Chapter 11: The Value of God’s Instruction

Most people believe that sin is a problem of capacity. They believe that sin is the manifestation of a fault in capability. In reality, sin is a fault of desire.

In this life, God gives us the power to choose.

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.
28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;
29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom. (2 Nephi 2)

Obedience to God is a choice. In this world, we can either choose good or evil. Those who choose good will be saved. Those who choose evil will not.

11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
13 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, _they chose evil works rather than good_; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this _because of their own iniquity_, being led captive by the will of the devil.
14 Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection. (Alma 40)

Most Christians do not actually desire to obey God. They are interested in obeying God, but they allow their desire for other things to dictate their sinful behavior. Desire isn’t the same as interest!

All willful sin is committed because the sinner wanted to sin more than they wanted to obey God. Many people fail to repent because they think they can overcome sin through sheer will.

The key to desire is not willpower. It is knowledge. Your beliefs are what dictate your desires, and your choice to adhere to your beliefs—to have faith in them—is the decision point determining whether or not you will sin.

The question of sin is not whether you will to sin or not, but rather why you desire what you do. What do you believe will happen or not happen due to the paths of action open to you? What do you desire, and why?

While we can choose to behave in a way that is contrary to our beliefs, most sin is tempting only because we do not yet possess the information that sufficiently illustrates the sinful choice to be suboptimal compared to the alternative.

Often, the key to conquering a particular temptation lies in trusting God enough for him to reveal to you the awful truth that shows that what you desire is not worth desiring. This often includes the violent revision of your beliefs about deep-seated aspects of who you think you are or what you think of others. This is why remaining in sin is preferable for those who love anything more than truth. The truth will set you free, but it will hurt to the degree that you cling to what you must let go of in order to embrace it.

God is the source of what you desire, no matter what you desire

Everyone desires something. All intentional human action is pursued under the hope of a certain outcome.

The prevailing opinion is that what God wants is only of import to those who desire what organized religions claim to provide. What organized religions provide, however, is not appealing to all. Many of peoples’ actual desires are not featured among the claims of organized religions, and even when there is overlap, the credibility of organized religions is strained by their tendency to overpromise and underdeliver.

The surprising truth is that all desires lead to God and, perhaps even more surprisingly, that God leads to the fulfillment of all desires. Even what seem the basest of desires can only be realized through true mappings of cause and effect, of which God is the author, arbiter, and agent. If anyone will obtain anything, it will be by living the law God has appointed for receiving it.¹

Many outwardly dismiss the utility of desires that are less than what they imagine to be ideal, though mostly only when discussing the desires of others, not their own. However, the process of acquiring greater truth is a pathway comprising the continuous discovery of the limits in what is already believed and replacing it with something better. The best way to do that often includes sincerely seeking the fulfillment of what a person desires, no matter how imperfect the object of that desire. In realizing the limits of what they desire, they will be more persuaded of the value of what they previously dismissed when it was offered or lacked the reasons to search for themselves.

Most religionists would balk at the notion that anything they already believe in could be regarded as “evil.” And yet, in the process of pursuing an ideal life, there is no difference in how we ought to respond when something better is discovered, no matter whether what we believed before was something religions teach is evil or something religions teach is good.

We have been designed with sophisticated capabilities for searching out truth. Every person has some degree of inherent intelligence, and each of us is capable of advancing our latent intelligence through effort and honest inquiry. We have time and talents with which to search things out—to drink deeply from the experiences of life and to reflect deeply about what we observe.

All such introspection will eventually, if not curtailed by dishonesty or fear, lead a person to God. While his existence might not be immediately evident,² those who dare to face the hard questions and experiences in life will eventually perceive his fingerprints on everything they have ever observed or experienced here.

There is no need to delay this realization. While many false witnesses of God exist—supposed testimonies of those who have not known him, do not obey him, and are not like him—he has arranged for sufficient numbers of true witnesses so as to make it possible to find them, in spite of the noise, for all those who care to look.

Searching out all good things will lead a person to God, and searching out God will lead a person to all good things:

`[I exhort] all men to come unto God...in all things which are good; for there is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord; and that which is evil cometh from the devil. (Omni 1:25)`

When it comes to searching out the limits of present beliefs and the discovery of greater beliefs, the most direct pathway, and the outcome of all such pathways, is God.

