A Higher Law--I Finally Understand

As I have been learning more about Isaiah's ladder to heaven, or about how God exalts us, or does not exalt us, I keep seeing references to living higher laws. To me, being under the law has been something that we should want to avoid, because being under grace is preferred. When He revealed to me the answer, I was astonished because it was right there all the time! So obvious, and yet I had missed it for years.

Q. What is a higher law? 

A. As Isaiah teaches it, the higher law is nothing but an expression of God’s love in its purest form, demonstrating God’s design, and desire, to lift us up.

Q. What Does it mean to live a higher law? 

A. As He lifts us up, we become more loving, and live a higher law each time we are lifted up. Being exalted means acquiring more and more of His attributes, including receiving more of His love. We can only abide higher laws if we are moving in the right direction, choosing Good (God) and turning to Him (repenting).

I am not sure that living a higher law is the right verb. Perhaps abiding or accepting a higher law is more accurate. I also like the verb receiving, as in receiving a higher law, or receiving what is offered and abiding in it. But even better, because it changes the emphasis to Him, we are enveloped in that portion of His love that we are willing to receive. The more we are willing to receive, the more we do receive. We can, if we desire, receive of His fulness. We receive grace for grace "that [we] may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness" (D&C 93:19 emphasis added). 

At the center of Isaiah’s prophecy, for all who have “eyes to see and ears to hear,” we discover God’s eternal plan to exalt His children, which is motivated by love. The more love we receive, the more loving we become, and thereby become more like Him, exalted as His sons and daughters. We can then be in His presence and abide with Him.

Isaiah’s theology embraces all people born on the earth, no matter how good or evil they turn out to be. In the process, Isaiah describes different ways of living that people choose for themselves, some drawing them nearer to God, others distancing them from Him. Each way has a place on the ladder to heaven. Where we find ourselves in this divine scheme depends on us, on what law we abide—higher or lesser laws.

Again, what is the higher law? "Jesus said..., Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 29:29-31; Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5). 

On these hang "all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40 emphasis added).

The biggest part of life’s test lies in what we love and worship—God or idols like success and money. The bottom line is, are we self-serving or do we serve God?

Only when we love Him more than we love ourselves—when we do what He desires and become more like Him—do we finally see God. But this the very law we cannot live. We cannot love God more than we love ourselves unless we are changed by Him and become more like Him!

Another way of saying this is that we are becoming more capable of living the truth, not because it is something we can do, but because of who we are becoming!

In the very act of desiring to give up our own will in order to do God’s will, we will begin, through the various stages of exaltation, to achieve our highest goal, which is also His highest goal for us. As I have said many times, when we want for ourselves and others, what He wants for us, then our will is aligned with His.

What Moroni taught about charity or the pure love of Christ, now has greater meaning for me. After saying that charity is not self serving and rejoiceth in truth, he says:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ¹if ye have not charity, ²ye are nothing, for ³charity never faileth. Wherefore, ⁴cleave unto charity, which is ⁵the greatest of all, for ⁶all things must fail. But ⁷charity is the pure love of Christ, and it ⁸endureth forever; and whoso is ⁹found possessed of it at the last day, it ¹⁰shall be well with him. 

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ¹pray unto the Father ²with all the energy of heart, that ye may ³be filled with this love, which ⁴he hath bestowed upon all ⁵who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye ⁶may become the sons (and daughters) of God; that when he shall appear ⁷we shall be like him, for we shall ⁸see him as he is; that we may ⁹have this hope; that we ¹⁰may be purified even ¹¹as he is pure. Amen"(Moroni 7:46-48 emphasis added).

Living or abiding in His love means that we serve others as God has served them, both temporarily and spiritually. The motivation being our love for them, or the degree of His love found in us. Our commitment to serving God by serving our fellow human beings goes beyond just being good neighbors. God himself is the highest example of service toward his creatures, great and small. Isaiah describes him as the “Holy One” (Saint) and “Valiant One” (Hero) of Israel, emphasizing the attributes that will get God’s people up the ladder. It is no accident that those whom God delivers at the end of the world are also described as “holy ones” (saints) and “valiant ones” (heroes). These and other godlike traits have qualified them as God’s elect (Isaiah 10:20; 13:3; 60:16). And these godlike traits are the result of His doing, not our own.

The prophet Malachi identifies “righteous” people in God’s Day of Judgment not as those who profess a particular creed or repeat religious slogans but as those who “serve God,” while the “wicked” are those who “don’t serve him” (Malachi 3:18). 

Noah wasn’t born “a righteous man, perfect in his generation,” but he became this ¹by loving and serving God (Genesis 6:9). God directed Abraham to ²attain the same perfection (Genesis 17:1). Those who knew God anciently didn’t know Him all at once, but God revealed Himself to them to the degree that they sought Him. As it was in the past so it is in the future: “You will seek me and find [me] when you seek me with *all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

*Note the link between 'all your heart,' and Moroni's 'all the energy of heart.'

