A Firm and Willing Purpose

Is the mark in their foreheads? Alma 3:18

Answer:

Maybe? But then, we don't know much about it.

Who found and heaped the bones at Hermounts? Alma 2:38

The Amlicites join the Lamanites and fight against the Nephites.

The Nephites win.

Lots of bodies of Amlicites and Lamanites were left in a wilderness called "Hermounts." Later, the bones were found and heaped in piles. My question was, "By whom?"

Alma 3:1 mentions that the Nephites stayed to bury their own dead and not the enemies, otherwise the bones would not have been found.

I don't know how long it takes a body to decompose into "bones." But I will say that it probably was not immediate.

I guess what this shows more than anything was that Mormon, the man who abridged the records of Alma and his people, was conscientious about including the detail that the Amlicite and Lamanite bodies were, at least eventually, respected in their death. Even though cultural norms are very different around the world and across history regarding what is the proper thing to do with dead human bodies, it seems to be something that, like human sexuality, is hugely tied to the moral value of "purity." Fascinating stuff.

Answer:
People who found them later who believed that the appropriate thing to do with dead human bodies was to set them in a pile.

Is this from intermarrying with darker-skinned people? Alma 3:7

Answer:
No, at least not that we know of.

Why don't we know more about the mark? Alma 3

Answer:
Can you describe in great detail with great accuracy what things looked like 250 years previously? Mormon did.

I guess what we know already is enough?

Why did they feel like they needed to repent? Alma 4:3

Finally the Nephites have prevailed over the Amlicite-Lamanite army. But lots of people had died, and there was a ton of destruction across the land. The death and destruction of the flocks and fields was so pervasive that, "Every soul has cause to mourn." The people believed that their afflictions were their own fault.

Answer:
It is human to seek to blame someone when something bad happens. War is not neat and tidy. There's all kinds of messy ambiguities. It's not glorious, it's a tragedy. The people probably felt like they needed to repent because, well, they needed to repent.

It's probable that some of them blamed themselves for more than their fair share of the fault, though. I think that's my own personal tendency, at least. Also very human.

Is this Alma the older or the younger? Alma 4:15

Is this Alma the older or the younger? Alma 4:15

Alma talks about how after he saw the afflictions of the Christians that were "heaped upon them" by the wicked nonbelievers, and how they were so unequal, he felt really sad. This later leads him to renounce his political position and move to be a full-time missionary.

Sometimes I get a little bit confused about who is who. Here I forgot which Alma was talking. Earlier I mixed up the Ammon's, too. Sigh.

Answer:
We learn from Alma 5:3 that this is definitely Alma the Younger.

Is "the holy order of God" the Melchizedek priesthood? Alma 4:20

Alma resigns from the government and dedicates his life full-time to "the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to the testimony of the word, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy."

Answer:

Yes.