Alma 31:12-25
31:12-22 - Alma and his companions have finally seen what the Zoramites are up to and "they were astonished beyond all measure." The Zoramites have built synagogues to worship "together on one day of the week, which they did call the day of the Lord," and they offered prayers here to God. So looking at it strictly from the outside appearance, it seems like they were a righteous people, but this is why God doesn't just want us to comply physically but he also wants our hearts. The IM teaches "Even though the Zoramites killed Korihor, they seem to have adopted a similar belief system. Not the following phrases from Alma 31 that describe the Zoramite beliefs: "They had fallen into great errors." There had rejected traditions that they felt were 'handed down... by the childishness of their fathers.' They did not want to 'be led away after the foolish traditions of (their) brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief in Christ.' The refused 'to believe in things to come, which they knew nothing about.' Elder Jeffrey R. Holland commented about Korihor's influence on the Zoramites' false teachings: '(Korihor's) brand of teaching inevitably had it's influence among some of the less faithful who, like the neighboring Zoramites, were already given to 'perverting the ways of the Lord.' Zoram and his followers are one of the most memorable apostate groups mentioned in the Book of Mormon primarily because they considered themselves so unusually righteous... Once a week they stood atop a prayer tower called a Rameumptom and, using always 'the selfsame prayer,' thanked God that they were better than everyone else, 'a chose and a holy' people 'elected' by God to be saved while all around them were equally 'elected' to be cast down to hell. In the reassuring safety of all this, they were also spared any belief in such 'foolish traditions' (evidence of Korihor's legacy emerging here) as a belief in a Savior, for it had been 'made known' to them there should be no Christ... Alma lost little time in countering such unholy prayer and its equally unholy theology with his own prayer for divine assistance against this form of self-serving iniquity that made him literally sick at heart." I hadn't considered that the prayer of the Zoramites and the prayer of Alma were so nicely contrasted in this chapter. When we get further along in the chapter maybe we will compare and contrast the two different prayers. The prayer that the Zoramites offer is quite interesting because they profess many wrong but interesting beliefs:
1. God is and always will be a spirit. Let's assume for a minute that the Zoramites are really trying to worship their God, why would it matter and why would they profess specifically that God doesn't have a body and never will? God does have a body and it is very important in our doctrine because it teaches us that we were made in his image and that we will be resurrected into our bodies again someday like He was, this is why God having a body is important to us as a people, it gives us hope for the future and a God to relate to. But the Zoramites' confession of God as a spirit serves no purpose whatsoever, they only say that God is and always will be a spirit, but then move on to another topic offering no evidence of why it would even matter if the God their worship doesn't have a body.
2. The Zoramites were separated from their brethren to be saved from the "childishness of their fathers." We know that the Lord has separated his righteous from the wicked seeking their destruction before, like Lehi from Jerusalem, Nephi from his brothers, Mosiah from the wicked Nephites, etc. But they were always told to flee because their safety was being threatened, here the Zoramites and claiming that they were told to flee because God didn't want them to be tainted by "the tradition of our brethren." I can't recall a time when God has commanded his people to relocate because others around them differed in opinion, quite the contrary in fact, we are told now to make Zion where we live, and having his faithful righteous people in a mixed population has always served as missionary opportunities to the unbelievers.
3. "There shall be no Christ." Again, why? If we look at it from the view of Zoramites truly desiring to worship their own version of God, then why even bring up Christ? There are hundreds of religions world wide that don't believe in Christ, but I can't think of too many that are actively based on the idea that there is no Christ. So where they got this theology and what purpose it serves is illogical from this view point. But if we look at it from the view point of Satan teaching his followers very specific doctrine with the sole purpose of thwarting God's plans, then it makes complete sense. The concept of having no Christ serves no purpose and deprives the people of hope and happiness, but Satan's teachings here that there is no Christ serves to indicate that there is in fact a Christ. If Satan were to teach the people that "there is no magic elephant," then his followers would be like "wait, what?" and forget all about it because it's a foreign concept to them, they certainly wouldn't design a whole prayer and religion around it. But because there is a Christ and because the light of Christ shines inside each and every one of his children, the belief that there is a Christ and therefore the belief that there is NO Christ resonates with people because that belief serves their own specific ends. Those who want to believe in Christ embrace the inner light that leads to happiness and peace, but those who do not want to believe in Christ have to convince themselves to snuff out that inner light by repeating "there is no Christ, there is no Christ," until they themselves believe the lie, and then they fall into the pits of despair. Simply by categorically denying that there is a Christ, in a round about way, they are actually demonstrating that there is, and by having the need to convince themselves that he's not real, they are actually demonstrating his power and importance.
