Rejection
and Substitution:
Origins
of False Religion, Secular Humanism, and Atheism
Neil
J Flinders
The
Ancient Pattern of 'The Two Paths'
Story
A
Our
personal
choices, which turn into beliefs then behaviors, tend to follow two
basic pathways.
One path leads to (a) a confirmation
of the divine existence of our Heavenly Father, his Plan for us, and
his love for his children. The other path leads to (b) the rejection
of this notion of a divine Providence, and the substitution of other
human devised conceptions of the origin, purpose and function of
humankind. The first path leads to the Plan
of Happiness and Eternal lives.
The second path leads to a myriad
of diverse human philosophies mingled with scriptural fragments; each
of which foster confusion and ultimate eternal diffusion. This
alternate path provides a birthplace for false
religion,
secular
humanism,
and eventual atheism—where
people esteem themselves to be the source of ultimate power and
determinants of individual destiny. These two paths constitute “the
doctrine of the two ways”
written and spoken about anciently as well as in modern times. (The
Ancient
Doctrine of the Two Ways and the Book of Mormon
Noel B. Reynolds BYU Provo, nbr@byu.edu;
see also Deut. ch. 30; Dead Sea Scrolls)
Choosing
which path to follow is a basic challenge of mortality: “Behold
here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man;
because that [the
Plan of Happiness]
which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they
receive not the light.”
(D&C
93: 31; Romans 1:16-32)
Accepting and abiding by Heavenly Father's authority, truth, and
light or rejecting revealed counsel, then substituting something else
in its place has been a problem since the beginning. Individuals are
able to create their own alternative beliefs and actions; to which
they consecrate their time, energy and resources. These substitutes,
when acted upon, form the cultural foundations for much of human
education. It
is within this crucible of choice that conflicting values, and
various destructive behaviors emerge.
The comment by the Jewish Historian, Josephus, offers one example
from antiquity. He attributed the engineering of the Tower of Babel
to a man named Nimrod. He separated himself from God and taught his
followers they should “esteem
it a piece of cowardice to submit to God.”
(Flavius Josephus Antiquities
of the Jews
IV, 3, Trans. by William Whiston.) This
doctrine of self empowerment is alive and pervasive in the world
today. The undesirable consequences are evident.
What
follows in this document, is a brief
review
of scriptural
comments on this central human issue, as well as some of its
consequences. Our choices do have consequences and these consequences
can travel from generation to generation. Consider carefully the
personal significance of the offerings in these records and the
personal testimonies of these individual witnesses.
Adam's
Account
Adam
and Eve kept a Book
of Remembrance—a genealogical record in
the language of Adam, in which was recorded ordinances and
instructions from Heavenly Father regarding the origin, nature, and
destiny of humankind.
“And
Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known
unto their sons and daughters.”
(PGP,
Moses 5:1-12; Gen. Chapters 1 & 2.)
Using this record, Adam and Eve taught their children literacy and
shared testimonial instruction regarding their personal origin,
nature and destiny.
“And
a Book of Remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded in the
language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to
write by the spirit of inspiration; and by them [these
writings]
their children were taught to read and write. Now this same
Priesthood which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the
world also.”
This was the prophesy “Adam
spake as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and a genealogy was
kept of the children of God. And this was the book of the generations
of Adam,saying: In the day that God created man, in the likeness of
God made he him. In the image of his own body, male and female,
created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the
day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon
the footstool of God.”
(PGP
Moses 6:5-9.)
According to the record of Adam, some of the children
did not heed the teachings of their parents:
“And
Satan came among them,saying: I am also a son of God; and he
commanded them, saying: Believe it not; and they believed it not, and
they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to
be carnal,
sensual,
and devilish.
And the Lord God called upon men by the Holy Ghost everywhere and
commanded them that they should repent. And as many as believed in
the Son, and repented of their sins, should be saved; and as many as
believed not and repented not, should be damned; and the words went
forth out of the mouth of God in a firm decree; wherefore they must
be fulfilled. And Adam and Eve his wife, ceased not to call upon
God.”
