Monday, June 06, 2011
(50) Alma 13:20 "Behold, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest [to distort meaning] it shall be to your own destruction."
(51) Alma 15:8 "And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed."We discussed in Sunday School a little bit what it means to be healed a few weeks ago. Sometimes when we are afflicted with something, even though we have faith in Christ and the Atonement, our affliction doesn't go away. This doesn't mean that we won't be healed, we just have to remember that it is in the Lord's time, but also it was brought up that gaining a full understanding of our tribulation might be another form of healing. When we understand why it is that we might suffer with something, and maintain an eternal perspective as well as live worthy of the Lord's Spirit, our burdens can be made light or alleviated, or, in other words, we become healed.
(52) Alma 17:10 "And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: be comforted. And they were comforted." I just think that this is one of the most beautiful verses in the Book of Mormon!
(53) Alma 17:11 "And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." I like this verse, too. To me, the Lord is saying, "I want you to go and do this thing, but it is not going to be easy. In fact, it is going to be really hard. But if you do your best and if you are patient, I will reward you with success."
(54) Alma 23:7 "For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren." I sometimes wonder what our "weapons of rebellion" are. I think these can range from very small things to very large things, and some weapons may be more obvious than others. I also believe, however, that we can somewhat measure the extent of our conversion by how much we "fight against God... [and our] brethren."
(55) Alma 23:17 "And it came to pass that they called their names Anti-Nephi-Lehies, and they were called by this name and were no more called Lamanites." I have always wondered about the whole "anti" part of the name the people chose. Typically when we see this word, it is used as a term that opposes something, so we might think "against Nephi-Lehi." Yet, when I looked it up in my dictionary, I noticed that it defined "anti" as also meaning "reversing or undo," which leads me to think of the term "Anti-Nephi-Lehies" as the "repentant Nephi-Lehies," or those who were once opposed to the truth but have now reversed their ways and returned.
(56) Alma 25:16 "Now they id not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ" I think that this still applies to us today; when we obey the laws and commandments, our faith in Christ is strengthened.
(57) Alma 26:27 "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." This verse has a lot of meaning to me, especially lately as I've been trying to get everything in order for my upcoming adventure in Taiwan. It was very hard for me to wait as long as I did to hear back as to whether or not I was going to go. It was hard some days for me to not lose hope and just assume that things would fall through and that I wouldn't be accepted (especially when I first heard back and was told that, to be given a second chance, there was more work that I needed to do; ask Dad, I was distressed that night!), But, through the power of prayer and fasting and going to the temple, I, too, felt the comfort of the Lord. "Bear with patience thine afflictions,
and I will give unto you success."
(58) Alma 29:5 "Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless..." I am glad that we are not held accountable for the things that we have not learned!
(59 & 60) Alma 30:44 "But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough;" This I think is true. We have all had enough signs in our lives to testify to us the existence of a loving Heavenly Father. However, God will never force us to recognize His hand in anything. "Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, event eh earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." To me, I see the solar system as a great witness that there is a God and also as a type. Earth orbits the sun, and the sun exercises a hold on each of the planets while the planets, to a somewhat lesser degree, in turn have an influence on each other.
(61) Alma 30:47 "But behold, it is better that thy soul should be lost than that thou shouldst be the means of brining many souls down to destruction, by thy lying and by thy flattering words..." I think it is important to remember that Alma used to be a lot like Korihor. Remember that he, too, sought to lead others astray when he was younger. I think that by remembering this, we can get a feel for how deep his repentance was and we can get a better sense for how much Alma had changed since then.
(62) Alma 30:55 "But Alma said unto him: If this curse should be taken from thee thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of this people; therefore, it shall be unto thee even as the Lord will." Korihor never showed any willingness to repent. If he had, I think that the curse probably would have been removed. Instead, even though he wanted to be rid of his curse, he was unwilling to change that which needed to be changed. He was too prideful to allow the Lord to save him. I hope that I am never so prideful and unwilling to change that I throw away the chance to be healed of my "curses!"
(63) Alma 32:12 "I say unto you, it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom;" We learn wisdom when we are humble.
(64) Alma 32:22 "And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name" Notice that it does not say here that God is only merciful to those that are perfect. Thank goodness for that!
(65) Alma 32:27 "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." I like this. If all you can do is to
want to believe in something and to try to believe in it, then that is enough. By nourishing this desire, eventually you will believe, and that believe will turn into something more. It is out of a desire to believe that our faith grows.
Labels: Book of Mormon, Religion, Svithe
