"And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another; that they should not commit whoredoms; and that they should do none of these things; for whoso doeth them shall perish.
For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."
2 Nephi 26:32-33
It says here that none of that whole list of iniquities comes of the Lord, which gives us at least a small idea of what Heaven, or a Zion society, would be like. And even the obvious ones, like no murder, become mind-blowing when you think of a whole society without that... how would the media and the news be different even just with no murder, let alone some of the rest of the list. I was just sitting here trying to think of entertainment without any of that, and I came up with a couple of video games and board games where you collect, trade, and build, or cooperate to solve a problem rather than fight, but it's a challenge to think of many things that don't have anything from the "bad" list.
I think the concern comes up sometimes that taking away all of those things that aren't of the Lord would make life boring, and yet I don't think that we're imagining very well if we can't think of interesting things that don't involve things from the list. Admittedly, a lot of books and television would be plotless in a society where those bad things didn't happen, but on the other hand, think of the amazing things that we could accomplish and build and become without bad things holding us back. What could we learn and imagine without dishonesty, envy, or malice for instance?
Today, let's work on thinking outside the list of bad things here, and if we can't imagine a world without those things, then let's start visualizing it, so we know where we're going, and why we want to be there. :)
For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."
2 Nephi 26:32-33
It says here that none of that whole list of iniquities comes of the Lord, which gives us at least a small idea of what Heaven, or a Zion society, would be like. And even the obvious ones, like no murder, become mind-blowing when you think of a whole society without that... how would the media and the news be different even just with no murder, let alone some of the rest of the list. I was just sitting here trying to think of entertainment without any of that, and I came up with a couple of video games and board games where you collect, trade, and build, or cooperate to solve a problem rather than fight, but it's a challenge to think of many things that don't have anything from the "bad" list.
I think the concern comes up sometimes that taking away all of those things that aren't of the Lord would make life boring, and yet I don't think that we're imagining very well if we can't think of interesting things that don't involve things from the list. Admittedly, a lot of books and television would be plotless in a society where those bad things didn't happen, but on the other hand, think of the amazing things that we could accomplish and build and become without bad things holding us back. What could we learn and imagine without dishonesty, envy, or malice for instance?
Today, let's work on thinking outside the list of bad things here, and if we can't imagine a world without those things, then let's start visualizing it, so we know where we're going, and why we want to be there. :)
Interesting! It takes a lot of courage to not be anything from this list. Some are socially acceptable while others are not.
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