What Good Has Ever Come From Alcohol?

What Good Has Ever Come From Alcohol?

My family, like many (too many) has been impacted by tragedy and misery because of alcohol. The statistics are staggering –

·         In the United States alone, six people per day die of alcohol poisoning; alcoholism is the third leading cause of lifestyle-related cause of death (after tobacco and unhealthy diet)

·         Excessive alcohol users lose an average of 30-years of life compared to non-drinkers

·         And an average of 40% of hospital beds in the country are used to treat health conditions related to alcoholism!

·         Every day in America 29 people die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver - this is one death every 50 minutes, 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year, year-in, year-out

·         The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion

·         In 2016, 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for 28% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States

·         In 2016, of the 1,233 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years, 214 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver

·         In 2016, more than 1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics – that’s 1% of the 111 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year

·         At epidemic levels, as much as 17% of men and 8% of women in the population will meet the criteria for alcoholism in their lifetime

·         According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, more than 4,700 people die every year as a result of teenage alcohol use

·         Over 50% of American youths between the ages of 12 to 20 have tried alcohol, but their young age, encouragement from peers, and still-developing brains increase the chances of developing a dependence on alcohol, especially if there are environmental and mental health risk factors present, such as a bad home situation, stress related to school and social life, etc.

·         A 2017 study reported that one in every six teenagers binge drinks, but only 1% of parents believe their teenager does

·         As many as 21% of high school students engaged in binge drinking within the past month, and almost 90% of the total alcohol that teenagers consume is a result of binge drinking

o   Binge drinking is not simply drinking a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time; it is the process of deliberately consuming more alcohol than the body can metabolize. Since men and women have different metabolic rates, the definition of binge drinking for men is consuming five alcoholic beverages within two hours, and for women, it is four drinks in two hours. The University of Rochester Medical Center warns that this kind of drinking causes the blood alcohol level to rise far above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

o   The inability of the body to fully process this much alcohol in the blood leads to far more than just intoxication. Binge drinking causes dizziness, loss of motor coordination, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and loss of consciousness. If a person vomits while unconscious, the vomit can block their airway, leading to death by suffocation.

·        While it is an exceptional danger for teenagers, adults are no less vulnerable. One in six adults binge drinks at least four times a month, drinking as many as six drinks in a single two-hour period. Binge drinking occurs among men twice as much as it does women. The CDC found that in 2013, nearly 1.4 million people under the age of 20 took part in heavy drinking practices, consuming five drinks or more at least five times in a single month.

As tragic and preventable as alcohol deaths, alcohol-related hospitalization, alcohol poisoning, and binge drinking are, the related fallout in almost every other aspect of American life is detrimentally impacted because of alcohol. Consider this partial list of alcohol related consequences –

·         Unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and babies, abandoned children

·         Promotes additional abortions

·         Abuse of every flavor

·         Premature death

·         Divorce

·         Lack of clarity, confusion, stupidity, loss of intelligence

·         Fornication, adultery and other sexual deviations or perversions

·         Health problems and associated medical costs

·         Unwarranted mistakes

·         Errors of judgement

·         Unnecessary misery

·         Hopelessness

·         Assault and battery  

·         Suicide

·         Broken families

·         Unhappiness

·         Bankruptcy, loss of income, loss of wealth

·         Addiction

·         Misplaced confidence, overstated bravado, exaggeration

·         Lack of humility, increased pride

·         Misjudgment

·         Criminality, law breaking

·         Argument provoking, contention

·         Discouragement

·         Indulgence

·         Deceit

·         Destruction – self, property, relationships, businesses

·         Loss of employment

·         Accidents – fire, auto, gunshot, slip and fall, etc.

·         Embarrassing use of social media

·         Belligerence  

·         Theft and robbery

·         Delinquency of minors

·         Distortion of facts, truth, reality

·         Preventable disease  

With an open mind, honestly ask yourself these questions –

1.      What good or virtuous benefit has ever come from alcohol?

2.       If any goodness can be identified, does the ‘good’ from alcohol offset in the least degree any significant portion of the enormity of destruction and mayhem alcohol is responsible for?

