Thread by @NathanielGivens

I find the Book of Mormon a rich source of teachings for how to live in uncertain and tribalistic times, and today I got an answer to another question I'd had. In Alma 4 the church itself became a hotbed of contention (9) and a negative influence on the larger society (10-11).

So I wanted to know: what did the righteous members of the church do? How did they respond to the contention and bad examples arising from within their own congregations? And the Book of Mormon has the answer, just a couple verses later (13-14).

These folks weren't ignorant of what was going on. It caused them "lamentations". But the didn't oppose it or contest it. They were too busy "abasing themselves" by serving "the poor and the needy".

The American right sees itself as the bastion of religiosity in the country, especially the New Right where illiberalism is used to proudly repudiate the (alleged) secularism of classical liberalism. But this message right here is *not* what the new right wants to hear.

The new right wants *to fight*. It wants power and it wants pride. The idea of abasement ("the action or fact of abasing or being abased; humiliation or degradation") is the opposite of all the talk about preserving legacy and heritage.

This doesn't mean the wickedness of the church was unopposed, but the opposition didn't come from "the humble followers of God" (15), but very specifically from the *leadership* of the church.

It was Alma who gave up his role as political and military leader to save the people by reforming the church, "seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them" (19). Note: "reclaim", not "defeat"!

The lesson I take is that Christians ought to stick to BoM and NT teachings that evil is generally *not* to be directly confronted (there are exceptions). Instead of contending, we are to serve those who need our help and trust God and His appointed leaders.

#scripturethoughts