Monday, December 16, 2019

Similarities between Alma 11 and Alma 40 -- Describing the resurrection

I've spent the past few days searching for connections between Alma's missionary labors described in Alma 5-13 and his words to his sons found in Alma 36-42.  There are many examples.

Consider Alma's description of Amulek's teaching concerning the resurrection while among the people of Ammonihah:

42 Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death.
43 The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.
44 Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. (Alma 11)

Compare this to Alma's words to Corianton:

21 But whether it be at his resurrection or after, I do not say; but this much I say, that there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.
22 Yea, this bringeth about the restoration of those things of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets.
23 The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame. (Alma 40)

The examples keep piling up to support the idea that all of this is intentional.

A note about trying to tell the difference between coincidence and intentional.


One factor to consider when looking for these parallels is how unique the common expressions are.  Each of the examples above (and in other posts on the topic) are less likely to be coincidence simply because they are pretty rare in the scriptures in general. 

"Proper" + "Frame" 

For example, when I search for sentences in the Book of Mormon that contain the word "proper" and "frame," I only find three examples: Alma 11:43, Alma 40:23, and Alma 41:4. 

"Reunite" + "Body"


If we search for sentences that contain a form of the word "reunite" and "body" we see four total examples: Alma 11:43, Alma 40:18, Alma 40:21, and Moroni 10:34 (the last verse in the Book of Mormon). That's pretty unique.

So when we consider that Alma 11:43 contains the two unique word pairings above and that both of those pairings are only found in a short cluster of verses in Alma 40 and then one other place in the entire Book of Mormon, that clarifies for me whether this is coincidental or intentional.  

The hairs of the head shall not be lost


Add to this the line about not even a hair of the head being lost, which is only found in Alma 11:44 and Alma 40:23 in the Book of Mormon (with a similar saying found in Luke 21:18), and the case gets even stronger.

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