3.      Does the totality of alcohol goodness (if any) even slightly offset the mayhem and tragedy it produces on a daily basis?

4.      Would the world be a better place, or worse place if alcohol were completely eradicated from all facets of society?

5.      Honestly, what would be lost, or gained if there were no alcohol consumption in civilization starting today and forever more?

Maybe the single most blatantly obvious aspect about the endless tragedy and misery produced by alcohol consumption is this – all, (ALL) of it is completely preventable! Alcohol consumption is a selfishly motivated choice. Alcohol costs are a financial waste; an intellectual waste; a health waste; a waste of life; a waste of humanity; a moral waste; a family waste; a friendship waste… It doesn’t build up anything! It tears down and destroys everything it touches! It adds no intrinsic or lasting value to anything worthwhile in life! It’s a spiraling drain and a devastating drag on society – from the individual to the family to the neighborhood, from the community to the nation, from church organizations to businesses to governments. It is a poison, a cancer, a drug, an epidemic, a deliberate abuse of common sense, a brazen evil! It helps no one, it hurts everyone!

Why is the world so enamored or mesmerized with protecting it, promoting it, encouraging it, and blinded to its reoccurring and promising negative devastation? Why do we so casually turn a blind eye to it? Why do we continue to tolerate it like the common cold. Why do we accept a triage of dime store Band-Aids and Neosporin to treat a global epidemic worse than the Black Death plague?

How can we initiate a positive change to turn the tide of devastation caused by alcohol? Here’s a few thoughts (please add more) –

·         Teach abstinence to our children

·         Teach the known consequences of devastation from alcohol

·         Set the example that life is better, healthier and that people live longer without alcohol

·         Teach that life to easily livable without alcohol ever

·         Teach that casual and social alcohol use are as dangerous as alcohol abuse

·         Teach that greater self-control is achieved through abstinence

·         Teach that peer or social pressure is never a good reason to choose alcohol

·         Teach that mature and adult decisions are not the same thing, that adult decisions are not necessarily responsible decisions

·         Teach that a decision to consume alcohol is purely selfish motivation

·         Teach that our decisions impact others – sometimes many others for generations

·         Teach that the bad decision to consume alcohol always leads to several other bad decisions

·         Promote laws that limit or eliminate alcohol use

 

____________________________________________________________

Wm. Calvin Hughes | Lake Elsinore, CA | December 15, 2019

Preparing for Church Membership to Triple

 

 

 

Are We Preparing for Church Membership to Triple?

Shalissa Lindsay | October 30, 2019

 

Maybe you will recognize the feelings I had on the airplane as a brand-new missionary.

 

I hoped I might engage someone in a meaningful missionary conversation. I knew that an hour chat would scarcely touch on the expansive doctrines of salvation, and that my planted seed would grow slowly. And I was okay with that.

 

Until I looked out the window. 

 

There below, I saw urban humanity bustling around in gigantic anthills as far as the eye could see. In 1996, Sao Paulo was the third largest city in the world. We flew over dense metropolis for more than an hour before even reaching the airport. Today, the surrounding population of that single city totals 21 million, which is 5 million more people than all the Church members throughout the entire world. Other massive cities can make similar claims: Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City, Cairo, Dhaka, Mumbai, Beijing, and Osaka.

 

I wondered: How can our missionary efforts even make a dent?

 

And how can we possibly help prepare the whole world for the Second Coming—when the entire Church membership (16.3 million) totals about two-tenths of one percent of the world’s 7.2+ BILLION people?

 

First, this disclaimer:  The Lord says, “I am able to do mine own work.”[i]  He lets us “help prepare” in the same way we let our little children “help” in the kitchen for their own joy and growth.  As President Monson once told Elder Neil L. Anderson: “We do everything we can to move this work forward. But this is the Lord’s work, and He directs it. He is at the helm. We marvel as we watch Him open doors we cannot open and perform miracles we can scarcely imagine.”[ii]

 

Okay, so all modern prophets have taught us that the Church’s purpose is to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior.[iii]  Elder D. Todd Christofferson declared: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is uniquely empowered and commissioned to accomplish the necessary preparations for the Lord’s Second Coming; indeed, it was restored for that purpose.”[iv]

 

What exactly does that mean—to have the world prepared?

