Derailed Thoughts

For quite a while, I’ve wondered how the Savior, the loving, caring caretaker/creator of our universe and our individual lives, make such statements as this one in D&C 29:

17 And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the world, that I will take vengeance upon the wicked, for they will not repent: for the cup of mine indignation is full; for behold, my blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not.

18 Wherefore, I the Lord God will send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them;

19 And their tongues shall be stayed that they shall not utter against me; and their flesh shall fall from off their bones, and their eyes from their sockets;

20 And it shall come to pass that the beasts of the forest and the fowls of the air shall devour them up.

21 And the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire, according as it is spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet, who spoke of these things, which have not come to pass but surely must, as I live, for abominations shall not reign. (D&C 29:17-21)

It’s difficult to visualize a God who can say such things while filled with unfailing love.  Over the last few days of study, though, I’ve come to a few conclusions that I’d like to share.  Keep in mind that while I believe them to be doctrinally sound, these are merely my interpretation of the scriptures.  I welcome any needed corrections.  I begin with three observations:

First, there are certain laws that a God must obey.  I believe, in fact, that there are certain things even a God cannot do (i.e. creating a rock so big He can’t move it, breaking His promises to his children), and breaking the laws of justice is one of them.  In order for God to be a perfect, just God, He must live a life of justice.  I don’t know what consequence there is to breaking these laws in the celestial realms, but if our definition of a god includes a perfectly fair and just individual, breaking this law would certainly cause God to cease to be God (Alma 42:25).

Second, God cannot forgive us without some sort of penance on our part.  Though He creates many opportunities for us to receive mercy and fully absolve ourselves of our debt to justice (Alma 42:15), the Lord cannot trade an entire lack of effort or care on our part for eternal salvation and forgiveness.  This would be entirely unjust.  There is, in essence, a “cup of indignation” (D&C 29:17), a spiritual account of our unpunished deeds that must be kept in heaven.  The scriptures often speak of the heavy sword of justice (the penalty for our own actions) that floats above our heads if we choose not to repent (3 Nephi 29:4)–a representation, surely, of our debt remaining to be paid.  And it must, eventually, be paid by someone.

Third, it doesn’t matter whether God inflicts our punishment directly, or whether He simply steps aside and finally allows the laws of the universe to take their course.  I don’t know how the laws of justice are carried out.  But for an all-powerful being, the two are essentially the same–when all events in the universe are within your control, there are none that are outside your responsibility.

Therefore, if these three observations are true, we need not nitpick about how the laws of justice occur, but instead look to see how God feels when we force Him to see these laws are executed.  Hopefully then we can discover the tone of voice we should be hearing in angry scriptures we might read.

We know this–the Savior, in the Garden of Gethsemane, drank deeply and fully from that bitter cup and thus gave us opportunity to be forgiven our debt to justice (D&C 19:16-19).  The Lord is not pleased to see one of His children pay their debt, contrary to the belief of many false teachers in the world.  Rather, he weeps when we choose not to turn to Him, and when we bring the demands of justice upon ourselves, as shown in the following passage from Moses:

28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?

29 And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?

…

32 The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;

33 And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;

34 And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them.

…

37 …wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? (Moses 7:28-37)

Note how the Lord weeps, then immediately explains the punishments that He will be forced to send.  I believe that the language of this scripture is one of reluctant warning–the Lord telling us, in words just harsh enough for us to understand, the terrible forces of justice that must someday be released.  While He may be able to withhold the time of our punishment, that cup must eventually be drained by someone–be it our Savior, or ourselves.  I do not believe that God wishes to unleash these forces against us.  In fact, He joys in providing us mercy (Micah 7:18).  Rather, “justice continueth its course and claimeth its own” (D&C 88:40).  Our God is not an angry god:

We must never forget that the scriptures teach, “God so loved the world that he gave his Son,” and not “God was so angry with the world that he killed the Son.” (theocentric.com).

I testify that there is more to the world than meets the eye.  Laws of justice, in our world merely a guiding principle, are true forces to be reckoned with in this universe.  I testify that God, in his absolute love for us, will withhold these forces as long as we still might repent.  Christ will take the brutal, powerful battering that each of us has earned for ourselves.  To help us, the Lord speaks frankly at times in the scriptures.  He lets us know the forces we stand against, in hopes that we might strengthen our resolve against them.  At times in mortality, He may let through his protection an ounce or two of the “cup of indignation” that each of us has saved up, providing an opportunity for us to realize where we stand and the changes we must make.  God will always help us to repent, even if it means using a strong hand.  And this is how it should be–after all, we know that God is our Father, not our Grandfather.  But even at these moments, His arms will still be outstretched toward us (Isaiah 54:8).

I’m grateful that the Lord loves us enough to tell us the forces that await us on the other side, and I’m grateful for the greater understanding this gives us of the terrible price that our Savior paid for us.  We cannot imagine, in its fullness, the debt that he paid.  But we can certainly strive never to forget it.