In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of the judges, the Nephites were experiencing internal conflict led by a group called the “king-men.” What did these king-men want? They wanted power, and they again wanted a king. But how were they going to accomplish it? The ending of Alma 51:2 reveals their plans. The king-men did not try to change everything at once, but only claimed that a few “particular points of the law should be altered.” What were these few points? The text does not say.
In today’s world, are we a little too pliable? Willing to change just a few things here and there? Perhaps a small thing is changed every year, but at the end of a decade all those cumulative changes have had a large effect. We would not have bought into some proposals all at once, but changing a little bit at a time can take us to the same place. While this can be sometimes used to positive societal change, how concerned should the Saints be about this kind of mission-creep or slippery-slope in their own lives? Not only is this an issue in the public sphere, but in personal lives as well. Small changes administered strategically over time may have larger consequences than one would think.