4. God is "the same yesterday, today, and forever." The Zoramites here are referencing a past, present, and future, and the only way to do that is to have some sort of reference point. The reference point for the past would be historical accounts, and what are religious historical accounts called? That's right scriptures. For them to have knowledge of the dealings of God in the present day, what would they need? That's right prophets, the Holy Ghost, and personal revelation. And what would they need in order to know that God will never change? That's right, prophecy and fulfillment. So here the Zoramites are making a statement that references having and understanding scriptures, modern day prophets and prophecy. But in truth, they have none of those things, and again, this statement demonstrates the power and importance of prophets, scriptures, prophecy, daily prayer, the Holy Ghost, and personal revelation, but because we know that they have none of those things Satan is giving us a front row seat to his personal show "What is really important in life, and why I don't want you to know about them because I hate you."
5. The Zoramites are a chosen people and every one else will "be cast by thy wrath down to hell." Again the concept of being a chosen people and therefore having blessings bestowed upon them means that they would have to know anything about the concept of God's chosen people, and because we know that they indirectly acknowledge the importance of scripture, then we need to take a look at what the scriptures say it means to be a chosen people. God has made it clear that being a chosen people is contingent on our righteousness, and we also know that God is no respecter of persons and loves us all the same, so I think that we can safely say that the Zoramites are again trying to indoctrinate this concept of superiority into themselves so that they can feel justified when they treat others poorly.
6. They believe that a belief in Christ would "bind them down." We have to look at the word usage here, "bind down" has a connotation of enslavement, a lack of freedom, misery, and torture. But we can also look at it a different way, to be bound down is to be secured, like when a car is bound down to the trailer that it is traveling on, it can indicate safety in the journey, it can indicate security and shelter. Is not the wise man's house bound down on a firm foundation? Wouldn't that by default mean that the Zoramites are the foolish who build their houses on the sand? And again, the Zoramites use this phrase in their prayer to imply that there is a negative or loss associated with a belief in Christ, but all we have to do is look back to Alma's conversation with Korihor to discover that those who truly believe in Christ have hope, have peace, and have joy in their hearts.
My daughter asked a very interesting question today while reading this chapter, she asked "if the Zoramites don't believe in Jesus then why are they even praying?" That's an excellent question, this God that they profess to believe in really has no implied power, they don't say anything about what this God is going to do for them as a result of their worship, and there are no told benefits of their "chosen" status. What would they be getting out of even saying these prayers? They are the same every time and there are no implied rewards from God for saying them, so why even waste their time? And the answer came back in verse 13 when we learn that this "holy stand" isn't just elevated but also "would only admit one person." So here we can see that there was no spiritual benefit, real or implied to going to church and praying, the only benefit that could even be imagined is that they do it to be seen of men. If we think of all the "societies" secret and known, most have their own chants, mottos, or ceremonies that are recited during the meeting so that every member can affirm their allegiance to the cause, and it would seem that this is no different. Instead of everyone standing in a circle holding hands and chanting the "prayer" at the same time, they go up to a stand, one at a time, so that everyone can see them and they recite their pledge to their cause, and it just so happens that Satan personally wrote their charter.
