Friday, October 29, 2010

Judge not, What?

Later in when Christ is teaching the Nephites, He ceases talking specifically to the apostles and turns back to the multitude. He starts teaches that we should not judge others.
On the surface this teaching is also foolish. Christ's teachings are not foolish, therefore we must try to understand the proper context of His teachings.

We have to judge everyday. Anyone who has any with principle must be judgmental of some things. To not judge would be to accept relativism. We must not tolerate certain things. He must judge criminals and put them in prison. We must judge between political parties. We must judge between competing cultural conventions. We must judge the person that we want to date and eventually marry. If you reject a date, you judged that he was not worthy of you, if you accept a date, you are judging that he is more worthy. When we walk down the street and see a person who looks troubled and dangerous, we avoid him—this is judging. If we had infinite knowledge, we may have known that the odd-looking person is really a sweetheart, or a millionaire in disguise. But, we don't have infinite knowledge. Knowledge is not free. Because we are so limited in knowledge, we can only judge based on small cues—The way people dress, who they associate with, the way they talk etc.

What I believe that Christ means is that we should not permanently judge others. We have very limited knowledge, therefore we should not judge who is going to hell. That is not our job. Our job is to judge a "righteous judgement" (Alma 41: 14). But, it is God's job to give out eternal judgements. Therefore, we should never judge anyone is going to hell (unless we are told in the scriptures). We also should make sure that we are worrying about our own weaknesses before we worry about the weaknesses of others. When we overcome our own weaknesses, we will naturally be more understanding and forgiving of others. We will not want to give out any permanent judgement.

So, judge righteously, repent, and be forgiving.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Take no thought for the morrow. What?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ teaches, "Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." 3 Nephi 13:34
This teaching is horrible. Of course we have to think about tomorrow and organize our lives around long-term goals—especially financial goals. We have to plan and count the cost of our plans and prepare for the future. If this teaching was taken at face value, it would mean that we should not even think about food storage.
As most teachings of Christ, looking at the surface can be misleading. So what did He mean by this teaching. If we look at the entire context, we learn that Christ is speaking specifically to the 12 apostles (verse 25). He is teaching them that they shouldn't worry about what to eat or drink, or about what to wear. The apostles shouldn't worry about these things because they will be taken care of by the Church. The apostles had a very specific task to do—teaching and managing the kingdom. They would be able to focus more on this job by not worrying about what they will eat.
In the latter days, when apostles are called, they quit whatever they were doing before. Apostles are full time. They are given a sufficient amount of money to live. They don't have to worry about money. The money given them does not come from tithing or fast offerings. It comes from the investments of the Church.
3 Nephi 13:34 has a very specific meaning to a very specific group. This is a good example of why understanding the context of a teaching is vital to its correct interpretation.