Alma preaches in private—He sets forth the covenant of baptism and baptizes at the waters of Mormon—He organizes the Church of Christ and ordains priests—They support themselves and teach the people—Alma and his people flee from King Noah into the wilderness.
About 147–145 B.C.
📜 21 And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.
🕊️ How We Should Feel Toward Each Other
A Dissection of Mosiah 18:21
Mosiah 18:21 gives us a covenant emotional posture—a way of feeling and relating that turns a group of people into God’s people. Alma wasn’t just organizing a church; he was shaping a heart‑culture.
We can break the verse into its three governing phrases.
1. “No contention one with another”
Cross‑reference: contention
Contention is not just arguing—it is a spirit, a way of feeling that pits us against each other.
◆ Contention grows from fear, pride,
and the need to win.
◆ It turns neighbors into opponents.
◆ It makes unity impossible because
it fractures trust.
📜 Verses That Fit This Section
(and Why They Fit)
Below are the verses from contention list that directly reinforce the emotional posture Alma commands in Mosiah 18:21.
📗 Genesis 13:8 — “Let there be no strife”
Why it fits:
Abraham models the covenant heart: he chooses peace over pride.
He shows us that unity matters more than being right or getting our way.
📗 Proverbs 10:12 — “Hatred stirreth up strifes”
Why it fits:
This verse exposes the emotional root of oq contention: hatred, resentment, and hardness.
It teaches us that love dissolves the fuel that contention feeds on.
📗 Proverbs 13:10 — “Only by pride cometh contention”
Why it fits:
This is the clearest doctrinal diagnosis of contention.
If we remove pride, contention dies.
This verse pairs perfectly with your teaching that peace is the absence of pride.
📗 Proverbs 15:18 — “He that is slow to anger appeaseth strife”
Why it fits:
It teaches us that emotional restraint—gentleness, patience—actively heals conflict.
This is the spirit Mosiah 18:21 calls us to cultivate.
📒 Mosiah 2:32 — “Beware lest there shall arise contentions”
Why it fits:
King Benjamin warns that contention is spiritually dangerous.
He frames it as something we mu st guard against, not tolerate.
📒 Mosiah 4:14 — “Not suffer your children to fight and quarrel"
Why it fits:
Benjamin ties contention to family culture.
If we want Zion, we must root out contention in our homes and hearts.
📒 Mosiah 29:7 — “I fear there would rise contentions among you”
Why it fits:
Mosiah warns that contention destroys societies.
It shows us that contention is not just interpersonal—it is communal poison.
📒 Alma 4:9 — “There began to be great contentions”
Why it fits:
This verse shows the spiritual decline that follows contention.
It is a narrative witness that contention unravels covenant communities.
📒 3 Nephi 11:29 — “He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me”
Why it fits:
This is the Lord’s own definition.
Contention is not just unwise—it is anti‑Christlike.
This verse is the doctrinal backbone of your entire section.
📒 4 Nephi 1:2 — “There were no contentions and disputations”
Why it fits:
This describes the Zion society.
It shows what happens when we actually live Mosiah 18:21.
📒 4 Nephi 1:15 — “No contention … because of the love of God”
Why it fits:
This is the emotional key:
Love removes the possibility of contention.
It is the perfect doctrinal echo of “hearts knit together.”
📘 D&C 10:63 — “Satan doth stir up the hearts of the people to contention”
Why it fits:
This verse reveals the true source of contention.
It teaches us that contention is not neutral—it is adversarial influence.
📘 D&C 101:6 — “There were jarrings, and contentions”
Why it fits:
This verse shows the spiritual consequences of contention among covenant people.
It is a warning: contention weakens our ability to receive protection and revelation.
Contention Conclusion
All these verses testify that contention is never just a disagreement—it is a spirit, a way of feeling that corrodes trust and dissolves unity. Scripture shows us again and again that contention grows from pride, anger, hardness, and fear, and that it always leads to spiritual decline. It divides families, weakens communities, and disrupts the very covenant belonging the Lord is trying to form in us.
In contrast, every righteous example—from Abraham’s gentleness to the Zion society in 4 Nephi—shows that peace is a choice of the heart. When we remove pride, soften our anger, and let the love of God fill us, contention loses its power. The Lord Himself teaches that the spirit of contention is not of Him, and that Zion can only exist where hearts are humble, patient, and filled with charity.
Together, these verses reveal a single, unified truth:
Contention cannot live in a covenant people.
If we want to become the people Alma was shaping at the waters of Mormon, we must root out not only the behavior of contention but the spirit behind it.
🌟 Emotional Landing
The command is not simply “don’t fight.”
It is: Do not let a spirit of antagonism live among us.
How we should feel:
We feel peaceful, gentle, and unthreatened by one another.
We feel safe enough to be humble.
We feel willing to yield rather than escalate.
This is the emotional soil where Zion can grow.
2. “Look forward with one eye”
Cross‑reference: one
This is covenant imagery.
“One eye” means shared focus, shared hope, shared direction.
◆ We are not competing paths;
we are a single pilgrimage.
◆ We are not scattered desires;
we are gathered in Christ.
◆ We feel aligned—not identical,
but harmonized.
“One eye” is the emotional opposite of suspicion or rivalry.
It means we feel oriented toward the same light.
How we should feel:
We feel unified in purpose, mutually hopeful, and eager to move together.
We feel like we belong to the same story.
Scriptures to deepen our understanding
📜 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Jesus teaches that a single eye fills the whole body with light.
When our eye is single together, we share the same light-source.
We feel illuminated by the same hope, warmed by the same purpose.