 

Up until last month, almost all of my thoughts about “preparing the world” focused around what I’ll call “Arrival Readiness.” Now, for the first time, I’ve discovered that there’s another exciting lens through which we can view our preparations, which I’ll call “After-Plan Readiness.”  These two lenses working together now help me see recent organizational and policy changes with fresh eyes. Readying the world feels much more manageable, and I feel more excited for the Second Coming than ever before.

 

Arrival Readiness vs. After-Plan Readiness

 

Consider this hypothetical example.

 

Let’s say a well-respected dignitary is coming to speak in your town, and you want her to be well received.  You create a promotional team to raise awareness about her coming visit. You secure a venue and recruit as many friends as possible to come attend. You work hard to gather a crowd and you distribute materials in advance that will help the group interact gracefully with the dignitary—asking good questions and so on.  You have just completed what I will call Arrival Readiness. It’s a type of anticipatory preparation for the arrival of a single climactic event.

 

Now let’s go further.  Let’s say that this renowned dignitary comes promoting a specific change—perhaps she would like to build a hospital for your town. She gives a stirring speech and presents a well-considered plan for the financing, construction, and staffing of the hospital. Everyone cheers and agrees. Are you now prepared to build the hospital?

 

Not yet.

 

You are only prepared to benefit from this scenario if you have After-Plan Readiness. With your experienced change management team, you will have already spent weeks considering questions such as these:

 

How will you transfer crowd enthusiasm into tangible action, such as actual fundraising dollars or votes?  Who will bring the sign-up sheets? Where should you place a donation collection box? When should the follow-up calls begin? There must be an organized infrastructure: websites, databases, etc., in place ahead of time to immediately bring on new volunteers and accept their ready contributions.  If these don’t happen, all of your well-meaning anticipatory preparations are largely wasted.

 

In other words, what follow-up is necessary so that the vision presented by your visitor can truly be realized? That’s After-Plan Readiness.

 

 

A typical Second Coming mindset: Arrival Readiness

 

 

Consider the following 5 ideas below which we frequently associate with preparing the world for the Lord’s arrival.  All of these are indispensable. Note that, as listed here, each is primarily a form of arrival readiness. 

 

1.       We prepare ourselves and our loved ones to joyfully greet the Lord when He arrives.  (This requires repentance, covenants, and lots of practice living the gospel.)

 

2.       Through temple ordinances, we prepare millions of the dead to resurrect and join Christ at his coming.

 

3.       We invite all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people to prepare for Christ’s arrival. Those of dispersed Israelite heritage are especially likely to gather first (in fulfillment of ancient promises).

 

4.       Eventually we will prepare a city, the New Jerusalem, where Christ will appear to a welcoming crowd.

 

5.       We even prepare the collective consciousness of those outside the Church, because our true doctrine acts like leaven that spreads imperceptibly to raise the whole loaf. For example, many Christian churches now expect families to be together after death and teach that we are children of God—even though their official creeds don’t fully embrace the implications of these teachings.

 

All of these things help people across the world (and spirit world) to happily anticipate the glorious moment of Christ’s arrival.  We look forward to his coming.  We gather in readiness to hear him.  We prepare people with the ideas that enhance receptivity.  We build the venue.  We are working on our Arrival Readiness!

 

An additional Second Coming mindset: After-Plan Readiness

 

Now, consider how additional perspective is added when we reframe items from the same list within the mindset of After-Plan Readiness:

 

1.       We prepare ourselves and our loved ones to live in millennial unity and peace under Christ’s reign.

 

2.       Through temple ordinances, we prepare millions of the dead to join our consecrated society as resurrected beings who will work among us under Christ’s direction.

 

Do you see how the emphasis shifts? How the priorities take on new color?

