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Home » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints » Current Church Doctrine » Knowledge enough to sin (When do we know enough to be accountable to knowledge?)
Re: Knowledge enough to sin [message #531 is a reply to message #530] Thu, 21 June 2012 19:07 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Dragon is currently offline  Dragon
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Registered: June 2010
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Quote:
JulesGP
SO, when can we move from being commanded in all things within the church culture and having the "follow the prophet because the thinking has been done for us" mentality, and acting upon what we KNOW is right - even though it's not the way the church may expect us to do things?


There is a progression of knowledge, which starts with a willingness to believe. If we experiment upon the word, we can believe. Then, as we receive fruits from our experiment, we know. It isn't the only path to knowing, though. Sometimes we believe without being shown, and have our beliefs validated by the Holy Ghost. This also leads to knowledge.

When we do not understand the consequences of something, but KNOW God has commanded us to do or avoid something, we are motivated by fear or devotion. Devotion can be mistaken for love, and it can grow into love. As our knowledge grows, we can follow the law because we want the consequences of following God's commands. The fear of punishment becomes less important than the desire to avoid the negative consequences and seek out the positive consequences.

Why then is there a law written at all? Why is there a punishment set for breaking the speed limit? Why is there a speed limit at all? When I first started driving, I hated being confined by speed limits. I received a few tickets, but kept ignoring the rules, believing I was acting under a higher law. Now I understand speed limits better, and stay within the bounds the law has set. This is because of increased experience, witnessing accidents, and narrowly avoiding others.

If we focus on punishments, we are following the lower law. If we seek the consequences of righteousness, we are following the higher law. It is therefore, rare for the higher law to conflict with the lower law. It happened with Nephi when he slew Laban. It happened when Joshua went to war against Jericho. In both instances, they broke the lower law of Thou Shalt Not Kill, to follow the higher law of saving a nation from dwindling in ignorance and disbelief, or purging the promised land of those who had proven they did not deserve it. In both cases, God superseded the lower law with a higher one.

When we have enough knowledge of the consequences to understand when to violate the letter of the lower law, we are living the higher law. We move from worrying about external punishment to accepting the consequences of our actions. A perfect example of worrying about external punishment is the Secret Service who went to a foreign country, and suddenly thought they could get away with things which were legal in that country, but not in ours. It became a national scandal, because they were ruled by external punishments only.

I hope I've answered the question.

- Dragon

- Dragon

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