Aaron was a missionary amongst a very hardened people. When teaching this people of Christ, one man challenged him saying: "Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people?" (Alma 21:5)
Letting this challenger represent the people as a whole, this is a people that believes in God while believing that whatever they do doesn't matter because "God will save all men." (Alma 21:6)
I wonder what they were using, if anything, for scripture. At any rate, the scriptures refute this idea plentifully as the core, fallible message of any anti-Christ.
What stood out to me here, though, is the belief that we are all entitled to the exact same blessings from God no matter our thoughts, actions, or intents. It is a logically sound conclusion given the false premise.
Our world today is not lacking in entitlement mentality. I think much of it stems from this same sense of "I'm just as good if not better than <person-who-has-what-I-covet>, why shouldn't I get <that-which-I-covet>."
I know I'm guilty of this regularly. If you've not read The Anatomy of Peace, then might I recommend it -- it'll tell you all about the how and why of my entitlements. Essentially it comes down to not doing what I feel like I ought to -- not honoring my impressions, intuitions, and conscience. When I disregard such, I then want all the wonderful results that honoring myself could have brought without having to do the work for it. I'm annoyed that I should have to do such a task, especially considering how much I've already done. I shouldn't have to do anymore -- I'm good enough. I justify all night long about why I'm good enough, nay, better than enough, even overly-deserving of my desired result! Most certainly I'm more deserving than my neighbor!! I've done sufficient, I tell myself, and I'm quick to find people who will be my allies, people who will defend my smallness by saying "yeah, you've done plenty, you deserve it!"
Oh why do we determine our self worth on what we can see alone?! We are all of infinite and equal worth!! We are all God's children! Our circumstances, actions and the consequences of these are not evidence of our worth!
The circumstances of the human race vary vastly. Elder Holland recently stated "I do not know all the reasons why the circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely here in mortality, but when I see the want among so many, I do know that 'there but for the grace of God go I.'" Yes, "all men are created equal," an eternal truth written in the Declaration of Independence, but this does not mean all are born into the same circumstances or with equally good health, etc.
There is no room to boast of ourselves when we see with this perspective. It is as though we are looking through a slightly clearer spot as we "see through a glass, darkly," and we recognize that we are nothing.
Yes, we are nothing. We have no power over the circumstances into which we were born nor the earthly heritage we've been given. Our life on earth is but a brief sojourn. Nothing but warped philosophies of man and devil set us apart from any other spiritual sibling, though we adopt many such philosophies due to the circumstances and heritage to which we were born.
"O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth!
"For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God!"
(Helaman 12:7-8 exclamation marks added)
God can sever us from his presence eternally by the mere word of His mouth. Of what have we to boast?! Nothing!
And by understanding that we are nothing with sufficient depth that it leads to feeling -- not a feeling of depression, but of gratitude and love -- we are then aligned, we are in harmony, with the truth that we are each and every one of us of infinite worth. There is no room for hate or discord, oppression or fear.
So what of our mortal plight wherein "circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely?"
I shall not pretend to profess knowledge of such reasons, though I do profess an opinion I will share. (That's kind of what this blog is all about, eh? Exploring my own opinions and musings.) However, it is with confidence that I state it is in no way dependent on our individual worth, for in this we are all equal.
It seems to me that the causal condition for these variances is that man forgets these two aforementioned principles:
- We are all nothing
- We are all of infinite worth
"For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.
"It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." (D&C 49:19-20)
These are intriguing verses to me. It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another? What does this mean? Well, that may be for another time and another post. This one is already pretty long and I haven't even broached the initial pondering yet!
So let's take this all back to that Amalekite (I think I'll call him Amale) who challenged Aaron. Said he: "Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people?"
Well, are both peoples equally good? After all, they are both part of the human race, and we are all equally nothing and we are all of equally infinite worth. In fact "It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another!" So Amale has a point, right?
Well, not really. You see Amale, our equal worth is not what determines consequences on this earth, or anywhere else really. Consequences are determined by thoughts and actions. Sure, each individual in both groups of people are of equal worth, but they have not made the same choices, and thus they face different consequences.
In fact, Amale, even though you believe that "God will save all men," it is clear throughout scripture that this simply is not True. You have used that faulty premise thence to essentially justify any behavior while being entitled to any and every blessing anyone else is. Behavior doesn't matter, thoughts don't matter, intents of the heart don't matter, we're all just entitled.
So when you ask Aaron "How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people?" (Alma 21:6), well, you've kind of made it obvious already. Heavens, from your definition, what does righteous even mean?! Is it possible to be unrighteous with your belief system? It certainly doesn't seem like it!
Part of the purpose of our existence on this earth is to learn through experience. If there were not unequal consequences of choice, what learning could such experience provide? It could not.
So coming back to our day, "it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." This is certainly accurate. And then again, perhaps the converse also holds true? "The world lieth in sin, wherefore, a man possesses that which is above another, which is not given."
In an effort of clarity, I am not here seeking to preach that "poor people must be sinners." Actually no, or rather yes. I mean, they are sinners, because we're all sinners, but being poor does not make one a sinner any more than does being rich. Just as a rich person will be exposed to temptations that a poor person will not, so a poor person will be exposed to temptations that a rich person will not. It is our actions, not our circumstances, that determine individual righteousness.
Righteousness leads to an equality of substance* based in abundance. This is what we see in 4 Nephi. Wickedness leads to an inequality of substance based in scarcity. While I don't know my history well enough to point out some clear examples, the book 1984 comes to mind. Interestingly though, in 1984, there was an equality of poverty among the masses.
Circumstances are simply consequences. The circumstances into which we are born are the consequences of the choices of thousands who have gone before. That recipe is then mixed with the choices of others as well as our own to lead us to our circumstances today.
The only choices we can righteously control are our own. Thus, the only way to seek an equality of abundant substance is to seek that abundance ourselves, and also seek to help others who seek the same.
Always though, we must be honoring individual sovereignty. There is no room for coercion in righteousness. "Power or influence can [and] ought to be maintained. . .only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile." (D&C 121:41-42)
* A friend recently posted this: substance and understanding. sub [under] stance [stand]. I thought it was an interesting relationship to consider, particularly in the above context.
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