Alma 36 to 38 – “Look to God and Live”
Alma’s sermons focus on the blessings of accepting the atonement of Christ. Each of his sermons is infused with his memory of his sin, his repentance, and his conversion.
“Alma’s Conversion: Reminiscences in His Sermons,” S. Kent Brown, A Book of Mormon Treasury: Gospel Insights from General Authorities and Religious Educators
Alma uses his conversion experience as a persuasive teaching tool. The three-day period during which he received a visit from an angel and underwent a remarkable change enabled him later to speak from experience as he preached repentance and the cleansing power of the word of God. Not only did he illumine the dark, awful state in which persons find themselves if they do not repent, but he could especially beam light on the indescribable joy that accompanies forgiveness of sin. At base, he sought earnestly that others be born of God as he had been.
Chart 106: “Three Accounts of Alma’s Conversion” Charting the Book of Mormon
Compares the accounts in Mosiah 27, Alma 36, and Alma 38.
“A Masterpiece: Alma 36,” John W. Welch, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon
Alma 36 has long been heralded as an example of an extended chiasm. John Welch lays out his detailed analysis of the chiasm and explains how the entire chapter functions as a beautiful, poetic whole.
“Does Chiasmus Appear in the Book of Mormon by Chance?” Boyd F. Edwards, W. Farrell Edwards, BYU Studies Quarterly 43, no. 2
The chiastic structure of Alma 36 is purposeful, as evidenced by a statistical examination of the text. The authors lay out the criteria for a study of literary elements and their methods. The center of the structure is verse 18, the cry for mercy to Jesus Christ.
“When Are Chiasms Admissible as Evidence?” Boyd F. Edwards, W. Farrell Edwards, BYU Studies Quarterly 49, no. 4
This article discusses the authors’ statistical admissibility tests to verify whether a chiasmus in a work shows strong evidence of intentionality by the original author, comparing Alma 36 to other proposed chiastic structures.
“The Voice of an Angel,” John A. Tvedtnes, Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited
Tvedtnes explores the incidents where angels show up in the Book of Mormon text, particularly in reference to Alma’s conversion story. In Alma 36, Alma speaks to his son Helaman about his experience with the angel of God, which spoke with a voice of thunder.
“My Servant Gazelem,” John A. Tvedtnes, Book of Mormon Research
The word Gazelem appears in Alma 37 in reference to seers and oracles. It is unclear if this word is refering to a person or to a seer stone. Tvedtnes explains this word’s appearance in reference to Joseph Smith, the seer and prophet of the Restoration.
“Light or Dark, Freedom or Bondage: Enhancing Book of Mormon Themes through Contrasts,” Blair G. Van Dyke, Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 6, no. 3
Alma 38 portrays Shiblon as steady, faithful, and diligent. By contrast, Corianton is boastful and wicked. These contrasting narratives parallel other contrasts throughout the Book of Mormon.
- Christmas – “He Shall Come into the World to Redeem His People”
- Moroni 10 – “Come unto Christ, and Be Perfected in Him”
- Moroni 7 to 9 – “May Christ Lift Thee Up”
- Moroni 1 to 6 – “To Keep Them in the Right Way”
- Ether 12 to 15 – “By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled”
- Ether 6 to 11 – “That Evil May Be Done Away”
- Ether 1 to 5 – “Rend That Veil of Unbelief”
- Mormon 7 to 9 – “I Speak unto You As If Ye Were Present”
- Mormon 1 to 6 – “I Would That I Could Persuade All … to Repent”
- 3 Nephi 27 to 4 Nephi – “There Could Not Be a Happier People”
- 3 Nephi 20 to 26 – “Ye Are the Children of the Covenant”
- 3 Nephi 17 to 19 – “Behold, My Joy Is Full”
- 3 Nephi 12 to 16 – “I Am the Law, and the Light”
- 3 Nephi 8 to 11 – “Arise and Come Forth unto Me”
- 3 Nephi 1 to 7 – “Lift Up Your Head and Be of Good Cheer”
- Helaman 13 to 16 – “Glad Tidings of Great Joy”
- Helaman 7 to 12 – “Remember the Lord”
- Helaman 1 to 6 – “The Rock of Our Redeemer”
- Alma 53 to 63 – “Preserved by His Marvelous Power”
- Alma 43 to 52 – “Stand Fast in the Faith of Christ”
- Alma 39 to 42 – “The Great Plan of Happiness”
- Alma 36 to 38 – “Look to God and Live”
- Alma 32 to 35 – “Plant This Word in Your Hearts”
- Alma 30 to 31 – “The Virtue of the Word of God”
- Alma 23 to 29 – They “Never Did Fall Away”
- Alma 17 to 22 – “I Will Make an Instrument of Thee”
- Alma 13 to 16 – Enter into the Rest of the Lord
- Alma 8 to 12 – Jesus Christ Will Come to Redeem His People
- Alma 5 to 7 – “Have Ye Experienced This Mighty Change in Your Hearts?”
- Mosiah 29 to Alma 4 – “They Were Steadfast and Immovable”
- Mosiah 25 to 28 – “They Were Called the People of God”
- Mosiah 18 to 24 – “We Have Entered into a Covenant with Him”
- Mosiah 11 to 17 – “A Light … That Can Never Be Darkened”
- Mosiah 7 to 10 – “In the Strength of the Lord”
- Mosiah 4 to 6 – “A Mighty Change”
- Mosiah 1 to 3 – “Filled with Love towards God and All Men”
- Easter – “He Shall Rise … with Healing in His Wings” continued
- Easter – “He Shall Rise…with Healing in His Wings”
- Enos to Words of Mormon – “He Works in Me to Do His Will”
- Jacob 5 to 7 – “The Lord Labors with Us”
- Jacob 1 to 4 – “Be Reconciled unto God through the Atonement of Christ”
- 2 Nephi 31 to 33 – “This Is the Way”
- 2 Nephi 26 to 30 – “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”
- 2 Nephi 11 to 19 – “His Name Shall Be Called . . . the Prince of Peace”
- 2 Nephi 6 to 10 – “O How Great the Plan of Our God”
- 2 Nephi 3 to 5 – “We Lived After the Manner of Happiness”
- 1 Nephi 16 to 22 – “I Will Prepare the Way Before You”
- 1 Nephi 11 to 15 – “Armed with Righteousness and with the Power of God”
- 1 Nephi 6 to 10 – “Come and Partake of the Fruit”
- 1 Nephi 1 to 5
- Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon – “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”
- 2 Nephi 1 to 2 – “Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life, through the Great Mediator”
- 2 Nephi 20 to 25 – “We Rejoice in Christ”
