When God shows you something of himself, it is immensely foolish to judge the goodness of what he shows based only on your present understanding of how he is. This kind of thinking has led to the persecution of countless servants of God, whose greater similarity to God was judged as wickedness by people less righteous than they, and even resulted in the murder of Jesus Christ himself. Imagine judging the Lord as immoral based on an incorrect understanding of the commandments he himself gave!1 We should formulate and reformulate our understanding of him (and his rules) based on what he tells us about himself, not on what we already believe.
The scriptures encourage us to seek and do good,2 but also indicate that the evaluation of good and evil cannot be reduced to a comparison to a set of rules.3 Commandments are tools to help us learn to discern good and evil, not a replacement for that discernment.4 New commandments reveal the good in things not previously thought of as good, and reveal the evil in things not previously thought of as evil. If you already shared God’s discernment of good and evil, desire for good, and hatred of evil, there would be no need for commandments, as you would live as God would in your place. As long as you remain different from God in any way, you should expect that there are aspects of your understanding of good and evil that differ from God’s.
God can and does issue personal and general commandments that contradict his former commandments. On multiple occasions, he commanded men who lived the law of Moses to kill others—something expressly forbidden by the law of Moses. The Lord commanded people to eat his flesh and drink his blood,5 when the law of Moses forbad eating man’s flesh or drinking the blood of any creature.6 Jesus also taught that nothing a man consumes can defile him,7 when the law provided a lengthy list of things that defiled a man to eat (see Leviticus 11).
As God provides justification for his commandments, do not make the mistake of presuming the benefit from the former commandment precludes greater blessing for the newer commandment. God routinely asks us to trade something good for something better. In doing so, he frequently leans on our understanding of his goodness to justify what we cannot presently see as better than what he asks us to sacrifice.
Footnotes
- 1. Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end. Behold, I do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have not been fulfilled in me, verily I say unto you, shall all be fulfilled. And because I said unto you that old things have passed away, I do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are to come. For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me. Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life. (3 Nephi 15:59) ↩
- 2. For example: “But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil....” (Moroni 7:13,15-17) ↩
- 3. And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them. (Mosiah 4:29) ↩
- 4. Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. (Moroni 7:19) ↩
- 5. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6:51-56) ↩
- 6. And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:10-14) ↩
- 7. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. (Matthew 15:11) ↩