(October 24, 2014)
One
weakness that I think many people of faith suffer from is an inability to
understand evil. We accept and
understand that everyone is inherently good, because were it any different they
would not have kept their first estate. But one of the blessings of this Earth life is
its capacity to enact rapid and dramatic change upon each of us – for the
better and for the worse. This was why
we volunteered so readily to come to this mortal experience.
As
such, our understanding of the basic goodness of our fellow men is something
that must be tempered with an understanding of the potential dramatic
consequences of the fall. I cannot
imagine becoming so evil that I would curse God and Moroni
and swear to drink Moroni ’s
blood. After all, if I am cursing God
doesn’t that by definition mean that I believe in God? Of course, he believed in God – he had just
arrived at a point in his life where he hated Him. This level of evil exists in this world, and
it is often hidden from our view.
But, of
course, we are not to judge each other – even when the actions a person takes
is evil. So what are we to do? It is wrong to naively believe that all
mankind is good and it is wrong to judge our fellow men as evil. This, of course, leads us to the only choice
that we have – trust in God. We evaluate
the situation as best as we can, and we come to the decision that we believe to
be the best decision we can make. Then,
having made this decision, we take it to the Lord and ask for Him to confirm. Then, barring a negative response, we act on
our decision. Not with malice nor with
permanent condemnation, but rather with hope for the change and repentance of
the person that we are acting against (if such a circumstance arises). We must never believe someone beyond the reach
of the Savior and we must never act against someone without taking the matter
first to the Lord – but we must also not be unwilling to stand against evil
(even when that evil is found in our brothers and sisters).
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