The Weapons of their Rebellion

I was struck by the wording of Alma 23:7 while we were reading it in Sunday school a few weeks back.

6 ...as many of the Lamanites as believed in [the preaching of Ammon and his brethren], and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.
7 For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.
13 And these are the names of the cities of the Lamanites which were converted unto the Lord; and these are they that laid down the weapons of their rebellion, yea, all their weapons of war; and they were all Lamanites.

What struck me was the description of their weapons. They laid down the "weapons of their rebellion." Rebellion. When you rebel, you act out against an established authority. Against whom were the Lamanites rebelling?

They were rebelling against God. The label is both an acknowledgment of God's authority and an acknowledgment that they understood the criminality of their actions at some level. King Lamoni betrays this understanding in his reaction to Ammon's defense of his flocks and servants.

2 And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his agreat power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders?

King Lamoni recognized that his murders and the murders of his people were wrong, but that did not stop him from killing unprofitable servants.

The Lamanite's weapons were a manifestation of their rebellion against the light of Christ which would have led them along a different path if they had heeded it. Apparently, some few had done just that. Abish, one of the queen's servants, had "been converted unto the Lord for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father." Perhaps there were others who had experienced a similar conversion but had never made it known.

Surely weapons of war are not the only weapons of rebellion against God or against spiritual knowledge. Alma the Younger must have considered his guilt on par with that of the Lamanites when he considered the life he led prior to his conversion.

13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

What were the weapons of Alma's rebellion? More importantly, what are the weapons of my rebellion? What are the things in my life that cause me to rebel?

Perhaps "cause" is the wrong word. A popular bumper sticker reminds me that "guns don't kill people. People kill people." Rebellion is an act of will. The rebel is not a passive pawn in something beyond his control. Weapons of rebellion are those things that facilitate giving into temptation. They do not determine how the rebel will act, but they certainly create opportunity.

The Lamanites laid down their weapons after their conversion. But they did not bury their weapons (Alma 24:16-17,19) until later when they were threatened by the unconverted Lamanites and dissident Nephites.

16 And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ago to our God and shall be saved.
17 And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth.
18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.
19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.

New circumstances tempted the converted Lamanites to once again take up the weapons they had previously laid aside. The temptation must have been strong. There could have been any number of justifications to pick them up again. Even the author uses the term "weapons of peace" to describe the same weapons in a new context.

The questions that remain for another time are these: What are my weapons of rebellion? How do I lay them down? How do I avoid the temptation to use them once I have laid them down? How can they stay effectively buried?