Alma 11-12
Reading Assignment for class on Wed. Jan 10: Alma 11-12
Learning Activities:
Watch this video and consider how it applies to Alma 11
Enemy Territory
Enemy Territory (3:38)—President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shares an experience in which he was protected during World War II by listening to a prompting from the Spirit, and he promises youth that they will be protected if they “heed the promptings that come from the Holy Ghost.”
Alma 12:32Receiving commandments after receiving a knowledge of the plan
President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that knowledge of God’s plan helps us understand why we should keep the commandments. Speaking to teachers of youth, he said:
“Young people wonder ‘why?’—Why are we commanded to do some things, and why we are commanded not to do other things? A knowledge of the plan of happiness, even in outline form, can give young minds a ‘why.’ …“Most of the difficult questions we face in the Church right now, and we could list them—abortion and all the rest of them, all of the challenges of who holds the priesthood and who does not—cannot be answered without some knowledge of the plan as a background.“Alma said this, and this is, I think of late, my favorite scripture, although I change now and again: ‘God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption’ (Alma 12:32; emphasis added). …“… If you are trying to give [students] a ‘why,’ follow that pattern: ‘God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption’” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Great Plan of Happiness” [address to Church Educational System religious educators, Aug. 10, 1993], 3).
Want More?
Many of you have asked about this. It would be worth your time to read these explanations carefully:
Alma 11:28. “Is there more than one God?”
The Latter-day Saint doctrine of the Godhead (that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate Personages who are perfectly unified in purpose and doctrine) has come under attack in the modern Christian world. Christians who trace their conception of God to fourth- and fifth-century creeds that declare the doctrine of the Trinity (that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are not separate beings) often question members of the Church about our unique conception of God. The question raised with its given answer in Alma 11:28–33 has also left many questioning the doctrine of the Godhead as outlined in the restored Church. Roy W. Doxey (1908–1992), assistant in the office of the Council of the Twelve and dean emeritus of Religious Instruction, Brigham Young University, explained a possible reason for Amulek’s answer that there is but one God:
“Is there more than one God? The question is often raised in response to Alma chapter 11, where Zeezrom, a critic, is contending with the missionary Amulek. …“In order to understand Amulek’s statement [that there is but one true and living God], we must look at the full context. Throughout most of their history, many Israelites (forefathers of the Nephites) were eager to accept the numerous pagan gods of the Egyptians and Canaanites. Although the Book of Mormon is silent about the specific apostate notions held by the people in Zeezrom’s city of Ammonihah, it is clear that some apostate Nephites of Alma’s time were idolatrous—as some of their Israelite fathers had been. When Alma, Amulek’s missionary companion, was chief judge as well as high priest over the Church, he helped to establish a strong and faithful body of church members. Nevertheless, ‘those who did not belong to their church did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry.’ (Alma 1:32.) Apostasy was such a problem that Alma later gave up the judgment seat, ‘that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them.’ (Alma 4:19.)“As a missionary, Alma found that many of the people were steeped in idolatry. He discovered, for example, that the people in the city of Zoram ‘were perverting the ways of the Lord, and that Zoram, who was their leader, was leading the hearts of the people to bow down to dumb idols.’ (Alma 31:1.)“This is the context, then, of the discussion Alma and Amulek had with Zeezrom. Seen in this light, Amulek’s answer is completely understandable and, of course, correct: There is only one ‘true and living God’—who shares none of his godhood with the hosts of false gods invented by man” (Roy W. Doxey, “I Have a Question,” Ensign, Aug. 1985, 11).
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained how and why the Latter-day Saint belief in the Godhead differs from traditional Christianity’s belief in the Trinity:
“Our first and foremost article of faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ‘We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost’ [Articles of Faith 1:1]. We believe these three divine persons constituting a single Godhead are united in purpose, in manner, in testimony, in mission. We believe Them to be filled with the same godly sense of mercy and love, justice and grace, patience, forgiveness, and redemption. I think it is accurate to say we believe They are one in every significant and eternal aspect imaginable exceptbelieving Them to be three persons combined in one substance, a Trinitarian notion never set forth in the scriptures because it is not true. …“In the year a.d. 325 the Roman emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to address—among other things—the growing issue of God’s alleged ‘trinity in unity.’ What emerged from the heated contentions of churchmen, philosophers, and ecclesiastical dignitaries came to be known (after another 125 years and three more major councils) [Constantinople, a.d. 381; Ephesus, a.d. 431; Chalcedon, a.d. 451] as the Nicene Creed, with later reformulations such as the Athanasian Creed. These various evolutions and iterations of creeds—and others to come over the centuries—declared the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be abstract, absolute, transcendent, immanent, consubstantial, coeternal, and unknowable, without body, parts, or passions and dwelling outside space and time. In such creeds all three members are separate persons, but they are a single being, the oft-noted ‘mystery of the trinity.’ They are three distinct persons, yet not three Gods but one. All three persons are incomprehensible, yet it is one God who is incomprehensible.“We agree with our critics on at least that point—that such a formulation for divinity is truly incomprehensible. …“We declare it is self-evident from the scriptures that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate persons, three divine beings, noting such unequivocal illustrations as the Savior’s great Intercessory Prayer … , His baptism at the hands of John, the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the martyrdom of Stephen—to name just four [see John 17; Matthew 3:13–17; 17:1–6; and Acts 7:54–60]” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2007, 40–41).
Alma 11:38–39. How is Jesus Christ the Eternal Father?
Zeezrom asked Amulek, “Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?” (Alma 11:38). In response, Amulek testified that Jesus Christ “is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are” (Alma 11:39). In making this statement, Amulek did not assert that Jesus Christ and God the Father are the same person. Rather, he testified of Jesus Christ’s role as the Creator. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained:
“[Jesus Christ] acts as the Father in that he is the Creator of heaven and earth. …“… The Savior himself made this triumphant announcement as he appeared to the Nephites in the New World:“‘Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name’ [3 Nephi 9:15].“Clearly, Christ—under the direction of his Father—is the Father of creation, the Creator of heaven and earth and all things that in them are” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon[1997], 184, 186).