The situation was tense—King Noah had just commanded that Abinadi be put to death. What would you have done if you were there?
In one of the biggest scriptural instances of peer pressure, we find this powerful phrase:
But there was one (Mosiah 17:2)
One person, a young man, stood up for Abinadi. As a result the whole Book of Mormon is completely different.
Because Alma the Elder stood up for Abinadi, he escaped to the Waters of Mormon and baptized people there.
His son, Alma the Younger became the chief judge and high priest.
Alma the Younger’s son Helaman led the Stripling Warriors, and his son Helaman became the chief judge during a dangerous time in Nephite history,
Helaman’s son Nephi converted thousands of Lamanites, and his son Nephi was the prophet when Jesus Christ visits the people in America.
How would the Book of Mormon be different if Alma had said nothing?
One person can make a difference by standing up for the right thing.
But there was one.
Another powerful lesson is that even if you “only” help one person, it can make a huge difference.
President Gordon Be. Hinckley told of a story in which a missionary was discouraged because he only baptized one boy who was so poor he didn’t even have a pair of shoes. Decades later however, it turns out that this poor boy stayed faithful in the church. He grew up, got married, raised a large family, and within two generations of multiple missionaries coming from his posterity, it turned out that more than 1,000 people had been brought into the church as a result of this one boy getting baptized.
There are other examples of this! President James E. Faust shared a story about a missionary who “only” baptized one person–that person became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve! See also this personal anonymous story published in the New Era.
See this video for more insights on “But There Was One”
