Asking Better Questions: Learning from Alma 5

A few years ago, I prepared to participate in a general conference of the Church by writing a list of questions. Some were quite open-ended, such as “How can I be a better father?” or “What can I do to minister to others more effectively?” Others involved specific projects I was working on or specific challenges I faced.

I learned a lot from the conference, but I noticed that much of what I learned didn’t map very well to my original questions. It felt like the Lord had answered important questions, better questions than the ones I had asked. I came away from that experience determined to learn whatever the Lord wants to teach me, but also with a desire to learn to ask better questions.

Alma 5 contains a sermon Alma preached in the city of Zarahemla, his first stop on a multi-city tour intended to bolster the faith of church members. An unusual feature of this sermon is the number of questions he asks—42 to be exact. I looked closely at those questions today in an effort to better understand what kinds of questions will help me grow spiritually. Here’s what I found:

• Twenty-four of the questions (a little more than half) asked the audience to self-assess. These are all Yes/No questions, similar to temple recommend questions. They included questions about:
  • Their behavior: “Is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?” (verse 30)
  • Their state of conversion: “Have ye spiritually been born of God?” (verse 14)
  • Their future expectations: “Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands?” (verse 19)
  • Their willingness to repent: “Will ye still persist in…?” (verse 53, 55)
• Nine questions are factual in nature. These questions are generally more open-ended, seeking short answers, often related to doctrine. For example:
  • “On what conditions are they saved?” (verse 10)
  • “How do ye suppose that I know of their surety?” (verse 45)
• The remaining nine are what I would call verification questions. Alma is making an assertion and asking his listeners to confirm that what he has said is true. For example:
  • “Did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi?” (verse 11)
  • “Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself?” (verse 45)
  • “What shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock?” (verse 59)

I believe that we will grow spiritually by asking these three types of questions: (1) How are we doing and what can we do better? (2) What key doctrinal principles can we understand more fully? (3) Will God reveal to us that what we have been taught is true?

Today, I will think about the questions I need to ask. As I prepare to study the New Testament in the upcoming year, I will think about the self-assessment, factual, and verification questions that will most help me to grow closer to Jesus Christ and become more like Him.

Here is a list of Alma’s 42 questions to the church at Zarahemla and my categorization of each question:

Question #	Verse	Question	Type	Topic	Category
1	6	And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?	Y/N	Past behavior	Self-assessment
2	6	Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them?	Y/N	Past behavior	Self-assessment
3	6	And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?	Y/N	Past behavior	Self-assessment
4	8	And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed?	Y/N	Past events	Factual
5	9	And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed?	Y/N	Past events	Factual
6	10	And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved?	Short answer	Doctrine	Factual
7	10	Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation?	Short answer	Doctrine	Factual
8	10	What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?	Short answer	Doctrine	Factual
9	11	Behold, I can tell you—did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi?	Y/N	Past events	Verification
10	11	And was he not a holy prophet?	Y/N	Past events	Verification
11	11	Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them?	Y/N	Past events	Verification
12	14	And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
13	14	Have ye received his image in your countenances?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
14	14	Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
15	15	Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you?	Y/N	Current behavior	Self-assessment
16	15	Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?	Y/N	Current behavior	Self-assessment
17	16	I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
18	17	Or do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
19	18	Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
20	19	I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
21	19	I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
22	20	I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects to the devil?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
23	22	And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness?	Y/N	Future expectations	Self-assessment
24	22	Behold, what will these things testify against you?	Short answer	Future expectations	Factual
25	23	Behold will they not testify that ye are murderers, yea, and also that ye are guilty of all manner of wickedness?	Y/N	Future expectations	Verification
26	24	Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white?	Y/N	Doctrine	Factual
27	26	And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
28	27	Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God?	Y/N	Past behavior	Self-assessment
29	27	Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
30	27	That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
31	28	Behold, are ye stripped of pride?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
32	29	Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?	Y/N	Conversion	Self-assessment
33	30	And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?	Y/N	Current behavior	Self-assessment
34	39	And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye?	Short answer	Doctrine	Factual
35	39	Behold, I say unto you, that the devilis your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this?	Short answer	Doctrine	Verification
36	45	Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself?	Y/N	Alma’s testimony	Verification
37	45	And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?	Short answer	Alma’s testimony	Factual
38	53	And now my beloved brethren, I say unto you, can ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches?	Y/N	Call to repent	Self-assessment
39	55	Yea, and will you persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?	Y/N	Call to repent	Self-assessment
40	58	And now, my brethren, what have ye to say against this?	Short answer	Alma’s testimony	Verification
41	59	For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock?	Short answer	Doctrine	Verification
42	59	And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out?	Short answer	Doctrine	Verification