By Design There Are Only Two Choices

 "...they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil...."

Every day, no, every minute of every day, we are making choices. We choose what time we get up in the morning. We choose what clothes we will wear and what foods we will eat for breakfast, or whether we will skip breakfast. We choose whether we will eat healthy foods or unhealthy foods. We choose whether we will eat too much or too little. We choose whether we will exercise our body and our brain.

Sometimes our habits bring us to a point where we have to make a major choice. Several years ago, I weighed close to 240 lbs and then decided to lose weight. I lost 50 lbs, but then over the next year put back 30 lbs. I was headed in the wrong direction, and I knew I needed help and so enrolled in a program and went from 38% body fat to 12%; lost 45 lbs of fat; and reduced my cholesterol number from 5.8 to 3.5. Through a series of choices I went from being unhealthy to healthy. And then I had to choose everyday whether I would continue on a healthy course.

When I was young I thought I ‘had’ to go to church. When I got older I realized I could choose to go if I wanted. So now I go to church because I choose to.

We choose whether we will read the scriptures or whether we will search them. We choose to get our own witness so as to stand as witnesses of God, or rely on what others may say.

We choose what books we read or choose not to read. We choose what TV shows we watch and what movies we go to. We make good choices and bad choices, and both have consequences.

We choose whether we want to get an education; what kind of work we want to do. I learned that the more education I got, the more choices I had.

The choices we make put us in position to make other choices, and sometimes even limit our choices.

Genetics and our environment also affect our choices. For example, because of genetics, I cannot spike my hair even if I wanted to. My choices are definitely limited.

Victor Frankel in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, said he learned that while his movements were restricted he still had the choice to choose how he reacted to his circumstances as a Jew in a German concentration camp.

This is a choice we all have, and while we cannot always control the circumstances, we can choose how we react to those circumstances. This, I believe, is a characteristic of God, and that is why He tells us that all things can work together for our good, no matter how bad or how tragic.

We choose to see the glass half full or half empty. There are many who choose to be victims and never realize that it is a choice, and others who can always find the positive. I am reminded of a story of Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom who were captured during World War II for helping to hide Jews and members of the Resistance. They decided when they entered the prison camp they would always look for the positive and be thankful. There was one thing that Betsie could not be thankful for--the lice in their barracks. This was until Corrie told her that it was because of the lice that the guards did not come into their barracks as often and abuse them.

But all these choices, and I could go on forever, are simply choices we make that only affect our life on this earth. These are choices of what we do or do not do, how we live our lives, and are not necessarily the choices that get us in the right way to get home to our Father in Heaven, even though we often think they are. For example my being healthy does not redeem me, anymore than choosing not to do drugs. They may make my life less complicated, but our purpose here is not a more comfortable life. Choosing to pray or pay tithing or to become a better person do not redeem me. There is one fatal mistake that we make, that is to think it is by further, better and more aggressive living that we can have life.

In reality there are only two choices—good and evil. According to God's definition good is the righteousness of God. Evil is any alternative to the righteousness of God. Satan promotes any and all evil. The knowledge of good and evil, or the ability to distinguish good from evil, is guaranteed by God to every human being of normal mentality, and comes because of the fall of Adam. See, Think Independently, by Chauncey Riddle.

When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what they gained immediately was the knowledge of evil. Before that they had known only good, with the exception of one thing: not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan came and tempted them to do the one evil thing they knew to do, and they did it with full knowledge that it was better for them to know the difference between good and evil. That act opened the floodgates of the knowledge of evil upon them, and they became subject to Satan.

But Adam and Eve were not simply left to the evil Satan would enjoin upon them. The gift of God through partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was they would also know the good. This would be brought to them by the Light of Christ. So Adam and Eve and all their posterity (all of us) have within themselves/ourselves enticement to choose good or to choose evil.

Having these alternatives to choose between is the agency of man, that which makes each individual free to choose one or the other.

So through our pattern of choices we are choosing every day, every minute, every second, good or evil.

On what basis do we make our choices between good and evil? The answer is that we choose on the basis of our desires, the desires being the fruit of our hearts. We each choose what we want to choose. So we are literally forced to exhibit our desires, for we must choose hourly and daily between the competing influences within our heart to choose good or evil. This forced choice is the agency of man. It is brought upon all of us when we chose to come to this mortal state, and be proved as to our desires for good or evil.

Keep in mind that the Lord has defined good as everything coming from Christ, and evil as everything else. One is narrow (Christ’s way) and the other is broad (Satan’s way). The choice between good and evil is one that points us in a direction—either Christ or Satan, and we manifest it by the desires of our heart. This is necessary to exhibit the true character of each human being.

So this knowledge of good and of evil, as the Lord defines good and evil, is the most basic and most important knowledge which any human being has. The choice between good and evil cannot be assured to be made correctly by any authoritarian, rational, empirical, pragmatic or mystic means. In other words, our condition is so perfectly engineered that each of us will choose from our own heart between good and evil, and thus truly and accurately reveal our true character. Our Father in Heaven then uses that revelation as the basis for a fair and righteous final judgment, awarding each of us the desires of our heart.

But what if we discover that our own heart is not all good, that we actually want that which is evil sometimes? Can we help ourselves to be what we are not? The answer is that we cannot by ourselves make a change in our own heart. But we can recognize the need for a change, and we can choose to apply to our Savior for a new heart. He alone has the power to grant this greatest of all gifts, and will do so if we truly desire it, through his gospel—faith in Him, repentance (turning to good), baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. Then we are born again and become new creatures being changed from our carnal and fallen state to a state of righteousness. His gospel gets us in the way and keeps us there as we hold fast to the rod of iron which is the word of God. Any other way is Satan’s way, and that is why we say nothing but repentance unto this generation, because repentance means to recognize our need for a new heart and look to Christ to change it.

It is not about living our life correctly, being religious, or making good life choices—it is about redemption (not improvement), and we must experience godly sorrow (recognize our lost and fallen state, our nothingness, our evil) and desire good.

One of the great glories of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is to learn that we can become new creatures in Christ, if we will come down into the depths of humility and, as a little child, put our full trust and faith in Jesus Christ. Then and only then can and will He save us from ourselves, according to his own word.

“And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” Mosiah 27:25-27

And as the people of King Benjamin said: “We believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:1-2).

This knowledge of good (God’s righteousness) and evil (everything else) is the most basic and most important knowledge we can have. Choose Him and His righteousness, and don’t make the mistake of thinking that you are righteous. Make the choice to turn to Him and ask Him for a new heart.

For contrast see Values.

The Agency of Man

https://youtu.be/b1AuihZKh1w

They Have Become A Burden

"Your monthly and regular meetings

my soul detests.

They have become a burden on me;

I am weary of putting up with them" (Isaiah 1:14).

I attended an Elders' Quorum Meeting recently where the instructor led a discussion on Elder Gong's Conference Talk "We Each Have a Story," a talk that I found instructive and edifying.  I especially liked the way Elder Gong ended his talk by praising God's plan of happiness and Jesus Christ's Atonement, and his plea to all of us to go find our family members and bring them home to Christ

However, as is the practice, the instructor had us read some of the talk and then discuss it, and if it were not for a comment I made there would have been no mention of Jesus or his Atonement. There was no reference as to why we should find our family members. What happened to the Lord's command that we say nothing but repentance? Shouldn't it at least be mentioned once in awhile in meetings?

I kept thinking about what Isaiah said: "Your monthly and regular meetings my soul detests. They have become a burden on me; I am weary of putting up with them" (Isaiah 1:14).  

This instruction followed a Sacrament Meeting where a member of the High Council gave us a list of things to do that would rival any that the Jews had come up with.  He did, however, include Jesus on the list but only as a means to encourage us to do everything in our power to become like Jesus. 

Isaiah's prophecy about our meetings was echoed by Joseph Smith who said 

"...how vain and trifling 

have been our Spirits, 

our conferences, 

our councils, 

our meetings, 

our private as well 

as public conversations, 

too low, 

too mean, 

too vulgar, 

too condescending, 

for the dignified 

Characters 

of the called 

and chosen of God..." (History, 1838-1856 C-1 [2 November 1838-31 July 1842].

For a church that is supposed to nourish its members with "the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and finisher of their faith" (Moroni 6:4) we fall way short. Bottomless pit?  What better way to describe "hell?"

Some may think that Conference talks are the word of God, but to assume so, without knowing the word of God only serves to keep us focused on the pulpit rather than on God. Sure the word of God may be spoken there, but not always, and in local meetings, not frequently. We have substituted the pulpit narrative for the scripture narrative. Our meetings have become more of a forum for quotes from conference talks, and in Relief Society and Elders Quorum these talks are the dictated subject matter. But what joy when the scripture narrative is given us from the pulpit!

When scriptures are quoted, they are often misinterpreted, as if those who quote them don’t understand their true or full meaning and connections. Never having been taught more than a prooftexting approach to the scriptures—of finding “proof” for a particular doctrine or interpretation—we forgo the trouble of searching and putting the pieces together and instead resort to cherry-picking what appeals and rejecting what doesn’t. Are we nearing a time when conformity to the pulpit narrative takes precedence to heeding what the scriptures actually say, which foresaw and forewarned against these very developments?

Is it really a surprise that young people are leaving the church in greater numbers?  They are not getting fed!  It is hard to live on cliches, platitudes, dogmas, tenets and lists of things to do or not do. They are getting religion instead of truth (the word of God). (D&C 84:45)

At a subsequent Sacrament meeting the talks were more of the same. While both were organized and delivered well, they both missed the mark. An analogy about Star Wars that somehow translated into developing faith and another talk on faith that was mostly quotes from Conference talks given to support the "assigned" topic. I sent a link of an article to the first speaker about how faith comes by hearing the word of God, but did not get any response. Hopefully he will read it.

And I must admit that when I was their age, I did the same. Why? Because it made me look good, as in look at me I am an example. Later after being schooled in the word of God I gave a talk in a Sacrament Meeting where I shared my progression from being one of the good guys to recognizing that I  am a chief sinner. The name of this talk was I am a Sinner. I shared the horror of finding out that I had been worshipping an imaginary image of myself as one of the good guys. After giving this talk, the Bishopric in their next weekly message, which was included in the Sacrament Meeting program titled their message "For Those of Us Who are Not Sinners," where they quoted from a general authority to support their message. I immediately thought of Jacob saying:

"But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness (translate words of God), and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble" (Jacob 4:14 emphasis added).

This is also true for the Ephraimite Gentiles or better known as "members" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And while we have not killed the prophets as in causing their death, we have killed the prophets of the Old and New Testament and of the Book of Mormon by calling them 'dead' prophets and putting our trust in the 'living prophets--pulpit prophets, while just giving lip service to the others, who by the way, are very much alive! 

See Mythical Category of Dead Prophets

Now the prophets spoken of by Jacob include those who just show up, are not part of the hierarchy, historical prophets like Abinadi and Samuel the Lamanite, and many other such prophets who are mentioned, although not by name) in the Book of Mormon (Ether 11:1; Helaman 9:2; 13:25-26: Jarom 1:4), and like those prophesied to come forth, and many who are already here in numbers prior the the Lord's Second Coming. 

See An Example of What Has Been and Shall Be. 

Also see www.owlofthedesert.com/blog series on "Would God That All the Lord's People Were Prophets."

As Jacob says blindness comes by looking beyond the mark, and the mark is Christ. Instead of feeding each other with the words of life, we feed each other with words that give no life.

It should not shock us or surprise us that we are the ones these prophets call to repentance. Isaiah prophesied and said the following concerning us in Isaiah 28.

Instead of obtaining revelation from Jehovah (Isaiah 28:14,16,26,29), we water down his word until it is ineffectual in empowering his people (Isaiah 28:10-13; Isaiah 32:6).

When his people’s devotion to Jehovah becomes but a shallow version of his law and word, it lacks the power to withstand evil.

(28:9–10) Although Jehovah wants to give his people “instruction” and “revelation,” we are but babes and sucklings who haven’t developed far enough to digest more than milk: “Everyone who uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe” (Hebrews 5:13). Ephraim’s (our) mode of learning is still “line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little” (saw lasaw saw lasaw qaw laqaw qaw laqaw ze‘ir sam ze‘ir sam). Assonance and alliteration parody their rote method of learning that consists of parroting back what their leaders teach.

Each poetic allegory (vv 23-26, 27-29) reiterates Isaiah chapter 28’s theme of the need for divine revelation and its lack among the people of Ephraim that leaves them unprepared for Jehovah’s Day of Judgment. (v 29)—hark back to verse 9: “Whom shall he give instruction? Whom shall he enlighten with revelation?” and to Jehovah’s taking steps to restore his revelation to “those who believe it” (v 16).

Your wine diluted with water. Besides its literal meaning, the idea of “wine” metaphorically signifies spiritual nourishment: “You who have no money, come, buy wine and milk with no money and at no cost” (Isaiah 55:1). Those who teach God’s word, in effect, have watered it down until it no longer nourishes his people: “Their heart ponders impiety—how to practice hypocrisy and preach perverse things concerning Jehovah, leaving the hungry soul empty, depriving the thirsty [soul] of drink” (Isaiah 32:6). What passes for God’s word has become but a diminished version of his gospel in its fullness.

Precepts of men prevent people from receiving more of God’s word as Isaiah teaches it. If people haven’t heard something a thousand times, then it can’t be true. Although what they believe may have no basis of fact, they won’t search the scriptures to see if those things are so (Acts 17:11). Ought not a prophet who saw our day, who so eloquently spells it out, be our daily walk and talk?

These epitomize the Isaiah and Book of Mormon scriptures narrative.

 

They also parallel the Lord’s people “in Zion” subscribing to “precepts of men,” which in the end cause them to deny him; his current wife becoming a harlot, her people’s indulging the sins of Sodom, leading to the Lord’s remarrying his first wife—the house of Israel—in their place; the olive tree of Zenos’ allegory bearing all kinds of fruit—none of it any good—causing the Lord of the vineyard to appoint his end-time servant to call other servants to help him graft the natural branches back into their mother tree, to cut off the bad and cast them out of the vineyard.

Is it any wonder that we are the wild fruit spoken of by Jacob in the Allegory of the Olive Tree? Is it any wonder that we look beyond the mark? Is it any wonder that as the wild fruit we will be cut down and cast into the fire?

"Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.

For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.

But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance" (Alma 12:13-15 emphasis added).

What a night and day (literally) difference between the pulpit narrative and the scripture narrative! 

Really?

Last year in the local news in Utah, I saw where Utah Senator Mike Lee compared Donald Trump to Book of Mormon hero Captain Moroni.  At the time I read Lee's comparison, I saw that over 400 people wrote a comment. Most were critical of Lee, but many supported it. I am not sure which bothered me more, Lee's comparison or the many others who agreed. He later tried to excuse it by saying Moroni was not a prophet  and that he didn't mean to offend people.

Let me begin by saying that Donald Trump is the antitheses of Moroni. Trump has none of the qualities, character or courage of Moroni. In fact if I were to compare Donald Trump to a Book of Mormon character, it would be Amalickiah, who, it is recorded was "desirous to be a King" (Alma 46:4).  Amalickiah was a "man of many flattering words," who won a great personal following, had obtained "power by fraud and deceit" (Alma 48:7), and "led away the hearts of many people" (Alma 46:10). "A large and a strong man" of imposing presence (Alma 46:3); and to a powerful and persuasive rhetoric he added the fierce resolve to one who "had sworn to drink the blood of Moroni," his chief opponent (Alma 51:9). Shrewd and calculating, "a man of cunning device" (Alma 46:10), he knew how to preserve himself: "He did not come down himself to battle" (Alma 49:11). Amalickiah was willing to pay any price to gain his objective, for he "did care not for the blood of his people" (Alma 49:10).

Amalickiah could always count on a strong backing by the king-men. "And those people who were wroth were also desirous that he should be their king" (Alma 46:4).

Moroni was caught off guard by the vicious and deceitful nature that his own guileless spirit was slow to anticipate. "When Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies,...had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah" (Alma 46:11), and he reacted in a quick and spectacular manner; the drastic measures that he took to alert the people to show that they needed waking up in a great hurry. "He rent his coat,...took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it--In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our children" (Alma 46:12). He put the torn garment on a pole and called it the "title of liberty" (Alma 46:13), and went forth among the people, calling upon them "with a loud voice." Hearing Moroni, and seeing the banner, "the people came running together" (Alma 46:19-21).

Unlike Trump and his disregard of the Constitution, Moroni was wholly dedicated to defending that constitution which Mosiah had given the nation when he laid down his kingship, in which the sum of wisdom was equality. Mosiah said, "For thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think of himself above another" (Mosiah 23:7). He tells us what kind of equality is indispensable if a people are to enjoy liberty, namely "that every man should have an equal chance throughout all the land...to answer for his own sins" (Mosiah 29:38).

This is what Moroni was willing to fight for. He knew that the King-men would destroy any equality and Moroni had a grand passion for equality, without which, according to the Book of Mormon, there can be no freedom.  Moroni was a great warrior, a great general but above all he wanted peace. Because of his magnanimous nature as a lover of peace and fair play, he always called the enemy his brothers, with whom he was loathe to contend. He held no grudges and at the end of the fighting he proposed a settlement. He refused to take advantage of the enemy who was too drunk to fight because that would be an "injustice" (Alma 55:19). With never a thought of punishing a beaten foe (Donald Trump?), Moroni sought no reprisals even after the gravest provocations. He was satisfied to take his defeated adversaries at their word and trust them to return to their homes or settle among the Nephites as they chose (Alma 44:6; 11, 19-20).

Moroni was the greatest of all the Book of Mormon warriors, and yet he was the most magnanimous, and he tells us why:  "And we have suffered...all this that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul, and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some" (Alma 26:30). He knew that the harder way of winning over an enemy was the better way, and all his converts underwent a most marvelous change of heart; "Now there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war; yea, and also their king commanded them that they should not" (Alma 24:6).

At the sight of Amalickiah, the king-men's idea of a Nephite patriot, leading a Lamanite army against the Nephites, they saw him in his true colors after having been won over "by fraud and deceit" and they were willing to switch to the faithful Moroni.

The freemen are the Nephites who supported Moroni in his opposition to a dangerous coalition led by Amalickiah. The king-men's combination consisted of rich Nephites who were outraged by what they considered interference by "Helaman and his brethren" in their private affairs. Other king-men included monarchists, influential and intriguing families, a self-styled aristocracy, social climbers "lifted up in their hearts" by their new wealth (Alma 45:24), haughty and aspiring judges, power-hungry officials (Mike Lee?), including "almost all the lawyers and the high priests"--men taking advantage of church positions (3 Nephi 6:27), and many ordinary church members beguiled by the powerful and impressive rhetoric of Amalikiah.  Only one comprehensive label fits that combination.

The freemen were not left wing, not at all. For them there were no wings--equality was their watchword, and their torn, trampled garments and tattered "title of liberty" announced to all that they considered themselves nothing more than God's typically weak and fallible children, whom he loves all alike. They were not militant, but were peace-loving, noncompetitive, and friendly, appealing to the power of the word of God over the sword. Like Moroni they were "taught never to give offense," and never aggressive, but they were terrible indeed when the king-men pushed them too far, but quick to spare and forgive. They were not class conscious, but prized equality among the greatest of blessings. In their personal lives, they placed no great value on the accumulation of wealth and abhorred displays of status and prestige like the Trump Tower. They were not desirous or envious of power and authority; they recognized that they were "despised" by the more success-oriented king-men of the world. They shunned the climate of conspiracy in which the king-men delighted, and avoided aristocratic pretenses and aspirations as well.  

None of these qualities are found in Donald Trump nor in his enablers like Senator Lee, who at one time could not hold back his disdain for Trump, who called on Trump to step away from the presidental nomination after the Access Hollywood Tape, but because he wanted to be in the circle of power perhaps he sold himself and his values to support Donald Trump and violated his Oath of Office to uphold and defend the constitution and its liberties for all people. And to even think that Donald Trump could be compared to Captain Moroni stretches the credibility of all reason and fact, and is, to put it simply, embarrassingly ignorant.

I have never met Donald Trump. I have, however, heard him and read extensively about him. I have listened to him, have seen his tweets, and have read almost every book written by those who either worked for him, were part of his family or part of his administration. They all tell the same story. He is nothing like Moroni. I would have loved to see him be a good president, and to overcome his narcissism, his racism and hate for those who do not fall at his feet and worship him, but it did not happen and it will never happen. One thing I know for sure. He cannot hold a candle to Captain Moroni! Moroni would never use bone spurs, real or invented, as an excuse not to defend the liberty of his people.

Postscript- See this Article dated June 21, 2022 in the Salt Lake Tribune