Living or receiving a higher law, then, may not mean just more or greater blessings from God. It is the path that literally brings us into God’s presence, enabling us to interact directly with God. We see in the Bible that specifics of this higher law were the privilege of prophets and others to whom God appeared and gave instructions. It makes sense that such a law would follow a personalized script, not written down but rather revealed by God through His holy Spirit. Thus, Abraham didn’t see God until he had acted on faith (see Moroni's comments on faith in Moroni 7:41-44 and how it relates to receiving of the fulness of His love), and followed God’s word to him personally (Genesis 12:1–7). Moses didn’t see God until he had valiantly defended the rights of the oppressed (Exodus 2:11–3:6).

God called the Israelites in Moses' time to be a “royal priesthood,” to minister His love and salvation to the rest of humanity. For them, it was an opportunity for spiritual service, not a bid for elitism. But instead of accepting God’s call, they hardened their hearts and turned down their mission of ministering to the world. Thus, Isaiah laments that God’s people, then and now, “have not wrought salvation in the earth” to the extent they should have, neither anciently or even in this last dispensation (Isaiah 26:18).

They refused to receive of His fulness. And the result? "And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel...behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them" (3 Nephi 16:10).

But in Moses’ day, seventy elders of the congregation of Israel “went up” or “ascended” to that ministering level. They saw God on Mount Sinai and ate and drank in His presence (Exodus 24:9–11).

We often pass by the Old Testament as if it doesn’t relate to us, as if its “sacred history” is no longer sacred. And yet, who today can match the spiritual heights those ancients attained? The law they kept went beyond not sinning. Their lives were models of love and service. In comparison to the higher law, the lesser law centers around becoming clean of sin and spiritually pure. The higher law puts us on a path to attaining perfection by loving others as God loves us, so that we can enjoy the company of God and angels. Those who loved God and neighbor so as to attain this perfection also truly loved themselves, as we do justice to ourselves only when we love God first and foremost.

The fact that Israel’s God Jehovah met with people anciently shows that a higher law existed before New Testament times. Keeping that law of love led to the extraordinary blessings those persons received, as God called them to be patriarchs, prophets, and kings to his people. Some of those “men of God” wrote down the things God revealed in words and visions, which became the Bible. Like Moses, they may have hidden in their writings things they considered sacred or ahead of their time—knowing that people exposed to the higher law who rejected it would come under condemnation. But to their disciples, and to all willing to search their writings for deeper meanings, they left a profound spiritual legacy.

We should not be fooled by the fact that the individuality of illustrious Old Testament figures and their diverse personalities have been succeeded by today’s group psyche. Our different religious and cultural values cultivate stereotypes that tell us we must believe and perform the same sorts of things. 

Clearly, those personalities from millennia past were beloved of God and were privileged to see and know more about God and angels than many of us can comprehend. That isn’t because we are inferior but because we consider our love superior, though we have little to show for ourselves by comparison. If we allow those men of God to speak to us there might be a lot we can learn. But perhaps we lack the motivation that can only come from the pure love of God?

According to Isaiah, for people to be born on the earth is but half of life’s equation. Ascending the ladder to heaven completes the process. It is therefore a comforting thing to know that God accommodates everyone born on the earth, equipping each of us with a script that is individualized according to our needs and desires. That way, we aren’t in competition with anyone, but work out our salvation at the pace we choose. As God comes from a position of infinite love, He knows that the circumstances into which we are thrown in life are the best for us personally, that from them we are potentially able to gain the most growth. Ask anyone who has “gone through it” and they will tell you it is so.

Those being exalted leave no one behind. By the very nature of becoming more like God, they continue to minister to those below, so those may also receive more. Those ministering below are continually being ministered to by those above them. And it is all motivated by love, and is a measure of how much of the love of God is found in us.

See Leave First Principles and Go On Unto Perfection

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Some ideas and narrative I captured from Isaiah Decoded: Ascending the Ladder to Heaven by Avraham Gileadi, which helped me make many connections to how the Lord exalts us.

What is Truth? Do We Even Care?

When Pilate asked Christ "What is truth?" he didn't really want an answer. Do you? I don't ask this question to be glib, but in the hope you that will ask yourself if you really want to know the truth?

There was a time in my life when truth was not central to my thoughts. Sure I gave lip service but I was just pretending that I knew the truth. But I really didn't. When the lights were out, my so called religious practice was just a superficial version of the truth. I lived what I had been taught was the gospel, but really did not comprehend how much truth I really possessed and had access to. I was still at that stage where family and job were the greatest focus of my time and energies. 

'Lip Service' is such an apt term to describe my devotion to Christ. I was able to mingle it with scriptures and pretend I knew the truth, but again I didn't. I was one of those who was ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. It's simple really. I could not know truth if I was not even searching for it. And I would not search for it if I had little or no desire to search. There is nothing worse than to pretend we know the truth when we have no desire to know it.

I was of those described by the Lord "who have professed to know my name and have not known me," or "who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness." That was me. 

I didn't give ear to His words. I did not hearken to His voice. I did not hear His voice in His words. I didn't pay attention to my Father in Heaven when He commanded me to Hear the words of His Son! In fact I hardly focused on His words. They remained in the scriptures which I would read occasionally, but never connected His words to the truth. My pursuit of earthly things was the very thing that clouded my knowledge of heavenly things. And yet I considered myself blessed.

It now intrigues me, after years spent obtaining His words and knowing the truth, how differently believers in God respond to the same truth. I can see myself in most of them. While some reject it, others assume that salvation is theirs, although their idea of the truth is mistaken or incomplete. I can relate, however, because I was one of those who 'claimed' to know, but had no idea what I did not know! The best boost for me came at General Conference when a speaker would speak about fathers because I thought I was a good one, and that was sufficient, wasn't it? Or another would speak about attending meetings and the temple. And another about repenting of committing grievous sins, none of which I had committed. Or another about how much Christ loves me. I was home free. Or so I thought. Or better yet, I wanted to think. I had become very good at deceiving myself, and even better at decieving others. I was a member of the "true church," which had the right organization with twelve apostles, the priesthood, and the temple ordinances. And we had the Book of Mormon. I was of the House of Israel and was one of those righteous spirits held back to come forth in this last dispensation. 

Keep in mind that during this time I had served a mission, taught, been an elders quorum president, a counselor in two bishoprics and a bishop. Don't be fooled by the office. No one, all of a sudden, by virtue of a calling, local or general, knows the truth. One must put in the work ¹to acquire and then come ²to know, the truth. And it requires a lot of both. But it begins with an overwhelming desire to know the truth. A desire I did not have.

I have come to believe that each of us should have our own Road to Damascus experience, where we are stopped on our journey through life, and with the clarity of an angel, told to hearken unto the words of God. To stop what we are doing and hear His voice! Or at least have an experience that causes us to quit conversing among ourselves and look to the source of His words, and hear Him say to us, "This is my beloved son. Hear ye him." 

Following several life changing experiences, I began to unlearn my limited view-point of a fixed set of beliefs, and my mind was opened to all the possibilities the word of God could contain. It was then that scriptural insights came so fast I had to completely reevaluate what I had learned before. My limited view-point was quickly changing and becoming unlimited.

My own Road to Damascus experience came in 1984 when I was released as a Bishop, where I did hear His voice in His words telling me: "Behold, I am God; give heed to my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my word." He also told me to "Wait a little longer, until you shall have my word, my rock, my church, and my gospel, that you may know of a surety my doctrine. Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of god unto the convincing of men" (D&C 11:16,21 emphasis added).

It was because of this experience that I began to really focus on His words, actually on the word word! And His words led me to His definition of truth, which by the way, is the word of the Lord (D&C 84:45). It also led me to ask if truth is being taught today in the Church? I confess that it was only after concentrating on the scriptures that I discovered that only a watered-down version of His word is being taught in the Church. Having obtained His words, I could clearly tell the difference.

I also saw that it wasn't so much that people read the same word of God differently, but that many were not reading at all, or not searching--the scripture itself--at least not in a manner that allowed them to fit every piece of it into one cohesive picture of the truth. Instead people were reading materials the church published for study. Often these were selective--preserving some threads of truth while excluding others--so that the total picture was so incomplete it becomes a distortion of the truth, a transfiguration of His words. I also discovered that the more truth I discovered, the more my knowledge of the truth kept growing exponentially.

That was unsettling at first because what I started to learn turned many of my former beliefs upside down. But I was not tempted to call off my quest for truth. I recognized the danger of a self-sufficiency acted out in the lives of people who practice a religion that lacks substance, which substance is the truth of the word of God. But the irony is, Joseph's religion does not lack the substance, but it's people do.

Another problem is that the truth is not easily discovered. I had to exert myself to find it. I discovered that presuming to know something prevented me from knowing more, that lesser truths become a trap. Also believing something is not the same as knowing it. We may believe whatever we want, whether it is true or false. But we can't know something unless it is true! The truth is also light because it has the capacity to guide us and enlighten us, until we know for ourselves whether something is true or not. That light also shines upon ourselves and with it, we can see and experience our nothingness and His goodness.

This learning process is built into our very existence, as it teaches us an important thing about ourselves: for each of us, life is a personal journey in which we can advance at whatever pace we want toward a more intelligent condition than we started from. "Advance' being the operative word, for if we are not advancing we are going backward. And if we become more intelligent, then we become more useful to the Lord, influential, and powerful in the service of the very truth that makes us so. 

When Jesus said "The truth will make you free," He tells us that the more truth that is in us, the more we become our own agents. By living the truth--by living the laws of God* that are grounded in truth--we become increasingly independent. The opposite is also true: the more we live a lie, the more we are bound by lies and become less free, captured even-- by the chains of hell. Because God is the source of truth, He is also the source of freedom--not the freedom to do what we want, but to live the truth, which makes us free.

For most of us, our spiritual side has barely been tapped. We have not asked the right questions but have simply assumed that things are so. We have not lived the truth we could have lived, and so we are still less than what we can be.

I recognized this in myself and others, and desired to share the truth with others at every opportunity I could find. It was the purpose of this blog to share the truth with others, and as an aid to help them come to the knowledge of the truth. I also had been called to say nothing but repentance unto this generation and could not ignore His leading me to the truth. I could do the same and lead others to the truth--to Him! Every post in this blog is about His truth, and reflects my journey in learning and knowing His words. 

I cannot help but share what I know. And I understand your resistance to what I have written because I was once where you are. I share with you my journey to repentance as the Lord defines it, and my discovery of the standard by which I can compare everything--His truth. I share with you my coming to know of a surety His doctrine and His gospel, not a watered-down version of it. I share with you how I came to discover His righteousness and to rely wholly upon His merits. 

I have come to know personally what the prophet Malachi taught: that the “righteous” people in God’s Day of Judgment are not those who profess a particular creed or repeat religious slogans but are those who “serve God,” while the “wicked” are those who “don’t serve him” (Malachi 3:18). Associated with this is the Lord's definition of the righteous and the wicked.

I share with you how we can avoid His justice, and how we can be found guiltless and spotless at the judgment when we stand before Him to be judged. I share with you the Book of Mormon and how important it is to you, your children and grandchildren. You are living in the last days, and the Book of Mormon was given to us to help us avoid the endtime judgments and destruction. It describes the Lord's Great and Marvelous Work, and how that work will divide us. I share with you Nephi's and Christ's prophecies concerning us who are identified with the Gentiles.

I share with you Isaiah's remarkable endtime prophecy concerning America and the world, the destruction of those who are not repenting and the deliverance of those who are. I share with you how the Book of Mormon is the link between us and the prophecy of Isaiah, and how the Lord commanded us to search the words of Isaiah, for, as He said, "great are the words of Isaiah," and all that Isaiah said "have been and shall be." The mystery Isaiah conceals and reveals is the knowledge of God.

As Isaiah teaches it, *the higher law is nothing but an expression of God’s love in its purest form, demonstrating God’s design, and desire, to lift us up. At the center of Isaiah’s prophecy, for all who have “eyes to see and ears to hear,” we discover God’s eternal plan to exalt his children.

I share with you the discovery of how we are exalted and become like him, and how we are sanctified by the truth. I share with you His words as I have come to know them as the truth. I share with you my sorrow for those who do not desire to know His truth, my worries for them, my suffering for them. I share with you my testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy, and that I can clearly see that which is to come. I share with you all that He has revealed to me, as another witness of Him in all places and at all times. And because what I share is truth, His words which have now become my words, will live on long after I am gone.

I share with you His gifts of the Spirit given to me. I know that we only do good through the gifts and power of God. I share with you how and why we are identified with the Gentiles, and that the Lord's endtime judgments come about because of the failure to repent of those of us who have entered into the Lord's covenant, and will be as the salt that has lost its savor, good for nothing but to be hewn down and cast into the fire. There will be those few who do repent and become nursing fathers and mothers in helping to gather the house of Israel. 

I share with you a series of posts on repentance and how repentance is linked to everything in the scriptures, and why only those who are repenting will be numbered among the house of Israel when the Lord gathers them as they are protected from the endtime judgments. 

I share with you the obstacles to hearing and receiving the truth.

I share with you that many personalities from millennia past were beloved of God and were privileged to see and know more about God and angels than many of us can comprehend. That is not because we are inferior, but because we consider ourselves superior, although we have little to show for ourselves in comparison. In reality, if we allow these men of God to speak to us, there is a lot we can learn.

I share with you that I can speak with the tongue of angels, and recognize immediately those who were like me, who pretended to know the language, but who did not. I know the difference between the Church and His gospel. 

I plead with you to seek the truth. I pray that you will. Why? Because I desire for you all that the Lord desires for you. Remember that you are saved no faster than you gain knowledge of the truth.

Although I am sharing these insights with you, I will understand if you treat them as fiction. Compared to today’s well-worn pulpit narrative, some of these views may seem radical indeed. But I have found them easy to support with hard scriptural evidence. I have not written anything that I have not been able to show you.

I invite you to put them to the test, to see if they are not enlightening, empowering, and freeing to your spirit for that flight to heaven which God has invited every one of us to make.

Keep in mind that Christ had told Pilate what truth is before he even asked when he said to him: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (John 18:37). How grateful I am that I now hear His voice, and can bear witness of the truth! 

Read here what Peter said about truth and ignorance. 

Only Joseph Smith Has a Story to Tell

Religion has no plot. Science has no plot. This means that Joseph Smith is the only entry. He, at least, has given us a story with a plot. But is it convincing?

The stories of the garden of Eden and the Flood have always furnished unbelievers with their best ammunition against believers, because they are the easiest to visualize, popularize, and satirize of any Bible accounts. Everyone has seen a garden and been caught in a pouring rain. It requires no effort of imagination for a six-year-old to convert concise and straightforward Sunday-school recitals into the vivid images that will stay with him for the rest of his life. These stories retain the form of the nursery tales they assume in the imaginations of small children, to be defended by grownups who refuse to distinguish between childlike faith and thinking as a child when it is time to "put away childish things." (1Corinthians 13:11).

Joseph Smith gave the world something that nobody else could. That is why Joseph Smith, with nothing going for him and everything going against him, simply could not lose. He told us what the play is all about. If you can come up with a better story than his, more power to you, but up until now no one else has had any story at all to place before us, and no one can. If only for that reason, Joseph's story deserves a hearing.

The Latter-day Saints have four basic Adam stories, those found in the Bible, the book of Moses, the book of Abraham, and the temple—each seen from the point of view of the individual observers who tell the stories. 

The apparently strange and extravagant phenomena described in the scriptures are often correct descriptions of what would have appeared to a person in a particular situation. Noah saw the flood from His point of view. From where he was, "the whole earth" (Genesis 8:9) was covered with water. As far as he could see there was water. After things had quieted down for 150 days and the ark ground to a halt, it was still three months before he could see any mountaintops. But what were conditions in other parts of the world? If Noah knew that, he would not have sent forth messenger birds to explore.

Joseph and Sidney Rigdon had to use metaphors and similes to describe what they saw: "His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; . . . his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters" (D&C 110). There was no fire, no snow, no rushing waters, but that is as near as Joseph Smith and Sidney Ridgon could come to telling us what they experienced when "the veil was taken from [their] minds, and the eyes of [their] understanding were opened" (D&C 110:1)! They were reporting as well as they could what they had seen from a vantage point on which we have never stood.

Before being introduced to his home planet, Abraham is given a view of the cosmos, in the which he is reminded again and again that all distances, directions, and motions are to be measured with respect to his position only. From another position, the picture might well look very different.

Kolob is not described as the center of the universe, but governs only one class of stars: "I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest" (Abraham 3:3). Kolob's influence and time governs "all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest"—the expression is used for the seventh time (Abraham 3:9).

The creation process as described in the Pearl of Great Price is open ended and ongoing, entailing careful planning based on vast experience, long consultations, models, tests, and even trial runs for a complicated system requiring a vast scale of participation by the creatures concerned. The whole operation is dominated by the overriding principle of love. 

"Worlds without number" had already come into existence and gone their ways: "And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words" (Moses 1:38).

Consider how it was done: "And the Gods said: We will do everything that we have said, and organize them." (Abraham 4:31). "And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good" (Abraham 4:21). "We will end our work, which we have counseled. . . . And thus were their decisions at the time that they counseled among themselves to form the heavens and the earth" (Abraham 5:2-3). 

After the talk they got down to work. "The Gods came down and formed these the generations of the heavens and of the earth, . . . according to all that which they had said . . . before" (Abraham 5:4-5). They worked through agents: "The Gods ordered, saying: Let [such-and-such happen] . . . ; and it was so, even as they ordered" (Abraham 4:9, 11). 

What they ordered was not the completed product, but the process to bring it about, providing a scheme under which life might expand: "Let us prepare the earth to bring forth grass" (Abraham 4:11), not "Let us create grass."

"We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell" (Abraham 3:24). Why? "And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them" (Abraham 3:25). What he commands is what will best fulfill the measure of their existence, but they are not forced to do it—they are not automata. Adam and Eve were advised not to eat the fruit but were told at the same time that they were permitted to do so. It was up to them whether they would obey or not. 

Note that all that follows concerning Adam applies to Eve as well.

Abraham 4:11-12 continues: "Let us prepare the earth to bring forth grass.. . . And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, . . . yielding fruit [the fruit is the seed], whose seed could only bring forth the same . . . after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed." Here are levels of independence down to a complete programming by which the "seed could only bring forth the same."

The most important provision of all is, "We will bless them," and "cause them to be fruitful and multiply" (Abraham 4:28). The blessing of everything makes all the difference. This blessing is the whole difference between a play and no play.

After the earth is set up we are shown everything from Adam's point of view. In Genesis 2:5, we are definitely referred to a pre-temporal creation, then (2:8) we see a garden planted, and (2:15) a man put into the garden, where he is wonderfully at home. He can eat of every tree in the garden (2:16). He lives on terms of greatest intimacy with other creatures, naming and classifying them as he takes his place among them (Genesis 2:19-20).

When Adam eats the fruit his eyes are opened—he is a piqqeah, one who sees things as they were not seen before, who sees things which he in another condition could not see. He is in a new ambience. Cast out of the garden, he finds himself in a dry climate and changes his diet from fruit to grains, which he must work hard to cultivate.

The book of Abraham is more specific. After the great cycles of creation come the smaller cycles, starting with a very dry planet followed by a very wet phase (Abraham 5:5-6). Man is formed of the elements of the earth like any other creature, and he lives in a very lush period, a garden, which is, however, reduced to an oasis in an encroaching desert (Abraham 5:7-10). To this limited terrain he is perfectly adapted. It is a paradise. How long does he live there? No one knows, for this was still "after the Lord's time," not ours (Abraham 5:13). It was only when he was forced out of this timeless, changeless paradise that he began to count the hours and days, moving into a hard semi-arid world of thorns, thistles, and briars, where he had to toil and sweat in the heat just to stay alive and lost his old intimacy with the animals (Genesis 3:17-19).

Until Adam underwent that fatal change of habitat, body chemistry, diet, and psyche that went with the Fall, nothing is to be measured in our years, "for . . . the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning." (Abraham 5:13.) Until then, time is measured from their point of view, not ours.

He plays a surprising number of roles, each with a different persona, a different name, a different environment, a different office and calling: (1) he was Michael, one of the three most intelligent beings present when the earth project was being discussed; (2) he was one of those who monitored the processes, and who came down from time to time to check up on the operation; (3) then he changed his name and nature to live upon the earth, but it was a very different earth from any we know. It had to be a garden place specially prepared for him. (4) When he left that paradise, his nature was changed again, and for the first time he began to reckon the passing of time by our measurements, becoming a short-lived creature subject to death. (5) In this condition, he began to receive instructions from heavenly mentors on how to go about changing his condition and status, entering into a covenant that completely changed his mentality and way of life. "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit," when "that which is natural" became spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:45-46). The man Adam passes from one state of being to another, and so do we: "as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49). (6) In time he died and became a spirit being, the head of all his spirit children in the waiting-place, according to common Christian tradition as well as our own. (7) Then he became, after Christ, the first fruits of the resurrection and returned triumphantly to his first and second estates, (8) to go on to glory and eternal lives.

Christianity views man's life on earth as a one-act drama: Adam fell, Christ redeemed us, and that is the story. Before Adam, there was nothing. Science tells us that the drama is pointless, because there is really nothing before or after it. We, on the other hand, see an ongoing epic of many episodes, each one a play in itself—a dispensation.

It is Adam as our own parent who should concern us. When he walks onto the stage, then and only then the play begins. He opens a book and starts calling out names. They are the sons of Adam, who also qualify as sons of God, Adam himself being a son of God. This is the book of remembrance from which many have been blotted out.

Adam becomes Adam, a hominid becomes a man, when he starts keeping a record. What kind of record? A record of his ancestors—the family line that sets him off from all other creatures.

Which takes us back to the issue with which the Adam question began and which has always been the central issue of human paleontology: a matter of definitions. They may seem trivial, secondary, naive—but the experts have never been able to get away from it. Evolution and natural selection were never defined to Darwin's satisfaction. 

Those who study the origin of man begin with the final answers. The ultimate questions that can only be answered after all the returns are in, are the very questions with which Lyell and Hutton and Darwin began their explorations. Our thrilling detective drama begins by telling us who did it and then expects us to wait around with bated breath while the detective brings in the evidence. Today all the specialists are trying to agree on a clear definition for man: when is a hominid a hominid, and how much? 

Do not begrudge existence to creatures that looked like men long, long ago, nor deny them a place in God's affection or even a right to exaltation—for our scriptures allow them such. We should not be overly concerned as to just when they might have lived, for their world is not our world. They have all gone away long before our people ever appeared. God assigned them their proper times and functions, as he has given us ours—a full-time job that admonishes us to remember His words to the overly eager Moses: "For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me" (Moses 1:31).

And one of the biggest stumbling blocks of science and religion is not knowing how Adam relates to all other beings, earthly and heavenly. But Joseph knew, and His story is God's story, told over and over again on earths just like this one.

To learn more see Hugh Nibley's Before Adam, Old Testament and Related Studies, Chapter 7.

But We Have the Book! Antithetical or Proving Contraries

"For he who persists in evil, and is the servant of evil, cannot be made a portion of good so long as he persists in evil, because from the beginning, as we have said, God instituted two kingdoms, and has given to each man the power of becoming a portion of that kingdom to which he shall yield himself to obey" (Quoting Peter in Clement of Rome emphasis added). 

A friend sent me this photo intending its message for me. It meant a lot to me that someone recognized that perhaps I am not too insignificant to teach His words, that God does in fact, work by very small and simple means, to bring about His great and eternal purposes, and that my obtaining and teaching His words come by the power and gifts of God. 

As a result of obtaining His words I have discovered that by utilizing a simple antithetical (an-tih-THEH-tih-kuhl) method, the Lord brings about His eternal purposes, and that one of the greatest witnesses of the Book of Mormon is its use of antithetical dichotomies. 

What does antithetical mean? The term antithetical refers to something that is the direct opposite of, or in sharp contrast with, another thing. It is derived from the word "antithesis," (an-TIH-thuh-sis) which in Greek literally means "setting against."

​When two ideas are antithetical, they are not just different; they are mutually incompatible or fundamentally opposed. For example the Lord's definition of Good is the antithesis of Evil. They are mutually exclusive. As are the consequences-- light/darkness, life/death, more/nothing, happiness/ misery, and righteousness/ wickedness. And He puts us in a situation where we must choose one or the other. It is the freedom to choose that also serves His purpose, for without the freedom to choose one or the other, there can be no accountability for our choice. It is the choosing between the two that is the most important thing we do, and the two ways, Good and Evil, are absolutely essential to God’s plan. We can not only understand that Good is light and Evil is darkness, but we can also experience the darkness by tasting the bitter that we may know to prize the Good.

Babylon, for example, is the antithesis of Zion, as both a place and a people. If Zion is made up of only those who are repenting, then Babylon is made up of those who are not repenting. 

With antithesis there is no middle ground. We can't say that we desire 75% of Zion, but only 25% of Babylon. Nor is it possible to choose mostly good. By design it is one or the other. 

This compare and contrast method helps us more fully experience His truth, His light and His spirit. As Joseph said "by proving contraries, truth is made manifest" (History of the Church, Volume 6, page 428). One truth manifested by Good or Evil, is that both Good and Evil exist. They are not just words in the book, but are very real and very powerful, drawing us towards one or the other. Another truth is that we must choose one or the other, and that we must have the freedom to choose. This may seem contrary to our life experiences because we impose our own or our preferred standards of good or evil, calling them values, thinking that somehow they justify our chosen lifestyles. We do in fact call good evil, and evil good.

Isaiah uses antithesis in his endtime prophecy. In fact his seven part structure is built upon antithesis. 

1. Ruin (1-5) -- Rebirth (34-3)
2. Rebellion (6-8) -- Compliance (36-40)
3. Punishment (9-12) -- Deliverance (41-46)
4. Humiliation (13-23) -- Exaltation (46-47)
5. Suffering (24-27) -- Salvation (48-54)
6. Disloyality (28-31) -- Loyalty (55-59)
7. Disinheritance (32-33) -- Inheritance (60-66)

Isaiah’s overall theme is also antithetical--destruction or deliverance. Isaiah's endtime prophecy puts us on one side or the other. His detailed description of Zion and Babylon is also antithetical--they cannot exist together. Whatever Zions is, Babylon is not. It is the choice between God and Satan that will determine whether we will become a Zion like people in the place Zion, or whether we will be destroyed in Babylon along with everthing in Babylon--nothing and no one will be left in Babylon. And those who are not repenting when Isaiah’s, Nephi's, and Christ's prophecies are beginning to be fulfilled, regardless of their belief in God, will be destroyed in Babylon. 

By putting the several passages of Isaiah together, we find that those of Israel who repent, who constitute Zion (see Isaiah 1: 27; 59: 20), are also those who return to the place Zion (see Isaiah 35: 10; 51: 11). We are either repenting or we are not repenting. Not turning completely to Christ results in not turning to Christ!

Even Justice and Mercy are antithetical in the sense that we choose, by repenting, to receive His mercy, and we choose, by not repenting, to receive His justice. So even the antithetical choices have antithetical consequences. Another example is that "by the law no flesh is justified; or by the law men are cut off" (2 Nephi 2:5). The antithesis of being cut off is being justified--for "by the Spirit are ye justified" (Moses 6:60). And being justified means we are no longer under the law, but we are under Grace. So can you now see the antithesis of the law and Grace?

The consequences of our choosing Good as opposed to Evil are spelled out in the scriptures, and there are many. 

For example, being found on the one hand or on the other as a result of the Lord's great and marvelous work (1 Nephi 14:7).

Being cut off as a result of the Lord's two-edged sword, His word (D&C 11:2).

Being claimed by either Justice or Mercy (Alma 42:23-24).

Being hewn down and cast into the fire because the fruit is not good (Jacob 5:42;46-47). Or the tree brings for good fruit because of the goodness of the root (Christ), and the good overcomes the evil (Jacob 5:61).

The justice of God divides the wicked from the righteous (1 Nephi 15:30).

And a few others without citation. Repent or do not repent. Receive more of His word until you know His mysteries in full, or receive less until you know nothing. Be recreated or decreated. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. How long will you halt between two opinions? We act or are acted upon. 

