I believe in an immortal soul – and that things we do in
this life shape us for eternity. And, if I feel like sinning (any sin…there are
quite a lot of them), is separating us from where we’d really want to go if we
understood how all the pieces fit together.
A girl in my ward today said, in discussing obedience, that if
we don’t understand the law we’re given, we probably don’t understand the
consequences of breaking that law – so God is protecting us from a really hard
experience.
Lately, friends or friends-of-friends, who profess to have
the same beliefs I do, have been saying things that I don’t agree with. Two
friends, in particular, parrot the common “it doesn’t hurt you, so why do you
care” argument – that can be hard to get people to see why I care. Let me see
if I can explain…
Say someone was blindfolded and couldn’t see they were
walking towards a cliff. Why would you care? It doesn’t hurt you. What if they
like being blindfolded while walking in precarious areas? Who are you to tell
them how to live their life? It’s a dumb example and I can hear criticism
already. But at the same time, I kind of like it.
Let me try again. Everyone is blind and in a forest on the
edge of a cliff – we know if we walk in a general direction, we will find a
bridge that will take us to a great hospital so we can see again. But there is
only one bridge, across the dangerous chasm. Well, a few people have made it to
the bridge – were healed of blindness, and then tried to direct people the
hospital. But why should the people who can’t see trust the ones that can?
Especially when they’ve been led into rocks and trees, and had a lot of painful
experiences because of well-intentioned people, it is incredibly hard to trust.
Eventually, some people just make the best of their blindness (it’s definitely
possible), and some live on the edge. It seems to me that there are infinite
ways a person can fall off the cliff – and so naturally, those who know how to
help, want to help people really reach their potential. Why would we care? Because we value human
life, potential for joy, and improvement.
So – all that is really left for us to do is to figure out
if the people who are talking to us, offering to be guides, truly can see –
truly care – and truly are called of God. And then, if we can find them, and we
actually listen to them, we can help others stay away from cliffs – and sins –
so they too can find a way to see more clearly. I don’t know if that makes
sense. But that’s what I was thinking about today.
Once we can see that, we want to help others – even if all
we know is there is a cliff around here somewhere, and another trusted person has
told me what to stay away from, I’m going to do what I can to help you too.
