Click to Listen: Episode 46: Alma 38-40
In this one we learn that Corianton chased the skirt a little too much and ol Daddy Alma is not very pleased. But, as usual, Alma gets a little drunk in the middle of all his blabbering and starts going on and on about zombies. Seriously, I think Alma might need professional help.
“Drink” Count – 16
Not even 3 beers?? Weak!
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My Book of Mormon 
October 28, 2014 at 5:56 pm
Allow me to explain the LDS thinking regarding the resurrection.
In most Christian faiths, there is the concept of the rapture, where the righteous will be raised to heaven and the rest burned at Christ’s return. But, this only applies to the living.
LDS theology has twisted that a bit. They don’t really use the term Rapture. They call it “The 2nd Coming”, referring to the 2nd coming of Christ. The wicked will surely burn during the 2nd coming, but there isn’t really a strong belief that the faithful will be raised up. Just that they won’t burn. Some believe that the garments will protect them from the burning.
Part of the 2nd coming is the resurrection of the faithful dead. The extremely faithful throughout history will come back to life, in perfection, and live for 1000 more years, during which time Satan will be locked up and we will have peace on Earth under Christ’s perfect government. The lion will lay with the lamb and there will be no death. This is the time which the whole Earth will be engaged in performing sacred ordinances for the dead that are required to enter the highest kingdom of glory. This is called the morning of the first resurrection.
After 1000 years have passed, there will be another resurrection (The morning of the 2nd resurrection) where the rest of the not-so-faithful will be brought back to life. Satan will be loosed again and many of the very elect will be deceived and condemned to outer darkness. There will be some kind of final battle between good and evil, where God will win in the end. Earth will be transformed into a paradise, which will become the lowest kingdom of heaven.
BTW, don’t try and ask HOW people will be brought back to life, they just will because God can do anything. And certainly don’t ask how those lost at sea or cremated are supposed to find their way back. They just will.
October 28, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Back when I was a believer, I envisioned a big commotion about these resurrection events with literal body parts flying around in (reddish tinged) dust and reassembling into corporeal forms. I don’t know how common that interpretation of the actual process is though. It seems really weird to me now that I used to think that and it strikes me as a bit gross and unrealistic now. Given my prior vision of the actual events, David’s use of “zombies” is pretty funny to me.
The result of these resurrections are supposed to be glorified, perfect immortal bodies. My question now is if we’re all perfect, will we also look virtually identical?
My young daughter once stated her thoughts on perfection which had surprising profundity for her young age: “No one is perfect, and if they were, it would be boring because everyone would act the same.”
October 29, 2014 at 11:02 am
Just can’t let this episode pass without mentioning that we have our third named woman!
Sariah: the long suffering wife.
Abish: Lamoni’s servant
and now! Isabel the harlot!
November 3, 2014 at 5:35 am
Isabel is totally my favorite. She sounds hot, doesn’t she?
November 1, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Alma’s lecture to Corianton is one of the more important theological passages in the book. “Wickedness never was happiness” is a rather frequently used meme within Mormonism, meaning that sexual activity outside of marriage is the next worst thing one could do outside murder and denial of the holy ghost. I don’t think that interpretation can last another generation, I think pretty soon the message of the church is going to emphasize the fact he abandoned his evangelism rather than the fact that he chased a harlot.
This also leads to a lot of guilt trips. I was always taught that it was my duty to be the best person at all times, because I was an ambassador for the church, and if I did bad stuff, it could affect people’s willingness to hear the gospel.(like the people alma couldn’t convert because of his son’s example)
November 2, 2014 at 12:16 am
It is kinda nice that the poor people didn’t care if Corianton ran off with harlots.
November 3, 2014 at 3:52 am
It’s funny to see David push back the blame squarely on Alma for Alma’s failures to convert. It really is screwy that they taught us to think that somehow when we “sinned” that it caused problems in missionary work or other ways of “advancing the work.” It’s very likely not the fault of the “sinners” that the church’s growth is slowing according to their own official numbers. (Honestly, I think the internet and the current secular cultural shift are both much more at fault here).
If missionaries fail to get a lot of baptisms it could be a host of reasons unrelated to the “sinfulness” of the membership:
– The area is becoming more culturally secular
– The area is already saturated with a religious belief system
– The missionaries are young adults who don’t have any strong counterarguments for hard questions about LDS history or science which contradicts its validity, and are generally not well informed about troubling history issues themselves. (A mission may be more about converting the missionaries than attaining converts).
– In relationship to the prior point, cognitive dissonance and persecution complexes make missionaries who are contradicted by outsiders that tell them the church is lying to them feel like “Satan” is working through the hearts of men to keep them from learning the “truth of the church’s message.” Sending them out uninformed does benefit the church, because it makes the missionaries feel like they’re being opposed for spreading “truth” which reinforces their beliefs via confirmation bias.
– Non-members may have become very knowledgeable about LDS history and can retort from a well informed position, Mormonism is a matter of curiosity for some people because it’s an interesting group/phenomenon to study (David himself is a bit of evidence of this)
– The system the LDS church uses to try to get converts is antiquated and ineffective
– People see no reason to convert to a religion which is very restrictive and if they wanted to stop drinking alcohol, coffee, tea or using tobacco, they don’t really need a religion to do it
– There’s less emphasis on socialization through religious worship than there was in the past (social media may be making it obsolete).
– It’s easier than ever to share that you doubt the veracity of any faith and find a community which shares your disbelief
– There are other acceptable (scientifically supported) mechanisms for dealing with stress which don’t require penitence, interaction with clergy or worship, meditation and therapy for instance.
– Evolved notions of what constitutes sin may be growing to be more based on harm rather than superstitious Bronze and Iron age opinions for morality
– Society has grown more accepting of lifestyles that would previously be considered shameful or sinful, these shameful or sinful lifestyles are still taught as such in Mormonism, leaving them as a bit behind the times in social change
November 3, 2014 at 5:34 am
It think you just won “Longest Comment Ever” award. Seriously, this is awesome stuff, have you ever considered starting a blog? Based on these gems you just dropped, you’ve got a knack for it!
November 11, 2014 at 8:38 pm
I realize I’m a week behind but are you gonna tell us what’s got you down? We’re family after all 🙂