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Why is Justice a Chief Attribute of God and a Godly People – On Justice -10-24 Comments, Blog 12 learnjustice.posthaven.com Bro. Steve’s booklet speaks for itself. It is either a road-map by which a godly people can get oriented to where they are before God and let their love of righteous principle animate them to lobby and petition that the Work return to living by the principles upon which it was founded, or it represents a bill of indictment that shows how much the Work has fallen away and reveals why the gifts of the Spirit are not held in abundance. Forsaking the law is one thing, misusing parts of the law and ruling -claiming authority in an identity with law is another. And then there are the fruits of this lawlessness expressed as tampering with eternal marriage, denying justice to the victims of ungodliness, diversion of moneys without an accounting, and transforming the Work from a theocracy with democratic representation and safeguards to an autocracy with a ruling cabinet of oligarchs. (They are not an aristoi.) Martin Luther, the little monk of the Augustinian Order of the Strict Observance, after his conversion, started out believing that those who adhered to the totalitarian ways of the Roman Church were simply deceived and as sincere Christians they would be willing to undertake reforms necessary to restore a Church with pure intentions and godly ideals. He was soon disabused of that notion. The divine monarchy of the Church (Vicar of Christ) only recognized the necessity to preserve the authority to exercise power. Adherence to the principles taught by Christ to govern the members of his church would transform the Roman Church into something impotent and incompetent to bear rule among the competing national monarchies then emerging. The experts surrounding Pope Leo X recognized the shortcuts and adaptations and edits begun by the Nicaean fathers and carefully added to in the intervening centuries were necessary to maintain a firm grip on the hearts and minds of men. The drive from a kingdom “not of this world” dedicated to transforming and empowering men, to a kingdom very much of this world dedicated to controlling men and keeping them in permanent, cringing servitude through guilt and fear, had been inexorable. The dichotomy always emerges. The rulers despise the ruled they keep in ignorance and the ruled have an ambivalent attitude towards the rulers. Alienation and separation are two unstated governing principles as men pursue the drive to absolute power and control over other men. Jesus is not only full of wrath towards this church; he is filled with wrath wherever these principles are allowed to be in operation in any church. Where the principles by which men exercise control and insulate themselves from God and their fellow man are extant, Jesus is profoundly offended. Does he not have ample cause to be offended in us, we who should know better? We, who are supposed to be on the path to celestial citizenship should be thinking, minding, praying, doing in parallel with our leaders – and they with us. When there are ungodly deviations, the Work has a system of laws by which these deviations are self-correcting, able to return to the original equilibrium. The system is called the Priesthood Justice System. The purpose of operating this divinely established system is to maintain our relationship with the Lord, which should be closer and more fruitful and more energized than the relationship of any other people on this earth. That’s the idea. That’s what the Joseph Smith church was all about. Where are we now? We have accepted a relationship with God no closer than the LDS and the Protestants have, for all our (talk) of living higher principles that entitle us to more. We have trodden this ground of the departures of the Work until there is hardly the stem of a weed to be found. “Things can't be this bad among the Council because it’s not supposed to be.” Major, later General-Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel, embraced the Nazi movement early: in 1933. He liked its decisiveness and energy and militancy. Here is a notable statement of his: “The man on the street likes to be told what to do, and we tell him what to do.” Are you one of those men? Do you like men to define for you how you shall relate to your God, and how you shall petition God? “Shakin’ it up, here, Boss.” “Drinkin’ it up, here, Boss.” Paul Newman Cool Hand Luke Borrowing from Bro. Steve’s blog, this passage seems relevant and worth repeating. In his Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith presents the attributes of God. They are first, knowledge; second, Faith or Power; thirdly, Justice; fourthly, Judgment; fifthly, Mercy; and sixthly, Truth. (Lectures 4:4-10) These form a unity. If we would be like God, to cement into ourselves His character in order to commune with Him and be one with Him, we must develop these characteristics in ourselves. I believe it’s all about character, and if we are not taking