My favorite person and the stories written about him are Alma, son of Alma, who was first chief judge and subsequently the prophet of the Church of Christ in the Book of Mormon taught me that the Savior until he ordained his son, Helaman to be the prophet of the church. Even as I first read the Book of Mormon, while a child, I became intrigued by this man-of-God and defender of the faith.
Originally, I was impressed that Alma the younger had originally fought against the church and had been an apostate when actually was a son of the prophet of God then turned to become a champion of the faith and leader in the Lord’s Church! Next, I remember being in debate class in junior high and being astounded at Alma’s use of logic as he thwarted the anti-Christ, Korihor.
This was my discovery that God didn’t and that man doesn’t simply use testimony and miracles to confound the wicked but that every word of God can be found in the logic of the truth of the Gospel or rather, that the logic in the Gospel can be found in the truths that make-up the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Spirituality and logic go hand-in-hand and complement each other, making-up a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His church!
Alma taught me that body (mind) and spirit are necessary to return to God. Thank you Mormon for introducing me to Alma, son of Alma, in the Book of Mormon! Thank you, also, Joseph Smith for being humble enough to ask your Heavenly Father for forgiveness as well as to ask which of the churches on Earth was His true church, and for not stopping when you were told that none of the churches on Earth were led by thy Son or Spirit but that His church and that he needed to help restore Thu Church!
JPS