These examples offer another dimension of antithesis, which is that we are always repenting, always receiving more and always being recreated. Once we stop, we are actually in reverse going backwards. Note how repenting is linked to all the others, the fruits of our repentance. 

Not only do we see the consequences, but we are exposed to the many and various ways our choices reveal our desires. One being broad, with innumerable behaviors, and the other being narrow, described with clarity and precision--repent! The broad way exposes all the ways we manifest our refusal to repent.

As you search you will begin to see the Lord's use of antithesis to meet His purposes, and the genius of His plan to put before us only two choices and the consequences of our choices, both clearly defined and enumerated in multiple ways. Why? So there can be no excuse on our part. Our choices clearly reveal our desires.

Antithesis is taught frequently in the Book of Mormon, particularly 2 Nephi 2, where Lehi's teachings to his son Jacob are recorded. 

The often misunderstood truth that there must be "an opposition in all things" is the way God accomplishes His purposes, and Lehi explains why. 

Without opposition there would be "no wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad." 

Keep in mind that Lehi had already told Jacob that "men are instructed sufficiently that they may know good from evil." In other words, for antithesis to serve its purpose, we must know how God defines Good and Evil. Anything short of His definition is not sufficient. Lehi explains why this truth is so critical. He does this in verses 11-14, and because it is part of the instructions we have received that we may know Good from Evil, it is worth our time to search, 'hear' and hearken. We cannot know what Good is without knowing what is Evil.

But to summarize first, without opposition, there would be: 

1. no purpose to our existence, in fact 

2. there would be no purpose for our creation, and

3. God's wisdom would be destroyed. 

Opposition used here has the same meaning as antithetical. The opposites are mutually incompatible. 

Lehi taught that there must be an opposition in all things. 

Not just an opposition in some things, but in all things. This is signicant because without opposition (antithesis):

¹Righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither ²wickedness, neither ³holiness nor ⁴misery, neither ⁵Good nor ⁶Evil. 

Brought to pass signifies the consequences of our choice. Choices without consequences are meaningless. This is why Alma taught of both the law given, and the punishment for breaking the law.

There needs to be a compound in one or there cannot be just one. For example, if there should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

Everything comes together in Christ. It is the result of the antithesis, the coming together, where truth is manifested, where the contraries are proved. For example, opposite concepts like Justice and Mercy are expressed through Christ, God's purpose, as a compound in one. They prove His existence. But more than that, His Justice can be the motivation to cause us to desire and choose His mercy. 

By not partaking of the fruit of the tree of good and evil, Adam and Eve would have remained in the garden forever,  knowing no good or evil; no misery or happiness; no sin or righteousness; and we would not be.

Without opposition, the creation of the body would have no purpose in being created. And not only would there be no purpose for life, the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also His power, His mercy, and His justice would be for nothing. We must be moved upon by the one or the other. 

The contraries or opposite truths bring purpose to our existence, to our desires and to our choices, as they serve His purpose to bring to pass the immortality of man. And without one, the other cannot exist.

"And if ye shall say there is ¹no law, 

ye shall also say there is ²no sin. 

If ye shall say there is ²no sin, ye shall also say there is ³no righteousness.

And if there be ³no righteousness 

there be ⁴no happiness. 

And if there be ⁴no righteousness nor happiness there be ⁵no punishment nor misery. 

And ⁶if these things are not 

⁷there is no God. 

And ⁸if there is no God ⁹we are not,

¹⁰neither the earth; for ¹¹there could have been no creation of things, ¹²neither to act nor to be acted upon; 

wherefore, ¹³all things must have vanished away.

And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:11-14 emphasis added).

And being put (actually choosing to be put) between these contraries, we must either act or be acted upon. And the choice is not just between what is defined as Good and Evil, but between what is actually Good and what is actually Evil. It is the choice between the power of Good and the power of Evil, the source of Good and the source of Evil.

I have used the Lord's words in scripture to prove the antithesis of righteousness and wickedness and other contraries, but it also applies to churches, as in there are only two churches, the Church of God and the church of the Devil. But the Book of Mormon describes many churches that are built up by people, and all these churches would be part of the church of the Devil. The Church of God, on the other hand, is His Church because it is built upon His Gospel, upon His truth, upon Him. But any church where it's people are not built upon His Gospel, is not His Church, regardless of the name. 

There is no Christ's Church without Christ's Gospel. Without His gospel, it would be the church of the Devil. It is not the name or the belief in Christ that determines His church. His church is made up of only those who are repenting and have taken upon themselves His name. And everyone belongs either to His church or to the church of the Devil. 

In the endtime scenario, as Isaiah prophesied, our choice will determine either destruction or deliverance, re-creation or de-creation, life or death. 

Hopefully you can see more clearly the Lord's purpose in His use of contraries and how truth is manifested by proving contraries. 

Next: But We Have The Book! More Records