We're all Equal, But Kind of Not

I usually write my blog posts on the weekend, but I couldn't seem to get what I wanted to say out on paper correctly -- probably because I'm going to say things that a lot of people don't agree with: that we aren't all the same, we aren't all equal, and there is a right and a wrong. I'm terrible at procrastinating -- as in, I can't do it. I won't sleep until everything on my to-do list gets done or at least delegated to a specific time, written in my planner, to be done the next day. Some people are very good at procrastinating... Not me. So I've thought long and hard about what I wanted to say this week during the hours lying awake thinking about how I was putting it off, and hopefully it will come out the way it needs to.

There's this guy named Korihor, who the scriptures refer to as an "anti-Christ." (Click here to go to Alma 30 and read his story if you are unfamiliar or if you want a refresher). The thing about this section of the Book of Mormon is that I think I've often looked at it as if Korihor were this awful man who everyone thinks is a creep that goes around lying to everyone. This time though, his words stuck out to me in a different way. I don't think he seemed creepy to the people around him. I don't think he seemed bad to a lot of people, hence why many believed what he was saying. Let's look at it. What was he saying?

• there will be no Christ
• believers have foolish and vain hopes 
• no one can know of anything which is to come
• prophesies are really just foolish traditions
• you can’t know what you don’t see
• no one can know that there will be a Christ
• faith is a result of a “frenzied mind” and traditions of parents ("your parent just teach you what they believe and don't let you think for yourself")
• there is no Atonement - we don't need a Savior
• every man for himself according to his “genius” and strength
• there's no right or wrong
• against the prophesies of the prophets
• “foolish ordinances” to “usurp power and authority" over the people 
• Church leaders want to “keep them in ignorance”
• "Ye say that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are in bondage." ("Your church doesn't let you choose for yourself! You have so many rules, and you can't make your own decisions.") 
• the members of the church "durst not enjoy their rights and privileges" ("you never get to have any fun")
• Church leaders "glut" themselves with the labors of the people's hands (Cough cough, he's trying to say that the church leaders were making money off the church members. Well, funny how they actually weren't paid for their service, and still to this day the Church has an unpaid layman clergy.)

I took a long hard look at that list, and you know what I realized? It's about identical to the things people say about the Church today. (When I say "church," I'm referring to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). 

We live in a world that is increasingly trying to blend right and wrong, saying that there is no wrong. In our day we now have a sort of "reversed-conscience" epidemic where we can't say that anyone is wrong, that anything is unacceptable, or that anything is absolute truth. Except, of course, those who have set values and beliefs, they can be categorized as prejudiced and judgmental. Can you see the parallel? In Alma's day the anti-Christ was named Korihor; in our day it is simply the ideals of modern society. 

Should we love our neighbor? Yes. Is everyone my neighbor? Yes. But what does love mean?.... I personally believe it means to help everyone come closer to Christ by helping them receive the Gospel and establish happy family relationships. What about the people who don't believe the same things I do? I love them anyways. I do. But that does not in any way mean that I have to deny what I personally know to be true. I can disagree without contention. I get to have faith. I get to talk about what I believe, and just because I talk about it doesn't mean I'm forcing it on others just as someone who disagrees with me isn't forcing their views on me. 

We should be careful in a society that is becoming afraid of standards and absolutes we don't become so fearful of offending that we come to accept everything. 

God loves all his children. He loves them equally. He wants to bless everyone. However, each child does not love Him equally, nor do they all want to obey Him equally: “and thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression" (Alma 28:13). Are all men created equal? Yes. Does everyone have rights? Yes. The separation or division comes from within our own hearts. Created equal we may be, but what we do with that potential is up to us, and we can put ourselves in a state of inequality based on our own decisions. “And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord” (Alma 28:14). That's why I like to share the gospel. "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy" (Alma 29:9). I want everyone to understand what I understand, even if they choose something else, I at least wish everyone gave themselves the opportunity to understand what I'm trying to explain. 

Our society, being so divided, nevertheless loathes division. The public dialogue right now is that no one can be treated differently, no one can be seen as different, we can't categorize or evaluate, etc. I am ALL for equal rights to life, liberty, education, happiness, and family. I know we are all God's loved children and that is not conditional upon race, religion, age, gender, or anything else. 

However, there is a great divide among the children of men.

It is a divide not reliant upon who on Earth is right or wrong, but rather if we become more 

preoccupied with the things of this earth or those of our true heavenly home. Let us not be so distracted by discrepancies, differences, and agendas that we forget where the true dividing line stands. It is the line that has the power to divide asunder – the word of God, "which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword;" (D&C 12:2) “in the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). So who is the "Word"? Who is the "Sword"??? Christ. He is the great Mediator, which means we have to decide on which side of the median we will stand. There is a median. 

There is absolute truth. There is right and wrong. There is a God. He gives laws. "Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved" (Alma 41:8). So we see that He is willing and waiting to save everyone, but some people honestly don't want to be saved. He's not going to force that on anyone. Just as we are all equal, we are all equally entitled to choose what is wrong as much as we are privileged to choose what is right. I get that sometimes people don't like that. Well, that's what I'm saying: there's a choice. But that doesn't make the wrong choice "right" just because you have the right to choose it. In Alma's day, "they began to be offended because of the strictness of the word" (Alma 35:15). I advise against taking offense to anything, let alone the word of God. (For more about becoming offended see my post here.)

Alma 41:1 "some have wrested the scriptures, and have gone far astray..."

Alma 41:3 "And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good."

Is it any wonder that the same man who taught that there is no right or wrong was called an "anti-Christ"? Think about the title "anti-Christ." Obviously, against Christ and what He taught/teaches. What does Christ teach? "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). He is the way. He is the right choice. That's where the divide stands, between the passive universal acceptance of everything and every choice, and the Savior who is the only true choice.

I know that not everyone sees things the way I do, and I am so grateful that we all have the agency to choose and think and act according to our conscience. I only invite anyone who happens upon these words to try the following experiment: "Yea, even that ye would have so much faith as even to plant the word in your hearts, that ye may try the experiment of its goodness" (Alma 34:4; remember who the word "word" is referring to. Hint: it's Jesus and His Gospel). "Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save" (Alma 34:18).

He really is. Try it. If you've already tried it once, try it again. You've got nothing to lose.

Peace and blessings:)