MAY READING
May 7—Alma 17-22 (final class)
MAIN CHIASM 13: 2-9
A order of his Son (v. 2)
B ordained (v. 3)
C called (v. 3)
D foreknowledge of God (v. 3)
E prepared (v. 3)
F foundation of the world (v. 5)
G Only Begotten Son (v. 5)
H high priesthood (v. 6)
I his rest (v. 6)
H high priesthood (v. 7)
G his Son (v. 7)
F foundation of the world (v. 7)
E prepared (v. 7)
D foreknowledge of all things (v. 7)
C called (v. 8) B ordained (v. 8)
A order of the Son (v. 9)
“In explaining the priesthood to the people of Ammonihah, Alma taught the doctrine of priesthood authority by expressing it in the form of a chiasm. He then called the attention of the people to the chiastic structure of his sermon by uttering the phrase “And thus it is, Amen.” In written form, the beginning of the chiasm is more difficult to identify than the conclusion because there is not formula that signals the start of the chiasm.As he spoke it,Alma may have indicated the beginning of the chiasm with a gesture or some other behavior that would have been recognized by his listeners.”
JamesT. Duke,https://publications.mi.byu.edu/pdf-control.php/publications/jbms/5/1/S00003-50aa69fb2f9aa3Duke
REST
“These verses indicate a connection between seeing the face of God, having the power of the priesthood, and having the key of the knowledge of God, and entering into the rest of God.
Alma understood that entering into the rest of God meant seeing the face of God and experiencing his fulness, and that this could only be accomplished through the power of the higher priesthood.
Rest is possible only through the atonement of Christ and is earned through faith, repentance and not hardening our hearts.
These scriptural passages afford the hope and comfort that all the faithful saints who have been valiant in the service of God and who have kept his commandments and loved their fellow beings may confidently look forward to
the rest of God.”
JamesT. Duke,https://publications.mi.byu.edu/pdf-control.php/publications/jbms/5/1/S00003-50aa69fb2f9aa3Duke
FOREORDINATION
“In the premortal spirit world, God appointed certain spirits to fulfill specific missions during their mortal lives.This is called foreordination. Foreordination does not guarantee that individuals will receive certain callings or responsibilities. Such opportunities come in this life as a result of the righteous exercise of agency, just as foreordination came as a result of righteousness in the premortal existence.
The doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and His prophets. Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given certain responsibilities and faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood duties.As people prove themselves worthy, they will be given opportunities to fulfill the assignments they then received.”
https://www.lds.org/topics/foreordination?lang=eng
“The conventional interpretation of the opening verses of Alma 13 holds that Alma understood and taught the people of Ammonihah that all who receive the priesthood in mortality were foreordained to receive it on account of their exceeding faith and good works in the pre-existence.That interpretation includes the idea that others were not foreordained to receive the priesthood in mortality because they were not as faithful or valiant in the pre-existence.”
“What Alma specifies as the “manner of ordination” is the way in which any man may qualify to receive the Priesthood.That method of qualification is what Alma says was intended to provide a type, or teaching, as to how all people might “look forward to the Son of God for redemption.” And what was that method?
It is that,“being left to choose good or evil,” they exercise “exceedingly great faith” and are called, “while others ... reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds” when they might have received the same holy calling if they had also exercised exceedingly great faith.
In this way, the reference to “the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God” can be seen as a parenthetical observation that the worthiness qualification itself was foreordained “from the foundation of the world.” While God certainly foreknew which of His sons would qualify in mortality to receive the Priesthood, the standards He preset did not exclude any of them.All men would exercise their agency and choose for themselves. All were called, but fewer would be chosen, in exercise of their own free will and choice.”
A. Keith Thompson, https://www.mormoninterpreter.com/were-we-foreordained-to-the-priesthood-or-was-the- standard-of-worthiness-foreordained-alma-13-reconsidered/
THE NARRATIVE
“A successful book is not made of what is in it,” MarkTwain wrote,“but of what is left out of it.” Though he would have never admitted it,Twain’s definition would have made the Book of Mormon a successful book.The book is full of things that are not there, from such cultural details as what Nephite cities looked like to the far more personal—emotions, doubts, and questions. Of course, the book does offer detail at times, but often information is left out at the moment in the narrative when readers are the most curious about what happened.The text frequently shows signs of having been carefully crafted, the narrator picking and choosing what should be said and what is best left to our imaginations.
Rather than taking quick looks at brief passages throughout the book, closely reading a single subject of a rather lengthy narrative can be more fruitful if we desire to see how the narrator left important story elements to us and our hearts and minds.”
Charles Swift, https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/volume-13-number-1-2012/when-less-more-reticent-narrator-story-alma-
and-amulek
THE NARRATIVE
“What does he mean by the mysteries and power of God? What has he seen? What does he mean when he says that he was called many times but would not hear? Called to do what? How does a man know he is being called if he does not hear? What were the things that he knew but would not know? And when he says that he rebelled against God in the wickedness of his heart, are we to take him at his word and believe that he actually was someone like Alma in his youth, in open rebellion against God? Or, is he such a humble and spiritual man that he considers the slightest weakness to be rebellion, the tiniest of flaws enough to make his heart wicked? Rather than claiming that we do not know these details because they are not important to our salvation, perhaps it is more accurate to say that we do not know them because not knowing them may be important to our salvation. By leaving out this information, the narrator makes it easier for us to relate to Amulek. Many members may feel that they have, at times, fallen short in how they serve. Many may believe that they have been called, but would not hear, and that they knew, but would not know. If the narrator made clear exactly what Amulek was referring to, then perhaps fewer readers would see themselves in him. But since we really do not know how far Amulek had gone in being unrighteous, the narrator leads us to ask questions of ourselves. We reflect on how well we have heard the voice of the Lord, on how hesitant we may sometimes be to admit that we know what we know.These verses tell us something about Amulek, but they invite us to learn much more about ourselves.”
“Amulek has lost all that he has owned. He has seen the martyrdom of many innocent women and children, perhaps including witnessing the murder of his wife and children, by being burned alive, one of the most torturous ways to die. Perhaps worse of all, he was told that he could do nothing to save them. He has been imprisoned for days and tortured, then miraculously delivered by the Lord. He has had to meet with the men whose families he had seen murdered and tell them all that had happened, including how he and Alma could not save their families, but they could save themselves. And he has seen one of his enemies healed because of his faith in the word and then baptized. He has lost his friends, his father, and his kindred. He may have even lost his own wife and children. Does he remember how the angel had told him that Alma would be a blessing to him? Does he remember when he testified that Alma had indeed blessed him, his wife and children, and all his family?”
Charles Swift, https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/volume-13-number-1-2012/when-less-more-reticent-narrator-story-alma-and-amulek
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