31 And ye shall also forgive
one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not
his neighbor's trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought
himself under condemnation.
32 Now I say unto you,
Go; and whosoever will not repent of his sins the same shall not be numbered
among my people; and this shall be observed from this time forward.
33 And it came to pass
when Alma had heard these words he wrote them down that he might have them, and
that he might judge the people of that church according to the commandments of
God.
34 And it came to pass
that Alma went and judged those that had been taken in iniquity, according to
the word of the Lord.
35 And whosoever
repented of their sins and did confess them, them he did number among the
people of the church;
36 And those that
would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity, the same were not
numbered among the people of the church, and their names were blotted out.
37 And it came to pass
that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church; and they began again to
have peace and to prosper exceedingly in the affairs of the church, walking
circumspectly before God, receiving many, and baptizing many.
38 And now all these
things did Alma and his fellow laborers do who were over the church, walking in
all diligence, teaching the word of God in all things, suffering all manner of
afflictions, being persecuted by all those who did not belong to the church of
God.
39 And they did
admonish their brethren; and they were also admonished, every one by the word
of God, according to his sins, or to the sins which he had committed, being
commanded of God to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things.
Mosiah 26:31-39
The Lord continued to give instruction to Alma.
We are to “forgive one
another your trespasses.” Failure to
do so when the person is sincere in his repentance, will bring condemnation to
ourselves. The Savior taught the
Nephites,
14
For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive
you;
15
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.
3 Nephi 13:14-15
The Lord has given us the same command.
9
Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth
not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there
remaineth in him the greater sin.
10
I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive
all men.
D&C 64:9-10
Paul counseled the Colossians,
12
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Colossians 3:12-14
Those who refuse to repent of their sins “will not be numbered among my people.” This is the Lord’s policy from now
on. Alma2 faced the same
problem. It is recorded, “the hearts of many were hardened, and their
names were blotted out, that they were remembered no more among the people of
God. And also many withdrew themselves
from among them” (Alma 1:24).
We see this in the Church today. There are those that harden their hearts and
refuse to listen to the Lord’s anointed leaders. They decide they know better. They don’t get answers they want. They oppose the leaders and doctrines. Many times, these people voluntarily cut
themselves off from the Church. They
will then suffer the results of their choices.
“[W]hen the second trump shall
sound then shall they that never knew me come forth and shall stand before me. And then shall they know that I am the Lord
their God, that I am their Redeemer; but they would not be redeemed.” (Mosiah
26:25-26).
Having heard the word of the Lord, Alma first recorded the
Lord’s message. Using the Lord’s
directions, he judged those in the church who refused to repent of their sins
and keep the Lord’s commandments. The
message Alma gave them might well have been Nephi’s final words.
13
And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all
ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the
dust: Farewell until that great day shall come.
14
And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of
the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the
mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these
words shall condemn you at the last day.
15
For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for
thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen.
2 Nephi 33:13-15
Those who confessed their sins were forgiven and remained
members of the church. Confession of one’s
sins is an important part of the plan of salvation. Here are a few examples.
And
it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess
that he hath sinned in that thing:
Leviticus 5:5
For
I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
Psalms 38:18
He
that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall have mercy.
Proverbs 28:13
Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much.
James 5:16
If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
Those who refused to confess their sins and repent were
excommunicated from the church.
While the necessity of confession
as part of repentance was not emphasized by all the Book of Mormon prophets, it
was clearly in place. Again, it is Alma the Elder who develops the idea at
length. Alma teaches the members of the church to forgive all who confessed
their sins (see Mosiah 26:29). Confession of sins and repentance of iniquity
were necessary requirements for gaining and retaining membership in the church
(see Mosiah 26:35–36).[1]
Alma guided the church and ran its affairs. They began to have peace and prosper. Many were baptized.
Daniel C. Peterson gives us more insight into Alma’s
actions.
The earthly king, who, in earlier
Nephite tradition, had been the fount of religious authority and the last
resort for religious questions, had definitively given up such a role. Only the
heavenly king was left. In answer to Alma's earnest entreaties, the Lord
revealed the idea of excommunication, whereby "whosoever will not repent
of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people" (Mosiah 26:32).68Put into practice, this idea resulted in the
"blotting out" of the names of a number of erstwhile adherents of the
gospel. "And it came to pass that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the
church" (Mosiah 26:37). This idea of excommunication was obviously wholly
new to Alma, who had grown up under the old ideology where one's birth
"numbered" one among the people of the Lord—the Nephites—in such a
way that one could not be "blotted out," and where one's primary
social identity was national or genealogical rather than, as we might express
it, "intentional" or "voluntary."[2]
Alma, his teachers and priests, taught diligently the word
of God to the people. They did this in
spite of persecutions by those who weren’t members of the church. Again, we see this in the world today. In their way, those who opposed the word of
God challenge us with all sorts of fine sounding words, teaching their lies in
ways that would cause someone who does not have a strong faith to fall
away. This is why we need to be sure our
members are taught and, most importantly, understand the word of God.
The righteous remained separate
from and probably refrained from social and perhaps business dealings with
those whose names had been blotted out. Such harsh treatment of apostates would
be consistent with later Jewish practices, and it may well account for the
resentment and persecution of church members by those who were expelled. In
fact, persecutions occurred immediately after the main instances of expulsion
during this era (e.g., Mosiah 26:38; Alma 1:25).[3]
Nephi’s words would have been appropriate in this situation.
8
And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts;
and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which
teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit
teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
9
But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye
must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray
unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance
unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.
2 Nephi 32:8-9
They ignored the persecution and continued to admonish all,
teaching the word of God, calling on them to cease sinning, to repent of their
sins, to constantly pray, and to give thanks in all things.
[1] The
True Points of My Doctrine, Noel B. Reynolds, Maxwell Institute, accessed
December 15, 2014.
[2] Authority
in the Book of Mosiah, Daniel C. Peterson, Maxwell Institute, accessed December
15, 2014.
[3] The
Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon – Judicial Punishments: Types and Rationales,
Maxwell Institute, accessed December 15, 2014.
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