(PGP
Moses 5:13-16.)
[As illustrated in the story of Cain and Abel] Cain “.
. . rejected the greater counsel which was had from God; and this is
a cursing . . . and Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the
voice of the Lord, neither to Abel, his brother, who walked in
holiness before the Lord. And Adam and his wife mourned before the
Lord because of Cain and his brethren.”
(PGP
Moses 5:25-27.)
Enoch's
Account
Enoch,
one of Adam's posterity, chose to follow the teachings and counsel of
his righteous ancestors. His record describes the initial efforts he
made to encourage the people of that time to follow the path that God
had given to his children. The Plan to help them prevail over the
challenges of mortality, and to optimize their opportunities for
personal development—physically and spiritually. It is evident that
many had rejected God's counsel and substituted
their own preferences. These substitutes were born of their own
choices that envelope the weaknesses of the flesh: Carnality—feeding
physical appetites; Sensuality—limiting their assumptions to
only that which could be assessed by the physical senses;
Devilishness—which is, inevitably, erroneous in terms of
eternal validity.
“Enoch journeyed in the land, among the people; and
as he journeyed the Spirit of God descended out of heaven, and abode
upon him. And he heard a voice from heaven saying: Enoch, my son,
prophesy unto this people, and say unto them—Repent, for thus
sayeth the Lord: I am angry with this people, . . . for their hearts
have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes
cannot see afar off; And for these many generations [5th
generation after Adam] ever since the day I created them, have
they gone astray, and have denied me, and have sought their own
counsels in the dark; and in their own abominations have they devised
murder, and have not kept the commandments, which I gave unto their
father, Adam. (PGP Moses 6:27-30)
As Enoch continued his assigned mission, he spoke to
the people in straight forward and simple language saying:
The Lord which spake with me, the same is the God of
heaven, and he is my God, and ye are my brethren, and why counsel ye
yourselves, and deny the God of heaven. . . . death has come upon our
fathers; nevertheless we know them, and cannot deny, and even the
first of all we know, even Adam. For a book of remembrance we have
written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of
God; and it is given in our language. . . And he said unto them:
Because that Adam fell, we are, and by his fall came death; and we
are made partakers of misery and woe. Behold Satan hath come among
the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have
become carnal, sensual, and devilish and are
shut out from the presence of God. But God hath made known unto our
fathers that all men must repent. And he called upon our father Adam
by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before
they were in the flesh. And he also said unto him: If thou will turn
unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all
thy transgressions, and be baptized in water, in the name of mine
Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus
Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby
salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his [Jesus
Christ's] name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be
given you. (PGP Moses 6:43-52.)
Nephi's
Account
Nephi,
a righteous prophet of God in the Western Hemisphere, was given a
vision of our dispensation. He gave us a description of the cultural
consequences to be faced by (a) his family's descendents and also (b)
the Gentile inhabitants who would live in the period just preceding
the Savior's Second Coming:
Behold I prophesy unto you concerning the last days;
. . . when the Lord shall bring these things [The Book of Mormon:
Another Testament of Jesus Christ] forth unto the children of men.
After my seed and the seed of my brethren have dwindled in unbelief,
and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; . . . and the Gentiles
are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled, . . .
that they have built up many churches [belief systems];
nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and
preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning,
that they may get gain and grind on the face of the poor. And there
are many churches [belief systems] built up which cause
envyings, and strifes, and malice. And there are also secret
combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations
of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the
founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by
the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong
cords forever. (BM
2 Nephi 26:14-33.)
Nephi continues with his descriptive report, by
identifying specific elements of the counter-culture that defies God
and his Plan which shall be established in these latter days:
For it shall come
to pass in that day that the churches [belief
systems]
which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when one shall say unto
the other: Behold, I, I am the Lord's; and the others shall say: I, I
am the Lord's; and thus shall everyone say that hath built up
churches [belief
systems]
and not unto the Lord. And they shall contend one with another, and
they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which
giveth utterance. And they deny the power of God, the Holy One
Israel; and they say unto unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear
ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and
the Redeemer hath done his work and he has given his power unto men;
. . . 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. .
. Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted.
Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine,
their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted
up; because of pride they are puffed up.
(BM
2 Nephi 28:3-12.)
Mormon's
Description of Two Orders of 'Authority' that Emerged
Mormon, editor of Lehi's family history (600 B.C.-- 400
A.D.), refers often to cultural episodes spawned by significant
conflicting consequences from secular versus spiritually
oriented authority and education. A sequence of
references to these social practices in one particular era identifies
several critical differences. The context, content,
process, and structure of learning and teaching
differed and dramatically affected the outcomes. During the period
from 180 B.C. to A.D. 34, Mormon describes the traditional Holy
Order of the Son of God and the emergence of a substitute called
the Order of Nehor—two conflicting orders of authority, one
founded on revelation from God, the other based on secular
humanism, which is derived solely from human precepts. (Alma
4:20; Alma 1:3-15, 2:1-3.) Nehor, the founder of the order
associated with his name, for example, promoted himself by teaching
false doctrines:
Nehor “testified unto the people that all mankind should be
saved at the last day, . . . for the Lord had created all men, …
and, in the end, all men should have eternal life.. . . Every
priest and teacher ought to become popular; and they ought not to
labor with their hands, but they ought to be supported by the people.
. . . that they need not fear or tremble . . . [and
he] began to wear very costly apparel,
yea, and even began to establish a church after the manner of his
preaching [and
killed a man named Gideon who challenged his teachings].
(Alma
1:1-15).
Over nearly a century of time, this new order
established considerable influence and formed a great deal of power.
There was a visible concentration of this institution in a city named
Ammonihah—an intellectual center for the movement. Mormon records
the account of one Alma who visited this city as both a former
government official and as the senior Church leader of this society.
It was Alma's stated intent to fulfill an assignment from an Angel
who appeared to him saying:
I am sent to command thee that thou return to the
city of Ammonihah and say unto them, . . . except they repent the
Lord God will destroy them. For behold they do study at this time
that they may destroy the liberty of the people, . . . which is
contrary to the statutes, and judgments, and commandments which he
[God] has given unto his people. (Alma
8:16-17)
It was in this city, controlled by agnostics, humanists
and atheists, that a philosophy of government prevailed which led to
the burning of not only religious records but also the people who
believed in the content of those records. Referring to such behavior
towards believers Mormon wrote:
And they brought their wives and children together,
and whosoever believed and had been taught to believe in the word of
God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also
brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and
cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed
by fire. (Alms 14:8)
Mormon states the perpetrators of such murder was
intellectuals of Ammonihah:
. . . lawyers, and judges, and priests, and teachers,
who were of the profession of Nehor; . . . as to the people that were
in the land of Ammonihah, they yet remained a hard-hearted and a
stiffnecked people; and they repented not of their sins, . . . for
they were of the profession of Nehor, and did not believe in the
repentance of their sins. (Alma 14:16-18.)
As for the nature of the curriculum pursued in the
schooling of such people Mormon provides a simple contrasting
description of an earlier establishment of secular schools in his
culture. Whereas, the traditional revealed principles, Alma the
father of the Alma previously referred to in the citations stated:
I desire that ye should stand fast in this liberty
wherewith ye have been made freee, and that ye trust no man to be a
king over you. And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your
minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping
his commandments. . . . And it came to pass that none received
authority to preach or to teach except it were by him from God.
