The Promised Land

Today I read Alma 9, where Alma preaches again to the people of Ammonihah. I always find it so funny that the people who are so against the church and what it stands for, either unwittingly or knowingly use the scriptures to combat the servants of God. In this chapter the people of Ammonihah talk to Alma about the fact that God has only sent one witness to them to declare these things. They are obviously familiar with the methods of God and know that the proper order is to have 2 or more witnesses.

Alma spends the majority of this chapter talking to the people about their iniquities and about the promised land in which they live. He also spends a lot of time talking to them about the Lamanites and the difference between the two peoples. For while it is true that the Lamanites do not live the commandments at this time they are kept in order to stir up the Nephites to repentance and a reminder of their iniquities.

But Alma reminds the people that the conditions of them living in American are that they keep the commandments or else they will be destroyed. I find this chapter particularly applicable in our current day because the rules haven't changed. The Lord has declared that the people who inhabit this land must follow his commandments or face destruction. And I for one am worried because I remember Sodom and Gomorrah and how the only thing that kept them around for so long was the fact that there were some righteous people in them for awhile. And I shudder to think what will happen to the Americas when it's people stop being righteous.

The thing I never really understood is the evils of this world don't ever satisfy. They just leave you empty and do nothing for you. Alcohol and drugs might help you escape your problems for a few moments, but your problems are still waiting for you when you "wake up". Sex with random people never fulfills that yearning to be loved. Living with a significant other never replaces that desire to be married, even homosexual couples have the urge to get married, it's instinctive in all of us because it is right. Violence is the same way, it might make you feel better for a time, but it ultimately does nothing for you. Pornography is fake and no matter how hard one tries cannot be replicated in real life with a woman who respects herself.

All of Satan's evils are a parody of the right ways of the Lord. He is so uninventive that he can't even come up with his own things, he has to take what God has and twist them. Alcohol and drugs are sick parodies of the body's natural ability to get "high" with things like adrenaline or endorphins. Sex of course is meant to be only between spouses who are married and violence is a twisted parody of forgiveness, the only true way to make yourself feel better when someone has wronged you.

What's most sad in my opinion is the amount of people who have bought into these lies. We are a nation of alcoholics. It disgusts me how anytime my wife and I go out to eat together to a place that serves alcohol they immediately assume we will be drinking it. That's disgusting! I could go on and on but there is no need, as Alma tells Korihor who denies the existence of God, the evidence is all around us if we just look. May we be more diligent in keeping the commandments so that we may not be cut off and can set the good example for those around us. Until tomorrow.