Alma returns to Ammonihah after he was commanded to do so by an angel of God. He meets Amulek, who is converted. Together they preach repentance to the wicked people of that city. They are rejected in a major way. Actually, it's worse than just a refusal to believe; the people are angry at being told that they need to repent, so they gather up all the believers, including their wives and children, and burn them together with their scriptures.
That's horrible.
Danny pointed out to me once that most likely this included Amulek's wife and children.
I've been thinking about the "very close relation" that Amulek was visiting when he was first visited by the angel, who told him that he should return to feed the prophet of God. I totally know that it is reading too much into the scenario to assume there was some kind of mental illness going on, but I must admit that I imagined a scenario in which Amulek and his wife (since he mentions his "household" it seems logical that he also had a wife) had some kind of major disagreement that was basically destined to remain unresolved due to a mental illness on her end. Maybe this caused her to leave him. Maybe he was traveling to meet her because he was ready to give up or give in to whatever unreasonable demand or whatever it was that she had made on him. Maybe he was stopped by the angel as a sign that his willingness to sacrifice himself for her was acceptable, but that God didn't need him to actually go through with it. Rather, God needed him to finally submit and accept the call that he had been trying to get him to accept for many years previous, which was to become converted in his heart and to share that conversion with those around him.
Later, after this horrible auto-da-fe-style massacre, Alma takes Amulek to his house and ministers to him for a long time. Danny pointed out that this was likely evidence that Amulek was suffering from some severe depression, likely linked to the death of his wife and children.
Answer:
I think it's likely that at least some of Amulek's family was brutally murdered by fire by the wicked people of Ammonihah. This makes Alma and Amulek's forgiveness of Zeezrom, one of the chief instigators of this crime, even more touching.
I've been thinking about the "very close relation" that Amulek was visiting when he was first visited by the angel, who told him that he should return to feed the prophet of God. I totally know that it is reading too much into the scenario to assume there was some kind of mental illness going on, but I must admit that I imagined a scenario in which Amulek and his wife (since he mentions his "household" it seems logical that he also had a wife) had some kind of major disagreement that was basically destined to remain unresolved due to a mental illness on her end. Maybe this caused her to leave him. Maybe he was traveling to meet her because he was ready to give up or give in to whatever unreasonable demand or whatever it was that she had made on him. Maybe he was stopped by the angel as a sign that his willingness to sacrifice himself for her was acceptable, but that God didn't need him to actually go through with it. Rather, God needed him to finally submit and accept the call that he had been trying to get him to accept for many years previous, which was to become converted in his heart and to share that conversion with those around him.
Later, after this horrible auto-da-fe-style massacre, Alma takes Amulek to his house and ministers to him for a long time. Danny pointed out that this was likely evidence that Amulek was suffering from some severe depression, likely linked to the death of his wife and children.
Answer:
I think it's likely that at least some of Amulek's family was brutally murdered by fire by the wicked people of Ammonihah. This makes Alma and Amulek's forgiveness of Zeezrom, one of the chief instigators of this crime, even more touching.
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