1 Nephi 14

(January 12, 2014)
One thing that I have difficult understanding is the fact that while most people are generally good, the world is generally bad.  That seems counterintuitive.  Each of us are children of God, with infinite potential, and with qualities and characteristics that are gifts from God that empower us to serve our fellow men.  Meet people and talk to them, and it becomes apparent that people are generally good.  Yet wars and immorality and persecution are commonplace.  The dominion of the saints is very small.  Why is this?

I can think of two reasons for this, and I think that they both are applicable.  The first is in our own failings.  We do not live up to the standards that we know that we should live up to, so why should we be surprised when we (in aggregate) fail to live up to those standards.  The second reason is that we see the “other” as the enemy – we forget that we are all children of the same God.  I have seen good and decent people attack good and decent people.  I knew them both, and knew that they were both good people.  But each of them saw the other as “other,” and so felt justified to attack and condemn.