Editor's note: “Resources to follow Him” curates study resources, teachings, and thoughts to deepen your study of this week's Come, Follow Me.
As you explore Alma 30–31, here are five questions for you to ponder or ask in your study group to guide your thoughts and conversations. We hope these prompts, in addition to the Come, Follow Me manual, will enhance your understanding of these chapters.
“What lesson can I learn . . . to help me live in this day and age?”
In this week’s episode of the Sunday on Monday Study Group, host Tammy Uzelac Hall shares this quote from President Ezra Taft Benson:
The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant for us. Mormon wrote near the end of the Nephite civilization. Under the inspiration of God, who sees all things from the beginning, he abridged centuries of records, choosing the stories, speeches, and events that would be most helpful to us. If he saw our day, and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, "Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?” (A Witness and a Warning: A Modern Day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon, Pg. 19–20).
Host Tammy Uzelac Hall explains, “It might surprise us as we read the story to find out that these stories are more about us than for us.”
The study group hosts also share their own insights about what they learned from the stories of Korihor and the Zoramites.
The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf PLUS+ original presented by LDS Living. You can access the full study group discussion through the Bookshelf app. Listen to a segment of this week's episode below or listen to the full Sunday on Monday episode here.
Why are anti-Christ arguments, like Korihor’s, preserved in the scriptures?
In John Bytheway’s newest book, Golden Answers, he shares an example of a tough question his students ask:
If the scriptures teach us to “say nothing but repentance unto this generation” (D&C 11:9), why would the scriptures give any airtime to anti-Christs? If Korihor’s arguments were so persuasive that many good people were deceived, why would we preserve those arguments for a new generation? Shouldn’t we have left them buried?
Bytheway explains that the reason for allowing anti-Christs to preach their false doctrines on the plates is to expose them as enemies of Christ and to show that the devil will not support them in the last day.
Lehi warned about the power of the devil, who “seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:27). That lesson, or what we might call “Satan’s mission statement,” was worth the space on the plates, in Mormon’s inspired judgment.
Read more of Bytheway’s answer to this question.
What evidence is there of a God?
The Come, Follow Me—Sunday School manual shares:
Because we live in a world similar to Alma’s, where some people teach that there is no God, Alma’s testimony in Alma 30:39–44 could be helpful to members of your class. You could invite them to read these verses and make a list on the board of truths and evidences Alma gives that testify there is a God. What other testimonies do we have that God lives?
The manual shares the following quote from President M. Russell Ballard:
Astronauts viewing the earth from space have stated how incredibly beautiful it is and how alive it appears. United States Senator Jake Garn wrote of his experience in space: "It is impossible for me to describe the beauty of the earth. It is a breathtaking, awe-inspiring, spiritual experience to view the earth from space while traveling at twenty-five times the speed of sound. I could also look into the blackness of the vacuum of space and see billions of stars and galaxies millions of light-years away. The universe is so vast as to be impossible to comprehend. But I did comprehend the hand of God in all things. I felt his presence throughout my seven days in space. I know that God created this earth and the universe. . . . I know that God lives and is the Creator of us all" (letter to M. Russell Ballard, 3 March 1988)” (“God’s Love for His Children,” Ensign, May 1988, 58).
Watch President Ballard’s address “God’s Love for His Children” below.
What were the Zoramites like?
A segment of a Book of Mormon video shows the troubling scene Alma and his fellow missionaries found when they visited the Zoramites and what led them to cry unto the Lord because of the Zoramites' wickedness.
In Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families, it suggests, “To further understand Alma’s approach to rescuing others, you could compare his attitudes, feelings, and actions with those of the Zoramites, as described in Alma 31. . . . What differences do you notice? How do you feel you could be more like Alma?”
Watch the Book of Mormon video below.
How can you find comfort in Christ?
At the end of Alma 31, Alma asks the Lord to “comfort [his] soul in Christ” (Alma 31:31). In this week’s episode of “Don’t Miss This,” Emily Freeman and David Butler encourage their viewers to find ways to “comfort their souls in Christ.”
“I find myself just drawn into my scriptures right now because the news so overwhelms, and I think it might just be that—that my soul is like ‘This is the only place to find comfort right now,’” Freeman says.
The teaching duo gives some examples of how to find comfort in Christ, including through music, scriptures, meditation, and conversation with friends.
“Find strength at its source, and that is in Him,” Butler says.
Watch this week’s episode of “Don’t Miss This” below and be sure to grab a Don’t Miss This 2020 Journal to follow along!
