As
I was reading this, I was impressed that it is was one powerful question after
another. I have instructed myself in the
margins to put my name or first pronouns in the place of his generic
nouns.
To
start with, in verse 6 he asks if I remember the captivity of my fathers? I remember my own captivity! I was in the darkest abyss. I consider it nothing less than a miracle
that I was able to pull away from the world that was literally suffocating
me. There is rarely a day even 36+ years
later that I don’t think on the blessings of my own rescue. Oh how I pray my daughters who wander will
experience this same miracle in their lives.
There
are certain things Alma tells the people they must do in order to be free from
the bondage of sin.
- Listen to the words of the prophets.
- Heed the counsel of the prophets.
- Study the scriptures faithfully.
- Fast
- Pray
In
doing these things, we will be filled with the spirit and be spiritually born
of God. We will receive his image in our
countenances. Alma asks if we have had
the mighty change. My response to that
is I most certainly have. I know it was
visible to others as well because they asked me frequently if I’d lost weight,
changed my hair, makeup, etc. It was
none of those things. I had started to
take on the image of my Savior. It is a
slow process – probably as slow as the process to wander away from the
truth. But this I know: It is real.
It is visible, and it changes the person forever!
I
will always sing a song of redeeming love (v26). I believe this is where my song writing comes
from. I don’t generally write secular
music. It is all in praise to my
Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.
There
are two choices only. There are those
that think varying degrees of righteousness are sufficient. Alma makes it clear that “. . . if a man
bringeth forth good works he hearkeneth unto the voice of the good shepherds,
and he doth follow him; but whosoever bringeth forth evil works, the same
becometh a child of the devil, for he hearkeneth unto his voice, and doth
follow him.” Who’s on the Lord’s
side? That is the real question. Do I follow the teachings of my Savior? Do I go about doing good continually? Do I tend to the sick and afflicted? Do I teach the truths of eternity? Do I help the blind to see? Do I raise the dead? (This would be accomplished through genealogy
and Family History, aka indexing, etc.)
There
is so much meat to chew on in this chapter.
It was particularly significant to me today because of a difficult
encounter with a daughter who is in her own dark abyss – so much so she cannot
see the love that surrounds her even when in the midst of it. There is a way out of this dark abyss. I know it from experience, and I believe Alma
when he writes of it.
And
my time to ponder these things is over.
I know Heavenly Father loves us and cares what happens to us. He wants us to listen to the voice of the
Good Shepherd. He wants us to return
home to Him. However, he will force no
one to heaven. The choice is ours and
there are only two choices.