 

Other items on the list could be switched too, but before going any further, let me share how I stumbled upon the implications of After-Plan Readiness. As these ideas unfolded, I realized that perhaps our God is readying His Church for an exciting After-Plan in ways far beyond what we imagine.

 

For this idea, I am indebted to beloved speaker and author, Brad Wilcox. During a summer road trip, my kids and I listed to the audiobook version of Brad’s new book, “Born to Change the World: Your part in gathering Israel.” The whole book is fabulous. It explains clearly the history of Israel, and what we know about the different tribes—which is a great topic outside the scope of this article. 

 

The huge lightbulb moment for me came for me near the end of Chapter 4[v], packaged in this glorious summary (the bolded emphasis is mine):

 

And what role do the tribes have in the government of the kingdom of God? We know that those of Ephraim and Manasseh have the assignment to gather Israel and prepare the Church and world for the second coming.  But we do not yet know what responsibilities the other tribes will be given.  It seems reasonable that people named from other tribes should together work with Ephraim and Manasseh for now, preparing themselves to take their places as leaders in their own tribes when future assignments come. 

 

Whatever those roles may be, knowing our tribe now is important because it gives Latter-day Saints an additional level of worldwide organization that can be called into action at a moment’s notice.  This is the kind of organization that will be needed when Christ comes again in his glory and billions—yes, billions—of people will immediately want to learn about Him and His Church. 

 

Little wonder the scriptures say it will be in the millennium that the gathering of Israel will commence in earnest.  However, if we wait until that moment to get organized, it will be too late. We need to have strong and experienced leaders already in place worldwide to not only handle the dramatic growth of the Church, but also the additional temporal responsibilities that will be ours when, as we read in Isaiah, “the government shall be upon [Christ’s] shoulder.”

 

You clicked on this article because the title asked, “Are we preparing for Church membership to triple?”

 

The answer is no…and yes.

 

The Church isn’t preparing to grow by 300%.  The Church is preparing for a sudden growth spike of something closer to thirty-thousand percent! 

 

Let’s be clear. Before Christ’s arrival, we may grow in many ways—possibly even by 300% with the opening of new countries, etc.  We will need big growth to continue to spread the message worldwide. But the kind of extraordinary growth we are ultimately preparing for will NOT occur through our everyday member missionary work. It will NOT occur just because we have some great new technological teaching tools.

 

It won’t really start until after Jesus appears.

 

“Then shall all the tribes of the earth…see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”[vi] According to Elder Neil L. Andersen: “It will be breathtaking! The scope and grandeur, the vastness and magnificence, will exceed anything mortal eyes have ever seen or experienced.”[vii]

 

Then, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell put it: “Soon…all flesh shall see Him together. All knees shall bow in His presence, and all tongues confess His name.[viii] Knees which never before have assumed that posture for that purpose will do so then—and promptly. Tongues which have never before spoken His name except in gross profanity will do so then—and worshipfully.”

 

Once Jesus Christ appears, what will he say?  Undoubtedly, many beautiful things we cannot now even imagine.  But we do have a few clues about what part of his message will be.

 

When Jesus Christ first appeared to the Nephites (as recorded in 3 Nephi 11), one of the first things he did was teach the people about baptism in the proper way, by the proper authority. Isn’t it likely that at the Second Coming, our Lord will immediately invite all people to accept a covenant relationship with Him through baptism?

 

We don’t know how many people will be present and willing, but it’s extremely likely that—given the miraculous invitation—at least a few billions of our brothers and sisters will likely respond wholeheartedly. This is where After-Plan Readiness comes in. It appears that the Lord wants us to have priesthood authority and some leadership experience already dispersed among the nations and cities, equipped for this immediate influx to baptismal fonts. And as these mass-multitudes join the covenant path and are taught by the living Jesus Christ, will they not also desire a fullness of temple covenants? A few hundred temples could scarcely handle the immediate influx.  But it would be a start, allowing the first wave of converts to receive their endowments and then turn around to help endow the next wave, and so on. Our resurrected dead will surely play a part in the After-Plan too.

