milk & honey mamas

Theological Background by Kristen

Alma’s unforgettable encounter with Jesus changes him for good. In the stories that follow, it seems that he tries to make sense of what has happened to him, what it means, and what it propels him to do and to be. What does Jesus mean? How does Jesus fit into the theological inheritance onto which Alma is mapping his transformational experience? Teachings about Jesus, of course, are not new in the Book of Mormon. But as I have previously discussed, the prophetic writers struggle to fit these teachings about Jesus into the theological paradigms they are familiar with. 

The first issue to reckon with concerns sin. What is sin? When we read the Book of Mormon, we transfer our usually Protestant understanding of original corruption onto the theologies we encounter in the text. When we read Alma the younger speaking about being saved from “the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell,” (5:10), or when we read his exhortation against sin as a filthy stain which will testify against the sinners to prohibit their entry to paradise (5:22-24), many of us immediately recall theological training about our wickedness, propensity to evil, and “natural man” tendencies. This is evidence of our reformation eyes and minds, suitably educated in our original corruption. While Latter-day Saints reject such teachings in principle, we endorse them in rhetorical practice. Yet Alma’s words are profoundly Jewish. His understanding of sin echoes a biblical tradition which assumes a universality of sin without assuming a natural human corruption. The biblical writers consistently call Israel to repentance, demonstrating a paradigm of sinfulness as violation of covenant. The problem is not that humans are naturally inclined to evil and that their nature is permanently corrupted (requiring the intervention of a Savior), the problem is that the covenant people are failing to live into their covenant. This is a social justice paradigm more than a personal guilt paradigm (see here and here). 

In my experience, many of us read Alma 5 expecting to be excoriated and we leave the chapter feeling like well-traveled trash. I think this has a lot to do with some of our theological baggage concerning the meaning of sin and the need of redemption. Put in (slightly more) context, we see a few things going on. First, Alma the younger has reconnected with his father’s story. Likely, he has heard this story a thousand times. But suddenly it has taken on extraordinary meaning to him. Suddenly, it has come alive. And in this story, young Alma likely sees himself for the first time. He sees the sin of the priests of Noah, and of Noah himself. He sees the systematic evil at work when a power-ethos holds control. And he sees the fear of the people who have been trained in a prosperity gospel paradigm:

And so great were their afflictions that every soul had cause to mourn; and they believed that it was the judgments of God sent upon them because of their wickedness and their abominations; therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty.

And they began to establish the church more fully; yea, and many were baptized in the waters of Sidon and were joined to the church of God; yea, they were baptized by the hand of Alma, who had been consecrated the high priest over the people of the church, by the hand of his father Alma

Alma 4:3-4

It is unclear if Alma agrees with the opinion that God’s judgment has come upon the people to chastise them for their sins, though it seems likely given his rhetoric. But it also seems that young Alma is after something much deeper. He recognizes that the people are motivated by fear and guilt to their “duty,” and he certainly utilizes this guilt in his stirring remarks. But I wonder if Alma is also trying to make sense of his strange experience of redemption. There is no stain allowed before God, he recounts, echoing biblical language about sin (which I must remind us has a very different connotation and social orientation than the later Protestant understanding removed from the original Judaic context), and he emphasizes this point vigorously. But to the traditional Isaiah-like language, he adds Jesus. It is Christ who will cleanse the stained garments. It is Christ who calls to sinners, Christ who calls him to speak, Christ who will one day come. Alma is working Christ into the equation. He is translating his experience into his prophetic ministry. 

We don’t know, of course, what Book of Mormon people generally believed or thought about Jesus. It seems, however, that his mention is almost always taken as new news. Abinadi, for example, criticizes the court of Noah for teaching and ostensibly obeying the law of Moses without understanding its Christic origins. How had King Benjamin’s teachings about Christ been received or implemented? How were people making sense of this idea of a Redeemer? What was Alma the elder teaching about Christ? How was it landing for people? What did Jesus mean to the people of the Book of Mormon? 

As mothers, we read Alma’s reconnection with his father’s story and ache. What makes stories come alive for children? What spark draws the fire from the kindle against the stone? We cannot know the answers to all of these questions, but asking them may help us think through the context in which young Alma addresses the newly-pious people. Alma will, interestingly, adapt his theological understanding of Jesus over the course of his ministry. He will, for example, amend his beliefs about hellfire after witnessing the burning of innocents. The point I am trying to make is that for Alma, all things are new. He is awakened to Jesus, and all of his life afterward tries to make sense of that experience. Perhaps the same is true for us.

Ideas for Play

Contributed by Kristen

• Read the Book of Mormon Storybook!

• Watch the Book of Mormon video of Alma preaching

• Often the prophets in the Book of Mormon tell the people to repent! What does that mean? When you read these words, what do you think and feel?

• Try out some ideas of repentance (we like “repentance is healing, repentance is like gardening”)

• Read Treaty Words: For As Long as the Rivers Flow and discuss being in relationship with God. Repentance helps heal our hearts to receive God’s love when our hearts are dry and parched.

• Pick out some of your favorite verses from this section. Illustrate them together and hang them up!

Poetry

Compiled by Caroline

A Prayer for Steadfastness 

St. Augustine 

O God, the light of every heart that sees Thee, the Life of every soul that loves Thee, the strength of every mind that seeks Thee, grant me ever to continue steadfast in Thy holy love. Be Thou the joy of my heart; take it all to Thyself, and therein abide. The house of my soul is, I confess, too narrow for Thee; do thou enlarge it, that Thou mayest enter in; it is ruinous, but do Thou repair it. It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and know it; but whose help shall I implore in cleansing it, but Thine alone? To Thee, therefore, I cry urgently, begging that Thou wilt cleanse me from my secret faults, and keep Thy servant from presumptuous sins, that they never get dominion over me. Amen.

—Augustine.

Art

Compiled by Caroline

Music

Compiled by Caroline