Thursday, July 26, 2012

Hints about Satan's lies - Korihor

In Alma 30 we get to see the story of Korihor, a man who taught that if you couldn't see something, you shouldn't believe it. Therefore, there was no reason to think there would be life after death or a judgment and as a result, you should do whatever you wanted in life. This led to an increase in people committing sexual sin in particular. Very sad. There was also an emphasis on the leaders of the church trying to hold down or oppress their followers.

Alma fought these points pretty specifically:
a) church leaders didn't get paid, so why would they lie
b) people found hope in the idea of Christ and what he would do for them; this is a hopeful, not oppressive belief
c) the order of the world was evidence of God existing (science talks about entropy; having organization is the opposite of this and infers an Organizor)

Also, we later find out that the following:
a) he wanted a sign - this is an easy thing to say but is quite damning when an individual requires this (we learn from Alma/Amulek in Ammonihah that a sign doesn't convince people for the long-term, only condemns them)
b) Satan came to him as an angel and Korihor believed because what was taught was pleasing to the carnal mind; if something sounds too good to be true (no punishment for behaving so selfishly) or involves a "me first" focus, it's probably not good
c) Korihor trusted a "super natural" person, Satan, but wouldn't believe in God. That seems surprising.

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