Mosiah 17

I wonder why King Noah got even madder when Alma didn’t want to kill Abinidi. Last night we were talking about how when people do things for you, they sometimes feel like you owe them or you have to be controlled by them. It seems like that could have been the case here. King Noah had set things up pretty sweet, in a worldly sense, for his priests. He probably saw him as an ungrateful traitor. It’s kind of to Alma’s benefit that he used anger and tried to kill him instead of guilt and trying to sway him. It’s way easier to dig in and stick to your guns in a direct conflict. At least for me. It’s hard for me to not be swayed by guilt trips because I often don’t trust my own judgment, or put a firm enough faith in inspiration I have received, and wonder if I really am being bad. I need to stop making decisions based on fear.

It’s interesting to me that King Noah had to find an excuse to kill Abinidi, that it took him three days, and then he tried to make it religious. It’s an example of how people try to justify their sins and pretend the thing they are doing really is good. I wonder if that is why it works so well for Satan to call bad good, because we want to believe him. I guess not always, but I can see that some of the time.

It’s interesting that King Noah almost saved himself here, but the priests got to his pride and it was his downfall. The anger of “I’m will not be spoken to that way or treated that way,” is a dangerous kind of pride. I feel myself acting like that towards my children sometimes, parenting through force and coercion.  I feel like that is something I really need to change.

It takes a lot of courage of conviction to stand by the truth even through a death by fire. It reminds me of the Salem witch trials, or modern torture, where people confess to lies all the time to avoid that pain and torture. I can see how not taking your words back even through that kind of horrible pain seals their truthfulness. You couldn’t do that just to be stubborn. Abinidi knew that was the price he was going to pay and went into the situation willing to pay it. That is amazing dedication to God’s will no matter what. What a wonderful example he was!