Alma 21

(April 2, 2010)
Two things struck me when I read through this chapter.  First, I was again impressed by the fact that those who leave the Church end up far more wicked than those who never joined.  This is not universally true – I have met decent people who were former members of the Church – but I think they are the exception rather than the rule.  Those who have left the Church and remain good people tended to have tenuous testimonies when they were members, and those with powerful testimonies who left because of pride or temptation tended to lose whatever light they had and become quite dark.  Again, and even with that qualification, there are exceptions to the general rule.  But the general rule is the general rule for a reason – it is the most common outcome.

The other thing that I noticed was the courage of Aaron and his brothers in prison.  The sons of Mosiah had been given a promise that they would not die on their mission, and they presumably knew of this promise (in my recollection, it had been given to Mosiah).  So when Ammon stood before the Lamanites at the Waters of Sebus, he knew that he would not be struck down.  But Aaron, being tossed into prison, did not know but that he would spend years or decades in prison.  It was a specialized challenge prepared by the Lord to test their faith.  That makes the fact that Aaron and his brothers endured patiently their afflictions all the more impressive.

I think there is a great deal of that in our day.  The Lord knows what specialized challenges He can throw at us to give us the greatest challenge we can succeed at and the greatest challenge to enable our growth.  We have the promise from President Hinkley that the Lord sent no one to fail – we were sent to succeed and succeed gloriously.  With that in mind, and assuming that we are trying to live our lives in the right way, whenever difficult challenges come our way we should feel almost complimented by them.  This is what the Lord feels that I am capable of handling.