Chiggidy-Check Yo-Self

Book of Mormon Notes - Wednesday, October 11, 2023, Alma 39

The next four chapters in the Book of Mormon are devoted to Alma’s teachings to his third son Corianton.

Corianton had been a missionary among the Zoramites, along with his father and his older brother Shiblon, while Helaman, the eldest son, remained at home, probably in Zarahemla. But Corianton was guilty of a particularly heinous sin that impeded both his own progress and the progress of missionary work among the Zoramites.

Imagine what Mormon with his prophetic foresight must have seen among his latter-day audience. Mormon’s visions of the last days probably made the ^aharlot Isabel seem as chaste as the Blessed Virgin. Like many prophets before him in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Mormon knew that the desires of the great and abominable church would include all kinds of filthiness, lasciviousness, lust, and pride. He certainly witnessed the spread of pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, and general sexual depravity among all nations, and especially in the promised land. Mormon knew the opposition and the temptations that latter-day Saints, and particularly latter-day men and missionaries would face. Mormon also knew that not every male latter-day Saint and missionary would be able to identify completely with Helaman or with Shiblon. Furthermore, Mormon certainly understood that latter-day fathers and Church leaders would need help to counsel their sons (and daughters) and fellow members of the Church concerning the law of chastity. Thus Alma’s counsel to his son Corianton is one of the greatest tools in all of scripture for helping ourselves and others to enjoy the blessings that flow from living the Lord’s law of chastity.

The first verse in Alma 39 makes me wonder, once again, if Alma taught all three sons together at the same time while giving them their separate charges and separate counsel. Whatever the case, Corianton did not heed his father’s words as much as Shiblon did. Alma spoke directly and clearly, without mincing words, to his son Corianton about the things that he had against him.

First of all, Alma reproved his son Corianton because he went on boasting in his strength and his wisdom. Evidently, Corianton was strong and smart like his brother Shiblon (and probably like his brother Helaman too). But like most mortals, Corianton had a humility problem. Alma loved his son Corianton and desired his success as a missionary and as a future husband and father. Alma also loved his people, including the apostate Zoramites, and desired for them to receive the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus it was Alma’s duty to reprove and to correct his son, especially concerning those things that were most crucial for his salvation and for the salvation of those to whom he had been sent.

Certainly Mormon knew that in the last days the vices of ingratitude, pride, and sexual immorality would plague most people. Thus Mormon, by inspiration and by revelation, included Alma’s unabridged teachings to his son Corianton. Alma was particularly grieved that Corianton forsook the ministry and went over into the land of Siron among the borders of the Lamanites, after the ^aharlot Isabel. What better name for the dwelling place of a harlot can there be than “the land of Siron”? It reminds me of Homer’s Odyssey and the perilous Sirens. Apparently Corianton left the mission boundaries and engaged in immoral activity with the harlot Isabel, a harlot who had stolen away the hearts of many. The harlot Isabel was perhaps something like the Kim Kardashian, the Beyoncé, or the Cardi B of her time. She was bad news.

I have heard many legends of LDS missionaries who did the very thing that Corianton did, and worse. But Mormon’s inclusion of Alma’s teachings to his son Corianton wasn’t just meant to reprove deviant missionaries. Alma teaches the doctrine of Christ and commands his son to repent:

Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most ^aabominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent ^bblood or denying the Holy Ghost?

For behold, if ye ^adeny the Holy Ghost when it once has had place in you, and ye know that ye deny it, behold, this is a sin which is ^bunpardonable; yea, and whosoever murdereth against the light and knowledge of God, it is not easy for him to obtain ^cforgiveness; yea, I say unto you, my son, that it is not easy for him to obtain a forgiveness.

And now, my son, I would to God that ye had not been ^aguilty of so great a crime. I would not dwell upon your crimes, to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good.

But behold, ye cannot ^ahide your crimes from God; and except ye repent they will stand as a testimony against you at the last day.

Now my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your sins, and go no more after the ^alusts of your eyes, but ^bcross yourself in all these things; for except ye do this ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, remember, and take it upon you, and ^ccross yourself in these things. (Alma 39:5-9)

This is not a popular teaching in our time. Even among modern American citizens who might admit that unchastity is a sin, very few would acknowledge that it such a grave and a heinous sin. In fact, Alma teaches his son Corianton that his sin is the most abominable above all sins besides murder or denying the Holy Ghost. Spencer W. Kimball’s classic book The Miracle of Forgiveness can help us moderns to better understand exactly what Alma taught his son Corianton.

Alma commands his son Corianton to repent and to forsake his sins. To his credit, it appears that Corianton obeyed his father, repented of his sins, and forsook them. But Alma’s counsel to his son Corianton was also to go no more after the lusts of his eyes, and to cross himself in all these things. This is an interesting phrase in the Book of Mormon that makes me wonder about the original reformed Egyptian. Traditionally we interpret the phrase “cross yourself” to mean something like self-mastery, taking up the Cross, and denying ourselves of all ungodliness, which makes perfect sense. But even in the Printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon it appears that the scribe had difficulty with the word “cross”. (see also here)

But I knew that I could count on someone at someone at Book of Mormon Central to help figure out this puzzle. Besides the Lord’s teachings regarding purity of heart and rejection of lust, here are a couple more possible ways to understand the phrase “cross yourself”:

Although this phrase may seem confusing, in 1830 when the Book of Mormon was translated, “to cross” meant to erase, cancel, hinder, or interfere with.3 In the common idiom “don’t cross me,” for example, cross is being used to warn people against interfering with a person’s plans.4 So one way to understand Alma’s counsel to “cross yourself” might be to prevent, interfere, or hinder or stop yourself from committing sin.

Abinadi’s trial in the court of Noah also holds a clue to the meaning of “cross yourself” (Mosiah 12–17). There, Noah’s priest “began to question” Abinadi, “that they might cross him” (Mosiah 12:19). This brings to mind the “cross-examination” by an opposing attorney. To “cross yourself,” then, would also call for self-examination, to question and challenge yourself and ensure that your desires are in check, with passions bridled, properly channeled and held in check, so that you “may be filled with love” (Alma 38:12).

Basically, as Ice Cube put it, you betta chiggidy-check yo-self befo’ you wreck yo-self.

To be continued…