I was literally taught as a youth, that though you might repent and improve your results at the final judgment, the scars would always remain and you would not be able to achieve the Celestial Kingdom because of the damage you'd done to yourself. Yes, at Sunday School in LDS Meetings. It all seemed so hopeless. I wonder how those teachers views Zeezrom. I love this story. I love the hope it brings. Sherem, Nehor and Korihor might have had the same results if they'd been honest with themselves and humble enough to admit their great error. Repentance can be very painful and difficult, but if in the end it results in the healing gift of forgiveness and remission of our sins, what joy and opportunity can be had.
18 Now as I said, Alma having seen all these things, therefore he took Amulek and came over to the land of Zarahemla, and took him to his own house, and did administer unto him in his tribulations, and strengthened him in the Lord.Amulek's tribulations were, in my opinion, indeed tremendous. It is very likely that he and Alma were forced to watch his wife(s) and children burned to death. If that was not the case, they were numbered among his kin who rejected the teachings and pushed him away. I wonder what would be worse. While it would be so difficult to watch your family suffer for their faith, it would be somewhat tempered by the promise of heavenly blessings for their commitment to God. On the other hand, to have your family flatly reject the truth and go on to destruction might be even worse. I love Amulek and Zeezrom for the strength of the integrity. I'm sure the Lord has fully healed their wounds and mitigated their sorrow.
3 comments:
This may sound harsh, but I would much rather lose a loved one to mortal death than lose one to spiritual death. The one (in the Lord's time frame) is a fleeting loss. The second is an eternal one.
I agree. But one must be careful how that is expressed. I once heard a man tell his daughters that he'd rather see them come home in a coffin than having lost their virtue. When one of them did lose her virtue, she ran away, feeling that her mistake was worse than death and that her father could never forgive her. It was fifteen years before they saw her again. She had become inactive and lived a pretty rough life. Then one day two Elders found her and taught her the gospel of repentance and helped her recover. Her father later taught that he had taught her the gospel of perfection and had utterly neglected the gospel of repentance.
Agreed. However, that doesn't lessen the very real feelings that often arise while watching a loved one seriously transgress.
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