CONTEMPLATIONS ON "GOSPEL PRINCIPLES" LESSON 35

On Sunday 19 June, my high priests’ priesthood group discussed lesson 35 of Gospel Principles: obedience.

The instructor did bring up the question of blind obedience; the high priests dutifully danced around the positive aspects of doing what they are told to do. There is a big irony in The Worldly Mocking the Saints of God for blind obedience. Everyone will at one time or another believe something or do something with no factual evidence at all to back up the belief or action. The big question in our lives is What WILL we do without factual evidence?

The same Worldly types who mock the Saints of God for obedience will gladly and blindly do whatever their bosses tell them to do if the bosses promise big cash payments. Wall Street in the last decade was this particular scenario in action. Who exactly among the Moneyed Classes really understood negative derivatives speculation? However, the Wall Street geniuses told their minions there was money to be made, and off we went to the poor house.

One of the more interesting lines in the obedience lesson was this observation from the text.

“It is better to obey the commandments because we fear punishment than not to obey them at all. But we will be much happier if we obey God because we love Him and want to obey Him.”

This thought runs completely counter to the way much if not most of politics on this planet works. A population self-motivated by inner strength of purpose, high ideals, and emotions greater and purer than hate and fear would constitute the last thing despots the likes of Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot -- to say nothing of all the little tin Gods we see and hear so much of these days on cable news – really and truly want. If people become self-motivated, they could start taking independent actions independent of The Beloved Leader, and no despot wants that possibility. Therefore, today as always most governments revolve around One Great Ego and Fearing One Great Ego.

I find it interesting that the lesson writes the thought

“It is better to obey the commandments because we fear punishment than not to obey them at all. But we will be much happier if we obey God because we love Him and want to obey Him.”

Instead of

We would be better off if we obey commandments not because we fear punishment but because we see and understand the good and safety in obeying commandments.

Apparently even God prefers people who will worship him and ask his advise on everything instead of people who are self motivated by higher ideals.

The entire lesson 35 did revolve around personal revelation and doing what God wants us to do. In reality, the typical LDS priesthood holder has to deal most often with obedience in terms of what his priesthood leader wants him to do. If God through the spirit tells a priesthood holder to do this, and his human priesthood leader says do that, obviously God holds seniority in the issue. We will see how often this did happen in day to day life.