Alma 36 In Light of the LDS Temple

[Darren10]

I recently posted on Alma 36 outlining the Godhead as follows: God the Father being above all, Jesus christ, Son of god as Redeemer, and Holy Ghost to fill oneself and to become born of God. This was oart of Alma's recollection of his own return to the church of God. We read through this conversion in Alma 36 in Gospel Doctrine class a couple of Sundays ago. During my personal, self analytic reading in class a series of events triggered in my mind. 

What caught my mind first was Alma's vision of God on a throne. In that vision God was surrounded by angels proclaiming their praises to Him. This triggered the Margaret Barker in me in that when in scriputre God, angels, and at least on mortal come together in one unified body it is to be seen as a temple setting. The reason I credit her for this is that based upon the few readings I have done on her works, Gid, andgels, and mortals were frequently represented in ancient Israelite temple worship. I found this completely compatible with the moder LDS temple worship known as "temple sessions" in which I've always been curious why the presence of angels is mentioned. It made perfect sense to me that if the LDS temples are part of a restoration of what once was then reading this by Barker, a primer scholar on ancient temple worship in Israel, excited me and opened my focus on scripture to when God, angels, and mortals (at least one) would be mentioned in the same setting. Therefore, when I read of Alma's vision of God on a throne surrounded by angels that to me qualified for a temple setting. In that vision there were God, angels, and Alma as the mortal testifying the greatness of God whom in this case I see as God the Father. The natural follow up question I aksed my self was what would this chapter have to do with LDS temple worship?

After asking myself that question I began to pay close attention to the details of Alma's conversion to the church of God. I quickly ran a comparison/contrast, as I long have done, between Alama and Saul who became known as Paul after his own conversion to the church pf God. Both Alma and Saul had divine visions calling each one respectively towards repentance. The main difference is that Saul did not grown up in the church of God as Alma most errainly did. Alma in Alma 36 is known as Alma the Younger, son of Alma who himself converted to the church of God after hearing the words of the prophet Abinadi. Both Alma the Younger and Saul persecuted the church of God in their own way. Saul was a devote Hebrew faithfully following the Law of Moses. He loke many othr Jews rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah and in Saul's case, preaching Jesus' wird mounted to blepashpemy and thus helped in putting Christians to death. Although Christianity is justifiably a continuation of Judaism, the church of God at this point in history was that of the Christian church recieving its authority from Jesus Christ Himself who was Jehovah (YHWH in Hebrew) in mortal flesh. But what of Alma the Younger?

As mentioned above, Alma the Younger was the son of Alma who lead believers in Christ to baptism. Later, having the proper authority, set up and directed the church of God. If Alma the Elder (Alma the Younger's father) we read in Mosiah 18:

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 16 And after this manner he did baptize every one that went forth to the place of Mormon; and they were in number about two hundred and four souls; yea, and they were baptized in the waters of Mormon, and were filled with the grace of God.

 17 And they were called the church of God, or the churchof Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church.

 18 And it came to pass that Alma, having authority from God, ordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number did he ordain to preach unto them, and to teach them concerning the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

 19 And he commanded them that they should teachnothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets.

 20 Yea, even he commanded them that they should preachnothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people.

So it is extremely safe to conclude that Alma the Younger was raised entirely in the church of God. The Nephite people to whom both Almas identified (Alma the Elder was a descendent of Nephi), originated from Jerusalem. They would therefore have ancient Israelite beliefs and temple rituals. Using modern LDS temple theology and worship, I think one can especially relate to the doctrines Alma the Younger taught as written in Alma 36.

All this went rapidly through my mind during Gospel Doctrine. With an eye keen to detect temple doctrine using Alma's vision of seeing God sitting on a throne and being worshipped by angles to justify this chapter as a temple motif, I thought out certain specific passages in that chapter. 

According to the words Alma the Younger shared with his son Helaman as recorded in Alma 36 as Alma the Younger went forth with the sons of Mosiah "destroying the church of God" we read:

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7 And behold, he spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did tremble beneath our feet; and we all fell to the earth, for the fear of the Lord came upon us.

 8 But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.

 9 And he said unto me: If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.

 10 And it came to pass that I fell to the earth; and it was for the space of three days and three nights that I could not open my mouth, neither had I the use of my limbs.

 11 And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did not hear them; for when I heard the words—If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.

Alma himself "fell to the earth in a sense of horror for what he was doing at that era in his life. It is the details of his dread which caught my attention in particular: 

(all bold from here on out are mine)

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12 But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

 13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.

Here I think we can read this one of two ways. First, that Alma felt the "pains of hell" from rebelling *and* not keeping the commandments of God. Second, I tihnk it perfectly fine to read the same passage as Alma feeling the "pains of hell" because he rebelled from not keeping the commandments of God. I chose to view this passage in the lense of the latter possibility for it flowed perfectly with LDS temple theology. 

The fact that Alma was "tormented" with the "pains of hell" from not keeping God's commandments was telling but more telling is the adjective Alma used for commandments. They were spken about as "holy" commendments. This would indicate commendments from a holy place. 

The details of Alma's torment continue:

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14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

 15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.

 16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.

