2 Kings 15

(August 11, 2014)

                Sometimes it is difficult to empathize or understand people.  I think there is a general conceit that we like to believe that people are generally good.  And I think that is true in two senses.  First, I believe that most (if not all) people arrive in this world with the Light of Christ and a working moral compass.  Second, I believe that most (if not all) people who choose to can become good through the steady application of the Grace of Christ regardless of the circumstances in which they find themselves.

                But we know, doctrinally, that murder is a sin which defies particularly the latter of those generalities.  Thus, when we read about Menahem ripping apart the pregnant women, it is something so inconceivable to me – even to an enemy – that it makes you cringe and wonder how someone could become so evil.  I suppose that there is a certain amount of self-sorting that is taking place (those who have desire to be good – even those like me who are only trying [and often failing] to be good) among those who read the scriptures.  If you are one to read the scriptures, you likely are not of the mindset who would rip apart a pregnant woman and kill her.  I suppose we must concede that some people truly see the world differently than we do.