Alma 30:41-45

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

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[edit] Questions

[edit] Verse 44

  • "signs enough." If the prophets taught that "many signs" (Hel 14:6) would precede the Savior's birth, then how does this verse help us determine what is the appropriate or adequate number of signs for the Lord's people?
  • "Tempt." What does Alma mean by using the word "tempt" here? Where else in LDS scripture is this term used, and what are the connotations? How does this word differ from the related (at least in Hebrew) words prove and try? How are these words used in similarly and differently in LDS scripture, and the Book of Mormon in particular? (Cf. lexical note for James 1:13.)
  • "your God." Did the use of this phrase by speakers in the scriptures always carry with it the presumption that there was only one God? Or does 2 Chr 32:14-15 offer an example of how this phrase could be used to refer to someone else's God? Why does this verse not follow the nearly consistent pattern in the Old Testament of referring to Jehovah as "the Lord your God"? How did Alma decide whether it was more appropriate to speak of "our God" or of "your God"?
  • "Show . . . me a sign." Was Alma unnecessarily repeating the request that Korihor had already made in the previous verse? Why did Alma use the future tense, since presumably it signaled that Korihor had not yet made the request? Or was Alma trying to say that Korihor did not need to make his request, because the answer was already before him?
  • "have the testimony." Was Alma echoing the language of John in Rev 12:17 and Rev 19:10? If so, was he implying that, at some level, Korihor already had a testimony?
  • Brethren and Prophets. Does Alma 20:15 provide a precedent for equating these two social groups? Or was Alma actually making a distinction between the inspired words of these two different groups?
  • "scriptures are laid before thee." Does Alma 18:36 provide evidence that Mormon edited this account to suggest that Korihor had literally read the scriptures? Or does JS-H 1:74 indicate this was more of a metaphorical statement on Alma's part?
  • "all things denote there is a God." Is Alma saying that words will fail as irrefutable evidence of God's existence but that objects have a fixed meaning that signify God is alive? If the word "denote" means "to signify directly or literally," would it have been more accurate for Alma to have said simply that "all things signify there is a God," so that we would not be left wondering how the signifying is supposedly literal? Or did Alma choose not to water down his claim and use the word "connote," which is defined as "to signify indirectly, suggest or imply," because he sincerely believes that every object in the universe is a testament of its Creator?
  • Motion and Planets. How much knowledge did the Nephites have of other major objects in our galaxy and throughout the universe? Was the single mention of planets in the Old Testament 2 Kgs 23:5 sufficient to make them aware of extraterrestrial bodies? Or did they have astronomers, remnants of whose work can still be seen in Mesoamerica, who detected these heavenly bodies by careful study of the stars? Along with Hel 12:15, does this verse provide evidence that Nephite cosomology anticipated some of the findings of Copernicus' heliocentrism?

[edit] Lexical notes

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[edit] Exegesis

We see over and over in the Book of Mormon that signs do not convert. Take Laman and Lemuel for instance. Over and over they experienced physical signs (i.e. visitations from angels, hearing the voice of the Lord, etc), however, they never became truly converted, and in the end they fell away from the truth.

In verses 41-42 Alma states that he knows these things are true, and that he knows that Korihor also knows the truth. One can picture Alma looking Korihor in the eye, feeling the Spirit witness the truth of what Alma has been teaching, and knowing that Korihor is also feeling the Spirit. Then in verse 44 Alma says 'Thou hast had signs enough...', listing all the various physical evidences, and in verse 46 he says '..that ye will still resist the spirit of the truth...' refering to the witness of the Spirit that Korihor is denying.

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