Yeah, yeah. Everyone wants the Battlestar Galactica post. But that’s important stuff, so I have to make sure the post is perfect. I’ll start off my guest posting stint with something not as heady: The scriptures. 😉
I think I got the idea for this post from a comment made by Julie in Austin over at that other blog (although I can’t find the comment, so perhaps I am hallucinating). I see people in the church “knowing about but not really believing†these scriptures, but these are scriptures I often find myself struggling with at some level. So, I have no solid answers – just negotiated positions and educated guesses. Here are three scriptures (out of dozens of candidates) I think fit the theme of my post:
Matthew 11: 28 – 30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Problems: Well, the ubiquitous posters in LDS homes of Christ that have the (non-canonical) saying “I never said it would be easy – I only said it would be worth it†tend to show a disbelief in this scripture. Christ did say it would be easy. But what does that mean? Life isn’t easy, even for Mormons who believe. So what does this scripture really mean?
My current solution: I think this really does mean what it says. The hard part is giving your entire burdens over to the Lord. We (well, I do at any rate) tend to keep our pet problems and sins rather close. It’s hard to give all our sins up. Yet as I think back over my life, the few times when my burden was light and the yoke was easy came from the times I really did turn everything over to the Lord.
Isaiah 55: 8 – 9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Mosiah 4: 9
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
Problems: Well, another thread over at that other blog has descended into a basic question of “could the Lord do this?†vs. “would the Lord do this?†My instinctive reaction is to not try and tell the Lord what he would or would not do. Yet in the Sunday school classes I attend and the blogs I visit people often tend to try and “mind read†the Lord – guess why this happened or this commandment was given (or alternatively, argue why this or that church practice isn’t inspired because we’re sure that “that’s not how the Lord really does things”). If these scriptures mean what they say – then we can’t know what the Lord would do. It then seems rather odd to even try and guess.
At the same time – God did give us brains. And Joseph Smith did say that we needed to understand the nature of God – which implies that we can understand God to some extent.
My current solution: Like many things I struggle with, these scriptures call for humility. Double guessing church programs, commandments and scripture stories can be an interesting intellectual exercise, but we also need to realize that we should be very, very, very, very careful in what we teach and how we go about intellectually interrogating the gospel.
James 2:10
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Problem: I find this one the toughest one of all. It seems to be saying that if we break even one commandment, we’re guilty of breaking the whole law. James talks about rather heady, big sins in verse 11, yet the plain meaning of verse 10 (and looking at the Greek doesn’t offer any new readings – it’s rather clear) is just that – you may keep all the other commandments, but if you break even one, you’re toast. Yet if we really believed this one, people would stop using the “I’m basically a good person – I pay my tithing, go to church, do my home teaching – so what if I watch a few trashy movies now and then?†or “Yeah, I really should stop speeding and running red lights and all that, but it’s not like Heavenly Father’s going to keep me out of the Celestial Kingdom is it?â€
If this scripture is right – well, those speeding tickets and trashy movies make your obedience in other areas of no worth. So, we ignore this scripture.
My current solution: Joseph Smith said that if we were truly righteous we wouldn’t need generalized commandments – we’d instead rely on constant revelation about what to do in given circumstances. Unfortunately we can’t get there until we keep the commandments we currently have – and we aren’t keeping those very well. I think the commandments really boil down to the two greatest commandments of loving God and loving your neighbor. James 2:10 really means this: You may not kill, you may go to church – but if fail to do service you’re breaking the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. You may be nice to your family and do service in the community and do your home teaching, but if you get “creative†with your tithing, you’re guilty of not loving God (by holding back part of what he asks us to give him). And so on – in the end, no matter how many commandments we may be keeping, any that we break (by omission or commission) wind up breaking one of the two great commandments – thus we do wind up being “guilty of all.â€
Thoughts? Comments? Rotten Fruit? My feelings on these issues are subject to constant (though not faith-shattering) revision, so I may have changed my mind on a point or two by the time someone decides to disagree with me.