Alma 18 Ammon Teaching Lamoni (04/14/2014)

Ammon is very specific in a few thing he does as he teaches King Lamoni the gospel.

1. He starts with common ground.
Alma 18 v 24 Believest thou that there is a God?
v 25 An he answered,and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.
v26 An then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?
v27 And he said, Yea.
v28 An Ammon said: This is God . . . Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?
v29 And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things that are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.
v30 ...The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.

He makes sure they have the same understanding of God. When King Lamoni doesn't understand, Ammon uses King Lamoni's terminology, and then he reaffirms the meaning of the newly introduced word in vs 28 when he says: ....this Great Spirit, who is God, ...

He does the same with the term heavens; he first asks if there is understanding, then he defines it.

2. He makes sure he doesn't give the wrong implication.
They had just come from a place where King Lamoni thought Ammon was the Great Spirit. So, when he asks Ammon, v33 "Art thou sent from God?", Ammon qualifies his answer. He he just says, yes, Lamoni may conclude that Ammon is directly from heaven, and not a regular person. So Ammon explains his answer.
v34 ..I am a man; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true;

3. He teaches from the beginning of a concept and lays the foundation on which all the rest of the concept is built.
v36 Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and rehearsed and laid before him the records and the holy scriptures of the people, which had been spoken by the prophets, even down to the time that their father, Lehi, left Jerusalem.