In the last chapter (Alma 40:22) Alma introduced the theme of “restoration.” As he begins the concept of restoration, it is the restoration of the physical body and the spirit. This chapter gives us Alma’s expansion of that theme of something being “restored” after this life. Alma’s doctrine of restoration is a different kind of conception, dealing with the quality of the resurrection as well as the fact of the resurrection.
Alma suggests that Corianton has also been worried about this doctrine of restoration. Why would that be? Once again we must remember the nature of Nephite apostasy. The typical Nephite apostasy, which we have seen with the people of Noah, the order of the Nehors, and with Korihor, is one that attempts to retain a connection to the past scriptural tradition of the brass plates, but deny the connection to the Nephite tradition of the role of the Atoning Messiah. Thus the argument that has “troubled” Corianton is the argument he had at least temporarily accepted that removed the Atoning Messiah and his role from religion. Thus Alma’s discussion must explain the essential nature of the mission of the Savior. What we get in this section of the discourse is the nature of judgment. Alma’s “restoration” covers not only the fact of the resurrection, but the judgment that determines the quality of that resurrection.
Note that as Alma is introducing this section of his theme he not only notes that some have apparently misunderstood this doctrine of the resurrection, but that they have “wrested the scriptures.” This tells us that the theological base for the apostate Nephites is still traditional scripture. Just as with the other named apostate groups, this internal faction (which may be part of a named group, or may not) is still attempting to believe in the brass plate religion. The argument is not wholly based upon the outside tendencies that we discussed when we examined the meaning of Corianton’s “going over” to the harlot Isabel in the land of the Lamanites.
Very often apostasy is not a total abandonment of our religion, but rather a realignment of some of the religion with the competing ideas that appear more appealing. We don’t abandon everything, but assuage our departure by understanding it as part of the tradition. Religion is not a philosophy, it is a definition of the way the world works. If we have lived long with a particular understanding of how reality works, it is difficult to abandon that entirely. In the case of the Nephites in Mesoamerica, the adoption of the Lamanite culture would cause a drastic alteration in world view. The very fundamental understanding of how the world works would have to change, and this is a change that is tremendously difficult to undertake. We remember that for the people of Ammon, formerly the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, that it was “all they could do” (Alma 24:11) to accept the gospel.
In the modern world we do not have such a dramatic transition, because modern apostasy tends to follow lines of a worldview that already exists. The fundamental worldview of the modern world is built upon a thing called science, something indistinguishable from religion in the ancient world. Now that science is separate from religion, and has assumed a major role in the definition of how we see the world, it becomes a common understanding under many religions, and we more freely change religion without a dramatic alteration in our worldview. Nevertheless, when someone becomes a convert to or from a non-Christian, and particularly a non-Western religion, the conceptual shift is greater, and closer to the dramatic alteration of the Anti-Nepi-Lehies.
All of this simply tells us that the most typical way that apostasy occurs is to make smaller changes in the worldview. We attempt to retain some of the previous worldview because that eases the transition into the new. Thus for the Nephite apostates, it was preferable to restructure their understanding of their tradition in such a way that they could retain some of their heritage while adapting to the enticing aspects of the world around them.