Members of one of the major Christian faiths are often seen crossing themselves, usually as a desire to be blessed or forgiven. Those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should also be in the habit of crossing ourselves, only not in the same way that they do. Alma speaking to his son Corianton, (Alma 39:9–14) “Now my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross yourself in all these things; for except ye do this ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. …ye stand in need to be nourished by your brothers. And give heed to their counsel (the Brethren). Suffer not yourself to be led away by any vain or foolish thing; suffer not the devil to lead away your heart…Behold, O my son, how great iniquity ye brought upon the Zoramites; (Gentiles) for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my words. …lead away the hearts of no more to do wickedly…Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry (take) them with you.”
So we, too, have a need to cross ourselves (go against our natural instincts) because as King Benjamin explained “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”(Mosiah 3:19)
Interestingly, the Lord admonished the world in our day, as well, in the very first section of the Doctrine and Covenants (D &C Sec 1:11–16) “Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear…they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants…shall be cut off from among the people; They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish.”
When Alma counseled Corianton to cross himself, he was telling him to gain self mastery over his natural self or worldly instincts and desires. He should, rather yield to the enticing of the Holy Spirit and to put off the natural man. As members of the Lord’s church we must, as Alma admonished Corianton to hear, heed, yield, and cross ourselves.