I would like to make one more post for now on Alma 36 because it is one of my favorite chapters and one of the greatest chapters in all of holy writ.
Something that stands out to me as significant in Alma’s teachings to his son Helaman - teachings that Mormon quotes directly, verbatim, and in their entirety as far as I know - is that Alma speaks (and writes) of his repentance, his conversion, and his joy in Christ by using the metaphor of taste.
Alma the Younger therefore consciously brings us back to the great patriarch of the Book of Mormon, the great progenitor, pioneer, visionary, and prophet Lehi. Alma connects us again to Lehi’s great vision, and Nephi’s great vision, of the tree of life, and the fruit thereof. Let us recall for a moment Lehi’s joy, and Nephi’s joy, and how they described this joy in their respective visions:
Lehi (or Nephi’s abridgment of his fathers dream):
And it came to pass that I beheld a atree, whose bfruit was desirable to make one chappy.
And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the afruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the bwhiteness that I had ever seen.
And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great ajoy; wherefore, I began to be bdesirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was cdesirable above all other fruit. (1 Nephi 8:10-12)
Nephi (or Nephi’s own account of his own vision):
And behold this thing shall be given unto thee for a asign, that after thou hast beheld the tree which bore the fruit which thy father tasted, thou shalt also behold a man descending out of heaven, and him shall ye witness; and after ye have witnessed him ye shall bbear record that it is the Son of God.
And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the atree which my father had seen; and the bbeauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the cwhiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.
And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is aprecious above all.
And he said unto me: What desirest thou?
And I said unto him: To know the ainterpretation thereof—for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the bform of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.
And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look! And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw him not; for he had gone from before my presence.
And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of aNazareth I beheld a bvirgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
And it came to pass that I saw the aheavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.
And he said unto me: Knowest thou the acondescension of God?
And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.
And he said unto me: Behold, the avirgin whom thou seest is the bmother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.
And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the aSpirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a achild in her arms.
And the angel said unto me: Behold the aLamb of God, yea, even the bSon of the Eternal cFather! Knowest thou the meaning of the dtree which thy father saw?
And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the alove of God, which bsheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the cmost desirable above all things.
And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most ajoyous to the soul. (1 Nephi 11:7-23)
Then let’s listen to Alma’s testimony again, with Lehi and Nephi’s testimonies as a foundation for understanding:
And it came to pass that as I was thus aracked with torment, while I was bharrowed up by the cmemory of my many sins, behold, I dremembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, ahave mercy on me, who am bin the cgall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting dchains of edeath.
And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my apains bno more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
And oh, what ajoy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
Yea, methought I saw, even as our father aLehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and bpraising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.
But behold, my limbs did receive their astrength again, and I stood upon my feet, and did manifest unto the people that I had been bborn of God.
Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto arepentance; that I might bring them to btaste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be cborn of God, and be dfilled with the Holy Ghost.
Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth agive me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my blabors;
For because of the aword which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God, and have btasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God. (Alma 36:17-26)
Like Lehi and Nephi, Alma the Younger describes his conversion to Jesus Christ in joyous terms and in terms of the metaphor of taste. Vision, hearing, touch, and smell are aspects of the learning process, but there is something peculiar and special about the sense of taste. For example, although a person may transfer some amount of knowledge or understanding to another by visual, auditory, tactile or olfactory means, taste must be experienced by the individual in a more personal way.
Naturally I am reminded of Elder Packer’s now famous experience during his travels:
I will tell you of an experience I had before I was a General Authority that affected me profoundly. I sat on a plane next to a professed atheist who pressed his disbelief in God so urgently that I bore my testimony to him. “You are wrong,” I said. “There is a God. I know He lives!”
He protested, “You don’t know. Nobody knows that! You can’t know it!” When I would not yield, the atheist, who was an attorney, asked perhaps the ultimate question on the subject of testimony. “All right,” he said in a sneering, condescending way, “you say you know. Tell me how you know.”
When I attempted to answer, even though I held advanced academic degrees, I was helpless to communicate.
When I used the words Spirit and witness, the atheist responded, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” The words prayer, discernment, and faith were equally meaningless to him. “You see,” he said, “you don’t really know. If you did, you would be able to tell me how you know.”
I felt, perhaps, that I had borne my testimony to him unwisely and was at a loss as to what to do. Then came the experience! Something came into my mind. And I mention here a statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith: “A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas … and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.”1
Such an idea came into my mind, and I said to the atheist, “Let me ask if you know what salt tastes like.”
“Of course I do,” was his reply.
“Then,” I said, “assuming that I have never tasted salt, explain to me just what it tastes like.”
After some thought, he said, “Well, I, uh, it is not sweet and it is not sour.”
“You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.”
After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not convey, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I bore testimony to him once again and said, “I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words how this knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He does live! And just because you don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!”
As we parted, I heard him mutter, “I don’t need your religion for a crutch! I don’t need it.”
From that experience forward, I have never been embarrassed or ashamed that I could not explain in words alone everything I know spiritually. The Apostle Paul said it this way:
“We speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:13–14).
