It’s rather ironic Korihor met his end at the hands of the Zoramites. He died literally under the feet of people who believed exactly as he taught. I can’t help but think he would’ve fared much better at the hands of the people who best lived the religion he eschewed, the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s.
The Zoramites are caricatures of the person who is pious and religious just for show. They are also a warning to us who are striving to be true Christians. They were all about appearance and vanity: pious on Sunday, and anything but the rest of the week. They thought they were “God’s elect” saved and set aside to be redeemed while the rest of the world is destroyed. They loudly claimed from their towers to know things, which in reality were far from the truth.
My great fear is that I am an unwitting Zoramite more often than I care to admit. And that for me is the best lesson to learn from them. They thought they had a corner on the truth, which they didn’t. And they thought they were God’s special people, which they weren’t. If anyone was what the Zoramites thought they were, it would have been the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s.
Beyond that, the mission to reclaim the Zoramites contains a pithy observation by Alma: the preaching of the word had more effect on the behavior of people than any other thing, even the sword. You want to change someone’s behavior, teach them the Gospel. Once internalized, it will cause changes no amount of force could ever do. It’s why all of us here in mortality chose the Father’s plan of agency over Satan’s plan of force. Change and growth has to come from within, it can’t be forced.
Showing posts with label Korihor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korihor. Show all posts
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Alma 29-30 - Other "true" churches and Korihor
There aren’t many greater contrasts in the Book of Mormon than Alma’s earnest prayer desiring to teach the Gospel to the world and the sordid tale of Korihor. On the one hand, Alma desires to be an angel (he knows what they can do!) to convincingly teach the Gospel to everyone. Then you have Korihor, an Anti-Christ, who teaches a message that in this life, it’s everyman for himself. Two men. Two messages: grace and charity on one hand, selfishness and pride on the other.
There’s an insightful gem into God’s efforts to teach His children tucked in Alma 29:8. There, Alma says the Lord grants to all nations in their own languages and cultural milieus all the wisdom He sees fit to give them. In Moroni is found the lesson that anything which points man to Christ is of God and good. Then in Jacob 5, we have God's effort to iteratively groom and prepare the olive vineyard for the last great harvest. They all show His' efforts to redeem and save His children are not confined to just this church.
I’ve been asked in the past how to explain the affirmations of other people in other religions who say their church is THE true church. How do I explain the witnesses they have had, I am asked. The key to the answer is in this verse. God gives to all people what their cultures prepare them to accept. As they master that and are ready for more, He'll find a way to give them more. I just happen to think the apex of His effort will always be found in the LDS church.
For the LDS church, there is more yet to come, even if it is nothing “more” than the sealed part of the Book of Mormon or the Law of Consecration. I look forward to the day those are revealed, but until then, I’ll do my best trying to live what has already been given. Even with that, I have a lot of work and growing to do.
Well, that took more space than I thought. On to Korihor. By reading and studying his messages, you will see all the arguments he hurled at Alma that are similarly hurled at the church today by its critics. See if these don’t sound familiar:
Church leaders’ motives are impure.
They glut themselves on the offerings of the members.
The church’s doctrines enslave people rather than free them.
There is no Christ.
There is a loving, all forgiving and friendly God who loves us as we are, so why work so hard being “good.”
The doctrines of the church are founded on the foolish traditions of long dead men.
What you see, feel or experience with your senses, is more important than what you learn through faith. (Atheists love this one, it’s the foundational axiom supporting the claim science is better than religion for teaching man about the world around him.)
Alma easily dismantles these arguments and exposes Korihor for the fraud he is. At the end of their debate, all Korihor does is demand, “I won’t believe until God shows me a sign.” So, God shows him one -- by striking him dumb and deaf. I like the judge’s observation, “who do you think God was going to manifest this sign on? Someone else?”
No longer useful to him, Satan abandons him. Like a used up candle, Korihor gutters out, trampled to death by the über self-righteous Zoramites.
There’s an insightful gem into God’s efforts to teach His children tucked in Alma 29:8. There, Alma says the Lord grants to all nations in their own languages and cultural milieus all the wisdom He sees fit to give them. In Moroni is found the lesson that anything which points man to Christ is of God and good. Then in Jacob 5, we have God's effort to iteratively groom and prepare the olive vineyard for the last great harvest. They all show His' efforts to redeem and save His children are not confined to just this church.
I’ve been asked in the past how to explain the affirmations of other people in other religions who say their church is THE true church. How do I explain the witnesses they have had, I am asked. The key to the answer is in this verse. God gives to all people what their cultures prepare them to accept. As they master that and are ready for more, He'll find a way to give them more. I just happen to think the apex of His effort will always be found in the LDS church.
For the LDS church, there is more yet to come, even if it is nothing “more” than the sealed part of the Book of Mormon or the Law of Consecration. I look forward to the day those are revealed, but until then, I’ll do my best trying to live what has already been given. Even with that, I have a lot of work and growing to do.
Well, that took more space than I thought. On to Korihor. By reading and studying his messages, you will see all the arguments he hurled at Alma that are similarly hurled at the church today by its critics. See if these don’t sound familiar:
Church leaders’ motives are impure.
They glut themselves on the offerings of the members.
The church’s doctrines enslave people rather than free them.
There is no Christ.
There is a loving, all forgiving and friendly God who loves us as we are, so why work so hard being “good.”
The doctrines of the church are founded on the foolish traditions of long dead men.
What you see, feel or experience with your senses, is more important than what you learn through faith. (Atheists love this one, it’s the foundational axiom supporting the claim science is better than religion for teaching man about the world around him.)
Alma easily dismantles these arguments and exposes Korihor for the fraud he is. At the end of their debate, all Korihor does is demand, “I won’t believe until God shows me a sign.” So, God shows him one -- by striking him dumb and deaf. I like the judge’s observation, “who do you think God was going to manifest this sign on? Someone else?”
No longer useful to him, Satan abandons him. Like a used up candle, Korihor gutters out, trampled to death by the über self-righteous Zoramites.
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