📜 15 For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God; for God wills that it shall be done with an eye single to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord.
Moroni ties belief to a unified direction: we look to Christ or we look nowhere.
“One eye” means we are all facing the same Redeemer, trusting the same promise.
📜 5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
The Lord names the emotional posture of covenant disciples:
faith that steadies us, hope that pulls us forward, charity that binds us.
An eye single to His glory means we move as one body toward one purpose.
📜 68 Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.
Sanctification is directional.
We are not wandering—we are approaching.
“One eye” means we share the same horizon, the same anticipation of seeing Him.
How we should feel
We feel unified in purpose, mutually hopeful, and eager to move together.
We feel like we belong to the same story—
a people walking toward the same light,
with our hearts and hopes aligned in Christ.
3. “Having their hearts knit together in unity
and in love one towards another”
Cross‑reference: knit
“Knit” is one of the most intimate verbs in scripture.
◆ Knitting is slow, deliberate,
and permanent.
◆ Knitting binds separate strands
into a single fabric.
◆ Knitting creates something stronger
than the individual threads.
A knit heart is not merely friendly—it is interwoven.
This is the emotional center of the covenant community.
How we should feel:
We feel connected, responsible for each other, and willing to carry each other’s burdens.
We feel tenderness, loyalty, and belonging.
We feel like our joy and sorrow are shared.
Unity is not uniformity; it is interdependence.
Scriptures to deepen our understanding
📗 1 Samuel 18:1 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan and David’s souls “knit” together:
Scripture gives us a living picture of what “knit” feels like: Jonathan’s soul was knit to David’s. This was loyalty without rivalry, love without fear, unity without erasing difference. It shows us that knit hearts are covenantal bonds, not casual affection.
📜 1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
📜 2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
📜 3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
📜 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
🗝📜 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
📜 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
📜 7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
“Be likeminded one toward another… receive one another”
Paul teaches that unity is not sameness—it is Christ-shaped harmony.
We receive each other the way Christ received us: with patience, encouragement, and a willingness to bear with one another. This is the emotional texture of knit hearts: a community where we make room for each other’s weakness and rejoice in each other’s strength.
📒 Mosiah 4:15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
“Teach them to love one another”
King Benjamin roots unity in daily discipleship. Love is not abstract—it is taught, practiced, and lived in our homes and gatherings. Knit hearts grow through small, steady acts of care, until love becomes the natural atmosphere of our community.
📒 Mosiah 23:15 Thus did Alma teach his people, that every man should love his neighbor as himself, that there should be no contention among them.
“Trust no one to be your teacher… except he be a man of God, walking in his ways”
Alma reminds us that unity is anchored in righteousness. We knit our hearts to those who walk in God’s ways, because shared discipleship creates shared trust.
When we follow Christ together, our hearts naturally interlace.
How we should feel
We feel connected, responsible for each other, and willing to carry each other’s burdens.
We feel tenderness, loyalty, and belonging. We feel like our joy and sorrow are shared.
Unity is not uniformity; it is interdependence—
many threads, one fabric; many hearts, one covenant body.
🌿 Unified Answer to the Question
How should we feel toward each other?
Mosiah 18:21 teaches that we should feel:
1. Peace instead of contention
A calm, yielding, gentle spirit toward
one another.
2. Shared purpose instead of rivalry
A sense that we are walking the same
road, looking toward the same Christ.
3. Interwoven love instead of isolation
A covenantal affection that binds our
hearts together in unity.
🌟 The Pattern for Us
When we live Mosiah 18:21, we become a people who:
▪︎ refuse the spirit of contention ▪︎ move with one vision and one hope
▪︎ let our hearts be knit into a single,
living body in Christ
This is how we feel toward each other when we truly become His people.
How We Should Feel Toward Each Other
Mosiah 18:21 gives us a pattern for becoming a covenant people. Alma wasn’t merely forming an organization; he was shaping a shared emotional life—a heart‑culture capable of sustaining Zion. The document shows this through three movements, each grounded in scripture and lived discipleship.
We learn first that the Lord asks us to reject the spirit of contention. As the document states, “Contention is not just arguing—it is a spirit, a way of feeling that pits us against each other.” This study traces how pride, fear, and anger fracture trust, while peace, gentleness, and humility create the soil where unity grows. Scripture after scripture confirms that contention cannot survive in a people who are filled with the love of God.
Second, we are taught to “look forward with one eye”—a covenant image of shared direction. The document explains that “‘One eye’ means shared focus, shared hope, shared direction.” When our hearts are aligned toward Christ, we stop living as competitors and begin living as fellow pilgrims. A single eye fills us with light, steadies our purpose, and binds us to the same Redeemer.
Third, we learn what it means to have our hearts “knit together in unity and in love.” The document beautifully notes that “Knitting binds separate strands into a single fabric.” Knit hearts are not casual friendships; they are covenant bonds—tender, loyal, interdependent. We carry one another’s burdens, rejoice in each other’s joy, and belong to one another in Christ.
Taken together, these teachings reveal a unified emotional posture:
peace instead of contention, shared purpose instead of rivalry, and interwoven love instead of isolation. When we live this way, we become the people Alma envisioned at the waters of Mormon—a community shaped by Christ, moving with one hope, and bound together in covenant affection.
📽️ Recommended LDS Videos for This Study
1. “Hearts Knit Together” — Elder Gary E. Stevenson (April 2021)
2. “Hearts Knit in Righteousness and Unity” — Elder Quentin L. Cook (October 2020)
3. “Jesus Christ: The Source of Love in Our Lives” — Church Video
5. “How to Love People You Disagree With” — LDS Gospel
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