31:23-25 - Let's just think of the act that the people perform at the synagogue as a recitation of their allegiance to Satan in a round about way, because really that it the end result and though some might not come out and say specifically that they don't care about keeping the commandments and only want to do what they want to do all the time, that's really what their subconscious goal is, to justify to themselves their wicked and abominable behavior, while still keeping their spirit on life support. After the people had done their little dance at church "they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the holy stand." Honestly, this makes sense if we think about who they really think that their God is, just some spirit being who has no power and requires absolutely nothing of them for his chosen favor. But this complete lack of inhibition has led to a group of people who's "hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods. Yea, and he also saw that they hearts were lifted up unto great boasting, in their pride." These behaviors are all outward symptoms of inner selfishness and greed. The Primary lesson manual asks the questions, such as, "why did the Zoramites think they were better than others? In what ways might we sometimes feel that we are better than others?... What were the Zoramites' hearts set on? What are some worldly things that some children your age set their hearts on today? Why is it wrong to set our hearts on worldly things?" And this is why I love the primary lesson manual, these are very simple yet profound questions. In what ways do we feel that we are better than others? I think that for the most part, as a LDS people we would say "I don't feel that I'm better than others," and consciously that might be true, but in what ways do we act like we are better than others. Sometimes we lash out when we are frustrated, and this is especially true when those who take the brunt of our anger can't punish us for it in any way such as children and employees. How about when we "judge a book by it's cover" and then respond in kind, someone dressed immodestly, we treat like they are skanky, someone who's appearance is disheveled, we treat like they are unintelligent, someone who has a lot of kids at a young age, we might ask inappropriate questions like "do they all have the same father?" In fact any time we ask someone a question about their personal life, especially if it's in a manner that implies it is our right to know, indicates that we think less of them and their privacy than we think of ourselves and our nosiness. When someone doesn't give us the respect that we think that we deserve and we are unfriendly, I'm guilty of this quite a bit actually. All these are examples of ways that we show people that we think that we are better than them. What are some of the worldly things that we set our hearts on today and what does it truly cost us? How about the latest electronics? iPads, phones, computers, video cameras, designer purses, the biggest house, the nicest car, I don't think that there is any shortage of things that we want and set our hearts on, and yes they all cost money, but really what is the price? We spend our time working longer to afford things and spend less time with our families and on church assignments. We "lust" after these material things and think about them constantly, which pushes out pondering the scriptures or the prophets's teachings or or families or just communicating with God in general. We give up our time to focus on those things and we give up our mental and spiritual space to them as well. Gratitude is so very important to our spiritual growth and personal happiness and materialism is the ultimate form of ingratitude, and it also makes us indifferent towards the needs of others. We won't dare give up any of our time or money to improve the lives of others because we need the time to work and the money to buy things, which feeds the cycle of feeling that we are more important than anyone else, which means we lose our ability to serve, which sucks away our happiness and distances us from the Savior. Gratitude and service to others, that is how we combat the evils of materialism and pride, this pattern has been demonstrated to us throughout the scriptures and is proclaimed by the Lord himself, and truly it has brought me untold happiness and peace, even though I can improve on my efforts, when I do it, I feel whole and closer to my Savior, which is so much more important than any "thing" that I can ever have.
1. God is and always will be a spirit. Let's assume for a minute that the Zoramites are really trying to worship their God, why would it matter and why would they profess specifically that God doesn't have a body and never will? God does have a body and it is very important in our doctrine because it teaches us that we were made in his image and that we will be resurrected into our bodies again someday like He was, this is why God having a body is important to us as a people, it gives us hope for the future and a God to relate to. But the Zoramites' confession of God as a spirit serves no purpose whatsoever, they only say that God is and always will be a spirit, but then move on to another topic offering no evidence of why it would even matter if the God their worship doesn't have a body.
2. The Zoramites were separated from their brethren to be saved from the "childishness of their fathers." We know that the Lord has separated his righteous from the wicked seeking their destruction before, like Lehi from Jerusalem, Nephi from his brothers, Mosiah from the wicked Nephites, etc. But they were always told to flee because their safety was being threatened, here the Zoramites and claiming that they were told to flee because God didn't want them to be tainted by "the tradition of our brethren." I can't recall a time when God has commanded his people to relocate because others around them differed in opinion, quite the contrary in fact, we are told now to make Zion where we live, and having his faithful righteous people in a mixed population has always served as missionary opportunities to the unbelievers.
