< ALMA 12 >
v. 4 And thou sees that we know that thy plan was a very subtle plan, as to the subtlety of the devil, for to lie and to deceive this people that thou lightest set them against us, to recite us and cast us out -
Subtlety is using intelligence without integrity.
These were lawyers - educated, articulate, socially respected. Satan is using clerverness with technicality. They weren't asking questions to learn truth, rather to entangle Alma and Almulek. Just like the pharisees questioning Christ (their intent wasn't to learn, it was to ensnare). Sherem with Jacob. Korihor later on.
Satan is know as the accuser. Subtlety is accusation disguised as dialogue, as questions. It's bad-faith questioning. The reason boldness is a great way to respond is because it provides moral clarity. There is no verbal dancing, no fear of man. Subtlety feeds on hesitation. Bold truth starves it.
In the end subtlety is the use of clever, respecatble, intellectual manipulation to undermine truth while pretending to seek it.
Subtlety is using intelligence without integrity.
These were lawyers - educated, articulate, socially respected. Satan is using clerverness with technicality. They weren't asking questions to learn truth, rather to entangle Alma and Almulek. Just like the pharisees questioning Christ (their intent wasn't to learn, it was to ensnare). Sherem with Jacob. Korihor later on.
Satan is know as the accuser. Subtlety is accusation disguised as dialogue, as questions. It's bad-faith questioning. The reason boldness is a great way to respond is because it provides moral clarity. There is no verbal dancing, no fear of man. Subtlety feeds on hesitation. Bold truth starves it.
In the end subtlety is the use of clever, respecatble, intellectual manipulation to undermine truth while pretending to seek it.
v. 11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.
The chains are:
1) Loss of spiritual light - because you can't see what you once could
2) Taken captive by the devil (without realizing it) - the chain is thinking you are free without realizing you are constrained.
3) Inability to desire repentance - Inner resistance to repent, to seek after light.
4) Sin becomes self-reinforcing - Sin doesn't just break rules, it reshapes our desires. You are chained becuase you can't move freely toward God.
Hell isn't a destination, it's a present condition. Hell begins when a person loses the capacity to respond to God. Hell isn't fire, it itsn't torture, it's the diminished freedom of the soul.
Parallel between Alma 12 and addiction psychology
1) Repeat choice leads to neural narrowing:
Alma 12: light is given, then withdrawn as hearts harden
In psychology, repeated behaviors strengthen certain neural pathways and weakne others. Addiction isn't doing a bad thing a lot - it's the brain saying: this it the path we walk now. Other paths don't vanish, they just become harder to access.
2) Loss of responsiveness:
Alma 12: people receive less and less
In psychology that equals dopamine down regulation.
Over time: pleasure flattens, meaning dulls, normal joys feel boringh or pointless. It's neuroadaptation. Spirtually = less light, psychologically = less signal
3) Rationalization replaces agency
Alma 12: captivity happens through deception, not force
Psychology calls this cognitive distortions. Addicted thinking sounds like: " I could stop if I wanted to" "This isn't hurting anyone". You don't feel the chains because you explain them away.
4) Desire itself becomes distorted
Alma's hell = people won't repent
Psychology: People don't want what they know is good becuase they can't. It's becuase their desire has been hijacked.
Alma's chains of hell exist becuase repeated choices reshape desire until freedom feels undesirable adn captivity feels normal.
The chains are:
1) Loss of spiritual light - because you can't see what you once could
2) Taken captive by the devil (without realizing it) - the chain is thinking you are free without realizing you are constrained.
3) Inability to desire repentance - Inner resistance to repent, to seek after light.
4) Sin becomes self-reinforcing - Sin doesn't just break rules, it reshapes our desires. You are chained becuase you can't move freely toward God.
Hell isn't a destination, it's a present condition. Hell begins when a person loses the capacity to respond to God. Hell isn't fire, it itsn't torture, it's the diminished freedom of the soul.