Therefore, he consecrated all their priests and all their teachers;
and none were consecrated except they were just men. (23:13-17)
In contrast
Amulon [a devious and wicked man] and his brethren
[were granted authority by the King to establish a school system]
in every land which was possessed by his people; and thus the
language of Nephi [literacy] began to be taught among all the
people of the Lamanites. And they were a people friendly one with
another; nevertheless, [1] they knew not God; neither did the
brethren of Amulon teach them anything concerning the Lord their God,
[2] neither the law of Moses; [3]nor did they teach
them the words of Abinadi; [who tesified of Christ at his
martyrdom] But they taught them that they should keep their
record, and that they might write one to another. (Alma
24:1-6)
Outcome of a Secular Curriculum: [viz. (a) Ignore God,
(b) Ignore Christ and His Atonement, and (c) Ignore the Ten
Commandments]
And thus the Lamanites began to increase in riches,
and began to trade one with another and wax great, and began to be a
cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world, yea, a very
cunning people delighting in all manner of wickedness and plunder,
except it were among their own brethren. . . . Amulon began to
exercise authority . . . and whosoever should be found calling upon
God should be put to death. (Alma
24:1-11)
Korihor's Arguments and Confession
A century before the appearance of the resurrected
Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of the American Hemisphere, Korihor,
an anti-Christ challenged the believers of his time with the
substitute arguments he had similar to Nehorian doctrine. The
representative government of the time operated on the premise of
freedom of speech and so Korihor was free under the law of the land
to make whatever claims he desired.
After this manner
did he preach, saying: . . . unto the people that there should be no
Christ . . . O ye that are bound down under a foolish and vain hope,
why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things: Why do ye look
for a Christ? For no man can know anything which is to come. Behold,
these things which ye call prophesies, which ye say are handed down
by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your
fathers. How do ye know of their surety? Behold ye cannot know of
things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall
be a Christ. Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your
sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this
derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your
fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not
so. And many more such things did he say unto them,
telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of
men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of
the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius,
and that every man conquered according to his strength; and
whatsoever a man did was no crime. And thus he did preach unto them,
leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads
in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to
commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was
the end thereof. (Alma
30:12-18)
After enduring a pathetic life, the story of Korihor
ends in an ignominious death soon after offering this confession:
I always knew that there was a God. But behold, the devil hath
deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and
said unto me: Go and reclaim this people, for they have all gone
astray after an unknown God. And he said unto me: There is no God;
yea, and he taught me that which I should say. And I have taught his
words; and I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal
mind; and I taught them, even until I had much success, insomuch that
I verily believed that they were true; and for this cause I withstood
the truth, even until I have brought this great curse upon me.
(Alma 30:52-53)
Mormon's
description and warning to those of the Latter Days
“The
Nephite Record shall come forth in a day of wickedness,
degeneracy, and apostasy.” [Chapter
8 Heading,]
And
no one need say they [the
consequences of unbelief]
shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it;
for out of the earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and
none can stay it; and it shall come in a day when it shall be said
that miracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should
speak from the dead. And it
shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord,
because of secret combinations and the works of darkness. Yea, it
shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied, and
churches become defiled and be lifted up in the pride of their
hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches and teachers
shall rise in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them
who belong to their churches. Yea, it shall come in a day when there
shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign
lands; and there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and
earthquakes in divers places. Yea, it shall come in a day when there
shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be
murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and
all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do
this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such
at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of
bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. Yea, it shall come in a day
when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me,
and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins. O ye wicked
and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches
unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word
of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look
ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that
day when all these things must be fulfilled. Behold, the Lord hath
shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must
shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among
you. Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are
not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your
doing. And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and
there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the
pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto
envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of
iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become
polluted because of the pride of your hearts.For behold, ye do love
money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of
your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and
the afflicted. O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell
yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy
church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of
Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless
happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise
of the world? Why
do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer
the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the
afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not? Yea,
why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause
that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn
before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their
husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon
your heads?” (“Mormon
8:26-40;see also Book of Joel chpts. 1-3.)
Moroni
repeated another significant exhortation to those who would live in
the latter-days [when
he summarized the Jaredite record on the 24 plates found by Limhi and
his people.]
