Saturday, June 13, 2026

Alma 1:20-22 -- On Words and Blows

"Yea, they did persecute them, and afflict them with all manner of words, and this because of their humility; because they were not proud in their own eyes, and because they did impart the word of God, one with another, without money and without price.
Now there was a strict law among the people of the church, that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves.
Nevertheless, there were many among them who began to be proud, and began to contend warmly with their adversaries, even unto blows; yea, they would smite one another with their fists"
Alma 1:20-22


Good reminder here not to contend or persecute, even if we aren't the ones that started it. I don't think that means we can't walk away from a bad situation, but we should be careful to not escalate from words to blows, and to always love first. God can handle justice when it needs to happen, but he requires that we forgive and love, so that we can have those same blessings in our lives. ... I was working in the temple today and a woman came in, and she had tears running down her face the whole time I was interacting with her. She told me after that she was doing work for her abusive parents... getting to that point I'm sure had taken her a long time, but she wasn't crying with sorrow that whole time. She was crying because in doing that work for them, God was lifting that burden from her heart, and she felt truly joyful and at peace for the first time in a very long time. ... I'm not saying that is the answer for everyone, but she impressed me a lot, and I think that we can find ways to heal our hearts as we work with God, and leave the negative consequences for others to him. He paid the price for all of our sins, and that is his job. Ours is to love and serve, and find our way back to God.

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