Michael's Seminary Blog

I have read often about the "first death". But today, I came across a contradiction. I always considered the first death to be the physical death. 2 Nephi 9 and Alma 12 hint at this. However, in Helaman 14: 16, Samuel the Lamanite talks about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ "redeement all makind from the first death - that spiritual death".  So which is it? Is it the physical or the spiritual death? Well, sort of both. The redemption from the first death covers two aspects of mortality. First, the fall of Adam resulted in a state where we are completely cut off from the Lord. There was no way we could even commune with God. The resurrection of Jesus Christ fixed this so that through Him we may commune with God. That is why we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. The resurrection also redeems us from our physical death. No matter who we are, the resurrection of the physical body and being able to commune with God is restored to everyone everywhere.  As Samuel says, ...

Last entry, I shared this thought on Alma 7: Why did Alma share the Christmas story in Alma 7:9-12? Awaken us to a sense of our Duty to God, Help us walk blameless before God, and Help us walk after the Holy Order of God (Alma 7:22) In Helaman 14, Samuel the Lamanite shares the signs of Christ's birth (Hel 14:2-7). Samuel then shares that the angel commanded Samuel to teach the people, specifically to "Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord." (Hel 14:9) Samuel further explains how "whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life." (Hel 14:8) and that we "might know of the coming of Jesus Christ...that [we] might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that [we] might believe on his name. And if [we] believe on his name [we] will repent of all [our] signs, that thereby [we] may have a remission of them through his merits." (Hel 14:12-13)

This morning, I read Alma 7. In this chapter, Alma shares that Jesus will be born of Mary. He will come to Earth to redeem us from our sins. Although we have no way to verify this, I think this is a Priesthood Meeting. Two reasons:  In verse 27, Alma gives an apostolic blessing to the people in Gideon. In that blessing, he blesses their houses, flocks and herds, and "your women and your children". Could it be that it was just custom to have the men come to such conferences? Sure. But we know there were primarily just men there. In verse 22, Alma exhorts the people to "walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received." What is this holy order of God? I can see two answers to this: (1) the priesthood as described in Alma 13, or (2) what we refer to as the "new and everlasting covenant", or the order created through temple covenants. Although I can see (2) being very applicable here, seeing verses 22 and 27 together makes me believe it'...

Mosiah 29:26 Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; Many of us have often complained at how wicked our nation has become. It has definitely gotten bad over the last handful of decades and will continue to get worse. However, our nation has not yet been destroyed. We have not been warned that destruction is imminent because of our wickedness. It is often hard to remember that despite the wicked of the few, the majority of the citizens just want to do what's right. There are disagreements and contentions, but the majority of our nation just wants to do good. It is still a God-fearing nation, and we are indeed one nation under God. We shouldn't let the few loud people who give our nation a bad name make us lose hope in the majority who try to follow what is right.

The Lord often talked of the Sign of Jonah. The experience of Alma was similar. Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 days (or two days and two nights, being released the morning of the third day as was the resurrection of the Savior). Alma was dumb and unable to move for two days and two nights. On the third day, he was able to move again. The same happened with King Lamoni.

In the midst of affliction, we are admonished to remember the captivity of our fathers. In other words, we remember what our ancestors have done to bring about the gospel to the world and to their families.