 

Our Arrival Readiness is really, really important.  But also, today’s gathering of first-wave Israel is preparing a ground infrastructure that will be already be arranged and in place after the Lord’s coming to help everyone throughout the world who will desire to receive Jesus by covenant. The After-Plan will necessarily be unimaginably far-reaching.

 

In what ways are we as a Church currently being prepared by the Lord—not only for the immediate days before He comes, but also for that ultimate transition to millennial worship, with its continuing missionary and temple work?

 

I don’t know what other implications attend Christ’s After-Plan. We can only speculate how other Church components might be preparing to contribute then. As Brother Wilcox pointed out, our assignment to various tribes of Israel now may provide a starting point for our callings then. Perhaps the Lord also has big millennial plans for our global education initiatives, now in their infancy. Perhaps our self-reliance trainings go far beyond today’s budgeting strategies, and set the stage for millennial work to recover the globe from disasters and rebuild the cities.[ix] I don’t know how Christ’s government will be structured when he reigns as King of Kings, but we know His Church will play a part. Somehow, He will have organization without bureaucracy, and order without regimentation.

 

Jesus has told us, “Ye shall have no laws but my laws when I come, for I am your lawgiver, and what can stay my hand?”[x] His laws will end evil, oppression, injustice, poverty, suffering, and death. They will also bring lasting unity, harmony, love, health, and purpose. What an honor to be allowed to contribute to that after-plan!

 

And in the meantime?

 

Well, if my missionary children only find a few converts among today’s massive cities, that’s okay. If we have to streamline some of our cultural baggage and youth development customs, that’s okay. If persecution temporarily shrinks our membership or makes it look like we are losing ground, that’s okay.  If the whole world doesn’t seem to be anticipating the beautiful day ahead, that’s okay.

 

We’ll prepare everyone who wants to listen. But we’ll also prepare the leadership scaffolding and organizational structure to receive everyone else as soon as they meet our Savior.  In that coming day, they will suddenly, fully understand why we worship Him. And in those millennial after-moments, when our friends finally feel unequivocally committed, we will be all set to assist them in making those sacred covenants that tie us to Him.

 

As Elder Neil L. Andersen said: “May we prepare for His coming by rehearsing these glorious events over and over in our own minds and with those we love, and may His prayer be our prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”[xi]

 

________________________________________

 

[i]  2 Nephi 27:20

[ii]  “Thy Kingdom Come” (April 2015) Neil L. Anderson

[iii]  This includes President Russell M. Nelson, as in the “Hope of Israel” address to the youth (June 2018).

[iv] “Preparing for the Lord’s Return” (April 2019) Elder D. Todd Christofferson

[v]  From minute 7:10 to 8:52

[vi]  Matthew 24:30

[vii]  “Thy Kingdom Come” (April 2015) Neil L. Anderson

[viii]  See D&C 76:110–11; Philip. 2:10–11.

[ix]  Isaiah 54:3

[x]   Doctrine and Covenants 38:22 

[xi]  “Thy Kingdom Come” (April 2015) Neil L. Anderson





OBEDIENCE and FREE AGENCY

OBEDIENCE and FREE AGENCY

 

I love the John Lennon song “Imagine”. It was the best-selling single of his solo career after The Beatles broke up. I love the simplicity of the words, the meaning of the words and the music. I love the melody, the optimism for a better planet and the idea of the whole world living in peace and harmony. It was written and recorded in England in 1971. Here are my favorite lines, “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say, I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one.” Shortly before John’s death, he said that most of the lyrics of “Imagine” came from his wife Yoko Ono. The song has received several honors and impressive records – it’s one of the 100 most-performed songs of the 20th century and it ranked 30^th on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of the “365 Songs of the Century bearing the most historical significance”.