“[T]his
land, . . . is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess
it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off . . . when they are
ripened in iniquity. . . . Whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall
be free from bondage and from captivity and from all other nations
under heaven if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus
Christ . . .” ((Ether
1:1-2)Ether
2:9-12)
Paul,
the Apostle, Describes the Destructive Aspects of Disbelief in Roman
Society
I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth . . .For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as
it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.' . . . Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it
unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God
into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the
Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them
up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural
use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving
in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them
over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to
parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do
the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans
16-32)
This
same pattern is evident in the decline and fall of recorded cultures.
Without morality there can be no spirituality. They
each had a curriculum that excelled in basic literacy—with bright
and clever students who enjoyed economic prosperity but who had few
if any morals
and delighted in all manner of wickedness.
Sound familiar? How high could we stack the evidence? Such are the
inevitable results when we delete
any and all reference
in our educational programs to: (1)
acknowledgment of a Supreme Being, (2)
any reference to a divinely endorsed moral code, and (3)
any acknowledgment of Jesus Christ and his mortal mission. It is
easy to envision this pattern in American public education and the
social and political forces among a majority of her citizens.
Relativism
and the ensuing discussion of human conceived ‘ethics’ just can’t
cut it—“ethics” does not equal “morality.” Group-think
‘ethics’ simply creates criminals rather then citizens of
character. Do we need more evidence than we already have from Wall
Street, Corporate America, and Main Street Realtors to convince
us—without saying anything of the “criminal elements” that now
flourish in our nation? The point is: Educational
programs that focus entirely or even primarily on physical and
intellectual achievement only hasten the decline of a peaceful and
productive society.
The story in the Book of Mormon and the other standard works clearly
link the negative influence of such counter-productive education to
lawyers, judges, and various characters that espouse doctrines like:
SHEREM
5th
Century b. c.
NEHOR
(and the ORDER OF) 91 b. c.
AMMONIHAH
(CITY OF) 82 b. c.
ZEEZROM 82
b. c.
KORIHOR 74
b. c.
ZORAM 74
b. c.
SEEZORAM
(CHIEF JUDGE) 26 b. c.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson has explained:
“Moral relativism . . . is
the enemy of conscience. By moral relativism, I mean the belief that
no moral claim can be verified as objectively true or false or better
than any other. What results [from this context] is a chaos of truth
claims, a quagmire in which no one has moral confidence to act. This
may sound liberating to individuals, but a society can't run on it.
Conscience requires faith in fixed moral concepts and values such as
justice, mercy, love, honesty, generosity, self-restraint, and
integrity that exist apart from personal preference.” (Deseret
News June 18, 2017 B4)
Story B
The Modern
Pattern of the Two Paths
Contemporary learning and
teaching, at home or elsewhere, has emerged from the long history of
divisive choices involving rejection and substitution.
Each generation is exposed to inherited opportunities and traditions
of previous generations—often referred to as “traditions of the
fathers.” The volume of history and the nature of events that has
produced false religion, secular humanism [Agnostics],
and atheistic philosophies seems endless. Numerous tribes,
institutions, and nations have produced counterfeit claims of
thrones, kingdoms, principalities, powers, dominions and all manner
of fraudulent and usually temporary authority. Apostasy, agnosticism,
relativism, atheism, and seemingly endless similar forms of mingling
fragments of truth with an abundance of error; all prone claims of
power and influence usually driven by greed. It is a brief account of
what is obvious and indicative of an ongoing story. It is also highly
relevant to nearly everyone's life whether or not we are aware.
Libraries bulge with
thousands of articles, hundreds of books, and the internet is an open
door to seemingly endless forms of explanations to some aspects of
efforts to explain: How did human life originate? What is
is the nature of humanity? And, What is the destiny of the
individual personality? These data banks are largely devoid of
any consensus or unity on these matters for any given period of time.
