In preparation for this lesson I read this article from Elder Holland, which I highly recommend:
Jeffrey R. Holland, "Alma, Son of Alma" Ensign Mar. 1977
The life of the younger Alma portrays the gospel’s beauty and reach and power perhaps more than any other in holy scripture. Such dramatic redemption and movement away from wickedness and toward the permanent joy of exaltation may not be outlined with more compelling force anywhere else. In him is symbolized the task of the whole human family, which must, as Paul commands, “leave your former way of life, … lay aside that old human nature which, deluded by its lusts, is sinking towards death. You must be made new in mind and spirit, and put on the new nature. …” (Eph. 4:22–24, New English Bible.)
Alma and the sons of Mosiah were out to destroy the church. Even though they had likely been baptized, they were never truly converted and did not participate in the "spiritual traditions" of their fathers. This group of young men were visited by an angel. The purpose of their visit wasn't to convert them but to stop their destructive action and answer the prayers of their fathers and the people:
Mosiah 27:13-14
13 Nevertheless he cried again, saying: Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecutest thou the church of God? For the Lord hath said: This is my church, and I will establish it; and nothing shall overthrow it, save it is the transgression of my people.
14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
But the experience and words of the angel were so shocking to Alma and the four sons of Mosiah that it changed their life forever. Alma recounts this experience 20 years later to his son Helaman in Alma 36. This is the second of three times Alma tells of his experience and one that he tells in hindsight, with all the wisdom and learning he has accrued in serving the Lord in the previous 20 years. In essence, he really learned the process of being born of God and shares it with others since he learned in the first recounting:
Mosaih 27:25-27
25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
27 I say unto you, unless this be the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast off.
This is an extreme experience, one that we will not likely experience unless the Lord deems but one where the elements are familiar and applicable because we have the spirit:
Wilford Woodruff: “Now, I have always said, and I want to say it to you, that the Holy Ghost is what every Saint of God Needs. It is far more important that a man should have that gift than he should have the ministration of an angel, unless it is necessary for an angel to teach him something that he has not been taught.” Student Manual, pg 69
Here are some of the elements/steps to being born of God:
First off: a bit of a definition of what "born of God" means:
“We are talking about being born again. This matter of being born and having a family relationship is purely a matter of definition. Birth is a change of status. It is a new way of living. When Alma the younger had his glorious experience and was born again—without any question he had been baptized in his youth but he had not been born again, he had not exercised the power to become a son of God.” BruceR. McConkie, Households of Faith, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year (Provo, 1Dec. 1970), p.4.
The spiritual rebirth described in this verse typically does not occur quickly or all at once; it is an ongoing process—not a single event. Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds become aligned with the will of God. This phase of the transformation process requires time, persistence, and patience. Elder Bednar, “Ye Must Be Born Again” Apr 2007
Alma 36:3-5
Step 1: Put trust in God
Step 2: Acknowledge unworthiness (in Alma’s case extreme unworthiness), or that you are not ultimately in control. He didn’t ask for it, it was the mercy of God, the prayers of his father and his people that brought on the new birth.
Alma 36:6-9
Step 3: Receive revelation
Step 4: Exercise Agency – you can do what you want with your soul, but the church of God won’t be destroyed and the prayers of the righteous will be answered. Mosiah 27:16 says it a little clearer:
Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.
Alma 36:12-16
Step 5: Begin repentance – acknowledging sins, that your sins were against God’s law, sorrow for sins, Alma lists the feelings of what I think Enos meant as a wrestle with God: trying to overcome the reasons why you committed sin in the first place and the feelings of the natural man that come with it.
WORDS ALMA USES TO DESCRIBE HIS WRESTLE
• Eternal torment
• Harrowed up (breaking up of dirt clods)
• Racked (stretched spiritually)
• Tormented with the pains of hell
• Led to destruction (realize where your path heads)
• Inexpressible horror
• Desire to be extinct – loss of life – true despair – My life is not worth anything
This thought came when he realized that he must account for his sins before God
• Pains of a damned soul
Alma 36:17
Step 6: Recalling a seed to build on (remember a teaching, reading the scriptures, observing examples) – only after three days of terror leading to despair did Alma remember what his father taught. Did he know what power he was calling on? Or was it real desperation? Does it matter? Either way the experience that follows is what brings his testimony.
Elder Holland:
We learn that the teachings and testimonies of parents and other good people have an inevitable, inexorable effect. Those lessons are not lost on even the most wayward soul. Somewhere, somehow, they get recorded in the soul and may be called upon in a great moment of need.
It was in such a moment that the young Alma “remembered also to have heard my father prophesy.” (Alma 36:17.) That prophecy may have been uttered in a day when Alma was taunting his father, or jeering at those who believed, or willfully denying the reality of revelation. It may have come at a time when his father assumed Alma did not care or hear or understand. Or it may have come so early in life that his father might think he had forgotten. We do not know when the lesson was taught. But somewhere, sometime, one or more or a dozen of those teachings had been heard and had been implanted somewhere in his heart. Now it was being called forth for the very protection it had intended to give. Like Enos, who was haunted by “the words which I had often heard my father speak” (Enos 1:3), Alma also remembered—and believed. Parents, friends, teachers—none must ever stop teaching and testifying. There will always be great power—even latent, delayed, residual power—in the words of God we utter. Jeffrey Holland, 1977 Alma, Son of Alma.
Alma 36:18
Step 7: Realize you can’t heal or change by yourself and ask for help
Elder Holland:
Perhaps such a prayer, though brief, is the most significant one that can be uttered in this world. Whatever other prayers we offer, whatever other needs we have, all somehow depends on that plea: “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me." It is in exactly this way that the Book of Mormon testifies that Jesus is the Christ—not only in terms of theology and doctrine and precept, which are important, but also in the very power of his name, the reality of his life, and the reach of his priesthood, which are even more important.
Alma 36:19-21
Step 8: Be healed, accept the change.
• Still remembered mistakes, but didn’t remember the pains of his mistakes and wasn’t harrowed up anymore
• It was the joy that converted Alma, not the pain. Or rather the contrast of the two: exquisite joy and exquisite pain.
o Jesus used the word exquisite in describing the suffering of a soul(s): “Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. … Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.” (D&C 19:15, 18.)
Alma 36:22-24
Step 9: Long to be where God is
Step 10: Long for others to be there
Elder Holland:
We may have avoided Church attendance, the sacrament, the bishop, our parents, our worthy companions—avoided anyone we had sinned against, including God himself—but now that repentant heart longs to be with them. That is part of the joy and light of the atonement—the “at-one-ment”—which not only binds us back to God but also brings us back to a special unity with our best natural self and our most beloved human associates.
Alma 36:28-29
Step 11: Always remember Him and His works
After we come out of the waters of baptism, our souls need to be continuously immersed in and saturated with the truth and the light of the Savior’s gospel. Sporadic and shallow dipping in the doctrine of Christ and partial participation in His restored Church cannot produce the spiritual transformation that enables us to walk in a newness of life. Rather, fidelity to covenants, constancy of commitment, and offering our whole soul unto God are required if we are to receive the blessings of eternity. Elder Bednar
On a side note: Alma 36 is in Chiastic structure, a Hebrew form of poetry. For more information about this go to Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon. and scroll to the bottom for Alma 36. Very interesting and beautiful stuff!
