Beware Self-Righteousness

In our Book of Mormon, there is a story of this people that built this great tower so that the people could take turns saying the same prayer:

"... Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; ... and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren ... And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen." (Alma 31:14-18)

And only the rich were allowed to climb the tower and say this prayer -- that is, the poor were cast out.

This is the epitome of what I would called self-righteousness. It is when someone is so "right" that they believe they are better than others, and others are "wrong." Some may read this prayer and say, "But that's stupid. That's way too obvious. No one would say that prayer in real life." But then again, consider these two real-life situations...

#1) At BYU, I once had a religion teacher (for an honors course), who so much desired a sacred environment in his classroom that we could never satisfy him. He always spoke so solemnly, and with conviction. But for some reason -- he didn't seem to like me at all -- maybe my unending smile. (There's actually more to the story, but I'm trying to keep it brief.) He would often stop class to berate some student and accuse them of disrupting the Spirit. Once, he called out the entire class: "This is an honors class, so why can't you all act like honor students? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves." Then we would all wonder what he was talking about.

I hated attending that class, and only showed up because attendance was required to pass. Unlike other religion classes where teachers were able to naturally invite the Spirit, I don't think I ever felt the Spirit in this class -- as if this teacher were trying too hard to create an unnaturally spiritual environment that would rival all other classes at the university.

#2) A friend reports to me that a retired General Authority left Salt Lake City and returned to his home ward, only to apply undue influence on spiritual matters, taking advantage of his elevated station to pass his own Pharisaical rules (in other words, rules that go beyond canonical doctrine), and in so doing managed to push members of the Church away.

Both of these cases exhibit a mixture of self-righteousness and a smidge of unrighteous dominion (unfair use of one's power and influence). Each of these people thought they were "right" so much that they enforced their version of righteousness on others.

And perhaps these are more extreme examples, but I've noticed that practically all of us can fall into the self-righteousness trap. I noticed a LOT of self-righteousness exhibiting itself on both sides of the aisle in recent political discussions, as I bemoaned in my recent post: Where Have All The Christians Gone?

And I've caught myself doing it in recent months with the coronavirus outbreak. As a mathematician, I understand all the math and the patterns. I know stuff, and it's very easy for me to see when other people are wrong -- and what ends up causing the virus to spread more. It's very clear for me to see all this. But as I try to help other people to understand and see what I see, very seldom do I ever convince anyone. At the same time, I see other people similar to me explaining it, and they seem to have better success getting people to put on their masks and practice social distancing. And I'm all: what the heck are they doing differently?

I think it comes down to attitude. As soon as you think you're better than someone else -- you've already lost the cause. And this is very difficult to overcome. I really am good at math. I know how good I am. I know how terrible others are at math. So, it's very easy to think, "I'm smarter. I know better, and people should listen to me." But I haven't figured out yet how to overcome this fully, though, I continue to get better as I get older. I'm always going to be better at math (nothing I can do about that), but that doesn't make me a superior person.

I intentionally spelled all that out so we can parallel it with this conundrum: But doesn't God want us to be righteous? Doesn't he want us to continually be better people (be ye therefore perfect)? But we're not supposed to believe that we're better than other people? How can we get better and at the same time not feel superior?

I think I know the simple answer ... and maybe this is it ... God doesn't want us to be better than other people. He wants us to be better than ourselves. In other words, we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to other people. Our path in life is our own personal journey, and our only enemy is ourself. Our only benchmark should be where we are now and where we want to be.

I'll continue working on it. And perhaps you can look for signs of it happening to yourself. Do you ever think you're better than others? Smarter than others? Are you thankful to God that he gave you blessings that other people don't have? Or do you think that you're going to enter into heaven while your friends who disagree with you are not? 

If so, you may want to think again. Try to remove that self-righteousness and try again.

The End Is Coming and I Don't Care

As a strong Christian, I believe scripture, including the Book of Revelations, Daniel, Matthew 24, and all other verses on the end of the world. Yet, yesterday I released a video that sounds a lot on the agnostic side of things -- talking about the Drake Equation, trying to find aliens, and asking if we're going to survive as a civilization.

I'll go ahead and embed the episode here, since I put a lot of work into it, and you may see what I'm talking about ...