Parallel between Alma 12 and addiction psychology
1) Repeat choice leads to neural narrowing:
Alma 12: light is given, then withdrawn as hearts harden
In psychology, repeated behaviors strengthen certain neural pathways and weakne others. Addiction isn't doing a bad thing a lot - it's the brain saying: this it the path we walk now. Other paths don't vanish, they just become harder to access.
2) Loss of responsiveness:
Alma 12: people receive less and less
In psychology that equals dopamine down regulation.
Over time: pleasure flattens, meaning dulls, normal joys feel boringh or pointless. It's neuroadaptation. Spirtually = less light, psychologically = less signal
3) Rationalization replaces agency
Alma 12: captivity happens through deception, not force
Psychology calls this cognitive distortions. Addicted thinking sounds like: " I could stop if I wanted to" "This isn't hurting anyone". You don't feel the chains because you explain them away.
4) Desire itself becomes distorted
Alma's hell = people won't repent
Psychology: People don't want what they know is good becuase they can't. It's becuase their desire has been hijacked.
Alma's chains of hell exist becuase repeated choices reshape desire until freedom feels undesirable adn captivity feels normal.
v. 12 And Amulet hath spoken plainly concerning death, and being raised from this mortality to a sate of immortality, and being brought before the bar of God, to be judged according to our works.
Matthew 16:27 - For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angles; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Jesus speaking here, so there's no ambituity)
John 5:28-29 - they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, untot he resurrection of damnation.
Romans 2:6-8 - who will render to every man according to his deeds...
2 Corinthians 5:10 - That every one may receive the things done in his body
Revelation 20:12-13 - And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (This is the climatic judgement scene on the Bible - and the metric is works).
Again, grace saves us, but works reveal wo are - and judgement is based on that revealed life.
God saves by grace:
Isreal is rescued from Egypt before the law is given
Jesus forgives people before they change
Paul insists salvation is not earned.
Humans respond with faith:
The Bible defines faith as believing in God, turning toward him, remaining loyal (faith is action). It's relational not just intellectual.
Works reveal that faith
Works are not a payment - they're a diagnostic.
Jesus: "By their fruis ye shall know them"
James "Faith without works is dead"
Paul (Eph 2:10): "created unto good works"
Judgement evaluates the revealed life:
Judgement doesn't ask: did you say the right words...it asks...who did you become.
Hence: Judged according to works, judged on who we became.
Judgement by works does not equal salvation by works. It's evaluative, not transactional
The scriptures teach that grace is the source, faith is the relationship, works are the evidence, and judgement is the revelation of the life lived.
Matthew 16:27 - For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angles; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Jesus speaking here, so there's no ambituity)
John 5:28-29 - they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, untot he resurrection of damnation.
Romans 2:6-8 - who will render to every man according to his deeds...
2 Corinthians 5:10 - That every one may receive the things done in his body
Revelation 20:12-13 - And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (This is the climatic judgement scene on the Bible - and the metric is works).
Again, grace saves us, but works reveal wo are - and judgement is based on that revealed life.
God saves by grace:
Isreal is rescued from Egypt before the law is given
Jesus forgives people before they change
Paul insists salvation is not earned.
Humans respond with faith:
The Bible defines faith as believing in God, turning toward him, remaining loyal (faith is action). It's relational not just intellectual.
Works reveal that faith
Works are not a payment - they're a diagnostic.
Jesus: "By their fruis ye shall know them"
James "Faith without works is dead"
Paul (Eph 2:10): "created unto good works"
Judgement evaluates the revealed life:
Judgement doesn't ask: did you say the right words...it asks...who did you become.
Hence: Judged according to works, judged on who we became.
Judgement by works does not equal salvation by works. It's evaluative, not transactional
The scriptures teach that grace is the source, faith is the relationship, works are the evidence, and judgement is the revelation of the life lived.
v.15 ...and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.
Matthew 3:8 - Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. (John the Baptist). In King James English, meet, means fitting, appropriate, suitable, corresponding to. IE: Fruit that matches what repentance really is.
IE: Sincere repentance will produce results that make sense for repentance. Not performative, not symbolic, not minimal...real, appropriate change. IE: altered behavior, softened heart, different priorities, repaired relationships, humility instead of self-justification.
