5 The one raised to
happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his
desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as
he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil
when the night cometh.
6 And so it is on the
other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until
the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.
7 These are they that
are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are
delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for
behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.
8 Now, the decrees of
God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may
walk therein and be saved.
9 And now behold, my
son, do not risk one more offense against your God upon those points of
doctrine, which ye have hitherto risked to commit sin.
10 Do not suppose,
because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored
from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness. (Alma
41:5-15)
After teaching Corianton the fate of the wicked in the
resurrection, Alma teaches him about the righteous.
The righteous will be raised to happiness according to their
desire of good. “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is
that people, whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15).
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that
keepeth the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18).
“I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and
happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are
blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out
faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell
with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these
things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it” (Mosiah 2:41).
The evil will be raised to evil according to their desires.
His reward is evil.
“The
Lord looks upon the light we have received, the desires of our hearts, and
our actions, and when we repent and seek His forgiveness, He forgives. As
we consider our own lives and the lives of our loved ones and acquaintances, we
should be equally willing to forgive ourselves and others.”[1]
So, if the person desires righteousness throughout their
life, they will be rewarded with righteousness.
These are they that
are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are
delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for
behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.
The righteous are those who are redeemed. “These are they
who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just” (D&C 76:65).
They are delivered from endless night and darkness. They are
their own judges as to whether they are good or evil.
“And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may
redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed
from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for
themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at
the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given”
(2 Nephi 2:26).
“[W]hosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of
life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but
in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds” (Alma 42:27).
“[W]hosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and
whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye
are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a
knowledge and he hath made you free” (Helaman 14:30).
“Now and every day in our mortal lives, He wants to sharpen
our awareness, that we may become our own judges, as He calls us to a
continuous process of repentance.
“After Alma had spoken about repentance and desires of
righteousness until the end of life, he said, ‘They … are redeemed of the Lord;
… for behold, they are their own judges.’
The Apostle Paul also explained “For if we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged.’ (1 Corinthians 11:31).
“It seems that we can only effectively go through the
process of continuous repentance if we literally learn to become our own
judges. We ourselves and the Lord are the only ones who really know us. We do
not even know ourselves unless we have learned to walk the lonely and most
challenging road toward self-honesty, as constantly prompted by the Spirit.”[2]
God’s decrees are final. “And if there were miracles wrought
then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable
Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be
God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles” (Mormon 9:19).
The path to salvation is prepared for those who will walk
it. “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear
the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).
“Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in
thy holy hill?[3]
“He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
speaketh the truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:1-2).
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law
of the Lord” (Psalm 119:1).
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”
(Galatians 5:25).
“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to
walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6).
He admonished Corianton to commit no more offenses against
God on “those points of doctrine, which ye have hitherto risked to commit sin”
(Alma 41:9).
“[T]hree Passover questions are found in the Bible.
Traditionally, each of these questions was asked in turn by the sons and was
answered by the father. In time, each of these questions came to be associated
with a different type of son…
“[The second question was] ‘What mean ye by this service?’
(Exodus 12:26). This question was asked by a wicked son. This son is depicted in the Jewish literature as one
guilty of social crimes, who had excluded himself from the community, and
believed in false doctrines. According to Jewish practice, he is to be told, in
a manner that will ‘set his teeth on edge,’ that he will be punished for his
own sins, and that, had he been in Egypt, he would not have been redeemed. Such
is unmistakably the thrust of Alma’s words to Corianton-who had left the ministry
(see Alma 39:3), caused social problems (see Alma 39:11), followed false
doctrines (see Alma 41:9), and is taught by his father about nothing but
redemption and one’s personal suffering for sin (see Alma 41:3-4, 7).”
(emphasis in original).[4]
10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning
restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say
unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
Alma made sure Corianton understood the restoration was not
where someone would be restored from sin to happiness. “Many sorrows shall be
to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about”
(Psalm 32:10).
“There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah
57:21).
“[Y]our days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated
the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your
destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives
for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing
iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is
in our great and Eternal Head” (Helaman 13:38).
“[W]ickedness never was happiness.”
“[W]e see that these promises have been verified to the
people of Nephi; for it has been their quarrelings and their contentions, yea,
their murderings, and their plunderings, their idolatry, their whoredoms, and
their abominations, which were among themselves, which brought upon them their
wars and their destructions” (Alma 50:21).
“And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their
lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did
begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the
Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would
again become a righteous people.
“But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was
not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the
sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take
happiness in sin” (Mormon 2:12-13).
“You lived with your Heavenly Father in a premortal life.
You were there with Him. Your spirit knows what it is like to live in celestial
realms. You can never be truly happy in an uncelestial environment. You know too much. That is one of the
reasons that for you, wickedness never can be happiness.”[5]
(emphasis in original)
[3] “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall
dwell in thy holy hill of Zion?” (JST Psalm 15:1).
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