Alma 32–34 The Pyramid Fortress of Faith

Pyramid of Faith has three levels
1) Top level is “I Know”
2) Middle level is Evidence “I know why…”
3) Bottom level is Experience, Reason, Authority, Common Sense

Pyramids are hard to knock over.
Alma 32 is about providing a way to broaden the bottom level.
Alma the Younger lived in an agricultural society. Trees were important to their survival.

In our day, the scientific method (empirical reason) is the standard for finding truth.

1) Start with a Hypothesis
a. state in positive terms (i.e. innocent until proven guilty, Jesus is Christ)
b. Alma 34:4,5 Is Jesus the Christ? is the great question
c. Define your assumptions
2) Experiment
a. Research, Observe, Gather Data, Testing
3) Develop Conclusions
4) Retry, Adjust/adapt hypothesis

You don’t stop experimenting. You keep trying to prove your hypothesis. The Goal is to get to a LAW.
Hypothesis >>>> Theory >>>>> LAW

Before you state a hypothesis you must define your assumptions.
4 ASSUMPTIONS necessary in for finding Spiritual Truth

Alma 32 ( Alma was preaching to rich people on a hill, when poor humble people approached)

1) Humility (v.6)
C.S. Lewis – A proud man will never find God. He must look up
v.13 Doesn’t matter how you become humble
2) God wants you to know the answer to your hypothesis ( v.22)
3) He will tell it to you and to ALL people (v.23)
4) You shouldn’t expect a perfect knowledge(v.26)
-you can’t expect to harvest while you are planting
-v.27 Noone is completely objective about everything. Skeptics or Non-Skeptics all have their biases

Wilcox doesn’t see the LDS church as black/white true/untrue (as many in church do) He mentioned he doesn’t know what a “shadow of a doubt is”. He admits he still doubts about things. Doubt is not bad, but what you do with it. Wishes people would share more testimonies emphasizing goodness. “I know there are good things in the church and that we are led be good men.” He said the emphasis in Alma (on Good) is different than emphasis in current church (on TRUE beyond a shadow of a doubt). He mentioned that he doesn’t feel the Mormon church has all truth, but that he found truth at its most mature level in the LDS church.


4 ways to draw your conclusions

1) Begins to Swell within you- physical, emotional, spiritual response to truth
- Motion- the movement of the spirit in you, things are moving in you
- Heat- a burning in the bosom
- Many other ways, Peace, Joy, enlightenment, calm
- The important thing is just to recognize one that works for you
2) Begins to Enlarge Soul – you have a Behavioral Response to goodness
- You start acting different, better
- Your ability to have compassion, empathy increases
- v.35 IS this not real
3) Begins to Enlighten understanding
- Your mind responds to truth
- Intellectual response ( it makes sense)
- The interest of your mind expands
4) Begins to be Delicious
- Doctrines (temple marriage, babies who die aren’t going to hell)
- You crave more

Swell, Enlarge,Enlighten,Delicious = S.E.E.D.

Some people respond more to feelings (enlarging) , than intellect (enlightening) and vice versa.

Ø Robert Frost Poem – Into My Own
Ø Thoreau's Poem - I know I am, I know I am his, of whom I am a kindred.
Ø Truth can never be confirmed enough, though doubts never sleep. Shakespeare

Alma 33 - Experimenting, Exercising your Faith

-Alma the younger & Amulek
-You don’t go to Olympics after 1 day of exercise
-v.7 closet means bedroom (Elizabethan-King James translation)

5 ways to Plant, Nourish, Experiment with SEEDs
in order because they each lead to the next

1) Pray anyplace, anytime ( v3 – v10 all about prayer)
2) Scriptures (v. 12)
3) Look (v.19)
-Two important figures can be found in scriptures ( Jesus and the Father)
-Look unto me in every thought
-Moses’s serpent on stick represented Christ’s victory over Satan.
serpent = temptations, and fiery, flying serpent bites
-i.e. leprosy represented spiritual sin and how Jesus could heal all of us
4) Learn ( v.23)
5) Listen to my words and Walk in the meekness of Spirit

Alma 34
v.15, 16, 17 all mention exercising Faith unto Repentance

4 Purposes of Life
1) Prepare to Meet God (v. 32)
2) Perform Labors (v.32)
3) Prepare for Eternal Life (v.33)
4) Improve our time while in this life (v.33)

It takes a while to grow a tree, so DON’T PROCRASTINATE (v.33)
The Best way to accomplish the 4 purposes of life is to plant the seeds God has given us (i.e. commandments) and then grow them into a healthy, vibrant orchard.
Wilcox wished that we would all treasure the seeds god has given us.
Eternal life is a potluck of the fruits of our trees.

Tuesday, 7:00-8:30 Michael Wilcox Institute 25-30 Book of Mormon Class

4 Major Anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon
Wilcox felt the term Anti-Christ gives people an image of a very noticeable, godless type person. He stressed that an Anti-Christ is really anyone who is a “faith shaker”. Jacob 7:5 ( Sherem hoped to shake faith)

4 Anti-Christs in Book of Mormon are

Sherem - Jacob 7
Nahor - Alma 1
Korihor - Alma 30
Zoram - Alma 31

Alma the Younger interacts with Nahor, Korihor, AND Zoram. Alma the Younger is perfect to be the ANTI anti-Christ because he himself was one. He knew where they were coming from.

5 Ways to deal with Anti-Christs

1) Know their trademarks ( you can find them in church or outside of church)

Sherem Quotes Scripture, calls Jacob “Brother”, Religous
Nahor Wants clergy to be Popular and Paid
Korihor Non-Religious
Zoram Highly Religious

You can’t always know who the anti-Christ’s are. They can be religious, non religious.
I think of how the philosophies of men can mingle with scripture and true religion.

2) Know your doctrine

Sherem - Something else will saved
Nahor – Everyone will be saved
Korihor – Some will, Some won’t
Zoram – You don’t need to be saved

3) You don’t have to listen to them. You have a choice

Choice is not between two trees (as in the knowledge of the tree of good and evil and the tree of life) The choice really is between the tree of life and ALL other trees.

4) Sometimes the best defense is a good offense

He shared story of how philosophy professors like to pick on religious people. But at the end of the day –they can’t prove anything anymore than you can. Religious people back themselves into a corner, when we actually have a much stronger foundation (Alma 30:36-37)

5) Answer with testimony

Shared the concept of a testimony pyramid in which faith rests on
1) Faith “I Know it is true” based on feelings, emotions
2) Evidence “I know why I know”

Hebrews 11:1 ( Wilcox felt this was the best definition on faith)Greek translation of “Substance” is also foundation, assurance, evidence

Evidence is based on
Experience - personal experiences, testimony of “brethren” peers
Authority -- testimony of prophets
Reason -- Nature, etc...

Anti-Christs have a reverse pyramid (based on bad beliefs as their foundation, traditions, and then emotions) Anyone of any religion can get mixed up in a reverse pyramid

6 Articles of NO FAITH for Anti-Christs ( aka Faith Shakers) Alma 31

1) (v )Can’t know of anything to come
2) (v 15)Can’t know of anything you can’t see ( empirical)
3) (v17) No Atonement was made, every man fares according to management of creature (law of the jungle, social Darwinism)
4) (Whatsoever someone did was No Sin, No Crime (no law, chaos, free love,etc..)
5) No afterlife
6) (v 28) God is never seen, never known, God Doesn’t exist (atheist)


Next week is Alma 32 –

He'll go into how Alma the Younger proves how we can find out about God through the scientific method. (Wilcox felt that this was really neat because it was like Alma the younger knew exactly that we would need this level of proof)