Monday, August 23, 2010

Alma 47

Amalickiah is a true despot, a wicked ruler who is only seeking power over whatever people he can. He fails with the Nephites, joins the Lamanites, gets himself in a position that is just below the king, then kills the king and marries the kings widow. It won’t be long until he wants complete rule of all the people, Nephites and Lamanites. This would make a good movie; it’s a pattern that has been seen throughout history. The chapter concludes with a verse that almost seems like a question. The followers of Amalickiah are dissenters from the Nephites and Mormon notes how strange it is that these people were taught the same things as the Nephites, who were Nephites, and yet not long after they left the Nephites, they became in Mormon’s words, more hardened, impenitent, wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites. He states they became indolent, meaning lazy, and lascivious which means they were constantly involved in sexual immorality. Worse of all, Mormon says, they entirely forgot about the Lord. We’re they living this life as an individual in a different society, they would be in jail.

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