(October 17, 2015)
In our
current society, there is a war of ideas going on. Like many such conflicts, Satan is doing his
very best to drive both sides (contention, of course, being of the devil). On the one side are those preaching justice,
obeying the law of chastity, and so forth.
On the other side are those preaching mercy, love, and kindness. Somehow Satan has managed things so that
these two groups of people are at each others’ throats.
Of
course, this scripture highlights the importance of both elements – justice and
mercy. We show no love or mercy by
ignoring sin or attempting to cover it to assuage the conscience of those who
are violating the commandments of God.
But, at the same time, we show no justice by condemning Another’s servant
and doing what we can (those of us outside of Priesthood authority) to excising
them from the body of Christ.
The
answer, of course, is to recognize that these virtues must not be in conflict
and to continue to study and pray until we find the way to reconcile them. To stand for the truth and encourage
obedience, while remaining loving and eternally hopeful that repentance will be
accepted. And, of course, to spend less
time seeking for the sins of others and more time seeking for our own sins to
eliminate.
The
other thought I had as I read through this chapter was on Alma ’s language regarding evil and
repentance. He explicitly states that if
we have the desire to do evil, we must repent or we would suffer the consequences. Notice what he didn’t say – he didn’t say
that if we did evil we needed to repent.
Our desires alone are sufficient to indicate who we are at a core level,
and if (in our deepest hearts) we are evil, then we must repent or change of
that evil heart if we hope to fully accept the Atonement. It is not enough to merely control behavior
(though that is a necessary part of our progression) – we must change the very
nature of who we are, and that can only be accomplished through the Grace of
Christ.
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