"And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.
Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other."
2 Nephi 2:15-16
So, this is cool... I think it is interesting that in the garden of Eden, the tree that provided you with eternal life produced bitter fruit and the one that you were forbidden to eat of was sweet... maybe choosing the bad thing has always had better immediate benefits. :) Which is all part of the plan, right? In the second verse it tells us that we wouldn't be able to act for ourselves unless both were enticing. If God put bad stuff down here in crappy packaging, where would the choice be? We'd just go... the good, of course. So, God allows it to be glamorized, to appear romantic or sometimes better than we ever dreamed anything could be... so that it is a real choice. So that we really have to learn why good is good and bad is bad on a deeper level than the packaging.
Sometimes the best thing is bitter to us at first, the taste... the choice... because we see what we aren't choosing, as well as what we are. But the good things really are good underneath, and the bad things are hollow. Like the candy coating of an MnM and then there is no chocolate filling... in fact, the center might be something really disgusting. All the packaging in the world can't change the true nature of our choices. We just have to look very carefully, and listen to God, who is wiser than we are.
Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other."
2 Nephi 2:15-16
So, this is cool... I think it is interesting that in the garden of Eden, the tree that provided you with eternal life produced bitter fruit and the one that you were forbidden to eat of was sweet... maybe choosing the bad thing has always had better immediate benefits. :) Which is all part of the plan, right? In the second verse it tells us that we wouldn't be able to act for ourselves unless both were enticing. If God put bad stuff down here in crappy packaging, where would the choice be? We'd just go... the good, of course. So, God allows it to be glamorized, to appear romantic or sometimes better than we ever dreamed anything could be... so that it is a real choice. So that we really have to learn why good is good and bad is bad on a deeper level than the packaging.
Sometimes the best thing is bitter to us at first, the taste... the choice... because we see what we aren't choosing, as well as what we are. But the good things really are good underneath, and the bad things are hollow. Like the candy coating of an MnM and then there is no chocolate filling... in fact, the center might be something really disgusting. All the packaging in the world can't change the true nature of our choices. We just have to look very carefully, and listen to God, who is wiser than we are.
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