Alma continues teaching faith.
Faith is not a perfect knowledge. You cannot know with a
perfect knowledge. He wants them to conduct an experiment, exercising “a
particle of faith” (Alma 32:27). “Alma did not require people engaged in the
most important research project of their lives to begin with something ‘known
to be true’—they only had to ‘desire to believe’ (Alma 32:27).”[1]
In the chapters following the
confrontation with Korihor, we find Alma giving us his sermon on faith (see
Alma 32). There Alma describes faith not as a perfect knowledge but as a
thirsting after knowledge that causes us to experiment and try out the promises
made to us by God. In doing this we find that our faculties are aroused and our
understanding enlightened and that our faith has grown (Alma 32:26–28).[2]
Alma compares the word of God to a seed.[3]
They take the seed and plant it in their hearts. If it is a good seed, and
don’t get rid of it through unbelief, it will begin to grow in their breast. You
will know it’s a good seed when you feel in enlarge your soul. You become
enlightened and it becomes delicious. “Alma’s special regard for the word, and
his recognition that inspired verbal truth can change lives, is evident in his
sermon to the Zoramite castoffs. There he, too, employs metaphor in likening
the word of God to a seed that we must plant in our hearts and nourish to a
fulness of faith (Alma 32:28–43).”[4]
The growth of the seed increases a person’s faith; it has
not grown to perfect knowledge. As the
seeds sprouts and begins to grow, we know it is a good seed. The growth of the seed strengthens your
faith.
Just as soil needs preparation for
a seed, so does a human heart for the word of God to take root. Before he told
the people to plant the seed, Alma told them that their hearts were prepared.
They had been persecuted and cast out of their churches. Alma with his love and
the circumstances of their lives, which led them to be humble, had prepared them.
They were then ready to hear the word of God. If they chose to plant it in
their hearts, the growth in their souls would surely follow, and that would
increase their faith.[5]
As the seed grows, we go from faith to knowledge.[6] Faith how now become dormant because you
know.[7]
The word has grown and expands in your soul. “If we exercise our faculties and
develop the moral character necessary for the experiment to work, the seed,
which is the true word of Christ, swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to
grow’ (v. 30). Alma then makes the crucial distinction: ‘Are ye sure that this
is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea’ (v. 31).”[8]
Truth is light and whatever is light is good. Is your knowledge perfect is you know the
light? No. You must not lay aside your
faith. You have just experimented with
the seed and learned the seed was good.
The word of God, as Alma said, is
like a seed planted in our hearts that produces faith as it begins to grow
within us (see Alma 32:27–43; see also Romans 10:13–17). Faith will
not come from the study of ancient texts as a purely academic pursuit. It will
not come from archaeological digs and discoveries. It will not come from
scientific experiments. It will not even come from witnessing miracles. These
things may serve to confirm faith, or at times to challenge it, but they do not
create faith. Faith comes by the witness of the Holy Spirit to our souls,
Spirit to spirit, as we hear or read the word of God. And faith matures as we
continue to feast upon the word.[9]
If you neglect the seed, it will be on rocky ground,
scorched by the Sun. Though it be a good
seed, it will never take root. It will
never grow and take root.[10] It will not bring forth good fruit as it will
die. Failing to nourish the word means you will never be able to pluck the
fruit of the tree of life.[11]
Because of their diligence and faith, the word will take
root and grow. They will be able to
pluck the fruit of the tree of life.
They shall reap the rewards of faith through diligence, patience, and
long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bear fruit. “But he that received seed
into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and
bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).[12]
[1] Often
in Error, Seldom in Doubt: Rod Meldrum and Book of Mormon DNA, Gregory L.
Smith, FARMS Review 22/1 (2010): 117.
[3] “Now
the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are
they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their
hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive
the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in
time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which,
when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and
pleasures of this life, and bring no
fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest
and good heart, having heard the word, keep it,
and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:11-15).
[4] The
Book of Mormon: Passport to Discipleship, Marilyn Arnold, Mormon Studies
Review 23/1 (2011): 3.
[6] “And
because of the aknowledge
of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil; and he saw the
finger of Jesus, which, when he saw, he fell with fear; for he knew that it was
the finger of the Lord; and he had cfaith
no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting” (Ether 3:19).
[7] “The
law of the LORD is perfect,
converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalms 19:7).
[10] “And
he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth
to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds
fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon
stony [IE rocky land over which a thin layer of soil spread] places, where they
had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness
of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no
root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up,
and choked them” (Matthew 13:3-7).
[11] “Wherefore,
the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that tree of life,
whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea,
and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God. And thus I spake unto my
brethren. Amen” (1 Nephi 15:36).
[12] “But
he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth and endureth; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth,
some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Joseph Smith Translation,
Matthew 13:23).
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