16 And now behold, I say unto you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness.
17 Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever; and then is the time that they shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan, he having subjected them according to his will.
18 Then, I say unto you, they shall be as though there had been no redemption made; for they cannot be redeemed according to God's justice; and they cannot die, seeing there is no more corruption.
Alma 12:16-18 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) now tells them about a second death. The first death is a physical death. The second death is a spiritual death. Those who die in their sins suffer this death. They die to things pertaining to righteousness.
They will suffer great torment and eternal destruction. They will become captives of the devil. For them, it will be as though there was no redemption. They will be lost forever.
4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Luke 12:4-5 (Emphasis mine)
51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
John 8:51 (Emphasis mine)
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Revelation 19:20 (Emphasis mine)
19 Now it came to pass that when Alma had made an end of speaking these words, the people began to be more astonished;
20 But there was one Antionah, who was a chief ruler among them, came forth and said unto him: What is this that thou hast said, that man should rise from the dead and be changed from this mortal to an immortal state that the soul can never die?
21 What does the scripture mean, which saith that God placed cherubim and a flaming sword on the east of the garden of Eden, lest our first parents should enter and partake of the fruit of the tree of life, and live forever? And thus we see that there was no possible chance that they should live forever.
Alma 12:19-21 (Emphasis mine)
The people were astonished by Alma(2)’s words; however, a chief ruler challenged Alma(2). Adam and Eve were prevented from partaking of the tree life. How can they live forever? There is no way possible they could, and the same applies to us.
Hugh Nibley observes:
“[Antionah’s] indignant. He's had all he can take here, and he says, what is this stuff you are talking about here, ‘that the soul can never die?’ Then he tells [Alma] about the cherubim and the flaming sword that guarded the tree of life. Adam was not supposed to touch the tree of life, lest he partake of it and live forever in his sins. So, [Antionah] said we can die—we are not supposed to eat of the tree of life; we are forbidden to touch it at all, so that settles that. ". . . lest our first parents should enter and partake of the fruit of the tree of life, and live forever? [no] And thus we see that there was no possible chance that we should live forever." The tree was set up there, but we couldn't eat from it. If we had eaten from it, then we would live forever. But he said, no, there's to be no tree. He thought that was a good argument. Alma said, ah, that's all right for now. ‘All mankind became a lost and fallen people. They did; that's true. They couldn't go on living that way; that's the whole point…” [1] (Emphasis mine)
22 Now Alma said unto him: This is the thing which I was about to explain. Now we see that Adam did fall by the partaking of the forbidden fruit, according to the word of God; and thus we see, that by his fall, all mankind became a lost and fallen people.
23 And now behold, I say unto you that if it had been possible for Adam to have partaken of the fruit of the tree of life at that time, there would have been no death, and the word would have been void, making God a liar, for he said: If thou eat thou shalt surely die.
24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.
Alma 12:22-24 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) responds. If you wouldn’t have interrupted me, you would have answered the question. Adam fell because he partook of the forbidden fruit, and we all became a fallen people. If Adam would have been able to partake of the fruit of the tree of life, he would have made God a liar. Remember, God told Adam and Eve that in the day eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they would surely die.
All men die; this is the temporal death of which Amulek spoke. But, our lives became a probationary period, a time to prepare to meet God. This would occur after the resurrection of the dead.
Thomas Valletta further explains:
“Alma's inspired response implied that he recognized Antionah's mixed motives in posing his questions. Alma asserted that the real contradiction would have arisen if Adam and Eve had been able to partake of the fruit of the tree of life immediately after their fall. Then ‘there would have been no death, and the word would have been void, making God a liar, for he said: If thou eat thou shalt surely die’ (Alma 12:23). Alma then explained that temporal ‘death comes upon mankind,’ but that ‘a space [is] granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore,’ declared Alma,’this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead’ (Alma 12:24).” [2] (Emphasis mine)
[1] Lecture 48: Alma 10-12, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed October 28, 2011.
[2] Conflicting Orders: Alma and Amulek in Ammonihah, Thomas R. Valletta, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed October 28, 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment