Ezekiel 36:16-20. When we wrap ourselves and our sins in the flag of religious devotion...

"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

"Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings:...

"Wherefore I poured out my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idol wherewith they had polluted it: 

"And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

"And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, "These are the people of the Lord".  (King James Version)

The word of the Lord came unto me saying

"My son, when the people who knew me, and called themselves my people, lived in the land that I had given them, they made it a country full of sin by their choices and their actions:...

"I responded with energy and swiftness because they embraced the sins of anger, violence, and killing, and because they embraced ideologies, and powerful entities. and leaders which encouraged those sins and extolled such responses and actions.

"And so I allowed them to be attacked and defeated by other nations that do not know me.  My decision to do so was a just and appropriate response to their decisions and actions.

"And when they were among people who do not know me, they treated my name with irreverence and abuse whenever they declared, "We are the people of the Lord".  

Sobering to consider today.

The Lord's considered offer, which some accepted, and others did not: Ezekiel 36:21-32

Doctrine and Covenants 20:18-21: A scriptural definition of “church” as found in the KJV, and the sin of contention.

 “The word ‘church’ (Hebrew qahal or edah; Greek ekklesia) had a slightly broader meaning anciently than it does now. It referred to an assembly, congregation, or association of people who bonded together and shared the same loyalties. Thus, the term was not necessarily restricted to religious associations; in fact, in Athens the Greeks used the term to denote the legislative assembly of government.

“Originally, the term ekklesia, formed from two words meaning call and out, referred to those citizens whom heralds called out or summoned to public meetings. Thus, it was an ideal word to represent the body of individuals whom God “calls out” of the world through the Holy Ghost. The civil dimension of the word appears in Acts 19:32, where assembly in the KJV is a translation of the Greek ekklesia.”

“The term abominable is used in the Old Testament to describe what God hates, what cannot fail to arouse his wrath.”

“ When we put all this together, we find that the term ‘great and abominable church’ means an immense assembly or association of people bound together by their loyalty to that which God hates.”

~ Stephen Robinson, “Warring Against the Saints”, Ensign, January 1988

“Our...enemy is wickedness—those who love darkness more than light and who serve the evil one.  Those who attack other [religious denominations] violate the Lord’s command, as stated in this verse [Doctrine and Covenants  18:20]...In fact thy run a great risk that by adopting Satan’s methodology—in this case, argument and contention—they may themselves become members of the ‘church of the devil’”

~ Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, p. 107, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2000

“For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit  of contention is not of me, but  is of the  devil, who is the father  of contention, and he stirreth up the  hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.  Behold,  this is not  my doctrine,  to stir up the  hearts of men with anger,  one against another;  but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done  away.”   ~ 3rd Nephi  11:29-30

There is, in scripture, permission given to contend with “the 'church' of the devil” ( Doctrine  and Covenants 18:20).   Tellingly, that verse is bracketed clearly with the declaration that without faith, hope and charity you can do nothing  (verse 19) and the admonition to speak the truth with soberness (verse 21)).

The bracketing verses clearly indicate that this contending against evil that is allowed is one that  eschews  any involvement in the sin of contention, but manifests itself instead by its truth speaking that is aimed at those who, like the devil, love to and rejoice in harming, denigrating and hating others of God’s children (Moses 7:29-34).  And those verses clearly indicate that God requires that such truth speaking on our part be fully grounded in faith, hope and love, and delivered in self-restrained and profound seriousness.

It seems that no matter what your cause, nor what evil organization or group you are contending against, when you embrace or indulge in anger and contention you lose your alignment with God.

“There your heart will be also”. Hearts in a pandemic.

These verses came to mind today as I considered my plans for this week: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

Thinking about what what each of us treasures...

The health and well-being of others?
Increased profits?
Financial status?
Compassion?
Generosity?
Self-interest?
Empowering those who struggle?
Keeping what we get for ourselves?
Each person receiving only what we think they “deserve”?
Getting what we want for the cheapest price, content to pay little to the workers who provide it?
Personal comfort or diversion?
Care for the poor and disabled?
Our business?
Our ability to care for those we love?
Escape from all difficulty?
Pleasure?

Thinking, listening and watching.

Thinking about what our politicians show that they value as they respond to the the competing voices in our society, all of those voices loud in their  responses to the current pandemic...I think their responses shine some illuminations upon what they each value...what they “treasure” both personally and professionally.

