Iniquity

[zshallr]

INIQUITY

I want to share an experience in Elders quorum yesterday. The High Councilman taught lesson 22 “Temporal and Spiritual Labor” from the WW manual. The tone of the lesson was basically we should not labor as hard for our careers and worldly pursuits as we should for the church and God. Nearly every elder agreed but spent most of the class in justification of their present courses in life and their pursuit for wealth. One elder even said we should chase worldly pursuits so “we can pay more tithing”. I laughed as he almost directly quoted Brigham Young which Nibley captures below.

God recognizes only one justification for seeking wealth, and that is with the express intent of helping the poor (Jacob 2:19). One of the disturbing things about Zion is that its appeal, according to the scriptures, is all to the poor: "The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it" (Isaiah 14:32). Of course, once in Zion, no one suffers from poverty, for they dwell in righteousness and there are no poor among them (Moses 7:18). The law of consecration is a minimal requirement, for "if my people observe not this law, . . . it shall not be a land of Zion unto you" (D&C 119:6). Here our rhetoric engages in a neat bit of sophistry that has always been popular:

Elders of Israel are greedy after the things of this world. If you ask them if they are ready to build up the kingdom of God, their answer is prompt—"Why, to be sure we are, with our whole souls; but we want first to get so much gold, speculate and get rich, and then we can help the church considerably. We will go to California and get gold, go and buy goods and get rich, trade with the emigrants, build a mill, make a farm, get a large herd of cattle, and then we can do a great deal for Israel."

I have heard this many times from friends and relatives, but it is hokum. What they are saying is, "If God will give me a million dollars. I will let him have a generous cut of it." And so they pray and speculate and expect the Lord to come through for them. He won't do it: "And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property" (D&C 19:26). "Let them repent of all their sins, and of all their covetous desires, before me, saith the Lord; for what is property unto me? saith the Lord" (D&C 117:4). He does not need our property or our help. (Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, 53)

I laughed again as another elder used this example. “Look at the general authorities who were very successful and wealthy before their call” as if their example makes it alright to pursue wealth, the American dream or a “GA resume”. It was almost as if the elders were saying that we must be successful and prove ourselves in the economy and corporate world and if we do good there we are primed for leadership and real church service. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Then our faithful steed in the bishopric said the following. “I endorse what’s been said about dedicating more of our time to the Lord verses the world. BUT…..he said, we should not come away from this lesson watching who drives up in a fancy car or who wears the name brand clothes. We should take this lesson and look inward not outward”.

At first I kind of agreed but there was still something in my gut that was nagging at me regarding his response but I couldn’t put my finger on it. We should look inward but is it true that we should not look outward also? Then Moroni 6 came to mind which is the “Proclamation on the Church”.

1 And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit meet that they were worthy of it. 2 Neither did they receive any unto baptism save they came forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and witnessed unto the church that they truly repented of all their sins. 3 And none were received unto baptism save they took upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end. 4 And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith. 5 And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. 6 And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. 7 And they were strict to observe that there should be no iniquity among them; and whoso was found to commit INIQUITY, and three witnesses of the church did condemn them before the elders, and if they repented not, and confessed not, their names were blotted out, and they were not numbered among the people of Christ. 8 But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven. 9 And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done.

Okay I thought, but all it says is iniquity. What’s the iniquity referring to in these verses? I started researching how iniquity was defined by the BofM prophets. I was amazed!!!!!!! After sitting in this class listening to the elders talk about what they viewed as “sufficient for our needs” I realized what the source of iniquity is. In every verse I read in the BofM iniquity always traced back to money in some regard which eventually results in affliction, wars, death and bloodshed (1 Ne 22:23; Hel 7:21; 12:5; Ether 9:10-11). I hope that everyone will read these references and others you may research while paying special attention to the word iniquity. Let me highlight one of the most condemning scriptures I read.

14 And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord. 15 Now the cause of this INIQUITY of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of INIQUITY, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world. (3 Nephi 6:14-15)

So what I open up for discussion is this. If Moroni says that “they were STRICT to observe that there should be no INIQUITY among them; and whoso was found to commit INIQUITY, and three witnesses of the church did condemn them before the elders, and if they repented not, and confessed not, their names were blotted out, and they were not numbered among the people of Christ”. And now that we have a fairly good understanding of what iniquity is do we truly look “inward” and not “outward”. I think we must do both. Money wealth and vain things of the world is what destroyed Christ’s church as I’ve sited above and it will or already is destroying the latter day church. Now look at the vast gulf between members of the church (and more importantly leadership; compare D&C 84:86-91 regarding apostles) from a pure monetary standpoint. We have in this church some of the most rich and wealthy in the nation and the most poor and suffering. The gospel of Jesus Christ strictly forbids rich and poor in his church. We are to be equal at all times and in all places. Speaking of the latter day gentiles (that would be us) Joseph inserted this as part of the JST.

53 And the kingdom of God shall be taken from them, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof; (meaning the Gentiles.) 54 Wherefore, on whomsoever this stone shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. 55 And when the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, he will destroy those miserable, wicked men, and will let again his vineyard unto other husbandmen, even in the last days, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 56 And then understood they the parable which he spake unto them, that the Gentiles should be destroyed also, when the Lord should descend out of heaven to reign in his vineyard, which is the earth and the inhabitants thereof. (JST Matthew 21:53)

If the church is to be kept on a pure path then this INIQUITY spoken of must be taught against fiercely and without justification. I’m so thankful for the scriptures and in my life I’ve learned that they answer every question I’ve ever had. The restored gospel is true and speaks to our eternal salvation or our condemnation.

[CrimsonKairos]

The have's and the have-not's are usually related to the did's and the did-not's.

[tiancum]

i like lots of what you said zshaller.

Hugh nibley gave a WONDERFUL talk on how to get rich. He said we only need to do 3 things.

1. Know that EVERYTHING we have comes from the Lord.

2. Know we don't deserve it.

3. Share it freely.

I agree that covetousness/hearts centered on riches is one of the forms of iniquity. Iniquity is defined as any time someone knows the law and breaks it willingly, in open rebellion.

Now, I would assert, to go along with what you said, that the Lord's house is a house of Order. We are not to run around telling others that they have committed iniquity. We all sin...ALL of us. The Lord has set up a system for that. Those in stewardship over us, that is their calling, to call us to repentance. It is not appropriate to confront someone and inform them they are breaking the commandments. If that was so, We would get nothing else done... ever. The Lord has provided Shepherds for us.

Lest we forget, none of us are perfect. If we choose to spend time singling others out for their sins, then we are concentrating on the wrong person. It is time wasted when we could have been bettering ourselves. ...Yes the scriptures command that every man should warn his brother, but it is to be done the way the Lord commands. I see that as meaning, every man needs to do his/her calling. There are a few times when we are called on by the proper authority to call people to repentance. When the Bishop asks us to give a talk for example. We are to watch for iniquity, when we home teach, when we fulfill our callings, and we must report it to our leaders as a witness. Again the Lord's house is a hose of order.

There are cases where there are terse words between people, or offense, and Elder bednar even counciled us to go to our brother to be reconciled. This is NOT calling them to repentance, it is simply telling a person that we have been hurt, and communicating it.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

[a-train]

The 'wisdom and order' notion is important. My mother has been a very generous person over the years. However, she didn't pay a full tithe. She gave money and possessions to friends and family so generously that she now is in a financial crisis and will probably never be able to retire. She has no savings or equity and is in tremendous debt.

1. We must be able to give from what we have without going into debt.

2. We must be able to give to the LORD and allow Him to reveal to His servants how to utilize the offerings rather than take those matters into our own hands.

-a-train