KnoWhy #137 - Why Was Alma’s Wish Sinful? (Alma 29:3)

Having declared his desire to speak with the trump of God, Alma then confessed that he sinned in this wish. To understand why, Alma 29 needs to be read from many perspectives: personally, politically, officially, poetically, and spiritually. His wish usurped an angelic role that was not his. He extravagantly wished to speak even more thunderously than the angel of the Lord. Similarly, his wish reflected discontent with the things that the Lord had allotted unto him. Fortunately, however, Alma was spiritually sensitive enough to diminish and dissolve these impulses. His glorious text ends with him thinking not of himself, but of the great success of the four sons of Mosiah.