Loosely, using John and Yoko’s lyrics for the purpose of this paper, let’s imagine a world without obedience. Here’s a few examples, but let your own imagine go wild and come up with a list of your own! (I can hear the music in my head already!) So, play along with me and imagine a world…

• where stoplights aren’t obedient to their programming, but independently decide their own greens, yellows and reds… maybe even chose a purple or blue at times
• where some people weren’t obedient to the warning labels on poisonous substances and independently chose to ingest them without discretion
• where commercial airline companies aren’t obedient to FAA laws and allowed any of the passengers to pilot their planes
• where your car isn’t obedient to the mechanical functions and independently decides to mix-up the brake and gas pedal functions at any time
• where your heart isn’t obedient to nature’s programming and chooses whether or not to pump from minute-to-minute depending on how it feels
• where the sun isn’t obedient to its track record of millions of years of constant sunshine, but instead, independently decides which days it wants to work and which days it wants to take a vacation
• where the rotation of the earth is disobedient, deciding to be sporadic and independently changes speeds dramatically, tilts at wild angles on a whim, changes the location of the poles without warning, forgets the pattern of it’s orbit and just flounders through space haphazardly
• where some folks reject the laws of vandalism and malicious mischief, and light fires wherever and whenever they want without accountability, without remorse, just because ‘it’s a rush’
• where building contractors don’t follow building codes, and use the cheapest and weakest materials and unskilled laborers on high-rise structures
• where doctors can practice any medicine, perform any surgery, and give any prescription with regard to testing, schooling or licensing
• where other drivers don’t at least generally obey speeding laws and decide to drive chaotically with recklessness whenever and wherever traveling up to 120 MPH or more
• where our judicial system doesn’t obey the constitution or the laws of the land, but each case is settled based on the opinion of a ‘judge’ who was appointed at random, by lottery of anyone wanting to serve as the magistrate-of-the-day
• where your home appliance (washer, dryer, stove, oven, furnace, air conditioner, freezer, refrigerator, TV, radio, garage door opener, lights, laptop, phone, etc.) chooses to work when and how it wants rather than how it was designed
• where anyone can choose to elect themselves as the country’s leader, not following a national election process, or the electoral college procedures or the constitution

It may seem like an oxymoron to exclusively have both free agency and obedience at the same time. Isn’t strict obedience a lack of free agency? Doesn’t free agency at it’s most foundational definition mean choice? A choice between “A” or “B”, between up or down, black or white, left or right? Doesn’t free agency mean that it’s totally up to each individual? If I choose “A” and you chose “B”, it’s not about who’s right or wrong, but it’s about each of us freely choosing what we think is best for us? Isn’t free agency about freely making a choice and also completely taking full accountability by accepting the consequences, good or bad, for the choice?

So, does it make sense that free agency can involve both obedience and disobedience? Or, perhaps it’s better said that our obedience determines whether or not we’ve used free agency correctly! So, maybe the question to consider shouldn’t be, “Is the exercise of free agency the ability to choose obedience or disobedience?” But rather, the question we should be considering is, “Is the choice of obedience or disobedience the correct use of free agency?” I believe it’s incorrect to think about it as “free agency vs. obedience”; instead, the correct thinking should be “obedience and free agency”. How we frame the question makes all the difference!

With that in mind, let’s refer back to our list of, “Imagine a world...” scenarios. Although we’ve used some inanimate examples, it was to make a point that hopefully won’t be lost when applying the concept to life and people. Let’s just take the first three here (you can complete the exercise with the remainder of the list on your own). Accordingly, using the choice of obedience as the correct (and only) option when exercising free agency… Imagine a world…

·         where stoplights are always obedient to their programming, and independently decide to correctly illuminate greens, yellows and reds…

·         where people were always obedient to the warning labels on poisonous substances and independently chose to never ingest them

·         where commercial airline companies obey all FAA laws and never allow passengers or unqualified personnel to pilot their planes

When I go through this exercise I see some important patterns emerging and some great lessons for life. I see a world that would be a better place with more organization (less chaos), a world with more peace and happiness (less pain and misery). I can see that in a world that has a consistency for obedience to laws (civil, natural or eternal laws) where there are no drawbacks, no harmful consequences. I can see a world with meaning and purpose in the laws of the land and God’s laws. By choosing obedience, we’re not choosing to forego free agency, but we are choosing to forgo chaos, disorder, pain, lawlessness, anarchy, brutality, inequality, unfairness, etc.