After watching my video, one who is well versed in "End of Days" scripture may be likely to respond with: "No, we're not going to survive. It's already been prophesied. Evil is going to be allowed to take hold. The Four Horsemen are coming. It all has to happen before the Millennium occurs -- one thousand years of peace before Satan is loosed one last time. So, why are you even talking about aliens and taking us to the next level?"

And sure -- I get that. But the more I think about it, the more I realize I don't care. Not to sound nonchalant, but really it's more that I don't think it's something I should worry about. If things were to start going down today, I'm already prepared. But ... and this is what I believe is the most important thing I want to get across today ... so much that I'm about to start a new paragraph ... I'm also prepared for the contingency that ...

... it doesn't happen ... yet.

Think about it. Jesus told his disciples that the end was coming very quickly. (Matthew 24:34) "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

When my Church was started in the early 1800s, they were also likewise told the end was near. (Doctrine & Covenants 1:35): "For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion."

And here we are hundreds of years later still waiting. Not to sound impatient, but sometimes I think we fail to remember that a thousand years are like a day to God. When God says "soon" it could really translate into thousands of years, or maybe even epochs. This may also apply to the terminology "this generation shall not pass," which is really an ambiguous statement that could mean anything from "everyone alive today will not die until ..." to "your progeny will not die until ..."

And I think the main point of these scriptures are to have us always be at the ready, for none of us know the hour that Christ will return. He will come like a thief in the night. But get this ... it could happen next year. Or in a hundred years. Or a thousand -- or possibly even a million. We just don't know.

The one thing we must avoid is to stop trying. I've actually had some people tell me: "Since it's prophesied we can't stop it. So we can go ahead and let evil people take over our leadership because it's necessary to get things started so we get on to the Millennium and Final Judgement. In fact if you try to stop it, you're just frustrating the work of the Lord."

And sure ... eventually all that stuff is supposed to happen -- but not on my watch, not if I can help it. If I can stand up and fight for the right and try to hold off these things from happening, it can only be a good thing. It's not thwarting God's work. If evil is going to prevail, there's no way I'm going to stop it, but in fighting it, I get to be one of the good guys.

As I see things failing apart around us with hate and division increasing, heck yeah -- I'm going to fight it. And I'm going to train others to fight -- including those who are not of my faith. And I'm going to use any means necessary to try and save our world from those who are actively working to destroy it.

So yeah ... end of the world ... who cares? I'm ready for anything.

Faith and Works

Today I'd like to discuss faith and works. It came up in today's Sunday lesson, and we had a good discussion.

You've probably heard it a hundred times already: Are we saved by faith? Or are we saved by works? This has been debated for centuries. Some denominations say that it's faith (or grace) alone. Others say it's only by works. 

It strangely reminds me of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (also adapted into the musical CATS). One of these cats was getting into trouble -- knocking things over, tearing up the basement, stealing pearls -- but no one knew which cat was doing it because they were never caught in the act. Which one was it?

And wouldn't you know it! In the case of faith vs. works, there are biblical scriptures to back up either side of this question.

Faith (grace)

Acts 15:11 "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved."

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Acts 2:21 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Works

Titus 3:8 "... and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."

Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Revelation 20:12 "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

James 2:17-18 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."

Seems a little contradictory. So, which is it? Faith or works? If you know who Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are, you probably already know where I'm going with this.

But first, let me tell you that this is probably the number one discussion that I have with people not of my church -- and almost always, they're the ones to bring it up. I've had this discussion literally more than a hundred times. And everyone has a different perspective on the whole thing. Most Protestants tend to believe that grace alone is sufficient -- say a prayer to accept Jesus and you're saved forever. 

And most of these people seem to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a works shop. At one place of work, my friends would rib me about the points I'm saving up to buy that toaster up in heaven. Maybe this comes from the "Mormon" stereotype of always being busy, doing good works here and there, being productive, etc. It is true that good works are a major part of our doctrine. We're encouraged to be self reliant and to help other people in need -- lift each other up. But after five decades in the Church, I have yet to see a catalog for redeeming good works points. It just doesn't work like that.

In the case of the two cats I keep bringing up, it turns out to be Moungojerrie AND Rumpleteazer. They did everything together.

In the case of faith vs. works ... over 90% of the time when I press my friends they end up admitting that works is important as well -- and then it turns out that all denominations pretty much already believe the same thing, and for centuries people have been arguing semantics.