Elder Richard G. Scott also taught a profound lesson using the metaphor of taste:
Impressions of the Spirit can come in response to urgent prayer or unsolicited when needed. Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance. Then, when that guidance comes, sometimes when you least expect it, you will recognize it more easily.
The inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit can be overcome or masked by strong emotions, such as anger, hate, passion, fear, or pride. When such influences are present, it is like trying to savor the delicate flavor of a grape while eating a jalapeño pepper. Both flavors are present, but one completely overpowers the other. In like manner, strong emotions overcome the delicate promptings of the Holy Spirit.
For three days and three nights, Alma the Younger’s spirit, his mind, his heart, his soul was racked with the kind of torment that might be comparable to the pain of someone who had chewed, swallowed, and begun to digest a jar full of spicy jalapeño peppers. Strong emotions, including anger, hate, passion, fear, and pride roiled inside him. Although the savor of the salt of salvation had been offered to him for a long time by God, by Jesus Christ, by loving parents, and faithful friends in the Church, he could not taste it. He was not ready to taste it.
Sadly, I surmise that the vast majority of people on earth, in these tumultuous times, when all things are in commotion, are constantly churning within themselves because of strong emotions or else they have been lulled into carnal security, pacified, numb, past feeling, and unable to savor spiritual salt, spiritual grapes, or anything else of a spiritual nature. As mortals in a chaotic and fallen world, each one of us wrestles with such powerful emotions or the lack thereof. C.S. Lewis considered that one of the great errors of our age was that our education produces what he called “men without chests”:
The operation of The Green Book and its kind is to produce what may be called Men without Chests. It is an outrage that they should be commonly spoken of as Intellectuals. This gives them the chance to say that he who attacks them attacks Intelligence. It is not so. They are not distinguished from other men by any unusual skill in finding truth nor any virginal ardour to pursue her. Indeed it would be strange if they were: a persevering devotion to truth, a nice sense of intellectual honour, cannot be long maintained without the aid of a sentiment which Gaius and Titius could debunk as easily as any other. It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so.
And all the time — such is the tragi-comedy of our situation — we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more ‘drive’, or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or ‘creativity’. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
The seeds of fertile and generous emotion were still within young Alma, and these seeds are planted in every child of God. But as long as our metaphorical mouths and our spiritual stomachs are in turmoil because of the red hot jalapeño peppers that the world tries to jam down our throats, it will be very difficult to savor anything spiritually salty or to delight in anything like the delicate flavor of a grape. Nevertheless, among the many terrible thoughts that tormented Alma’s spirit there was found a precious memory - planted long ago by the example and testimony of his father who had also experienced the joy of repentance - of the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. In desperation, Alma’s mind caught hold upon this thought.
It is interesting to me that at this time in his life, Alma’s memory of Jesus Christ was somewhat amorphous, inchoate, or incomplete. He dremembered also - meaning, that among his many horrible memories there was found at least one good memory - to have heard his father prophesy. But Alma’s memory of his father’s prophesy was quite indistinct. Alma the Younger hadn’t really studied the scriptures or absorbed much of the teachings that were available to him because he had been busy rebelling against God. But he faintly recalled the most essential, the most crucial thing: his father had prophesied unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Even though Alma wasn’t exactly sure who this “one Jesus Christ” and this “Son of God” was, when his mind caught hold upon this thought, Alma began to know the Lord, or in other words, to taste of His goodness. Notice that Alma records his memory of “a Son of God” and not the Son of God. He records his memory of this Person of whom his father had prophesied would come to atone for the sins of the world. And that is exactly what He needed. That is exactly what each one of us needs.
Alma the Younger’s repentance and conversion was a process that began with his father’s prayers, the intervention of an angel, and a period of three days and three nights of suffering. But the real change occurred as soon as and only when his mind really caught hold of the thought of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Not only that, but Alma’s heart opened to receive the light, the joy, and the hope that only Jesus Christ can offer. To his credit, Alma the Younger not only caught hold of this thought, but he held onto to it with all his might, he consistently strengthened this connection, nourished it, and labored to help others to catch hold upon this same thought and to taste this same joy, the joy of which mother Eve joyfully testified so long ago:
And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. (Moses 5:11)
There was joy, there was marvelous light, and these are things that Alma the Younger tasted for himself. Helaman was very young, but his father wisely prepared him in his youth, including him in the work of the Lord, and training him up in the way that he should go. In the next chapter we learn that repentance has everything to do with tasting, or with coming to know the Lord and to rejoice in Jesus Christ like Lehi, Nephi, Alma the Younger, the people of Ammon (Alma 37:9), Elder Packer, Elder Scott, and C.S. Lewis tasted, or like the Prophet Joseph Smith and his friends tasted:
The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God found himself in the midst of spirits and glory, and because he was greater, he saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have the privilege of advancing like himself--that they might have one glory upon another and all the knowledge, power, and glory necessary to save the world of spirits. I know that when I tell you these words of eternal life that are given to me, you taste them, and I know you believe them. You say honey is sweet, and so do I. I can also taste the spirit of eternal life; I know it is good. And when I tell you of these things that were given me by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are bound to receive them as sweet, and I rejoice more and more." (Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse)