As Ammon is trying to convince Lamoni’s father not to kill
Lamoni, he says something about what would happen to Lamoni’s father if he were
to die at that time, versus Lamoni’s state. I found it both interesting and
indicative of an important principle.
But Ammon stood forth and said unto
him: Behold, thou shalt not slay thy son; nevertheless, it were better that he
should fall than thee, for behold, he has repented of his sins; but if thou
shouldst fall at this time, in thine anger, thy soul could not be saved. (Alma
20:17)
So dying in anger would leave a soul in a sin without time
to repent, and even though that probably wasn’t the only sin Lamoni’s father
was burdened with, the point is that Ammon didn’t want to send Lamoni’s father
out of mortality unprepared to meet God.
The deeper principle here is one that is universally
applicable. We all have sinned, and we deserve to die, but God prolongs our
life so that we have time to repent. We don’t know when our time will run out
and our life will be over. Freak accidents happen. People go unexpectedly
ballistic and kill people. Disease hits, etcetera, and if it is suddenly our
turn to go, can we see we have repented and have a clear conscience?
2 comments:
I've given lot of thought to this subject too. A relative, by marriage, had no interest in the church, tolerating his wife's involvement in it and her raising the children in it. When he died many were so glad that now his temple work could be done and they could be sealed as a family. Some of us, though, thought, what difference is death going to make? He didn't want to make the effort to do the work and get sealed in this life, death only makes it everlastingly too late. And turned to Alma 34:34 where Amulek testifies ". . .for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world."
I know that some die, unexpectedly to us, but, as a wise friend of mine has said, "God is in control and he knows what he is doing."
It's best not to procrastinate the day of our repentance because we truly never know when we'll be called home to give an accounting.
True, in that situation things look bad, however, we ultimately don't know how that's going to turn out, and at least a vicarious ordinance leaves the door open.
And not procrastinating is always the better way to go.
Thanks for stopping by!
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