It always seemed odd to me that while Alma was preaching to
the very hardhearted people of Ammonihah, in between his calls to repentance he
discoursed on the premortal foreordination of the priesthood and the purposes
of the priesthood. It almost seems
like he is throwing pearls before swine.
Eventually I realized he talked about those things specifically
to address their previous objections to him teaching them. If you remember, they withstood Alma at
the beginning on the grounds that 1) he was no longer the chief judge so he
didn’t have civil authority over them and 2) they didn’t share his religious
tradition, so he didn’t have religious authority over them.
Alma addresses these objections in chapter 13 by pointing
out that
·
Priesthood authority was given for teaching the
principles of redemption to the people (Alma 13:1)
·
Priesthood authority was given to the faithful
because of their faith, good works (Alma 13:3-5) to enable them to enter the
rest of the Lord (Alma 13:12).
·
Priesthood was given so that others would know
how to look forward to the Messiah for redemption (Alma 13:2) (by learning from
the symbolism associated with the priesthood and its ordinances) and be able to
enter into the Lord’s rest (Alma 12:6).
·
Melchizedek was a king over a wicked people (who
ostensibly didn’t share his religion), yet he preached repentance to them and
they repented. (Alma 13:18) (Melchizedek
did not force them to repent with his civil authority; instead he preached and
persuaded.)
This way, Alma establishes that priesthood authority
encompasses not just those in the church, but those out of the church as well.
0 comments:
Post a Comment