I have to remind myself that the people of Ammonihha are described as wicked. It is not just that they rejected Alma - but that's they are living contrary to the commandments. This story never describes their exact sins. It just says:
- Satan had gotten great hold on their hearts (8:9)
- They hardened their hearts (8:11)
- They had forgotten their history (9:8)
- They were a lost and fallen people
- They were living in iniquity (9:11)
- Their government was corrupt (10:27)
And now Alma is speaking about the consequences of those who choose to live unrighteously. His description is gruesome. He begins by speaking in the first person. . .
- Our state will be awful
- We shall be condemned
- Our words and works will condemn us
- Our thoughts will condemn us
- We will not dare look at God
- We will wish the mountains would hide us
- Such a person dies as pertaining to all things righteous
- There will be a torment like unto a lake of fire
- They are chained to everlasting destruction
- They cannot be redeemed for they will not repent
Finally in verses 33 and 34 he preaches Christ the Redeemer and the promise of mercy. And then he follows with (God speaking) "and whosoever will harden his heart and will do iniquity, behold I swear in my wrath he shall not enter my rest."
Among all this verbiage there are some truths but I fear there is a misrepresentation of the nature of God also. The truths are that God does have a plan of redemption for us. He placed us on the earth with agency and there are consequences to every choice. But I reject the idea that God will respond in his "wrath" to our choices.
That model of God became the model of leadership and parenting during my lifetime. I am grateful to have lived long enough to see how the study of social sciences has improved much of how we interact with others, how we parent, and how we view others. Here are some examples:
When I taught at a school in Nebraska back in the late '60s, the high school principal disciplined the boys by chasing them around the track with a belt. If he caught them they got it whipping.
When we lived in Tennessee my oldest daughter forgot her homework one day and was spanked in front of her entire class. I was at the school early the next morning to let them know that no one would ever touch a child of mine again.
From then to the present things have changed mightily! Teachers today learn classroom management techniques focused on preventing problems. My school was a wonderful place where all children were valued and safe. When corporal punishment was outlawed and removed as an option, only then were we forced to learn better ways.
Parenting has changed so much. My own dad would use his belt to discipline if he felt it was needed. Thank goodness that the world has come to grips with corporeal punishment. I believed what he did was wrong but I was so unsure of what to do myself. There was no model to follow.
I have watched my own children parent with love and understanding that has been a powerful learning experience for me. If your focus is on behavior; here are the rules - don't break them - then it is so easy to just become the disciplinarian.
I have watched my own children parent with love and understanding that has been a powerful learning experience for me. If your focus is on behavior; here are the rules - don't break them - then it is so easy to just become the disciplinarian.
But when your focus is on knowing and understanding your children - then conversation, talking, listening, loving and supporting - a whole new type of parenting develops. I wish I had been taught to be that kind of parent.
Another point: It is so easy to get caught in viewing those who are different than us"wrong". That happens all the time in politics. But it is worse when it comes to religion where right vs wrong gives us a vision of a world filled with good people vs bad people and it is easy to look with condescension on others.
If we" seek to understand" all others as Stephen Covey taught us, we have a good chance to not only love the person but to love their beliefs as well. A friend shared that he had always thought the process of cleansing the house of all leavening for Passover was seemingly unnecessary until a Jewish man he met at an interfaith group explained that the leavening symbolized pride. It was a time to cleanse your life of pride. All of a sudden his understanding changed and his appreciation for something he had misunderstood.
I have also learned over the course of my years that humans are motivated the most by love. "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."
The prophet Joseph Smith's said, "When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, oh what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind."
So I read Alma's words and I ask, "Where is the love? Where is your love for the people of Ammonihah and where is God's love in your message? Am I really to believe that when I err, God will send down his wrath upon me?"
Here are two quotes I found in The Christ Who Heals by Terryl and Fiona Givens:
Here are two quotes I found in The Christ Who Heals by Terryl and Fiona Givens:
Nikolai Berdyaev in his Destiny of Man said so beautifully "The 'good' do not condemn the 'wicked' to hell and enjoy their own triumph, but descend with Christ into hell in order to free them". (London; Geoffrey Bles, 1937 p. 69)
In a beautiful rendering of Alma 7, Tyler Johnson wrote: "I saw, in my mind's eye, how in every particular, he suffers with me: each pain, each sorrow. He willingly stays for the duration, feeling each lash in door with flesh every bit as sensitive as mine. He stays with me, he cries with me, he suffers with me, and, by the end, his empathy for me glows -- perfect and complete." (Empathy and the Atonement BYU Studies 55:4 2016 p. 119, 117)
This is the love that draws me to the Christ, God made man, and makes me want to follow Him. 3rd Nephi 27:14 Love is the better way.
I always go back to a favorite scripture: John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Isaiah 55:1-3 is another great example of God's loving invitation:
Come, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
I always go back to a favorite scripture: John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Isaiah 55:1-3 is another great example of God's loving invitation:
Come, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
God does not respond to our sinfulness with wrath but with love. He invites, invites, invites. We may choose to respond or not but God's work and glory is to give us immortality and eternal life.
Lauren Daigle
You are not hidden
There's never been a moment
You were forgotten
You are not hopeless
Though you have been broken
Your innocence stolen
I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you
There is no distance
That cannot be covered
Over and over
You're not defenseless
I'll be your shelter
I'll be your armor
I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It's true, I will rescue you
I hear the whisper underneath your breath
I hear you whisper, you have nothing left
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It's true, I will rescue you
Oh, I will rescue you
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Jason Ingram / Paul Mabury / Lauren Daigle
Rescue lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group
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