Alma 32-35

READING FOR NEXT WEEK: ALMA 36-39

WHY ARE YOU A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST?

“No man that clearly seeth the beauty of God’s face can, when he sees it clearly, willingly or wittingly forsake Him.”  Thomas Traherne

READ THE FOLLOWING AND COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE TWO EVENTS:

ALMA 32: 1-5
ALMA 35: 1-9

What can we learn relevant to our circumstances today?

“HARD SAYINGS AND SAFE PLACES”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLmNIiVJAM0#action=share

“We have been commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, and when it comes to neighbors, there are no outsiders. Perhaps even more important, when our fellow Saints find themselves outside the formal church fellowship or membership, they should never find themselves outside of the fellowship of our friendship and the circle of our love.”
“We must open our hearts wider, reach out father, and love more loudly.We must make space for the struggle and faith as we await the final victory, which is assured if we come to Christ.”

Eric D. Huntsman, https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/eric-d-huntsman/hard-sayings-and-safe-spaces-making-room-for- both-struggle-and-faith/

Hale: In Mormon pockets — whether that's a congregation or a group of friends — those groups can be more receptive and forgiving to comments that might be a little bit racist or a little bit homophobic than they might be to things that are seen as "too inclusive."
Huntsman:That's exactly why individuals need to speak up.You know, I've got a lot of straight-white-male-priesthood privilege. It's pretty important that I speak up for a sister or speak up for a person of color or that I speak up for an LGBTQ person. Because Christ said to stand up. He said to be like him.When Jesus went to synagogue he often didn't say what everyone was expecting. So yes, it's a natural desire to fit in, but we want to fit in with Jesus. I think it's important that we make sure that those who are in the corners know that they're loved.

Hale: Some say that you can't be a believer of Mormon doctrine and also be a true feminist or a true ally — that you can't hold those two things together. What do you think?
Huntsman:What I often tell my students when they raise these issues, and I know that they may not be coming from the same place I am, but I'm just speaking as a faithful Latter-day Saint. I sustain the leaders of my church. So I leave the church policies and doctrines between the church's leaders and the Lord. But what I tell my students is incumbent upon every baptized member of this church is how we treat each other.And that's between us and the Lord.

https://www.kuer.org/post/byu-professor-asking-mormons-stand-marginalized#stream/0

FAITH

“I sometimes regret the fact that we use the word "faith" in religious discussions.Why? Because I think it's become a technical term that obscures for many what should be and is a very simple concept.This has created serious controversies and unnecessary misunderstandings.The Greek word "pistis," which English Bibles typically render as "faith," also means "confidence" or "trust," and these ordinary, everyday terms convey very neatly what scriptural faith entails.The first readers of the New Testament didn't have to ask what "pistis" meant. Paul hadn't invented the word.They knew it already; it had been common in Greek for centuries.And in the standard English lexicon of classical Greek, the first definition of "pistis" is "trust in others." While theological factions might argue -- and, in fact, have argued -- for decades over the definition of "faith," we all have a reasonably clear idea of what it means to have "trust" in someone.When the Greek New Testament was translated into Latin, "pistis" was rendered as "fides," which again meant "trust" or "confidence." Our English word "faith" comes from the Latin "fides," but today we tend to think of "faith" as "belief in something without proof," and, often, more as agreement with a set of propositions than as trust in a person. But God is a person, and saving faith -- although it surely entails agreeing with certain propositions -- is trust in him, as a person, to love us and to keep his promises to us.”

Daniel C. Peterson

ALMA’S EXPERIMENT

“Alma illustrates the correlation between hope and faith through metaphor, comparing the word of God to a seed. Just as one must exercise faith in planting a seed that will eventually develop into a fruit-yielding tree, so must a person exercise faith by applying God’s word before experiencing spiritual transformation. The analogy relies upon a series of highly calculated literary allusions to the biblical stories of creation. As impressive as Alma’s sermon is at inspiring audiences to live in accordance with the divine will, as readers we can appreciate this learned text at an even deeper level by identifying the ways in which Alma’s discourse invokes biblical creation to encourage audiences to develop the type of faith that brings everlasting life

“Through metaphor,Alma invites his audience to ponder the miraculous way in which the power of creation (as depicted through his word in the Bible’s opening stories) appears reenacted every time a seed develops into a fruit-bearing tree. He uses biblical creation imagery to encourage his audience to cultivate the type of faith that brings everlasting life. God’s word is powerful from Alma’s perspective. We should take that word and plant it in our hearts. By invoking the miracle of creation of the past in a present context of seed growth and re-creation,Alma encourages his readers to fulfill the measure of their own creation by experimenting upon the divine word. In other words, obtaining the type of faith Alma describes is the very purpose of human existence.And it has been, from the beginning.”

David E. Bokovoy, “The Word and the Seed: The Theological Use of Biblical Creation in Alma 32” scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1555&context=jbms

OUR DISCIPLESHIP

“The problem with institutional religion, even one divinely restored, is the temptation it affords us to make our own spirituality the goal. Rules, standards, and commandments provide us with a means to measure our own progress, our own prospect for happiness. That is not discipleship, that is pious self- interest.”

“Anything but a belief structure based on anything other than a loving, trusting response to Christ will fail us.”

Terryl L. Givens, https://mi.byu.edu/video-givens-1/