Here was very interesting to me. If read these verses as details of why Alma felt tormented. What was telling to me was the abscence of fear of going to hell forever. That's not what tormented him. It was his not being worthy to be in the presence of God which tormented Alma. He judged his soul to be "damned" not at all mentioning eternal hell, commonly called Outer Darkness in Mormon theology, the only thing he mentioned was not being able to stand in the presence of God. That it was pure mercy in Christ, "not of [his] own worthiness" (verse 12 of the same chapter) which allowed Alma to feel cleansed and pure and thus "worhty to stand in the presence of God seeing Him sitting on a throne and the host of heaven praising and worshipping Him. 

All this I found very compatible to LDS temple worship. The covenants and promises made to God there by its attendees are for the entrance into God's presence. That any lack of keeping those commandments results in Satan having power over them. That where they falter, and we all do, it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Son of God, that we are brought back to be found worthy. But there's one more key element in Alma 36 which stood out ot me. 

We read in that chapter:

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24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Alma testifies of him laboring "without ceasing" and seems to connect that with being "filled" with the Holy Ghost. I would assume this is meant that "filled" would mean to feel the Hoyl Ghost constantly. For Alma, it seems that keeping the commandments and laboring for the glory of God continually are key to feeling the Holy Ghost continually and to reach a point of being, through the grace of Jesus Christ, Son of God, be able to stand worthily in God's presence. 

For a while now I have told people that there is more to the eternities than to merely "be saved". Exaltation is the highest of the blessings from the Father available to all. One does not have to keep the commandments "without ceasing" to be "saved" but all do have to keep them to reach exaltation. And keeping the commandments should not be seen as making one "merit" or "deserve" the highest of all blessings, but it does allow one to fully recieve the fullness of mercy which is in Jesus Christ, Son of God. The commandments to keep are found in the temples of God. I view Alma 36 as a story which one grew up in God's church and recieved the promises and blessings of the temple. That at some point in his life for some reason, he rebelled against them and lead others to do the same. That from God's abundant mercy, he repented and came back to full worship including temple worship. 

Amazing what can open up in one's mind and heart within a few minutes of scripture reading. 

[salgare]

That was a lot to chew on, but I currently have a thought on one part of it.  I believe the temple has two purposes; first to teach, second to provide whatever "keys" might be required for one to find themselves in the presence of your three (God, Angels and mortal).  However I assume most instances of a mortal finding themselves in this presence seldom happens in the temple, but in ones personal closet or place where the veil becomes thin and is spread and one is introduced into that company.

These are personal visions and dreams. I have been on an Oath and Covenant kick of late ... this is what is promised, this is the pattern given over and over in the BoM and through the early history of the Church.

I have had two dreams in my life that approach but fall short of this, but never a vision.  How about you?

[Darren10]

No, nothing of the sort for me. Just the voice of God in o e dream I had when I was a pre-teen. 

It's interesting stuff though. 

[salgare]

7 hours ago, Darren10 said:

No, nothing of the sort for me. Just the voice of God in o e dream I had when I was a pre-teen. 

It's interesting stuff though. 

Should we not trust (expect) in the promises of the Oath and Covenant to provide us these experiences?  I assume all here would give a similar answer to this question and taking a close look at our most spiritual experiences.  It seems most will mention one converting experience from long ago and typically this is never a vision or a dream.

There is an implied progression in the Temple through the 4 levels of Priesthoods (the covenants) should one not expect to start out weak with spiritual experience and grow in strength?

An example from http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZebC.html:

 

"(Brother [Zebedee] Coltrin then gave an account of the appearance of the Father and Son as given in the minutes of the meeting of the 3rd inst.) Jesus was clothed in modern clothing, apparently of gray cloth. When he saw Him in the Kirtland Temple, on the cross his hands were spiked to the wood and he had around him what appeared like a sheet. He had seen Joseph giving revelation when he could not look on his face, so full was he (Joseph) of the glory of God, and the house was full of the same glory. About the time the school was first organized some wished to see an angel, and a number joined in the circle and prayed. When the vision came, two of the brethren shrank and called for the vision to close or they would perish; they were Brothers Hancock and Humphries. When the Prophet came in they told him what they had done and he said the angel was no further off than the roof of the house, and a moment more he would have been in their midst. "

Another example https://www.lds.org/ensign/1993/01/house-of-revelation?lang=eng:

"In addition, some of the most sacred events of early Church history took place in an upstairs room at a conference held 23 January 1833. Further, the ordinance of the washing of feet was given here for the first time in this dispensation. (See HC, 1:323–24.) Several of those present experienced “divine manifestations of the Holy Spirit,” including a vision of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ."

From the same ensign article:

"‘Mother Whitney’ [Elizabeth Ann, wife of Newel] also tells how on a certain night prior to the advent … , while she and her husband were praying to the Lord to know how they might obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost, which of all things they desired, they saw a vision as of a cloud of glory resting upon their house, and heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Prepare to receive the word of the Lord, for it is coming.’” (HC, 1:146.)"

Are "old men's dreams" and visions are a thing of the past?  As you have seen and studied these things out have you not had a strong desire for these same experiences?

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2016 by salgare

[Darren10]

For me, whatever comes comes. There are many ways the Holy Spirit works on individuals. The important thing for us is to recognize it when it happens. This is how we recognize the work of the Lord in our lives. 

[sam]

Good topic