Good, Better, Best: Alma’s Model for Social Change

When Righteous People Want Change: Why Alma the Younger Shows Us the Better Way

Every generation of disciples faces the same tension: How do we respond when the world feels unfair? How do we lift the vulnerable, relieve suffering, and push back against systems that seem indifferent to the poor, the sick, and the struggling?

Many Saints today feel drawn toward political movements—including groups like Indivisible—because they see real pain around them and want to help. Their compassion is sincere. Their desire for justice is genuine. Their involvement can even be good, especially when they bring a calming, moderating, peacemaking influence into heated spaces.

But as President Dallin H. Oaks has taught, the gospel invites us to consider not only what is good, but what is better and best¹³.

And when we look to scripture for the pattern of best, one figure stands out with startling clarity: Alma the Younger.

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The Illusion of Systemic Fixes

Modern activism often assumes that the only way to fix society is to change the system:

• pressure the powerful
• compel the wealthy
• legislate fairness
• force redistribution
• use political leverage to correct inequality

This approach is emotionally compelling. It feels efficient. It feels large‑scale. It feels like “real change.”

But it also carries a hidden danger: systems can only redistribute resources—they cannot transform hearts.

And when movements begin to prioritize outcomes over individuals, they can unintentionally justify harm to the very people Christ commands us to love. In some cases, Saints have even been told that if small businesses or local families are hurt by political tactics, that harm is simply “part of the strategy.”

That is the moment when a good desire becomes a distorted one.

That is the moment when the gospel offers a better way.

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Alma the Younger: The Man Who Walked Away From Power

Alma began his ministry as the chief judge—the highest political authority in the land. If anyone could have changed society through policy, it was him.

He had legislative, judicial, and executive power. He had everything modern reformers insist is necessary.

And yet, Alma discovered something profound:

Government cannot produce righteousness. Coercion cannot create compassion. Systems cannot substitute for conversion.

So he did something astonishing: he resigned.

He stepped away from the judgment seat because he realized that political power could not heal the soul of a nation ⁵.

He taught that the word of God had “more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else”⁶.

Alma did not abandon justice. He abandoned the illusion that justice can be achieved by force.

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The Pattern of Christ: One by One

Once Alma left political office, he did not retreat from society. He went toward the people—but in a different way.

He ministered. He taught. He mourned with those who mourned. He lifted the downtrodden. He called individuals to repentance and healing. He changed hearts, not tax codes.

This is the same pattern Christ used:

• the woman at the well
• the man born blind
• the woman taken in adultery
• Zacchaeus
• the Nephites at Bountiful, “one by one”¹

Christ never organized a political movement. He never petitioned Rome. He never demanded tax reform. He never rallied crowds to pressure Caesar.

He ministered one by one.

And the world changed because people changed.

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Why Coercive Fairness Cannot Build Zion

Zion is not built by:

• compulsion
• resentment
• punitive redistribution
• political pressure
• sacrificing individuals for a cause

Zion is built by covenant—by a people who voluntarily consecrate, voluntarily lift, voluntarily love ¹⁰.

When we try to force fairness, we end up creating new wounds even as we try to heal old ones. When we try to compel generosity, we cultivate resentment instead of charity. When we treat individuals as collateral damage, we lose the very heart of the gospel.

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Good, Better, Best

Political involvement can be good. It can be a place where Saints bring peace, civility, and moral clarity. It can be a place to advocate for the vulnerable and speak truth with compassion.

But it is not the better way, and it is certainly not the best way.

The best way—the way of Alma, the way of Christ—is ministering to the one.

This is the work that actually transforms society. Not because it changes systems, but because it changes souls.

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The Only Revolution That Lasts

Alma teaches us that the most powerful social change does not come from the judgment seat. It comes from the covenant path.

It comes from disciples who refuse to sacrifice individuals for causes. It comes from Saints who choose compassion over coercion. It comes from hearts that are changed by Christ—and then go out to change the world one person at a time.

Political movements may shift policies. But only Christ can shift a human heart.

And only changed hearts can build Zion.

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Endnotes

1. 3 Nephi 11:15 — Christ ministers “one by one.”
2. 3 Nephi 17:21 — He blesses the children “one by one.”
3. Luke 15:4–7 — The lost sheep.
4. Mosiah 18:8–10 — The covenant to mourn with those who mourn.
5. Alma 4:15–20 — Alma resigns the judgment seat.
6. Alma 31:5 — The word has more power than the sword.
7. D&C 121:41–42 — Persuasion, not compulsion.
8. 2 Nephi 2:26–27 — Agency is central.
9. Helaman 5:12 — True change comes through Christ.
10. Moses 7:18 — Zion is “of one heart and one mind.”
11. 4 Nephi 1:2–3 — Voluntary sharing.
12. D&C 105:5 — Zion requires purity of heart.
13. Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best,” Oct. 2007
14. John 18:36 — “My kingdom is not of this world.”
15. Matthew 22:21 — Render unto Caesar.
16. Acts 10:38 — Christ “went about doing good.”
17. Matthew 25:40 — The least of these.
18. Alma 39:12–13 — Individuals matter deeply.
19. D&C 121:35–37 — Hearts seeking control lose the Spirit.
20. Russell M. Nelson, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” Apr. 2022
21. Ezra Taft Benson, “Born of God,” Oct. 1985
22. Jeffrey R. Holland, “An High Priest of Good Things to Come,” Oct. 1999