Introspection: Have ye spiritually been born of God?

Reading: Alma 5-7

The fifth chapter in Alma is full of questions that make you think about your heritage, your life, your belief and you standing before God.  Alma asks a series of questions to help the people he's preaching to remember how the Lord delivered their ancestors from hardships and personal weakness.  He points out that reason for their salvation in Alma 5:13:
And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

Then he asks pointed questions in the next verses (14-16):

And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?



After he asks these questions, he asks more questions but about whether we are engaging in wicked practices: envy, pride, murder, lying, mockery, persecutions and more.

You would think that Alma is using the desperate tool of inflicting guilt.  But I think he is using the optimistic tool of hope.  He is painting a picture of what we may possibly experience due to our human tendencies, but then after inundating us with this, Alma gives us hope (Alma 5:33-34):


33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.

 34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;



And in vs 60:
And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.


I sometimes have a hard time with this method of preaching, or at least what it seems to be: either you are good or you are bad.  No middle ground.  This breeds perfectionists or apathy because it seems too hard to be so good all of the time.  Thinking in such absolute terms though makes a person believe that the only way to gain exaltation and salvation is through our own works, actions and behavior; all columns in the "good" list checked and nothing in the "bad" column.  But if we read two chapters over, Alma explains, by way of prophecy, that we are not on our own to be good all the time.

Alma 7:11-16

10 And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

(notice Alma talks about the Savior understanding our pains, affliction, temptations, the bands of death and infirmities, before he even mentions sins in the next verse)

 13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

 14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

(important note: that being born again is a process, not a one-time event) 

 15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

 16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me.


This set of verses helps me to understand that Jesus Christ is not just concerned with my sins, but He is concerned about my mental, spiritual and physical well-being and actually knows how it all feels to me and how to help me bear it all.  So, the black and white, you're good or bad, is an effective way of teaching to motivate someone, but if we are actually motivated to change, we find in the changing process that healing is not just overcoming the sin, but healing from the physical, emotional and mental effects of sin or distance from God.  That is hope that brings relief.