They document the rise and fall of nearly all cultures and
civilizations that attempted to prevail. It didn't work for Babylon,
Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, or Rome. Whatever promises might have
been offered, sustainable results crumbled and decayed. There were
dark ages, new offerings, struggles, forms of enlightenment,
renaissances, and delusions. Human substitutions for divine
standards, doctrines, ordinances, principles, and values, multiplied,
waned and evaporated. Man-made ethics [precepts]
could not replace divine moral directives in supporting
sustainable human social order; personal freedom did not prevail over
time. What seems self-evident is that 'Camelot' cannot exist without
positive individual spirituality founded on divinely revealed
moral standards.
Some
devoted individuals have attempted to survey societies and
civilizations and report these to the general public. Arnold J.
Toynbee’s 12-volume A Study of History (1934–1961) and
Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization (11
volumes, 1935–1975) are two well-known examples. At mid-20th
century, Edward D. Myers headed an effort based on Toynbee’s work
to explain “how the various civilizations handed down from one
generation to the next the accumulated experience, knowledge, and
wisdom of the human race.” His book Education in the Perspective
of History was published in 1960. It examines nineteen
civilizations and offers commentary on the role of education in these
societies that pertained to their (1) origins, (2) growth and
development, (3) “times of trouble,” and (4) ultimate demise or
disintegration. Reference to these and other sources simply
acknowledge that the topic has been a subject of significant
interest. Western culture has invested considerable effort in trying
to understand itself. The search goes on but the results remain the
same.
A Snapshot
of There and Then to Our Here and Now
The almost immediate
rejection of the gift of truth and light was soon manifest. As the
gift faded away, False Religion, Secular Humanism [Agnosticism], and
Atheism filled the vacuum. The powers of Apostasy, Dark Ages,
Reformation, Renaissance's and an Enlightenment proceeded to play out
their parts in preparation for a final Restoration of Heavenly
Father's Plan of Happiness for his children. Inspired individuals
nurtured the establishment of a foundation for freedom that would
tolerate believers in divine Providence and allow new truth and light
to be manifest. The so-called American experiment offered a better
way. Benjamin Franklin, one of those founders answered the central
question at the close of the Constitutional Convention of
1787; Franklin was asked by a lady, “Well, Doctor, what have we
got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied,“A
republic . . . if you can keep it.” Looking back and
considering current events the guarded response was well stated.
A simple example, created
by a Jr. High School civics teacher, illustrates one way this can be
accomplished. A teacher could include the following exercise in his
student assignments: Answer the following questions by using direct
quotes from the Declaration of Independence. The founders of
this great nation, in a promised land, had it right when they
declared this government had an inspired origin.
Q. Where does the Declaration of Independence say
mankind receives their rights?
A.
“They are endowed by their Creator.”
Q. What rights do we receive from the Creator?
A. “Certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Q. Why do we have governments?
A. “To secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men.”
Q. Where do governments derive their just powers?
A. “From the consent of the governed.”
Q. From whence does mankind gain title to a “separate
and equal station?”
A. “The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God
entitle them.”
Q. When the people alter or abolish their government to
whom should they appeal?
A. “The Supreme Judge of the World.”
Q. What should be made clear?
A. “Our intentions.”
Q. When should people rebel?
A. “Whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter
or abolish it.”
Q. On whom should the people rely for protection when
they change their form of government?
A. “With a firm reliance on the protection of
divine Providence.”
The context now
controlling modern public and higher education institutions do not
support or encourage these kinds of assignments. Ignoring original
documents and their contextual meanings is an example of historical
revisionism—in school curriculum and the law.
Ignore or change it is in fashion.
How things got to be like
they are now in America, Europe, and elsewhere can be simply
sketched. It is easy to understand a snapshot or two, of a movement
that occurred in the United States between 1880 and 1920. It is easy
to find discussions of this transition from a general, publicly
embraced, world view that included a place for both believers and
non-believers. After the turn of the century the non-believers view
of the world changed—just like it had in the culture and city of
Ammonihah two thousand years before. In the modern case, one can see
the shift in more detail. Changes in basic assumptions, textbooks,
and the intellectual centers of the nation were dramatic. As
one observer has noted, our cathedrals of learning became
citadels of secularism. References to a Heavenly Father and his
Son were banned from public schools. President David O. McKay said
this:
By making that [prayer] unconstitutional, the Supreme
Court of the United States severs the connecting cord between the
public schools of the United States and source of divine
intelligence, the Creator himself, in whom we live and have our
being.” (Relief Society
Magazine vol. 49, no. 12, pp. 877-878. Dec.
