only
acknowledge his divinity, but we also quite literally take something of that
divinity to ourselves. Such are the holy sacraments.” (Jeffrey Holland).
How
is intimacy a sacrament?
Joining with Him to create life,
thereby enabling a key part of His work and glory by enabling the probationary
state for His children.
It is a union of a man and a woman
with God – uniting us with Him and giving us access to His powers.
We are doing something that only God’s
are able to do, in the eternities at least – we will never be more like God at
any other time in this life than when we are expressing the power of procreation
– He goes by the title of “Father” and His work and glory is the eternal life
of His children, which should tell us how important this power is to Him.
READ Alma 39:19
Why is Corianton having a
difficult time believing in angels and the miraculous?
Adulterers have a difficult time believing in the supernatural.
They seek signs instead of exercising faith.
This lack of faith will affect all other aspects of their
testimony of the gospel; in particular, their belief in revelation.
Without the principle of revelation, there are no true prophets,
no angels or visions, and God is silenced or effectively pronounced “dead”;
Corianton’s father’s conversion (Alma the Younger) happened at the
hands of an angel (see Mosiah 27:11-19) – so his disbelief in angels is really
a rejection of his father’s conversion story and testimony of God.
If God is dead or does not exist, then there can be no sin because
all behavior is based on social norms which can change – there is no absolute
truth as everything is relative to the society’s culture and the situation –
there is no right or wrong.
With no right or wrong, people fare in life according to how
smart, beautiful or strong they are – it is survival of the fittest or
“management of the creature” (see Alma 30:17).
Satan now has them in his power – they will live a life of sin,
which is contrary to the nature of happiness.
What is the relationship between
adultery and sign seeking?
An adulterous generation seeks for a sign because they lack faith
(see Matthew 16:4).
But signs do not confer faith – they are the reward or result of
exercising faith.
Instead, in the minds of the unprepared and faithless, signs
provoke anger, fear and resentment rather than faith and hope (see D&C
63:7-16).
Because without obedience to the commandments, no one can acquire
faith; and without faith, signs are nothing – they will not persuade or impress
the cynic, as all it will do is force them to rationalize the sign and ask for
a different sign.
Their sins lead to their minds being filled with darkness.
The darkness allows for fear and doubt to enter in.
They lose their faith in God as fear and faith are mutually
exclusive, like light and darkness.
Without faith in God they are left to themselves and will only
believe what they can sense with the human senses, i.e. empirical proof or a
sign.
