"Now, if there was no law given—if a man murdered he should die—would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?
And also, if there was no law given against sin men would not be afraid to sin.
And if there was no law given, if men sinned what could justice do, or mercy either, for they would have no claim upon the creature?
But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God."
Alma 42:19-22
Lots of good stuff in this chapter. I liked this part because it seems to be a really good, basic explanation of mercy, justice, and repentance, and the reason that we need all three.
I think that we all wonder sometimes why God has certain rules. Some seem obvious perhaps, but depending on our weaknesses or our experiences in life, others might seem confusing. And sometimes we start getting the attitude that we are only willing to follow the ones that we understand. In many cases though, if we wait until then, we've already crossed a line and caused ourselves consequences that we never wanted. And we learn, too late, why the rule was there in the first place. God doesn't make rules to control us. He makes rules because he knows more than us and he is trying to protect us. It's a concept that is pretty easy to understand if we imagine ourselves reading a book or watching a television show where we know the characters really well. We watch them make mistakes, and we see them headed for huge problems. How many of us have never wanted to scream "wait, stop!" to a character, or when we see them being blackmailed or pressured, wanted to encourage them to just tell the truth, knowing that it would make things better? We aren't a television show to God in the sense of him enjoying our tragedy... he doesn't at all. But in the sense of him knowing our characters, and what is coming, and wanting to tell us to stop or wait or tell the truth... it is like that. He knows us, and warns us, partially through his rules.
All of us sometimes have a hard time wrapping our heads around trusting God and obeying even when we don't understand why, but if we instead of not obeying until we understand, let's obey him unless we learn that we should do otherwise. God is cool enough, even when we are just first getting to know him, that he deserves our default trust. And if we give it to him, he can protect us from SO much heartache and pain. Not all. We still have to learn. But a lot... all the parts that we cause ourselves, which is plenty, and maybe most. Today, let's trust God by default, and let's repent and allow mercy to claim us. :) God is never going to cease to be God, so let's get on the right side of his law.
And also, if there was no law given against sin men would not be afraid to sin.
And if there was no law given, if men sinned what could justice do, or mercy either, for they would have no claim upon the creature?
But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God."
Alma 42:19-22
Lots of good stuff in this chapter. I liked this part because it seems to be a really good, basic explanation of mercy, justice, and repentance, and the reason that we need all three.
I think that we all wonder sometimes why God has certain rules. Some seem obvious perhaps, but depending on our weaknesses or our experiences in life, others might seem confusing. And sometimes we start getting the attitude that we are only willing to follow the ones that we understand. In many cases though, if we wait until then, we've already crossed a line and caused ourselves consequences that we never wanted. And we learn, too late, why the rule was there in the first place. God doesn't make rules to control us. He makes rules because he knows more than us and he is trying to protect us. It's a concept that is pretty easy to understand if we imagine ourselves reading a book or watching a television show where we know the characters really well. We watch them make mistakes, and we see them headed for huge problems. How many of us have never wanted to scream "wait, stop!" to a character, or when we see them being blackmailed or pressured, wanted to encourage them to just tell the truth, knowing that it would make things better? We aren't a television show to God in the sense of him enjoying our tragedy... he doesn't at all. But in the sense of him knowing our characters, and what is coming, and wanting to tell us to stop or wait or tell the truth... it is like that. He knows us, and warns us, partially through his rules.
All of us sometimes have a hard time wrapping our heads around trusting God and obeying even when we don't understand why, but if we instead of not obeying until we understand, let's obey him unless we learn that we should do otherwise. God is cool enough, even when we are just first getting to know him, that he deserves our default trust. And if we give it to him, he can protect us from SO much heartache and pain. Not all. We still have to learn. But a lot... all the parts that we cause ourselves, which is plenty, and maybe most. Today, let's trust God by default, and let's repent and allow mercy to claim us. :) God is never going to cease to be God, so let's get on the right side of his law.
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