Did they want more authority than one man? Alma 9:6

Did they want more authority than one man? Alma 9:6

Alma and Amulek preach to the people of Ammonihah, who are very wicked. Their response to him is to say, "Who the heck are you, and why should we listen to the words of just one man?"

But then they extend their mocking further to include God. "Who is God, that he would send us just one man to preach to us?"

Answer:
Even though they were using it as an excuse, I think that in their hearts they were not ready or willing to receive the testimony of multiple prophets, since they couldn't even receive one. The people of Ammonihah actually seemed more keen on mocking and logically "proving" why their reasoning was superior than to listen to anybody with a different point of view, especially one in which they would have to do something hard like change and repent, or be destroyed.

The fact is, I think that sometimes as latter-day saints, we can be a little bit like this. We are really willing and eager to obey big, sweeping commandments ("I hope the prophet revises the Word of Wisdom during this general conference! Maybe we will all become vegetarians!") but it is not easy for the majority to obey small, simple commandments ("Dedicate some regular time to work on your family history and go to the temple!"). We expect God to come forward with flashy proclamations, the equivalent of hoards of witnesses and prophets, but when he speaks to us in a smaller, more subtle way, we shrug it off as nonsense or something that could not possibly be inspired. It is easy to think that the reasons why church policies continue to change is because they are influenced by the philosophies and attitudes of the world, and aren't actually divine inspiration, which we expect to work in some kind of separate, blind bubble that has no influence or relationship with the social attitudes and mores of the day.

God is going to speak to us in a way that we will hear him. In Isaiah's time, that meant the prophets performed live-action prophesies, where even their family members became living symbols of God's purposes and promises. But if we harden our hearts and refuse to listen to God, he's not going to be able to reach us, regardless. We have been given the gift of agency. Will we use it to listen to God, or will we cling to preconceived notions about how God's revelations and prophesies "have to" work in order to be "believable" or "worthy" for us to pay attention to?