Speaker discusses Jonah and Alma's shared themes of redemption

But he made his way back to his father and cried out to him in the depths of his regret. And his father welcomed him back, gave him another chance, and rejoiced at his return. Then in the Book of Mormon, that's the story of Alma the Younger. Perfect illustration of the Jonah Principle. Alma also ran from the Commandments. What happened to him? He was swallowed up in the darkness and torment of his sins for a time. If you read Alma's description in Alma 36 of what it felt like to face the regrets of his decisions as he lay in a spiritual coma for three days and three nights, also like Jonah, and you'll get the same sense as Jonah's descriptions of being inside the whale, wracked, tormented, harrowed up, fearful, filled with horror and the pains of a damned soul. But what did Alma do in the depths of his hell? He cried out to God and God heard him and snatched him. Snatched him out of what he refers to as the darkest abyss and sets him upon spiritual dry ground. If God extended mercy to Jonah the prodigal son, and Alma the Younger, we've got reason to trust that he'll do the same for us, that he'll extend his mercy to us too. He'll listen to us if we call, he'll hear if we pray, and the great wail of torment and guilt and regret will spit us out and free us from the darkness, the cold, the confinement, and the smelliness of sin. How could we teach this for an icebreaker to the story? I sometimes just like to show some funny comics that I've collected over the years related to the story of Jonah. Since the idea of being swallowed by a whale is such a fantastic one, it does kind of lend itself to humor. But here are just some of my favorites. Now a quick note to any of you teachers who may have purchased a subscription or decide to purchase my PowerPoint slides for this lesson. I always want to be careful about copyright laws, so I can't include those pictures in that purchase, but I can show them to you here and you can find them yourselves by doing just a quick Google image search. Just search for Bible Jonah comics and this could be a fun way to introduce the story. Now begin by having your students read Jonah Chapter one, verses one through three.