Alma 13:3

Alma 13: 3:

"And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such."

It is too much!  Too great of words for men to possess! Consider what they refer us to.

Called and prepared FIRST! From the foundation of the world!

So here priesthood has its beginning before this world even was organized.  There is a necessary link between those hallowed days and power here. No person has authority here unless it was first obtained there.

How was it obtained first - before the foundation of the world?

It was because of the foreknowledge of God. And what was God's foreknowledge based upon? Their "exceeding faith and good works!"

How can a person have "faith" when they stand in the presence of God? Do they now have knowledge? This was before the mortal estate, right?  If so, then how can there be faith? What good works were involved?

Then, too, the "faith" and the "good works" were done as a result of the person having been "left to choose between good and evil."  Now this is surprising! You mean that before Adam partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (i.e., before the foundation of the world) that some people had already obtained a knowledge of good and evil, been tempted, exhibited good works and acquired faith?  How so?  When and where did they do that?  What does that tell us about them?  Is this why Joseph said there were "sons of God who exalted themselves to be gods before the world was made?"  (TPJS p. 375.)  When and where and how did they do this?  And was this required for any person to be able to claim they now have priestly authority here?  Or is it only those who have the "holy order after the Son of God?"  Is there something about these men's "holy calling" that distinguishes them from others here?  If so, what is it?  Who are these men?  Are they always going to be from unlikely sources and places, so that people can know how to recognize the Lord?

Then, too, we have them in a class of people who had been through a "preparatory redemption" already. What does that mean? What does it imply?  How did they qualifiy?  How long have these souls been working on the process of redemption and thereby qualify through their faith and good works to hold authority in this estate?  Who are they?

Oh, now my head is spinning.  Can this doctrine really be true?  Why do we know so little about it?  Why did Joseph talk about it, but we have simply nothing to add?  Indeed, we deny it exists..... why is that?

This is certainly an interesting chapter.  Fearsome and interesting.  What a threatening, terrible, majestic, holy and challenging book this Book of Mormon turns out to be after all.