Alma 59-63

Reading assignment for class on Feb. 28: Alma 59-63

Learning Activities:

1) Look for reasons Pahoran could have chosen to be offended but how he responded instead.  What lessons can we learn from him?

Alma 61:9. Pahoran’s response to Moroni

Pahoran’s response to the letter from Moroni revealed the strength and goodness of his character. He was not easily offended. Read the following statement by President Thomas S. Monson:

“I am acquainted with a family which came to America from Germany. The English language was difficult for them. They had but little by way of means, but each was blessed with the will to work and with a love of God.

“Their third child was born, lived but two months, and then died. Father was a cabinetmaker and fashioned a beautiful casket for the body of his precious child. The day of the funeral was gloomy, thus reflecting the sadness they felt in their loss. As the family walked to the chapel, with Father carrying the tiny casket, a small number of friends had gathered. However, the chapel door was locked. The busy bishop had forgotten the funeral. Attempts to reach him were futile. Not knowing what to do, the father placed the casket under his arm and, with his family beside him, carried it home, walking in a drenching rain.

“If the family were of a lesser character, they could have blamed the bishop and harbored ill feelings. When the bishop discovered the tragedy, he visited the family and apologized. With the hurt still evident in his expression, but with tears in his eyes, the father accepted the apology, and the two embraced in a spirit of understanding” (Thomas S. Monson, “Hidden Wedges,” Ensign, May 2002, 19).

• What blessings can come to people who, like this family, choose not to be offended? What can we learn from this account?

2) What does it mean to cleanse the inner vessel?  How should we do that in our lives and in our families?

Moroni’s words about cleansing the “inward vessel” can apply to anyone who needs to repent. A vessel is a container, such as a cup or bowl. Imagine you put dirt or mud on the inside and outside of a cup. Would you like to drink from the cup? If you just clean the outside of the cup, would you now feel comfortable drinking from it?  Why or why not?

Read the following statement by President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994):

“We must cleanse the inner vessel (see Alma 60:23), beginning first with ourselves, then with our families, and finally with the Church” (Ezra Taft Benson, “Cleansing the Inner Vessel,”Ensign, May 1986, 4).

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Commentary and Background Information

Alma 62:41. Responding to adversity

Referring to Alma 62:39–41, President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

“The same testing in troubled times can have quite opposite effects on individuals. …

“Surely you know some whose lives have been filled with adversity who have been mellowed and strengthened and refined by it, while others have come away from the same test bitter and blistered and unhappy” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Mystery of Life,” Ensign, Nov. 1983, 18).

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that we choose how we will respond to adversity:

“Surely these great adversities are not without some eternal purpose or effect. They can turn our hearts to God. … Even as adversities inflict mortal hardships, they can also be the means of leading men and women to eternal blessings.

“Such large-scale adversities as natural disasters and wars seem to be inherent in the mortal experience. We cannot entirely prevent them, but we can determine how we will react to them. For example, the adversities of war and military service, which have been the spiritual destruction of some, have been the spiritual awakening of others” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Adversity,” Ensign, July 1998, 7–8).

Alma 63:4–10. Hagoth and his descendants

Latter-day prophets have said that Hagoth’s people settled on the islands that are now known as New Zealand.

In the dedicatory prayer for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, President David O. McKay (1873–1970) said:

“We express gratitude that to these fertile Islands Thou didst guide descendants of Father Lehi, and hast enabled them to prosper” (David O. McKay, “Dedicatory Prayer Delivered by Pres. McKay at New Zealand Temple,” Church News, May 10, 1958, 2).

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) said:

“It is reasonable to conclude that Hagoth and his associates were about nineteen centuries on the islands, from about 55 BC to 1854 before the gospel began to reach them. They had lost all the plain and precious things which the Savior brought to the earth, for they were likely on the islands when the Christ was born in Jerusalem” (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, New Zealand Area Conference 1976, 3).