Alma 11 - Will I Like Her?

It’s been a long day, and my scripture reading was squeezed into the middle of everything else. Sometimes those are the days when I wonder if I’m going to get much out of my reading at all. Alma 11 surprised me.

Verse 20 was a bit of a red flag to me. Has our judicial system deteriorated to the extent Amulek accuses it of doing?

I believe so.

And I wondered, Is this really worth putting in a blog?

Maybe it is—not because I have anything new to say about our judicial system, but because Alma 11 quickly moves from money and self-interest to a much more important question: What are we willing to give up for money?

Kudos to Amulek.

Zeezrom is setting a trap for him. He offers Amulek money if he will deny the existence of a Supreme Being.

Wait. What?

You want me to deny God, and you’ll make me rich?

That was Zeezrom’s offer.

But Amulek is smarter than that. He recognizes the trap. More importantly, he is brave enough to call Zeezrom out on his evil design. He knows that Zeezrom's intent is to get him to deny his testimony, and he also knows that Zeezrom has no intention of giving him the promised reward.

Oh, Zeezrom, thou child of hell. You are treading on some dangerous ground.

Zeezrom loves filthy lucre—money—more than he loves God.

And then Amulek gets to something that really caught my attention. He tells Zeezrom that God will not save us in our sins, because no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven.

There is a simple logic to what Amulek is saying. We cannot expect to remain in our sins and still inherit the kingdom of God.

We will all be resurrected. Every one of us.

But resurrection does not erase accountability. We will be judged according to our works.

I know that thought is irksome to a lot of people. After all, the Lord always loves us.

Yes, He does.

But I can’t help but think the judgment may come from a different place. I wonder if, in some way, it will be self-judgment. We will know exactly what we did with our experience on earth. We will know the opportunities we missed, the people we failed to love, the things we could have become but didn't.

How sad!

Moving on, Amulek explains that our spirit and body will be reunited and restored to their perfect state.

That is the good news.

But then comes the part that could be uncomfortable.

We will stand before God with a bright recollection of all our guilt.

Ouch.

This isn't just for the wicked. It is for all of us. Every one of us will be restored to our perfect frame and then stand before the bar of Christ the Son and God the Father.

Amulek has done it! By verse 46, Zeezrom is trembling.

I can understand why.

Amulek is finished speaking, but what he has just given them is an incredibly sobering picture of the afterlife—something we are all curious about. He has talked about resurrection, restoration, judgment, and what happens when our body and spirit are reunited.

I think scripture makes it pretty clear we will all be resurrected.

The same holds true that we will all be restored.

Restored to what?

Amulek is talking about the restoration of the body, but there is another thought I can't get away from. What am I becoming while I am here?

Have I improved myself?

Am I becoming the person the Lord sent me here to become?

Because someday this life will be over. My body and spirit will be reunited, and I will stand before the Savior.

I don't want to spend my life worrying about whether I am good enough. I do, however, want to keep asking myself whether I am becoming better.

Amulek's words remind me that the choices I make today are not inconsequential. I am becoming someone.

And someday, I will meet that person.

Will I like her?