Monday, April 18, 2016

THE DANGER OF A MODERN APPROACH TO THE THINGS OF GOD

"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken notunto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." (2 Ne. 9:28-29)

This verse took on a slightly different meaning this morning as I saw it in the context given by Denver Snuffer in a blogpost from March of 2010. 

"We have a whole different mindset than did the ancients.  We view things through the prism of Aristotle. We think that “reality” is what we can observe and touch and measure. However, there was once a mindset where what is “reality” was what God said.  The Word of God alone was enough to make the reality."

Jacob wasn't talking about solely the dangers of scholarly learning, but also that of cultural conditioning and the mindset given us from the modernistic society we live in. It's so easy for us to discard of ideas and concepts in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ because they don't fit the modern frame of mind and learning. 

Since some of these concepts hasn't been taught in the Church, we oftentimes find us unequipped to handle them constructively and put them in the larger context as a preparation for more understanding down the line. Instead, we toss them out as preposterous and not coming from God. This we do, despite the fact that his ways are said to be so much higher than ours. But this may be one of those ideas that we, as enlightened and modern human beings, reject because it challenges our assertions of our own understanding and power to grasp the will and ways of God.

We should judge righteous judgments. This is true of people, behaviors as well as ideas and concepts.

1 comment:

  1. Michael von Benzon HollesenApril 24, 2016 at 10:21 PM

    Splendid reflection! Right on Christian.

    ReplyDelete