Alma 32:19-20

[MichaelGB]

I'm trying to understand what Alma 32:19-20 means.

The text reads:

And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression?

Now of this thing ye must judge. Behold, I say unto you, that it is on the one hand even as it is on the other; and it shall be unto every man according to his work.

At first I thought it was saying that you'd be more accountable if you actually saw an angel (like Laman and Lemuel), then if you just had reason to believe that someone else did (like Joseph, or the women at the tomb), but the more I look at verse 20, the less clear the meaning seems to me.

What does "it is on the one hand even as it is on the other" mean?

Is that like saying "six of one, half a dozen of another"?

Is Alma actually saying that "he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not" is no more cursed than he that only had cause to believe?

[Vort]

I'm trying to understand what Alma 32:19-20 means.

The text reads:

And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression?

Now of this thing ye must judge. Behold, I say unto you, that it is on the one hand even as it is on the other; and it shall be unto every man according to his work.

At first I thought it was saying that you'd be more accountable if you actually saw an angel (like Laman and Lemuel), then if you just had reason to believe that someone else did (like Joseph, or the women at the tomb), but the more I look at verse 20, the less clear the meaning seems to me.

What does "it is on the one hand even as it is on the other" mean?

Is that like saying "six of one, half a dozen of another"?

Is Alma actually saying that "he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not" is no more cursed than he that only had cause to believe?

No. Your initial impulse was right. Back up two verses:

Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe. Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it. And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression? Now of this thing ye must judge. Behold, I say unto you, that it is on the one hand even as it is on the other; and it shall be unto every man according to his work.

The antecedent to "this thing" is the question "Is this faith?", not "How much more cursed?"

The "one hand" means those who exercise faith, and the "other hand" means those who do not. In each case, they receive according to the faith they exercise (or don't), as he continues saying: "and it shall be unto every man according to his work."