Discussion and Testimonies of Alma 5:14-62

[Tough Grits]

(Pam, I couldn't figure out where to start this thread...please move it if I have it in the wrong spot. ~TG)

My family is reading the Book of Mormon nightly. We move rather slowly, because we like to discuss and ask questions as we read each verse. We have been reading since the start of last year, and we are only up to Alma 5.

Anyway, as we started Alma 5:14 the other night, I felt riveted to my chair. Starting with verse 14 I just truly felt moved upon by the Spirit. I could feel the truthfulness of each verse hitting my Spirit with confirmation, truth, and light (not that the other verses hadn't...but I just felt something extra as we started reading verse 14).

My daughter was having trouble reading, and I looked over at her and asked her what was wrong. She said she was having a hard time reading through the pink on the page.

I looked over at the scriptures that she was using, and starting with verse 14, every verse of Alma chapter 5 was highlighted with pink. She was using one of my old sets of scriptures (my first mini-quad). Then my son chimes in that his are marked up too. I look over at his, and his verses starting with verse 14 were marked up in yellow all the way to the end of Alma 5. He was using another old set of scriptures of mine (my first regular-sized quad). Apparently I have felt exactly the same each time I have read Alma 5:14-62.

I have a testimony of what I have read in these verses, and I feel that these verses have profound guidance, truth, and counsel for us to read, ponder, and apply.

Before I go into any further detail regarding these verses, I thought I would invite others to share their testimony, thoughts, feelings, or knowledge regarding these verses. ~TG

[rameumptom]

This is what I wrote regarding this chapter for my 2012 Sunstone Kirtland presentation, on Ascension Rites in the Book of Mormon:

Because Alma’s conversion was so remarkable to him, he frequently returns to the concepts therein to teach those around him. In Alma 5, Alma discusses concepts such as their fathers being in the “midst of darkness”, even as he had been (cf Alma 36). He asks them many questions, all pointing to our current fallen state, and to their own potential redemption through Christ. “have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenance?” not only reflects Alma’s struggle in a spirit prison hell and then redemption, but of Moses descending from God’s presence or Abinadi’s power, their faces gleaming so brightly that others had to stand back from their presence. Alma is asking us if we have God’s powerful image glowing from us, just as Nephi stated we could speak with the tongue of angels. There is both a figurative and literal connection here. People can speak inspired words via the Spirit, or as with Isaiah can literally speak with a divine tongue. So can people have a figurative countenance of God, or literally glow as did Abinadi.

Alma continues explaining that “there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white...” While figurative, this is also literal in the case of the Ascension of Isaiah, where he changed into a white garment. In our case, the garment is figuratively washed white by the atonement of Christ. Of course, entering into a modern LDS temple for baptisms or other work means replacing one’s street clothing for white garments.

For those who embrace the atonement and follow God, there is “...a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob....” Where shall the righteous sit? In God’s presence with the Patriarchs in ever lasting glory As the apostle John wrote:

“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.…To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev 3:12, 21).

Alma also uses phrases such as, “walk after the holy order of God”, “an inheritance at my right hand” and “be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.” Clearly Alma had in mind major teachings that come up again and again in his teachings.

Joel's Monastery: My presentation at Kirtland Sunstone - BoM as Ascension Text

And here is what I wrote for the BoM Gospel Doctrine class on it:

Joel's Monastery: Book of Mormon Lesson 22 “Have Ye Received His Image in Your Countenances" Alma 5–7

[SpiritDragon]

Tough Grits you aren't the only one! I read your post and thought to myself I have a lot of markings in alma 5 and so I opened up my triple combo from my mission and found that starting with vs 14 it is all marked in yellow with various other colors for extra emphasis.

I have always been touched by this particular passage of scripture. I love the questions that cause pause and reflection. It is kind of like a personal conversion inventory interview. I remember seeing an actual change in my appearance after I gained a testimony of the book of mormon and turned to my Saviour for forgiveness of my sins. I remember feeling like "sing(ing) the song of redeeming love." I also remember times I have read this and felt pricked because I no longer felt to sing the song of redeeming love and I no longer felt that I had His image in my countenance... I have been called to repentance by these verses several times. I love that they don't focus much on the "motions" but the intents of the heart. This is a more true indicator of our conversion and commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[Tough Grits]

It is kind of like a personal conversion inventory interview.

My husband says that he had a seminary teacher who called these verses a "Spiritual Cardiogram".

Here is what I think...

Humans are so linear. Start/stop. Beginning/ending.

That is not how things work in God's realm. One eternal round. Worlds without end. Eternity.

Our conversion should be never-ending. We should be constantly moving up in knowledge, works, and testimony, while moving further "in" to God's territory. The closer we get to living the example of Christ, the closer we are to living a Celestial Law, a law we must master in order to gain entrance to that very place where our Father waits for us.

A mortal body cannot thrive and grow and function independently without a spirit. Our spirits were sent here--among other things--to gain a mortal body. The body and spirit must learn to work in unison to achieve the ultimate goal...eternal life, living with our Father in Heaven throughout all eternity.

Like a body and spirit striving for harmony and unity, we must balance works with pure intents. We cannot say we truly love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength if we pick and choose what commandments we will obey, or what counsel we will follow. Likewise, we cannot assume that empty works, actions without sincere love of God or our fellow man, will be enough to exalt us.

And so this means that we must constantly and consistently do the Lord's will, and we must do so with a pure heart and clean hands, in order to become that which will gain us life eternal. There is no either/or. Heavenly Father wants all we have to give Him. ~TG

[Tough Grits]

Elder Russell M. Nelson, Ensign, Nov. 2005, 86

As true converts, we are motivated to do what the Lord wants us to do [see Mosiah 5:2-5] and to be who he wants us to be [see 3 Nephi 27:21, 27]

Emphasis added

Do what the Lord wants.

Be who the Lord wants.

One without the other isn't enough.

As a convert to the gospel I had to discover and learn the Lord's will. As I came to know what He wanted from me, I was able to apply it and allow it to become a part of me.

Prayer was not easy to learn. At first it was just constantly reminding myself to pray. If I forgot to pray over my food, I would stop eating and pray. If I forgot to pray before bed, I would get out of bed and pray. Soon, praying became a habit I no longer had to think about. It was at that point that I could refine my prayers and make them sincere, heartfelt, and personal.

As we strive to know what He wants, do what he wants, and become what He wants, that is when we can come to know the Lord. When our actions mirror our heart and thoughts, and when our heart and thoughts mirror our actions, it is then that we will see His image in our countenance [Alma 5:14, 19], and then we can say we know Him.

Just as the Godhead functions together in unity and harmony, so must we learn to function in harmony with pure hearts, selfless action, and abiding knowledge...so that we too can have that mighty change of heart.