John is saying this because people are saying Abraham is our father, they are claiming their ancestry will save them, their words will save them. He is saying, that doesn't matter, you need to produce your own fruits.
Matthew 3:8 - Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. (John the Baptist). In King James English, meet, means fitting, appropriate, suitable, corresponding to. IE: Fruit that matches what repentance really is.
IE: Sincere repentance will produce results that make sense for repentance. Not performative, not symbolic, not minimal...real, appropriate change. IE: altered behavior, softened heart, different priorities, repaired relationships, humility instead of self-justification.
John is saying this because people are saying Abraham is our father, they are claiming their ancestry will save them, their words will save them. He is saying, that doesn't matter, you need to produce your own fruits.
v. 31 Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as to things which were temporal, and becoming as gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good -
Genesis 3:5 - (the serpent)... then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:22 (God says) - Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil.
In Hebrew (yada') means: experiential knowledge, knowledge gained by participation. They didn't learn this as a definitiion, they learned what it feels like to know good from evil. They lived it. They gained the burden of choice, agency with consequences.
The act wasn't inherently evil. Adam and Eve were made in God's image, they were meant to grow, mature, and experience these things. The problem was that they took it prematurely, on their own terms when God was the one that was going to give them of the fruit.
Genesis 3:5 - (the serpent)... then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:22 (God says) - Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil.
In Hebrew (yada') means: experiential knowledge, knowledge gained by participation. They didn't learn this as a definitiion, they learned what it feels like to know good from evil. They lived it. They gained the burden of choice, agency with consequences.
The act wasn't inherently evil. Adam and Eve were made in God's image, they were meant to grow, mature, and experience these things. The problem was that they took it prematurely, on their own terms when God was the one that was going to give them of the fruit.
v. 34 Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeners not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest.
Claiming mercy: Mercy is available because of Christ. You are standing under Christ's claim, not your own. Christ has already paid the demands of justice, but mercy applies to those who consent to being healed. You are not buying mercy or becoming worth of mercy when you repent, you are removing the barrier to mercy. Once that resistence drops, mercy has room to work. That's why mercy is always tied to humility.
Claiming mercy: Mercy is available because of Christ. You are standing under Christ's claim, not your own. Christ has already paid the demands of justice, but mercy applies to those who consent to being healed. You are not buying mercy or becoming worth of mercy when you repent, you are removing the barrier to mercy. Once that resistence drops, mercy has room to work. That's why mercy is always tied to humility.
v. 36 ... therefore your iniquity provoketh him that he senders down his wrath upon you as in the first provocation, yea, according to his word in the last provocation as well as the first, to the everlasting destruction of your souls; therefore according to his word, unto the last death, as well as the first.
The first provocation: The first provocation was the temptation to seize moral autonomy before being ready for it. (Genesis 3 and Moses 4)
They took judgement into their own hands. They acted independently of God. To provoke God was to challenge His oder, timing, and authority. They didn't trust the process.
Provocation = mistrust expressed as rebellion.
The last provocation - the final refusal of offered mercy. Rejecting hte light when nothing more can be given.
John 3:19 - That light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
The refusal to be gathered: Matthew 23:37 - how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not!
Revelation 22:11 - The that is unjust, let him be unjust still. This is God finalizing our choice. Justice doesn't punish, it ratifies and solidifies what we have chosen to become.
The final provocation is when someone choses self-rule over healing. Darkness over light permanently.
The first provocation: The first provocation was the temptation to seize moral autonomy before being ready for it. (Genesis 3 and Moses 4)
They took judgement into their own hands. They acted independently of God. To provoke God was to challenge His oder, timing, and authority. They didn't trust the process.
Provocation = mistrust expressed as rebellion.
The last provocation - the final refusal of offered mercy. Rejecting hte light when nothing more can be given.
John 3:19 - That light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
The refusal to be gathered: Matthew 23:37 - how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not!
Revelation 22:11 - The that is unjust, let him be unjust still. This is God finalizing our choice. Justice doesn't punish, it ratifies and solidifies what we have chosen to become.
The final provocation is when someone choses self-rule over healing. Darkness over light permanently.