Alma's sermon to Zeezrom, Hard Hearts and Soft Hearts

 This week in Come Follow Me, we read about Alma's mission to the people of Ammonihah and the conversion of Amulek and Zeezrom. One of the recurring themes in his sermon, and throughout the whole book of Alma is the idea of having a hard heart. The idea of having a hard heart is mentioned dozens of times in Alma.  It is interesting that the term "soft" heart is never mentioned, and the term "softened their hearts" is only mentioned twice. 

What does it mean to have a hard heart? One thing to consider is that the heart had a slightly different symbolic meaning in the Old Testament than it does in modern times. In our culture, the brain is the center of  understanding, the heart is the center of emotion, and the gut is the center of intuition. In the Old Testament, the brain where you store information,  but the heart is the center of understanding, the gut is the center of emotion. So if you are hard hearted, it doesn't mean you have strong negative emotions against something. It means that you are closed minded. You are unwilling to consider and understand things. 

Some of the passages in Alma 12 support the idea that the people of Alma's time also had the same symbols attached to the different parts of the body.  Having a hard heart seems to be associated with being unwilling to receive the words of the Lord.  In Alma 12:10, Alma says that "he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word".  Then in v.13 "Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned."  Having a hard heart clearly means you are not willing to accept  "the word".  It is about knowledge and understanding, not necessarily about emotion.

After these statements Alma goes into a recounting of the fall of Adam. He focuses on the fact that when Adam falls he gains the ability to know the difference between good and evil:

31. Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as to things which were temporal, and becoming as gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—

32 Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption...

Simply stated, Adam and Eve gained the understanding of good and evil from the fall, and the result was that God gave them commandments so they would know to choose the good.

When Alma and Amulek were first teaching Zeezrom, he was hard hearted.  He was asking questions to trick Amulek into saying something self-incriminating instead of seeking honest answers. When Amulek and then Alma withstand the tricks, and point out Zeezrom's own wickedness, he begins to tremble, and he begins to soften his heart.  He was still asking questions, but his questions were honest and sincere.  He was asking questions with an open mind, ready to consider and possibly accept the answers. With his mind receptive to truth, he has become, in the symbolism of the Hebrews, soft hearted. 

Zeezrom, unfortunately was the exception. Most of the people of Ammonihah remain hard hearted. They were unwilling to listen to truth, and they were also wicked.  We learn in later chapters that most of the people of Ammonihah ultimately reject Alma's teaching and do horrible things to the believers. The text implies, however, that the root of their wicked behavior was their unwillingness to listen to truth not visa versa.

The unwillingness to listen to truth is also a prevalent problem in modern society.  Using this definition, it would be possible that some really nice people are also hard hearted.  They are set in their ways, maybe they have a pet philosophy and are closed minded to any other way.  I think it is also important to say to ourselves, as the early apostles did at the last supper, "is it I, Lord?" (Matthew 26:25)  Are there things, even gospel truths, that we are unwilling to consider? If the answer is "yes" we might consider Alma's words to Zeezrom in Alma 12:10, "he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion, until it is given to him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full." If that doesn't motivate us to give up our pet philosophies, I don't know what will.