3. "There shall be no Christ." Again, why? If we look at it from the view of Zoramites truly desiring to worship their own version of God, then why even bring up Christ? There are hundreds of religions world wide that don't believe in Christ, but I can't think of too many that are actively based on the idea that there is no Christ. So where they got this theology and what purpose it serves is illogical from this view point. But if we look at it from the view point of Satan teaching his followers very specific doctrine with the sole purpose of thwarting God's plans, then it makes complete sense. The concept of having no Christ serves no purpose and deprives the people of hope and happiness, but Satan's teachings here that there is no Christ serves to indicate that there is in fact a Christ. If Satan were to teach the people that "there is no magic elephant," then his followers would be like "wait, what?" and forget all about it because it's a foreign concept to them, they certainly wouldn't design a whole prayer and religion around it. But because there is a Christ and because the light of Christ shines inside each and every one of his children, the belief that there is a Christ and therefore the belief that there is NO Christ resonates with people because that belief serves their own specific ends. Those who want to believe in Christ embrace the inner light that leads to happiness and peace, but those who do not want to believe in Christ have to convince themselves to snuff out that inner light by repeating "there is no Christ, there is no Christ," until they themselves believe the lie, and then they fall into the pits of despair. Simply by categorically denying that there is a Christ, in a round about way, they are actually demonstrating that there is, and by having the need to convince themselves that he's not real, they are actually demonstrating his power and importance.
4. God is "the same yesterday, today, and forever." The Zoramites here are referencing a past, present, and future, and the only way to do that is to have some sort of reference point. The reference point for the past would be historical accounts, and what are religious historical accounts called? That's right scriptures. For them to have knowledge of the dealings of God in the present day, what would they need? That's right prophets, the Holy Ghost, and personal revelation. And what would they need in order to know that God will never change? That's right, prophecy and fulfillment. So here the Zoramites are making a statement that references having and understanding scriptures, modern day prophets and prophecy. But in truth, they have none of those things, and again, this statement demonstrates the power and importance of prophets, scriptures, prophecy, daily prayer, the Holy Ghost, and personal revelation, but because we know that they have none of those things Satan is giving us a front row seat to his personal show "What is really important in life, and why I don't want you to know about them because I hate you."
5. The Zoramites are a chosen people and every one else will "be cast by thy wrath down to hell." Again the concept of being a chosen people and therefore having blessings bestowed upon them means that they would have to know anything about the concept of God's chosen people, and because we know that they indirectly acknowledge the importance of scripture, then we need to take a look at what the scriptures say it means to be a chosen people. God has made it clear that being a chosen people is contingent on our righteousness, and we also know that God is no respecter of persons and loves us all the same, so I think that we can safely say that the Zoramites are again trying to indoctrinate this concept of superiority into themselves so that they can feel justified when they treat others poorly.
6. They believe that a belief in Christ would "bind them down." We have to look at the word usage here, "bind down" has a connotation of enslavement, a lack of freedom, misery, and torture. But we can also look at it a different way, to be bound down is to be secured, like when a car is bound down to the trailer that it is traveling on, it can indicate safety in the journey, it can indicate security and shelter. Is not the wise man's house bound down on a firm foundation? Wouldn't that by default mean that the Zoramites are the foolish who build their houses on the sand? And again, the Zoramites use this phrase in their prayer to imply that there is a negative or loss associated with a belief in Christ, but all we have to do is look back to Alma's conversation with Korihor to discover that those who truly believe in Christ have hope, have peace, and have joy in their hearts.
