Alma the Younger

The scriptures are full of people who made terrible mistakes and still became instruments in God's hands for good.

Alma the Younger tried to destroy the church and he became a prophet.

The sons of Mosiah were described as among the vilest of sinners and became some of the greatest missionaries in the Book of Mormon.

Paul persecuted Christians and became one of the great apostles in the New Testament.

It's not instantaneous transformation for most people.

I think you, you do find people like Saul or Alma the Younger and things like that, that it does really appear like a, an instantaneous transformation.

But for most people, it's less like the light switch and more like the sunrise as-

Right

Hello there, my name is Tyler Griffin, and this is Scripture Study Insights by Scripture Central.

Today, Alma 30 and 31.

And these two chapters are an amazingly difficult set of the Book of Mormon history, because what we get is in Alma 30, Korahor coming and teaching his doctrine, and then you get in chapter 31, the Zoramites embodying doctrine or applying his doctrine to their daily life.

So you see what it looks like when it plays out.

So at first pass, you may look at these two chapters and think, wow, I don't want to engage deeply with these because it's kind of depressing or it's dark or it's heavy.

I love the fact that the Book of Mormon becomes more than just a window to the past.

more than just a window to see other people in faraway places, faraway settings, but it becomes a mirror to our present, not just our life, but our world today.

And the fact is there are a lot of things going on in Alma chapter 30 where we see Korihor's teachings, his techniques, and the ways that he's trying to engage people in conversation to persuade them to change their beliefs to align with his own, that we see a lot of that happening in our world today.

And I'm Tyler.

Today, Alma 30-31.

We're going to begin today with a short discussion about exaltation and actually how it connects to some of the themes that show up in

Alma 30-31.

First of all, we're just going to spend some time talking about several words in English and then in Hebrew and how they show up in the scriptures and what that might mean to help us better understand various messages in the scriptures.

Let's start with the word exaltation.

I just love that Joseph Smith's brother's name is My Brother's Exalted, the great witness for what God did

for Joseph Smith because of his faithfulness.

Or as Orson F. Whitney talks about, the tentacles of reaching out and trying to bring you back.

But those things that you have said, much like Alma the Younger, can have an enormous negative impact.

Yeah.

And how are you ever going to recall them? I mean, the space that's granted by, especially in the information age of people publishing things against the church.

When he fell off, the direction he fell, I think Solomon's trying to pass on the wisdom that undoubtedly David taught Solomon through what I would imagine were many tear-felt conversations.

I almost picture it the same way I picture Alma the Younger and Corianton.

I imagine David and Solomon had similar conversations, and Solomon's trying to pass on that wisdom.

At the end in 18 is a verse I really love.

The process of repenting, of course, is not an easy one.

The experience of Alma the Younger is a testament of that.

Wrongs must be made right, and there is no easy way to accomplish that.

But it must be done.

However weary or wicked we may feel, the story of Alma the Younger is an open invitation to every child of God.

Yes, certainly, and to every child of Alma.

To all of

Okay.

And this is Scripture Study Insights.

Today, we're going to be covering Alma chapters 36 through 38.

Well, this is a real treat to have Shane Reese join today because he is the president of Brigham Young University and has been for the last, what is it?

It's been a year.

That is so powerful.

Now, with that idea, becoming, that is actually the lifelong learning overlay that, that I wanted to use as we cover these chapters.

Chapter 36, 37 are Alma, the younger, this prophet, who's also their, their mission president, their, their leader, and he's sitting down with Helaman, who's gonna be the next prophet, and then Shiblon, and he's giving them these instructions which you could basically say he's teaching them how to become who they were born to become.

So there's, there's some beautiful crossover in these, in these chapters with what you're doing at BYU currently with what Alma was doing with his two sons over 2,000 years ago.