Alma 5 - 7

Alma 5 contains the most wonderful questions for reflection and pondering and for this weeks lesson blog I would like to focus a little on how we can potentially unlock some of the value in these questions for us.

Alma starts questioning in verse 6, saying "... you that belong to this church, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?" 

First, a look at two words, "retain" and "remembrance" 

retain (v.) 

late 14c., "hold back, restrain;" c.1400, "continue keeping, keep possession of," from Old French retenir "keep, retain; take into feudal service; hold back; remember" (12c.), from Latin retinere "hold back, keep back, detain, restrain," from re- "back" (see re-) + tenere "to hold" (see tenet).

remembrance (n.) 

c.1300, "a memory, recollection," from Old French remembrance (11c.), from remembrer (see remember). From late 14c. as "consideration, reflection; present consciousness of a past event; store of personal experiences available to recollection, capacity to recall the past."

Art by Leighton Autrey

So, a sense of what Alma asks here is "have you sufficiently held / do you sufficiently continue keeping a memory / recollection of the captivity of your fathers?"  Another sense of the question is "do you have a store of personal experiences of the captivity your fathers available for recollection?" Perhaps the question could be rendered as "do you consider and reflect on the captivity of your fathers?" or "do you have a consciousness of the captivity of your fathers?"

This is Alma's starting point - the captivity of our fathers.  As I contemplate this, I am deeply aware of a long line of ancestors hailing from what is now the southern France - a place which, when my ancestors lived there in the 12th and 13th centuries was a spiritual battle ground as the Catholicism of the day fought the "heresy" of the Albigensian (Puritan) viewpoint.  Certainly ancestors on both sides of that divide were in captivity.  What holds the later generations captive - even if for a while?  Are our more recent fathers captive to ideologies, to wars and contentions, to addictions and substances?  Take some time to ponder and journal experiences or knowledge that you have of "the captivity of your fathers".

The next question Alma raises is "... have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them?" (In the context of this question, he is referring to the Lord.) How has the Lord shown mercy and long-suffering to my fathers?  Certainly in the case of my fathers from Provence (southern Mediterranean France), a long heritage of protection and mercy as they fled France and eventually found refuge and a new home in August of 1688.  In more recent times, the tender mercy of missionaries tracting along a dusty farm road ... Take some time to ponder and journal experiences of knowledge that you have of the Lords' long suffering towards yourself and your immediate family.


Alma then moves to the question "... have you sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?"  Did our fathers have a remembrance of the Saviours atonement and resurrection?  Did our fathers hold in remembrance the grounds of "hope of salvation"? Then Alma moves into the defining questions - has this knowledge of the Saviour brought about and "mighty change in their hearts" and has this brought about a spiritual rebirth for us? 

From verse 14 to the end of the chapter, Alma asks deep and searching questions about the quality of our individual spiritual rebirth.  These are significant questions to ponder and journal.  Work through them verse by verse, and search your heart for each question.  Where do you stand with that question?  Can you REMEMBER a time when that question was significant in your life, and can you RETAIN, through your journal writing, this remembrance? 

A closing thought for this weeks blog from Alma 5 : "Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life: yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;  Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness ..."

Further Resources:

Seminary video presentation of Alma 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjM2dQfT7aI