My daughter asked a very interesting question today while reading this chapter, she asked "if the Zoramites don't believe in Jesus then why are they even praying?" That's an excellent question, this God that they profess to believe in really has no implied power, they don't say anything about what this God is going to do for them as a result of their worship, and there are no told benefits of their "chosen" status. What would they be getting out of even saying these prayers? They are the same every time and there are no implied rewards from God for saying them, so why even waste their time? And the answer came back in verse 13 when we learn that this "holy stand" isn't just elevated but also "would only admit one person." So here we can see that there was no spiritual benefit, real or implied to going to church and praying, the only benefit that could even be imagined is that they do it to be seen of men. If we think of all the "societies" secret and known, most have their own chants, mottos, or ceremonies that are recited during the meeting so that every member can affirm their allegiance to the cause, and it would seem that this is no different. Instead of everyone standing in a circle holding hands and chanting the "prayer" at the same time, they go up to a stand, one at a time, so that everyone can see them and they recite their pledge to their cause, and it just so happens that Satan personally wrote their charter.
31:23-25 - Let's just think of the act that the people perform at the synagogue as a recitation of their allegiance to Satan in a round about way, because really that it the end result and though some might not come out and say specifically that they don't care about keeping the commandments and only want to do what they want to do all the time, that's really what their subconscious goal is, to justify to themselves their wicked and abominable behavior, while still keeping their spirit on life support. After the people had done their little dance at church "they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the holy stand." Honestly, this makes sense if we think about who they really think that their God is, just some spirit being who has no power and requires absolutely nothing of them for his chosen favor. But this complete lack of inhibition has led to a group of people who's "hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods. Yea, and he also saw that they hearts were lifted up unto great boasting, in their pride." These behaviors are all outward symptoms of inner selfishness and greed. The Primary lesson manual asks the questions, such as, "why did the Zoramites think they were better than others? In what ways might we sometimes feel that we are better than others?... What were the Zoramites' hearts set on? What are some worldly things that some children your age set their hearts on today? Why is it wrong to set our hearts on worldly things?" And this is why I love the primary lesson manual, these are very simple yet profound questions. In what ways do we feel that we are better than others? I think that for the most part, as a LDS people we would say "I don't feel that I'm better than others," and consciously that might be true, but in what ways do we act like we are better than others. Sometimes we lash out when we are frustrated, and this is especially true when those who take the brunt of our anger can't punish us for it in any way such as children and employees. How about when we "judge a book by it's cover" and then respond in kind, someone dressed immodestly, we treat like they are skanky, someone who's appearance is disheveled, we treat like they are unintelligent, someone who has a lot of kids at a young age, we might ask inappropriate questions like "do they all have the same father?" In fact any time we ask someone a question about their personal life, especially if it's in a manner that implies it is our right to know, indicates that we think less of them and their privacy than we think of ourselves and our nosiness. When someone doesn't give us the respect that we think that we deserve and we are unfriendly, I'm guilty of this quite a bit actually. All these are examples of ways that we show people that we think that we are better than them. What are some of the worldly things that we set our hearts on today and what does it truly cost us? How about the latest electronics? iPads, phones, computers, video cameras, designer purses, the biggest house, the nicest car, I don't think that there is any shortage of things that we want and set our hearts on, and yes they all cost money, but really what is the price? We spend our time working longer to afford things and spend less time with our families and on church assignments. We "lust" after these material things and think about them constantly, which pushes out pondering the scriptures or the prophets's teachings or or families or just communicating with God in general. We give up our time to focus on those things and we give up our mental and spiritual space to them as well. Gratitude is so very important to our spiritual growth and personal happiness and materialism is the ultimate form of ingratitude, and it also makes us indifferent towards the needs of others. We won't dare give up any of our time or money to improve the lives of others because we need the time to work and the money to buy things, which feeds the cycle of feeling that we are more important than anyone else, which means we lose our ability to serve, which sucks away our happiness and distances us from the Savior. Gratitude and service to others, that is how we combat the evils of materialism and pride, this pattern has been demonstrated to us throughout the scriptures and is proclaimed by the Lord himself, and truly it has brought me untold happiness and peace, even though I can improve on my efforts, when I do it, I feel whole and closer to my Savior, which is so much more important than any "thing" that I can ever have.
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