Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Mosiah 16-17

(September 3, 2015)
                We sometimes like to think that, if only we experienced enough miracles, we would be converted and believe and do everything that we should do.  Having experienced miracles in my life, then losing my testimony, and then regaining it and becoming converted I can tell you from personal experience that this simply isn’t the way things happen.

                Of course, we have an example of that here.  Abinidi, miraculously, is about to withstand the guards and deliver the message given to him by God.  The moment he finishes his message, he is condemned to death.  You would think, having just seen a miracle, that Noah might be a little reluctant to execute Abinidi – but he wasn’t.


                In contrast, we see that Alma was converted, but we read specifically that he was not converted by the miracle but rather by Abinidi’s words.  At most, the miracle helped to prepare the ground so that Alma carefully listened to Abinidi’s words but ultimately Alma was converted to the preaching rather than the miracle.  This matches my life as well.

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