Listening to one of the painters I hired last week telling his buddy that he plans to spend his economic stimulus check on pot and beer...

Watching the protesters demanding a reopening of the economy...

Some because they want a haircut.
Some because they are unable to earn enough money to pay rent and buy food.

I did not see anyone protesting on behalf of someone else in trouble.  There may have been some, but all the ones I saw were self-interest...some responding to serious personal needs, others to frivolous ones.

I suspect that most of those who might have protested on behalf of others were too busy working to help those others.

What do these protests and demands and responses say about us as a society?   About how we care or do not care for each other’s health and well being?  How we pay our workers? How we do or do not teach provident living?  How we teach caring for the poor? How we did or did not value compassion and act upon it prior to this. How we do or do not value life other than our own? What we teach about the purpose of and wise use of what we have earned or received, or how well we understand that?  How well anyone does or does not care about any of the above.

We are where we are, in the midst of this conflict about policies and laws in response to this pandemic, not just because of a virus or “the economy”, but also because of our moral choices as a people and a society.

Our hearts have been, and are, tellingly, set upon our treasures.

Watching Presidents

Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump.

I have been privileged to live long enough to have watched them all in action and how society responded to their time in office.  And lately my work has had me immersed in reviewing newspapers from the era in which one of them served in office.  This has caused me to reflect on what I have observed over the decades as these men have come and gone

What I have learned:

Besides the political power they wield in lawmaking and policy making, either directly or through political appointments, they have immense empowering influence in society at large.  The people in society who share the president’s own personal moral and ethical standards feel more empowered and free to act upon those standards while he (or she, someday) is in office, whether or not those standards are legal.

A president who is unfaithful to his or her spouse creates a climate where those inclined to be similarly unfaithful, feel freer to do so.

Similarly, when we have had a president who is racist or bigoted, or who values civil rights, or who values power over honesty, or who values environmental protection, or who values accumulation of private wealth, or who values personal involvment in charitable work, or who values fiscal responsibility, or who demeans men or demeans women, or who is inclined to bully, or who values and respects thoughtful negotiation, etc. etc. we have seen increases of actions based upon those values within our society, as people who are inclined towards those values feel empowered to act upon them.

Therefore, I reject the idea that citizens should vote for a president simply based upon a candidate’s stated political policies alone, or how those policies will further his or her own personal wants or needs.  It is foolhardy to fail to consider any candidate’s personal moral and ethical standards and values because, inevitably, those moral or ethical standards will be magnified and fostered in your own community, schools, neighborhoods, in the media, and in the nation as a whole as people who hold similar values feel empowered to act upon them.

It is not just political platforms that we must be aware of.  The moral and ethical assumptions and values of the president wield immense influence upon the sense of empowerment of those in your own community who share them.

FDR’s second inaugural address, 1937

Some quotes from that address that seem particularly pertinent to us now and in the coming years:

“To hold to progress today, however, is...difficult. Dulled conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster! Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose.”

“We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays.”

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

“Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does.

“If I know aught of the will of our people, they will demand that these conditions of effective government shall be created and maintained. They will demand a nation uncorrupted by cancers of injustice and, therefore, strong among the nations in its example of the will to peace.”

You can find the full address at the web site below.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5105/

Great and abominable What? 1st Nephi 13:6-9

 “group”, “organization”, “assembly”, “church”, “cohort”, “network”, “support group”, “circle”, “band”, “clique”, “opinion leaders”, “insiders”, “movers and shakers” .... whatever term is used...their designation as “great and abominable” is manifested in their desires and motivations, conscious or unconscious:

“And the angel spake unto me saying [these] are the desires of this great and abominable...”

Wealth, 

expensive fashion, 

self-indulgence, 

objectification of others, 

sexual pleasure,
a deep emotional appetite for praise that overrules any sense of compassion

Sobering.  Very sobering.

Thinking about Limhi's description of his situation. Mosiah 7:24-33

And thinking about Germany and France 77 years ago.

What do you do when the people in your country are smitten with sore afflictions and in bondage, and finding that their ways are hedged up and that their work is just creating stumbling blocks, and they are "reaping the chaff of filthiness as in a whirlwind, and the 'east wind' which brings destruction" because of the wicked decisions and action of rulers, authority figures and of "the voice of the people"...how do you maintain hope?

