Alma 10

Nothing deep and profound today... instead, just kind of a funny thought.

verse 32 Now the object of these lawyers was to get gain; and they got gain according to their employ.

Apparently there is a long-established tradition of not having positive feelings toward lawyers. Even the Book of Mormon participates! LOL

Alma 8-9

When Alma preaches to the people of Ammonihah I read through it and wonder - how on Earth can they listen to the prophet telling them to repent or be destroyed and yet they don't hear him and don't change their ways? How can they just ignore him that way?

And then I wonder what things I have heard the prophet or other general authorities say that I haven't taken seriously enough. I'm sure there are many...

We turn on conference each year, but I know sometimes I don't listen as closely as I should. This year my goal is to really and truly listen to the speakers and hear what they are saying. I've been thinking about making general conference packets for the kids to help them pay attention. Maybe what I really need is a packet for myself!

Alma 7

Verse 15:
Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

Soemthing about this verse just speaks to me. "Fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you." Sin is so easy to slip into. Stop paying attention for just a short time and you can slide into small sins. Which lead to larger and larger. And it's all so easy - much easier than always doing what you know you should. But fear not, because there is always a way back. Christ's sacrifice allows us to repent of our sins and return to a state of grace.

Alma 6

Verse 2 caught my attention today:

And it came to pass that whosoever did not belong to the church who repented of their sins were baptized unto repentance, and were received into the church.

I just love the reminder that repentence is available to us. No matter what our sins, we can repent and be washed clean. It reminds me of a favorite quote of mine: "It doesn't matter how far you've travelled down the wrong path; you can turn around."

Alma 5

Alma speaks a lot of strong words about repentance in this chapter. A reminder that we should be repenting every day and trying our hardest to do the things we should. We never know when the day will come that we are going to meet God, so we should live our lives in such a way that we will be prepared whenever that day comes.

Alma 4

I've read about the righteous/pride/humility cycle in the Book of Mormon many times (you know, everyone is righteous, then they start to get prideful, they fall away from the church, and then they have to be humbled so they can be righteous again). I believe today is the first time I caught reference that SOME of the people were prideful. It wasn't the whole church going down the bad path - some grew prideful and fell away, but there were others still there faithfully doing the things they should.

I don't know why that strikes me so strongly this morning, but it just feels wonderful to think that even in the midst of the pridefulness and humbling that occurred, there were still those who just quietly went along with living their lives according to the commandments of God. We should remember that even when all around you seem to be doing wrong, you can still continue to do right.


Also - example of separation of church and state when Alma gives the judgement seat to Nephihah so that he (Alma) can be just the spiritual leader instead of both spiritual and secular leader.

Alma 3

26 And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one.

27 For every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey, and this according to the words of the spirit of prophecy; therefore let it be according to the truth.

A nice reminder that we each have our free agency. We choose our path in life and reap the consequences, whether good or bad, based on our choices.

That part is pretty easy for me to accept and understand. The harder part is remembering that everyone else has their free agency as well. When you see someone headed down a bad path, you wish that you could force them to turn around. But their free agency means that they have to make their own choices and face their own consequences.

When you see someone harmed by bad choices someone else makes, you want to ask: "Why does God allow this to happen?" And it's because EVERYONE has the ability to choose for themselves. And when they make bad choices, sometimes the consequences affect innocent bystanders. And that's so hard to accept sometimes. But free agency for me and for you also means free agency for the guy who hits his wife, or the mother who neglects her children, or the teenager who wants to get high.They have to be able to make choices, too.

Yes, a loving God could intervene and take away their ability to make bad choices. But because he is a loving God, he has chosen NOT to take away anyone's ability to choose for themselves. Only through choosing and making mistakes can you grow and improve. Free agency is God's plan for us, and following God's plan sometimes means accepting the difficulties as well as the blessings.