1962)
This action by the Highest
US National Court was in support of changes that had been underway
for a century or more. The chart below illustrates how assumptions
changed in academia between 1880 -1920. New answers to old questions
replaced the old answers in our national culture, textbooks,
laboratories, and classrooms. The new assumptions and answers had one
thing in common. There was no reason to make any reference to divine
intervention or information. God and the Spiritual dimension of
humankind was irrelevant or non existent. The new premise was
expressed in the form of a secular hypothesis: “The
more you learn about the secular the less need there is for the
spiritual.”
Selected
Examples of Prominent Emerging Secular Influences
|
Acknowledges God's Role
|
Discipline
|
Ignores or Denies God's Role
|
|
Francis
Bacon (1620)
Novum
Organum
A study of God's works do not
replace God's words or revelation.
|
Science
|
Paul Henrich
Dietrich d'Holbach (1770)
Systeme
de la Nature
The ignorant
layman may believe in a personal God but not a scientist.
|
|
Isaac Newton
(1686)
Mathematical
Principles of Natural Philosophy
I wrote my
treatise to support the belief in a Deity.
|
Astronomy
|
Pierre Simon
Laplace (1829)
Celestial
Mechanics
Concerning a
belief in God, “I had no need of that hypothesis.”
|
|
James Hutton
(1788)
Theory of
the Earth
Observed
order in Nature suggests a more perfect Author of nature than man
finds in himself.
|
Geology
|
Sir Charles
Lyell (1830)
Principles
of Geology
God is not a
necessary hypothesis in Geology
|
|
William
Paley (1821)
Natural
Theology
There must be a
God because of the intricate design of nature.
|
Biology
|
Charles
Darwin (1859)
The
Origin of Species
The
intricacy of nature can be fully explained without the
intervention of God
|
|
George
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1830)
Introduction
to the Philosophy of History
History is
the study of God carrying out his plan for man.
|
History
|
Karl Marx
(1847)
The
Communist Manifesto
The notion
of God can be banished from the study of history; it is only a
revelation of man.
|
|
Friedrich
Froebel (1826)
The
Education of Man
The
life-work of man is to find unity with himself and God.
|
Education
|
John Dewey
(1916)
Democracy
and Education
Man is endowed
by nature to transform the ideal to the real; this is what I
would call “God.”
|
Understanding the
intricacies of the physical world was soon to dominate all aspects of
legitimate, popular schooling. The only boundaries are the ones we
are now pushing to expand or remove. All disciplines were affected,
some would say infected, but there were compelling reasons to pay
attention to new discoveries in material matters. Improvements in our
physical lives was very compelling. However, what was being set aside
and lost received less and less attention. This chart indicates the
how wide the movement was and where it was headed.
New
Answers to Old Questions
Neil J Flinders
B/D
|
Prominent Theorist
|
Discipline
|
Basic Question
|
Previous Style Answer
|
New Style Answer
|
|
1748
1832
|
Jeremy
Bentham
|
Law
|
What makes a good law?
|
Whatever is in harmony
with God’s commands.
|
Whatever makes most people
the happiest. (Bentham)
|
|
1809
1882
|
Charles
Darwin
|
Biology
|
Where did man come from?
|
Man was created by God.
|
Man evolved from lower
life forms. (Darwin)
|
|
1818
1883
|
Karl
Marx
|
Economics
|
How should the fruits of
labor be distributed?
|
Reward
should be distributed according to responsibility.
|
Reward should be
distributed according to need. (Marx)
|
|
1856
1939
|
Sigmund
Freud
|
Medicine
|
What causes unusual
physical illnesses?
|
Psychosomatic behavior is
the result of good or evil spiritual influences.