"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

In other words, you do whatever you can to support those who understand what is righteousness and what is wickedness and who will not be deceived.

You become determined to be, as much as possible, a source of hope and help for the innocent men, women and especially the children who suffer the consequences of the devastating decisions of others.

You grab hold of God's grace with all you've got for the strength and vision required to heal and bless.

You may not live to see the society that you are part of experience the deliverance the Lord may provide, or live to see the healing from the horrendous damage that comes from socially or politically powerful people embracing decisions that bring horribly destructive consequences but you can be a part of the efforts to prepare for that healing and ever seek to lay foundations for it.

People have done so before.

Le Chambon, France

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167405.Lest_Innocent_Blood_Be_Shed

Political derision or fear among us.

“There is nothing in the world more deleterious or harmful to the human family than hatred, prejudice, suspicion, and the attitude that some people have toward their fellows, of unkindness." 

“Whenever your politics cause you to speak unkindly of your brethren, know this, that you are upon dangerous ground.” 

~George Albert Smith

"Political differences never justify hatred or ill will. I hope that the Lord’s people may be at peace one with another during times of trouble, regardless of what loyalties they may have to different governments or parties.”

~Gordon B. Hinckley

 

Secular Liberals and Conservative Evangelicals: the root of their differences

Professor of Anthropology (Stanford) Tanya Luhrmann was interviewed about a book of hers that was recently published. You can find the resultant article here.

What struck me was her comment about her understanding of the root of the difference in political thinking between secular liberals and conservative evangelicals.  She said,

"Secular liberals want to create the social conditions that allow everyday people, behaving the way ordinary people behave, to have fewer bad outcomes. When evangelicals vote, they think more immediately about what kind of person they are trying to become—what humans could and should be, rather than who they are. From this perspective, the problem with government is that it steps in when people fall short."

One party wanting to change the effects of human beings' choices and the other wanting to change the causes that are behind the choices made.  No wonder that they have such a terrifically difficult time understanding each other's modus operandi and feel totally thwarted by each other at every turn.

It reminded me of this quote by Ian Buruma:

"Obama is neither a socialist, nor a mere political accountant. He has some modest ideals, and may yet be an excellent president. But what is needed to revive liberal idealism is a set of new ideas on how to promote justice, equality and freedom in the world."

I am old enough to remember the idealism and belief about what we Americans could become in terms of equality, justice and freedom  that rang through the rank and file of many Democratic Party members in the days of Martin Luther King Jr., George McGovern and others in spite of the political old-boy network that still controlled its upper echelons.  I recall that that idealism and belief were grounded in a vision of moral integrity and the brotherhood of man that carried its believers forward through incredible opposition, fear-mongering and  hate that also prowled the political scene. 

I think we could use more of that vision, both of moral integrity and universal brotherhood in all political parties.

"The bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following official statement on immigration yesterday:

Around the world, debate on the immigration question has become intense. That is especially so in the United States. Most Americans agree that the federal government of the United States should secure its borders and sharply reduce or eliminate the flow of undocumented immigrants. Unchecked and unregulated, such a flow may destabilize society and ultimately become unsustainable.

As a matter of policy, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discourages its members from entering any country without legal documentation, and from deliberately overstaying legal travel visas.

What to do with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now residing in various states within the United States is the biggest challenge in the immigration debate. The bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God.

The history of mass expulsion or mistreatment of individuals or families is cause for concern especially where race, culture, or religion are involved. This should give pause to any policy that contemplates targeting any one group, particularly if that group comes mostly from one heritage.

As those on all sides of the immigration debate in the United States have noted, this issue is one that must ultimately be resolved by the federal government.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned that any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God.

The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship.

In furtherance of needed immigration reform in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports a balanced and civil approach to a challenging problem, fully consistent with its tradition of compassion, its reverence for family, and its commitment to law.

Some things are still true.

Maria Edgeworth 1767-1849

"You surprise me doctor", said lady Delacour; "for I assure you that you have the character of being very liberal in your opinions."

"I hope I am liberal in my opinions," replied the doctor, "and that I hope to give your ladyship proof of it."

"You would not then persecute a man or woman with ridicule for believing more than you do?" said lady Delacour.

"Those who persecute, to overturn religion, can scarcely pretend to more philosophy, or more liberality, than those who persecute to support it," said Dr. X--

From "Belinda", published in 1801