Opposing worldviews clash - Alma & Amulek imprisoned (Alma 14)

SYNOPSIS

After Alma finishes preaching some people decide to repent and others become angry and take him before the chief judge accusing him of reviling the law. The chief judge sacrifices believers in front of Alma and Amulek and God allows them to be sacrificed so the judgements of God can come upon the people of Ammonihah and believers can be received in glory. Alma and Amulek do not answer chief judge when he questions them, and the other lawyers question them as they suffer in horrible questions in prison for several days.

ANALYSIS

The main questions this chapter makes me think of are the following:

1) Why was it so hard for the people to repent?

The people of Ammonihah had a very strong and shared mental map of the world. All human beings see themselves as being good including people that do very bad things. Alma and Amulek (A&A) preached to them and basically cut them to the core of who they were and challenged their whole world view by telling them they were evil. When anyone's core constructs (most fundamental parts of their identity) are challenged those challenged will likely have strong feelings of anger, hatred, fear, defensiveness, against the aggressor etc.

Before A&A came the people were comfortable with the lifestyle they led. After their whole lifestyle is challenged they can no longer be comfortable continuing to live this lifestyle until some resolution is taken. Even though the people said that Alma and Amulek were crazy, in reality, A&A did cut them to the core of their identity which is evidenced by how angry the people became. Only real threats to a person's identity can cause strong anger. They were being attacked by the former chief judge of the land so they were almost forced to see Alma as a threat to their way of life. Either the people had to comply, admit they were wrong, and repent and this could be a resolution to their souls or had to get rid of the opposing forces, which were A&A.

The easiest resolution for the people would be to have A&A take back what they said about the wickedness of the people. So, the people take A&A before the smartest person in the land that is committed to their lifestyle, the chief judge. They hope that the chief judge can convince A&A to take back their words.

So, in order to continue living in good conscious the people must remove the obstacles that are troubling them. It is no surprise that the wicked people begin to sacrifice the believers. There is nothing that would make them feel better to have A&A take back their words, but even these extreme measures do not produce the result they want. Even killing A&A would not be as good as having A&A take back their words of chastisement against the people. But, as A&A will not take back their words it seems that the natural progression of things will be that the people will kill A&A as A&A are an obstacle to the people having peace of mind continuing in their way of life.

2) How could Alma and Amulek continue to be so powerful in their preaching with seemingly the whole world against them?

Alma was the former chief judge of the whole land, he received revelations from angels multiple times, and was so confident that his view of the world was correct that he had no problem suffering for it and facing another worldview by thousands that was the complete opposite of his own. He was only one person, but amazingly, he confidently challenged thousands. Amulek also was a man of importance in the city and received a calling directly from God.

Some people might be afraid that anyone's world view could be so strong that it could lead people to sacrifice their lives for it (people automatically start thinking of Jihadists when they see this level of belief). However, the type of belief and dedication that Alma and Amulek have is centered in love for humanity and respect for life. Killing or forcing one's beliefs on another is completely against the teachings of Jesus Christ.