This is a synopsis of what I hear from everyone (including my own church). First comes faith / grace. Without that, none of us can return to heaven ... period. Just one sin -- even the tiniest one -- would make us unworthy to return. No amount of good works can save us because that sin had been committed and can't be undone. It is only through Jesus Christ's atonement that we have a chance to be redeemed.

Then once we have that faith in Christ, it makes us naturally want to do good works. Many of my friends say it's not the good works that gets you into heaven, but rather works are a sign that you have faith. If you're not doing good works, then you don't really have faith. But as a logistician/computer programmer, I see this as being logically equivalent to: "You can't get into heaven without good works." (Well ... mostly equivalent -- deathbed repentances might be an exception -- as there's insufficient time to demonstrate faith by works.)

But with this all said, I challenge you to go back up to those verses above and read them again, and suddenly I hope you'll see that they're really not that contradictory. Both faith AND works are necessary. This is summarized nicely in Latter-day Saint scripture.

2 Nephi 25: 23 "... for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Satan Desires Us

This week's spiritual thought comes from our weekly reading of D&C 10. Though this is Latter-day scripture, what I'm talking about today applies to all Christians (and also to atheists and agnostics if you think of Satan as an allegory).

D&C 10 spends a big chunk of time describing how Satan works to ensnare us -- in particular, verses 20-27. Here's a summary:

• He stirs people up to iniquity against that which is good.
• He corrupts their hearts.
• He teaches them to love darkness rather than light.
• He hopes to lead their souls to destruction.
• He stirs them to anger.
• He flatters them as he leads them, dragging their souls down to hell.
• He teaches that it's okay to lie in order to catch another person in a lie, but ultimately he hopes to catch them in their own snare.
• He goes up and down, to and fro, seeking to destroy our souls.

The thing about evil is that none of us wake up one morning and decide, "I think I want to be evil." Rather, becoming evil is a slow process, often obtained through degrees.

It's so easy when we're at carte blanche to look at sin and say, "I would never do that. I see that sin as clear as day, and I know how to avoid it." But then as time passes, we may be tempted to do such a small and innocent thing that resembles the full sin, and catch ourselves saying, "I'm okay. I know where to draw the line." And little by little that line moves to permit more temptation, and before we know it, we're committing the full sin.

And when that times comes, do you think we look back and say, "Crap ... I fell for that stupid sin"? Perhaps from personal experience or from watching others, I see something else strange happen. We end up rather saying something like, "This isn't so bad. This isn't a sin. Whoever said this was is being a Puritan. They shouldn't tell me what I should be doing. I hate that people ever told me not to do this."

So, even though we come to committing that sin, we've successfully rationalized ourselves to thinking it's all okay. We end up turning against those who had been warning us. In other words -- we call the bad "good," and we call the good "bad." We end up loving our darkened state and despise the light.

And the most annoying part ... it becomes very difficult to realize that we're in the wrong. If we think we're right, how could we possibly be wrong? We end up lying to ourselves to make ourselves feel better. And often when others try to point out our errors, we end up respond with anger and vile.

A brief pause -- as I've probably left any atheist readers behind with all this Satan talk, but I think what I've talking about transcends religion as well. We all have a conscious and a sense of "good" and "evil." So, consider this a nod to you non-religious guys. If someone is acting in a way that is not good for society, you can consider this the same as being "evil." And we know from many different interviews with mass murderers and/or tyrants, that they are all unified with the idea that what they're doing is just. They're chosen, or they're justified because they're punishing bad people, and all kinds of nonsensical attempts of rationalization.

Coming back to the Satan idea ... how can you tell if you've fallen into one of his traps? Remember -- his goal is to destroy our souls. He's not going to let us know that we're trapped until it's too late. However, if you take a good, strong, honest look at yourself, you may be able to see certain signs.

Are you constantly angry? Do you bite people's heads off every time someone challenges you? Does it seem like everyone's against you? Or they don't understand? Can you look back and see a change in your view on life -- has what you once considered to be a sin become something that is no longer a sin? Can you do without that "used-to-be-a-sin thing"? Does everything seem to be falling apart around you? Do you see hope for your future?

Some self-reflection could be a good thing to catch any traps you may have fallen into. And the good news is that if you identify any such traps, it's not too late to take steps to get out of the traps. You can still help Satan to fail in his attempt to destroy your soul. I do this, myself, every now and then, just to make sure I'm still on the right path. Seems like a healthy thing to do.

I hope you all are doing well, and keep working hard. Break those chains and be free.