Can we imagine a world such as this? Would we like to live in a world like this? Are we doing our part to make the world better like this? Are we correctly using our God-given gift of free agency? Are we using our free agency to choose correctly? After all, it’s probably written in stone somewhere in heaven, “The correct use of free agency is wholly (and holy) embodied in the act of obediently choosing correctly.”

Obedience and free agency are two sides of the same coin. There are no coins where one side reads “disobedience” and the other reads “free agency”. Disobedience never leads to freedom or agency. Disobedience stalls or halts, or worse reverses progression. With the laws of the land we uniformly agree that disobedience leads to restrictions, penalties or jail. Disobedience to natures laws will also have serious consequences or worse! Logically, couldn’t we apply the same reasoning to God’s laws? Obedience always leads to increased freedom and expanded agency. It just makes sense that obedience to laws (wherever the laws come from, but especially God’s laws), and free agency are absolute partners making for a more peaceful and happy life.

Fortunately, it’s a well-documented fact that every person will make bad choices. Every person will chose to disobey laws (laws of the land, laws of nature, and laws of God). It’s an integral part of human nature. It’s an important and necessary part as well, for without error there would be no growth, no learning, no progress. A world without choices is a world that cannot evolve or improve into something better! Hopefully, as we get older and wiser (learning from our mistakes), we will make fewer mistakes, smaller mistakes, make them less frequently and ultimately learn to avoid them (aka repentance). Also, it’s our good fortune that we have a God who completely understands human nature. He understands the dilemma – that 1) mortals would disobey laws, and that 2) our choices and their consequences are intricately tied to learning and growth. And because He is a God of mercy, He has provided a way to overcome all disobedience through the laws of repentance and forgiveness).

To fulfill the eternal consequences (justice) of disobeying His laws (eternal separation from God’s presence – commonly referred to as hell), God mercifully provided a Savior, His Son Jesus Christ to pay the price of mankind’s sin. The Savior’s perfect life, death and atonement satisfy the demands of justice and when applied to our lives through sincere repentance, level out the eternal scales of obedience vs. disobedience. When we repent of disobedience and resolve to not repeat the error (learn from our mistakes), the Savior ‘covers’ the sin. This is made possible from His perfect life, His taking upon the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His sacrifice of His mortal life on the cross at Golgotha.

I love the scripture that tells us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). I love that the sun rises every day in the morning and sets every night in the evening, always! I love that my car goes forward when I push the gas pedal and slows down when I push the brake pedal, always! I love it when contractors follow building codes I can feel safe in a high-rise building, always! I love that consistency and peace and safety are products of obedience and agency – always! And I love it when we use our free agency correctly and choose obedience to the laws of the land, to nature’s laws or to God’s laws, the consequences are more peace and happiness – always!

In reality, it was a simple song, simple words, simple melody, but an eternally powerful and influential message! Imagine! Just imagine all the people living life in peace. Just imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. Just imagine no need for greed or hunger, just imagine a brotherhood of man, just imagine all the people sharing all the world. Just imagine someday joining together, just imagine the world living as one! Just imagine the world applying a new-found knowledge that obedience to laws by correctly exercising free agency brings good things to everyone – always! We can be the change we imagine the world becoming by choosing obedience with our free agency! Just imagine!

“Imagine” by John Lennon - https://www.bing.com/search?q=imagine+john+lennon&form=IENTNB&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&msnews=1&refig=e13e2b84d6504657fd9652592400e19b&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=imagine+john+lennon&sc=9-19&qs=n&sk=&cvid=e13e2b84d6504657fd9652592400e19b

____________________________

 

Dedicated to Fredric Dillon Hughes, my fourth son, set apart today for full-time

missionary service in the Colorado Springs, Colorado Mission.

______________________________

 

Wm. Calvin Hughes | September 27, 2019 | Lake Elsinore, California