Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the story
of the Zoramites in the Book of Mormon and the Rameumtom.
The story is related in Alma Chapter 31: 8-25
“8 Now
the Zoramites were dissenters from the Nephites;
therefore they had had the word of God preached unto them.
9 But they had fallen into great errors, for they would not observe
to keep the commandments of God, and his statutes, according to the law of
Moses.
10 Neither would they observe the performances of the church, to continue in prayer and
supplication to God daily, that they might not enter into temptation.
11 Yea, in fine, they did pervert the ways
of the Lord in very many instances; therefore, for this cause, Alma and his
brethren went into the land to preach the word unto them.
12 Now, when they had come into the land,
behold, to their astonishment they found that the Zoramites had built
synagogues, and that they did gather themselves together on one day of the
week, which day they did call the day of the Lord; and they did worship after a manner which Alma and his brethren had
never beheld;
13 For they had a place built up in the
center of their synagogue, a place for standing, which was high above the head;
and the top thereof would only admit one person.
14 Therefore, whosoever desired to worship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof,
and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice, saying:
15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art
God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a
spirit forever.
16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast
separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of
our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their
fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be
thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known
unto us that there shall be no Christ.
17 But thou art the same yesterday, today,
and forever; and thou hast elected us that we
shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down
to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank
thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the
foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a
belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our
God.
18 And again we thank thee, O
God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen.
19 Now it came to pass that after Alma and
his brethren and his sons had heard these prayers, they were astonished beyond
all measure.
20 For behold, every man did go forth and
offer up these same prayers.
21 Now the place was called by them
Rameumptom, which, being interpreted, is the holy stand.
22 Now, from this stand they did offer up,
every man, the selfsame prayer unto God, thanking their God that they were
chosen of him, and that he did not lead them away after the tradition of
their brethren, and that their hearts were not stolen away to believe in things
to come, which they knew nothing about.
23 Now, after the people had all offered up
thanks after this manner, they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had
assembled themselves together again to the holy stand, to offer up thanks after
their manner.
24 Now when Alma saw this his heart
was grieved; for he saw that they were a wicked and a perverse
people; yea, he saw that their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver,
and upon all manner of fine goods.
25 Yea, and he also saw that
their hearts were lifted up unto great boasting, in
their pride.
Alma goes on, in the following chapter, to tell how these people also cast the “poor class of people” out of the synagogues “because of the coarseness of their apparel,” and how those poor were “esteemed as dross,” and “despised of all men because of their poverty.” Alma and his brethren went on to teach and convert many of these poor individuals and reunite them with the church. However, my thoughts have been drawn to those who worshiped on the Rameumptom.
Mormon and Moroni saw our day, and as they compiled
abridged the records of their people to compile the Book of Mormon, I believe
they were very careful and very prayerful in the things that they included.
So, what was it that Mormon saw in our day that
inspired him to give this detailed account of the behavior of the Zoramites?
The description of their synagogues, the wording of their prayer, their
treatment of the poor?
Perhaps he saw our social media. Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok, have these become the Rameumptom of our day?
Is this where we go to declare that we are
chosen, and all others shall perish? To persecute the poor, the stranger, the
other?
I have recently seen many posts on social media preaching
hate and division. Is this our mission?
Are we called to declare who is and is not
welcome in the gospel of Christ (“You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat
in this country”)?
Are we casting out the poor and the downtrodden (“Build
the wall” or “we don’t want a homeless shelter in our neighborhood”)?
Do we despise our brethren and sisters and treat
them as dross, and not welcoming them into our fellowship (LGBTQ+,
Tattoos/Piercings, Immigrants and Refugees, Single/No Family)?
Do we declare that we shall be saved,
whilst all around us are elected to be cast… down to hell?”
12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
We follow our elected officials; we are not above
them. If we want to make changes, we do it within the established and legal
processes.
11 We claim the privilege of
worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our
own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let
them worship how, where, or what they may.
We are grateful for our religious freedom and
defend it not only for ourselves, but for everyone whether they believe as we
do or not. We support laws that treat all fairly and equally regardless of
race, religion, gender, age, or any other personal characteristic.
13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men…
While we may disagree with others on topics of
religion, politics, or who has the best BBQ, we must never forget that we are
all brothers and sisters, and we are called to love one another as Christ loves
us.
