Alma 29:1-5

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Questions

Verse 3: Usually we think a desire, or wish, in itself is not a sin. In this line of thinking it is only when we entertain them or act them in ways that are counter to God that they become sin. In verse 3 Alma tells us he sins in his wish. Does this suggest that his desire, in itself, was a sin, or is Alma talking about something more than simply his desire?

Verse 3 & 6: Alma says he sins in his wish to be an angel and cry repentance unto the earth (v. 3), and essentially that he should be content to do that which he has been called (v. 6). But D&C 58:26-29 discusses how we should not have to be commanded in all things, but that we should be "anxiously engaged in a good cause" and "do many things of [our] own free will." How can the notions of sin as described here by Alma and that in D&C 58 be reconciled?

Verse 4 Are there important nuances in this verse? For example, what is the difference between our "desire" and our "will"? And is there a difference between 'granting', 'allotting' and 'decreeing'?

harrow Webster's 1828 gives the definition "to tear; to lacerate; to torment." Interestingly the example includes the phrase "harrow up thy soul." Today "torment" would be a good substitute.

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