|
Psychosomatic
behavior is shaped by the conflict inherent in the sexual drive or
chemical imbalances. (Freud)
|
|
1859
1952
|
John
Dewey
|
Education
|
What is education?
|
Education
is the process of influencing growth and development.
|
Education is growth and
development. (Dewey)
|
|
1878
1958
|
John
Watson
|
Psychology
|
Why do people behave as
they do?
|
Human behavior is the
result of choices initiated by the spirit or soul within a person.
|
Human
behavior is the result of reactions to stimulus exerted upon a
person by the external environment or the genetic code. (Watson)
|
|
1884
1976
|
Rudolph
Bultmann
|
Theology
|
What is true in the Bible?
|
The content of the Bible
is literal and true.
|
The
content of the Bible that can be verified by science is factual;
the rest is mythical. (Bultmann)
|
These
changes in basic beliefs, as indicated above, frames our Here and Now
There
Is a Brighter Future
But
that topic is another chapter in an ongoing Saga
A good
introduction could be the Prophet Joseph's statement:
Joseph
Smith's Prophecy Regarding This Last Dispensation:
“The
servants of God will not have gone over the nations of the Gentiles,
with a warning voice, until the destroying angel will commence to
waste the inhabitants of the earth, and as the prophet [Isaiah] has
said, ‘It shall be a vexation to hear the report.’”– (Isaiah
28:18-21) “I
speak thus, because I feel for my fellow men; I do it in the name of
the Lord, being moved upon by the Holy Spirit. . . .Oh, that I could
snatch them from the vortex of misery, into which I behold them
plunging themselves, by their sins; that I might be enabled by the
warning voice, to be an instrument of bringing them to unfeigned
repentance, that they might have faith to stand in the evil day.” –
(TPJS
p. 87. [1835])
Joseph
also Declared:
“The
ancient prophets declared that in the last days the God of Heaven
should set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed . . . I
calculate to be one of the instruments . . . I intend to lay a
foundation that will revolutionize the whole world.” (TPJS
pp. 365-366)
The
Pattern will be constant:
|
The prophet Joseph Smith [1835]
taught:
|
Elder M. Russell Ballard now
teaches:
|
|
•Hear It
•Receive It
•Gather Together
•Sustain and
Defend It
–(TPJS
pp. 86-89)
|
•Know It
•Embrace It
•Participate in It
•Defend It
–Church News March 6, 2016. p. 5
|
The
emphasis originating with the Restoration has not changed.
Elder
Ballard recently
emphasized
the importance of teaching context:
“More
than at anytime in our history, . . . [we] need to be blessed by
learning doctrinal or historical context by
study and faith accompanied by pure testimony so [we] can experience
a mature and lasting conversion to the gospel and a life-long
commitment to Jesus Christ. . . . Church leaders today are
fully conscious of the unlimited access to information and we are
making extraordinary efforts to provide accurate context and
understanding of the teachings of the Restoration.”–
(Church News
March 6, 2016. pp 5, 11)
Pursuing
the task of sharing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has
been the blessing of every dispensation. As the Prophet Joel
declared: “Tell your children of it, and let your children tell
their children, and their children another generation.” (Joel
1:3) It is now, as it has been always, a matter of
understanding, embracing and sharing the correct context
and making sure the proper connections for
eternal relationships. It is critical to recognize there was and is a
powerful bond between the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the
Spirit and Keys of Elijah. These tandem missions drive the Lord's
work in these latter-days. Joseph said: “We don't ask any people
to throw away any good they have got; we only ask them to come and
get more. What if all the world should embrace this gospel? They
would then see eye to eye, and the blessings of God would be poured
out upon the people, which is the desire of my whole soul.” (HC
5:259). It is no accident that the second section of the
Doctrine and Covenants, following the first section [which was
dictated by the Savior himself] is Jehovah's declaration that: [See
the Quote Below the Chart]
Behold,
I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to
the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their
fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted
at his coming. (D&C
2:1-3)
