8 Now the Zoramites were dissenters from the Nephites;
therefore they had had the word of God preached unto them.
9 But they had fallen into great errors, for they would
not observe to keep the commandments of God, and his statutes, according to the
law of Moses.
10 Neither would they observe the performances of the
church, to continue in prayer and supplication to God daily, that they might
not enter into temptation.
11 Yea, in fine, they did pervert the ways of the Lord in
very many instances; therefore, for this cause, Alma and his brethren went into
the land to preach the word unto them. (Alma 31:8-11)
We learn the
Zoramites were Nephite dissenters. They had the gospel preached to them and
they rejected it.
Mormon has made it
clear the fate of the dissenter. “And thus we can plainly discern, that after a
people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great
knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into
sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes
worse than though they had never known these things” (Alma 24:30).
Were there people
here when Lehi’s party arrived in the new world. There are indications in the Book
of Mormon there were others here. “There are statements in the Nephite record
that positively inform us that ‘others’ were on the scene and further passages
that hint at the same thing. One of these statements occurs during the visit by
Alma and his seven companions to the Zoramites. ‘Now the Zoramites were
dissenters from the Nephites" (Alma 31:8). As Alma prayed about this
group, he said, ‘O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren’
(Alma 31:35). We may wonder about those whom they considered not their ‘brethren.’
Apparently he was speaking of those who were neither Nephites, Lamanites, nor ‘Mulekites.’
People in all those three categories are referred to in the text by Nephites as
"brethren" (see, for example, Mosiah 1:5 and 7:2, 13 and Alma
24:7–8).”[1]
“Throughout the
Book of Mormon, there are from time to time massive migrations toward the north
and east, the equivalent of the American frontier and the Western movement.
These found extensive evidence of previous inhabitants in the land—not all of
them Jaredites, though the Jaredites were swarming by the millions while
Zarahemla flourished as a great city to the south. Though Zarahemla is the
center of the action in the Book of Mormon, it was not a Nephite city at all,
but one of the Mulekites’; and the Mulekites brought no records with them from
Jerusalem—they were apparently more numerous and heterogenous than Lehi’s
company.”[2]
They had apostatized
from the true gospel. Paul faced this with the Galatians. “I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel” (Galatians 1:6).
The Zoramites were
people Lehi saw in the Tree of Life vision.
“And it came to
pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist
of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their
way, that they wandered off and were lost…
“And after they had
tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at
them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost” (1 Nephi 8:23,
28).
Hugh Nibley
observed, “I think we have also in the Zoramites a clear example of the
contamination of Nephite religion by older cults that may have been found in
the land or transplanted from the Old World. The Zoramites were dissenters from
the Nephites (Alma 31:8). Under a charismatic leader they went off by
themselves and started ‘perverting the ways of the Lord’ (Alma 31:1). These
were no minor changes but ‘great errors,’ which effectively nullified ‘the
commandments of God and his statutes according to the Law of Moses’ (Alma
31:9). Under the new system they would not ‘observe or keep them’ (Alma 31:9).”[3]
The ignored church
ordinances. They did not pray daily, asking God to help them so they would not
be led into temptation.
In many instances,
they perverted the ways of the Lord. This is what caused Alma and his brethren
to preach to the Zoramites.
[1] When
Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There, John L.
Sorenson, Maxwell Institute website.
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