Divine Hiddenness in Alma
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 6:00 pm
Dan wrote some article about how miraculous it is that Joseph Smith dictated the same sentence at different points in the translation process.
https://journal.interpreterfoundation.o ... -an-angel/
Yawn. However, here's something interesting from Alma he quoted:
If there is a Mormon God, he is trying as hard as he can to prevent people from following him. Where are the angels?
https://journal.interpreterfoundation.o ... -an-angel/
Yawn. However, here's something interesting from Alma he quoted:
I'll do some more mind reading of Peterson and claim that some cognitive dissonance may be the cause of his unease. Dan, perhaps unconsciously, struggles with God's divine hiddenness. God chooses to make all the religions appear equally false to unbiased outside observers. He chooses to hide all the evidence of Nephites and Lamanites. He chose every single stumbling block within Mormon history - Polygamy, Polyandry, Fraud, Deceit, Murder. Child brides, for heaven's sake. He allowed the Internet to spread awareness of these vast problems within Mormonism. Currently, he is causing Mormon growth to flatline and likely begin declining.Consider the story in which Alma the Younger famously expresses his yearning to reach all humanity with the message of the gospel:
Candidly, I didn’t like it at all; I’m not really sure why. However, I’ve come to like it quite a bit over recent years. Again, I’m not quite sure why that should be so, except that I’ve begun to appreciate much more than I once did the urgency of getting the message of the Gospel and, now, of the Restoration out to humanity, and of calling people (not excluding myself) to repentance — as well as to feel more sharply than I once did a frustration at our inability to do so as widely and extensively and powerfully as we would like. I’ve seen too many individuals and families make choices that have led to pain and suffering, and I worry about a society that seems, collectively speaking, to be making analogous choices. How I wish that “they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth!”O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the Trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. (Alma 29:1–2)
If there is a Mormon God, he is trying as hard as he can to prevent people from following him. Where are the angels?