Alma Chapter 31 records the odd story of a people known as the Zoramites who were reportedly “perverting the ways of the Lord” (verse 1). Alma took seven companions to preach to them. They were astonished to see the method of worship the Zoramites had adopted. One day a week, they would gather into their synagogue which had a high stand (the Rameumptom) in the center. One by one the people would stand on the top of this stand and recite a “prayer” that denied Christ (verse 16) and thanked God that they, alone, were “a chosen and holy people” (verse 18).
Alma also notes that the people returned home and never spoke of God again until the next assembly at the holy stand. His heart was “exceedingly sorrowful” (verse 31) for these prideful people whose hearts are set upon “their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold” (verse 28).
When reading this chapter in Sunday School, it is easy to identify with Alma, and the missionaries with him, and be shocked at the behavior of the Zoramites. However, the true value of the story is if we use it to examine our own behavior and pridefulness. In Utah, for example, many non-Mormon Christians view us Mormons as being prideful with our claim to be a “chosen and holy people.”
Do we set ourselves apart from others, especially the poor and needy, like the Zoramites did? Are our hearts “set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods” (verse 24)? Do we, indeed, act like the chosen and holy people we claim to be (ie. “Saints”) ? Or do we just like the label?