The Line Between Life and Death

We seem to have a clear understanding of how bad it is to kill others, but we neglect to comprehend that causing others damage brings them closer to death and that if we do not repair the damage we cause to others, then we are slowly killing them.

If murder is considered harming someone 100%, then harming someone to a lesser degree is moving them closer to death and moving us closer to murder.

Remember the story of the poor widow who offered her two mites at the temple as compared with the gifts offered by the rich? 

“And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.

3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:

4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.” – Luke 21:1-4

Two mites was financially insignificant to most people, but because the widow was so poor, she had given a significant portion of all she owned as compared to the rich who had given. She had given more than the rich because it was a greater sacrifice for her to give two mites than for the rich to give their financially significant gifts which had little or no impact on their living.

If you were to steal from the widow, you might actually cause her death because she had nothing and what you stole was required for her living. The line between life and death financially for her was very thin to the point that even a small theft could mean disaster.

 

Causing Others to Suffer for Us

Clearly murdering to get gain is immoral. In the same way, when we harm others physically, we are causing damage that brings them closer to death. causing harm to others to get gain is also immoral. 

When we started the process of atonement, we were selfish and willing to allow others including the innocent to suffer for us or on our behalf. Sometimes we did it to save ourselves from the punishment we earned by our actions. Sometimes it was to avoid natural consequences of our actions or even just to save ourselves from dealing with problems.

In any case, those who shift their problems to others without full disclosure and fair compensation are acting immorally and they have missed the entire point of the atonement.  

Here are some of the ways in which we allowed the innocent to suffer for us:

• We lie, cheat and steal
• We secretly sell or give our problems to others

Lying, Cheating and Stealing

When we lie, cheat and steal, we are attempting to avoid negative consequences or secure a beneficial outcome for ourselves at the expense of others. When we avoid the negative consequences of our actions, it means that someone else must suffer for our actions.

Say for example you visited a friend’s house and accidentally knocked over a lamp and broke it when no one was looking. Naturally you didn’t mean to break the lamp and you wanted to avoid the consequences. If you lied and said that the dog knocked it over, then you avoided the consequences but caused the innocent to suffer for you. The dog might not be allowed back in the house and so suffered on your behalf. The dog couldn’t replace the lamp so blaming the dog means that your friend has to replace the lamp with their own time and money meaning that you also caused them to suffer so that you could avoid the consequences of your actions. You stole their money and their time to fix your problem. You allowed the innocent to suffer for the guilty.

Selling our Problems

Let’s say you owned a car, business or property and knew that it had significant problems. Problems that you didn’t want to deal with so you decided that you wanted to sell it. You also knew that the value of the car, business or property would be significantly lower if the buyer knew about the issues, so you planned to sell it without divulging the issues to get a better price. You wanted to sell your problems to others. This is yet another way in which we cause the innocent to suffer on our behalf. 

This is true even if we were not guilty of negligence by not taking proper care of things. If we just had a run of bad luck and something out of our control caused a problem for us, if we try to sell our problems to others without open and honest disclosure, we are attempting to pass the buck and allow someone else to suffer in place of us. We remind you, whatsoever you do to the least of these you have done to Christ.  

Any time we attempt to avoid the challenges of life or our own actions by placing them on others, we are attempting to benefit from the suffering of the innocent.

While this is not as bad as killing to get gain, it is taking advantage of others and causing others to suffer on your behalf which we must learn to avoid. Doing so is contrary to the path and principle of the atonement.

It is essential that we understand this principle or we cannot create Zion or bring heaven on earth. The principle is that we do whatever we can to prevent others from being harmed by us and our actions. This principle needs to be applied to the point that we stop finding ways to get out of bearing our own cross by placing it on the shoulders of others.

“And he that will not take up his cross and follow me, and keep my commandments, the same shall not be saved.” – D&C 56:2

Jesus taught that to hate someone in your heart makes you a murderer in your heart, even though you did not actually kill them. Similarly, harming others to get gain is morally equal to killing them to get gain. This is true whether they are individuals, small businesses or even large corporations. We need to take it upon ourselves to be just in all our dealings.