{"id":32724,"date":"2016-04-15T10:42:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=32724"},"modified":"2016-04-15T10:42:13","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T16:42:13","slug":"bom-alma-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/bom-alma-5.html","title":{"rendered":"BOM Alma 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Teichert,<\/a>
\u201cAn angel appears to Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah\u201d
(Minerva Teichert, ca 1950-51; LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s reading,\u00a0Alma 5<\/a>, contains another of the Book of Mormon\u2019s greatest sermons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s helpful, in reading through this sermon, to think of Alma\u2019s own personal history. \u00a0Remember his spectacular conversion story, which involved a dramatic appearance by an angel. \u00a0That angelophany turned his life around and, as he saw it, literally saved him from damnation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, when he speaks about captivity and about deliverance from bondage and from hell, about being awakened from a deep sleep, and about being saved from darkness and destruction and the chains of hell (in verses 5-10), it\u2019s impossible to believe that he isn\u2019t speaking from his own autobiography. \u00a0Thus, too, his emphasis on \u201ca mighty change in . . . heart\u201d in verses 12-14 seems to me clearly to reflect his own conversion, and his deep desire that others experience the transformation that he underwent.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDo ye not suppose that I\u00a0<\/span>know<\/span>\u00a0of these things myself?\u201d he asks, rhetorically\u00a0(in verse 45).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When he speaks about how fearsome and painful it would be to stand before God with in the acute consciousness of one\u2019s\u00a0guilt (in verses 18-25), he knows whereof he speaks, having, as he later explains to his son, personally experienced something of that terror. \u00a0(See\u00a0Alma 36:12-15.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I suspect that his list of sins in verses 29-31 also has its personal dimension. \u00a0He had grown up as one of the Nephite elite, son of the chief priest, close associate with the wayward sons of the king. \u00a0He knew pride at first hand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

More could be said, but I read\u00a0this sermon as a very personal and heartfelt statement from Alma, who never forgot that he was a brand that had, not a moment too soon, been graciously plucked from the burning.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Mesa, Arizona<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Today\u2019s reading,\u00a0Alma 5, contains another of the Book of Mormon\u2019s greatest sermons. \u00a0 I think it\u2019s helpful, in reading through this sermon, to think of Alma\u2019s own personal history. \u00a0Remember his spectacular conversion story, which involved a dramatic appearance by an angel. \u00a0That angelophany turned his life around and, as he saw it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBOM Alma 5<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Today's reading,\u00a0Alma 5, contains another of the Book of Mormon's greatest sermons.   I think it's helpful, in reading through this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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