Why were the poor cast out?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Bad religion breeds bad societies. The Zoramites created a class system that ostracized their less fortunate brothers and sisters from the very synagogues they had built. But—as has been the case from time immemorial—it was these downtrodden souls who proved most responsive to the message of Alma and his companions. Impoverished ‘as to things of the world,’ they are described as ‘poor in heart’ or ‘lowly in heart.’ (Alma 32:3–4, 8.) That is, they were dispirited and quite hopeless. Alma ‘beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word.’ (Alma 32:6.)” (Turner, “Faith unto Salvation,” 19).

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References