"Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark." (2 Nephi 28:7-9)
What happened to the understanding that with actions come consequences? I'm pretty sure most of us learned this when we were quite young.
One of the Young Women's values is Choice and Accountability. It is accompanied by the statement, "I will choose good over evil and will accept responsibility for my decisions." Young Women ages 12-18 recite their theme, which includes this value, every week. Is it too much to expect adults to remember the same?
For that matter, I learned a little song when I was four years old at most:
"Choices, choices, good and bad--
The good ones make me happy, and the bad ones make me sad.
When I make a mistake, then I'll fix it, I will,
'Cause my choices are connected to the way I feel."
Our Heavenly Father sent us to this earth with agency: the freedom to choose. With that agency came the ability to discern between right and wrong--the ability to judge. Agency does not exist without (1) opposition and (2) knowledge: "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other" (2 Nephi 2:16). This ability to discern between right and wrong is given to every person:
"For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him. And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged." (Moroni 7:16-18)
Did you catch that? "I show unto you the way to judge" and "see that you do not judge wrongfully." Mormon's letter to his son, Moroni, makes it clear that our agency must involve judgment: we must judge between right and wrong, between good and evil. Not only must we judge, but we can judge with a perfect knowledge based on the criteria that are listed.
Those of us who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost have an even greater ability and responsibility to judge--not to condemn, but certainly to judge! We have the promise of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, but we can only have that constant companionship as we constantly make judgments and choose good over evil.
With agency comes the knowledge that there are consequences for our actions:
There will always be consequences. It was Lucifer's plan to force us all back to heaven--to remove agency and thus remove accountability and consequences. That plan was rejected. We chose our Heavenly Father's plan, in which we would have agency. We knew we would make mistakes. We knew that each action would come with a consequence.
Remember when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden? Here are God's words to Adam and Eve:
"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:16-19)
They suffered consequences because of their choice to partake of the forbidden fruit. However, there is a phrase in there that stands out: for thy sake. There will always be consequences, not because of a desire for punishment or revenge, but for thy sake. I must be accountable for my own actions, but this is partly because the Lord will use these consequences as teaching opportunities, if we will allow it.
And remember, there is good news in all of this! We must accept the consequences, but because of the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we are not called upon to bear the full punishment. He has redeemed us. "Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered" (2 Nephi 2:7). But our eventual exaltation depends not only on the atonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but on the conditions described: a broken heart and a contrite spirit, which often come by accepting the consequences of our own actions.
Amulek further clarifies the conditions for salvation: "And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins" (Alma 11:37). While Christ has taken upon Him all of our shortcomings, He will not save us in but rather from our sins. This is accomplished partially by our own judgment, aided by the gift of the Holy Ghost, when we choose good over evil; we will continually receive His help and guidance as we strive to choose right. It is also accomplished as we humble ourselves before God and repent of our sins, which must come with some penalty. There must be remorse, and there must be some degree of suffering on our part if we are to be forgiven. Jesus Christ, the only perfect Being to ever walk the earth, suffered all things. Can we expect, in our imperfections, not to suffer at all? Of course not. We must accept the consequences of our actions, as this is part of the repentance process.
Will the consequences bring sorrow? Probably. That's part of life. That's part of the process of learning and growing and repenting. If the sorrow leads to a broken heart and a contrite spirit, to an acknowledgement of our wrongdoing and a desire to be forgiven and to improve each day, then the atonement can "answer the ends of the law."
Our Heavenly Father has provided a perfect plan: a plan for our happiness, for our growth, and ultimately for our immortality and eternal life. Through the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son, we have the opportunity to progress and to become like Him. Let us never forget our eternal potential! Along with that, may we also remember that consequences are for our own good, to teach us and mold us and help us to become like Him. And as we remember this, we must also remember how judgment relates to this plan of happiness.
Ultimately Jesus Christ will be our Judge. For that I am humbly grateful. He knows my heart, He knows me better than I know myself, and He will judge me as only He is able. I am also grateful to know that I do not have to carry the burden of judging other people; that judgment, too, is His. However, if I expect mercy in His judgment, if I want to become like Him, as He has commanded, I must continually be judging now: judging between good and evil and striving to choose good over evil.
Hold fast to your agency. Yield it only to your Father in Heaven, in the form of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Acknowledge His wisdom and power. Acknowledge His grace, through which we have the opportunity to repent and to be saved. Acknowledge His hand in all things. Acknowledge that He desires our happiness, and that sometimes unpleasant consequences come in order to steer us in the direction of lasting happiness. Acknowledge that He is the Creator of all things, and most importantly of all mankind, and that His plan is for us to return to Him and to partake of all that He has.
His plan is perfect. We accepted it once; we know this because we are here on earth. Let us continue to accept it and to fight for it, agency, consequences, and all!
Excellent Post. And So True.
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