While
reading the Book of Mormon recently, the following text really stood out to me:
Now these dissenters, having the same
instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been
instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to
relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and
impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites-- drinking
in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all
manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God. (Alma
47:36)
Such
reminded me of texts such as Heb
6:4-6 and 10:26-29
that state that those who knowingly reject the gospel are in a spiritually more
precarious position than those who never accepted the gospel in the first
place. Sadly, it has been proven true over and over again, as seen, for e.g.,
in Heb
6:4-6 in Action. As with the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Book of Mormon
provides a warning and sobering reminder to believers to remain faithful to the
very end.