God’s perfect knowledge

God created everything we know of. He is intimately acquainted with the details of every aspect of his creation:

O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it. (2 Nephi 9:20)

He knows the past, present, and future as clearly as we know the traversal of the hands of a clock:

...the Lord knoweth all things which are to come.... (Words of Mormon 1:7)

We, on the other hand, do not know what God knows. Our understanding is incomparably limited compared to his:

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55)

All sin is founded on false beliefs of cause and effect. Either the cause does not lead to the effect, there are more causes required, there are different causes required, or there are better options either in cause or effect for greater happiness.

The limitations in our understanding exceed our lack of knowledge, including limited perception of God’s instructions to us, limited understanding of what we do perceive, limited obedience to what he has already told us, and limited willingness to allow him to work through the circumstances of our lives, including the people we have access to. Each of these limitations limit what instructions God can give us and how much we will make use of what is given. These limitations can be summarized as a lack of trust in God.

As you limit your trust in God, he will only be able to guide you to the best outcomes subject to the paths you are willing to travel or the outcomes you are capable of understanding. In either case, your outcomes will be unimaginably less than what you could have had.

When you reach full trust in God, God will be able to guide you in paths you do not know to outcomes that are better than you know to seek:

`And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will. (Words of Mormon 1:7)`[TODO]

This is not to say that those with full trust in God are expected to exercise so-called blind faith. Faith without reasons is not faith at all. Rather, deep faith consists in trusting that God has a plan which consists of a path you do not know to an outcome better than you know to seek while operating step-by-step in what you have sufficient light to see. It is what gives you hope that transcends immediate perceptions of value that would otherwise limit you to what you already understand.

God knows all things. He’s aware of the full impact of present character flaws in all situations, not just the ones presently upon you. A cracked dam can function fine until a flood occurs. If you will trust him, God will make you strong enough to withstand all possibilities in life, not just the ones you are presently aware of.

God has all power

Power is capability to obtain desired outcomes. It is the possession of the knowledge of the causes that lead to the desired effects coupled with the willingness and capability to accomplish them.

God has power to obtain anything that can be obtained. He has all power to lead you to all outcomes that can be received.

God is not a magician. He operates according to law, or according to relationships of cause and effect. God’s power is limited to the interface between his character and the laws of reality:

`...[He] hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment. (Moses 6:61)`[TODO]

Because God’s power is circumscribed by his law, seeking his power is synonymous with seeking his instruction. God has promised to give you what you ask for, but he can’t do it in all ways. It is hardly ever the case that the effectual path to what you say you want lies in the path you are willing to endure to receive it. You will almost always be required to either choose the outcomes you desire, or the path you are willing to endure to receive them. Most often, in seeking God for what we desire, what we are really seeking is either new reasons for our desire that are strong enough to endure what we will not yet suffer for its obtainment or the revelation of a new desire that will merit its cost.

Seeking something from God must include seeking the instructions on the choices you must make and actions you must take to obtain what you seek. If you desire something from God, you ought to seek to know and act according to the causes that produce the effect—according to the law God appointed before the creation of the world.

God alone can direct you towards the greatest outcomes.

God is all loving

The only motive God has in all he does is to benefit all people:

He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. (2 Nephi 26:24)

Everything he does is perfectly calculated for the maximum benefit of all.

The Lord said:

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7)

You can trust that anything he instructs you to do will lead you to the best possible outcome—even if it is an outcome that you lack the wisdom, as yet, to know about or desire.

In conclusion

God is the source of everything we desire and everything we should desire. He knows everything that will happen, since the beginning, and has all power to arrange circumstances:

But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen. (1 Nephi 9:6)

It is a correct understanding of God’s knowledge, love, and power that caused the ancients to advise that you “come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him” (Omni 1:26), “come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you” (Jacob 6:5), and “render to him all that you have and are.” (Mosiah 2:34)

We can trust in him completely by seeking him with our whole soul, knowing that he has the power, knowledge, and love to lead us to what we seek.

As an ancient prophet said:

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. (Mosiah 4:9)

No matter what you desire, the optimal way to obtain as much of it as is possible is to seek God with all your heart and to follow every instruction you receive from him.