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Showing posts from September, 2017

"My Joy Is More Full," Alma 29

Alma 29 An interesting realization is observed by Alma in these verses, for he knows that God gives to all men according to the portion of the word that He sees to be fit for them. The reason that Alma knew that to be true was because he had received that portion of the word of God that was given to his people. In verse 4 , it reads "I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God..." I think I know what this means, but it's the use of the phrase "harrow up" that has me searching. Definitions of the word "harrow" are "To tear; to lacerate; to torment" or "vex". It's quite a violent word. When I searched for the word elsewhere in the scriptures, it appears usually in context of someone coming to the realization of their serious sins or as a description of war. "And this great sin, and his many other sins, did harrow up his mind until it did become exceedingly sore, having no deliverance;" (

"I Know There Is a God, and Also That Christ Shall Come," Alma 30

Alma 30 The rhetoric of Anti-Christ: vs. 13 , Starts with the assumption of bondage through a vain and foolish hope. "Why do ye look for a Christ?" This is directly opposing Christ. vs.14 , he goes on to attack prophecy. Why if one is Anti-Christ would they go at the doctrine of prophecy? "Ye cannot know of things which ye do not see;" The support poles of the Anti-Christ argument is 1) you cannot believe what you cannot see ( vs. 15 ), and 2) when a man dies that is the end of him. ( vs. 18 ). At the heart of the Anti-Christ argument is that "there could be no atonement made for the sins of men." and that man is alone in the world to fend for himself. ( see vs. 17 ) This I could never believe because of the reality of the Atonement of Christ in my life. I have experienced a remission of sins. I know what it is to go in opposition to the commands of God, and then to return, to repent, and to have that weight lifted from me. Real as anything