advantage of the opportunities presented in this life to appreciate these things and appropriate them as part of who we are, however we may be forgiven, we will not be found competent to enter into the next phase of our hoped-for progression. I believe an attitude of coasting on the words and mimicking the example of others who are in the state they are in before God is in the same file as death-bed repentance. • Should we turn away from the knowledge provided to us by scripture and the inspired words of past, proven prophets, relevant to this matter of separation from God, we are cutting ourselves off from one of the parts of Godhood. • Should we refuse to exercise our faith in God, rejecting His express offer to provide instruction from the Holy Spirit, we are denying to ourselves the power that comes from being in harmony with the mind of God. • Should we deaden ourselves to the absence of either equitable judgments for any among us, or a functioning justice system, we have let go another of the attributes of God. • Should we harden our hearts and deafen our ears to one brother among us who has been moved to identify our fallen state and petition for remedy and should we accept the judgment and characterization of him by those already dead to mercy, we have lost that attribute of God, as well. • Lastly, truth. Truth is what God’s sons are supposed to be all about. Respecting truth, honoring truth, employing truth defines those magnificent prophets and their faithful associates from the foundation of this Work. For those who are concerned about ever becoming like a Joseph, or a Brigham, or a John, or a Joseph M. or a Rulon, there is no other way than through embracing truth, not taking snippets, or edits of truth filtered through the deceits, ambitions and craftiness of self-serving men. A truth that has been tampered with isn’t a truth anymore. A second point of inspiration comes from the Prophet’s words about having confidence in God coming through experiencing His justice. When justice is removed from our religious experience in the Work, with it goes confidence. What holds us together then? Is it holding on to the families we have now because of the bonds of the covenant? Is it fear of those we have accepted as the keepers of our covenants and arbiters of the fate of our covenants? Without experiencing justice from those we have accepted as our judges, our state of mind is one in which we cannot progress in connecting ourselves with God. This is a part of the deadly tiger pit, or more aptly the oubliette (prison cell, well and cesspool) in which we find ourselves when we have given our faith, which should be in God, to men who are not honoring, respecting, or administering properly the six attributes of God. Won’t you see? The presence of fear, doubt, and uncertainty shows the absence of the attributes of God among us. Even if you were happy with things as they are, the way the LDS Mormons have come to be, the absence of justice and putting the opinions and commandments coming from these men as your oracles will insure your separation from God and from your duty to find your own way to full spiritual maturity with the companionship of the Holy Spirit. By ignoring the voice advocating for the truth, you are injecting into your own veins the “opiate of the masses” that has claimed the LDS Mormons. Page 2. Parley Pratt has been vindicated by the scientists who are exploring the mysteries of quantum physics. They describe the phenomenon they call non-local intelligence as having the ability to manifest simultaneously. They recognize an ability to organize matter in or from two different places, irrespective of distance at the same moment, faster than light speed. Page 4. The injunction to not judge according to your traditions (JST Jn. 20:24) has a connection to the practice of our presiding apostles to copy Rulon, say, in granting releases without resorting to a process, and justify their actions because they saw what he did. The part that is invisible to man is the part played by the Holy Spirit upon executing such decisions. The participation of the Holy Spirit in power is what makes all the difference. The moment the exercise of true authority becomes a magic trick happens quickly in the mind, when an apostle decides that his ordination to office, not ordination plus oracle is all that is needed to make a valid release. And as can be seen, the confusion and wreckage of sacred covenants, many of dubious justification, say nothing of validity, shows the result when misunderstood tradition replaces truth in administering the things of God. Men recognize when they have gotten the bit in their teeth about altering the ordinances of God and taking justice into their own hands that appearance must always take precedence above reality. There’s no going back. The way covenant marriage has been despoiled reminds me of the scene from Disney’s Fantasia in which Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice sets out to lighten his work load and instead creates an uncontrollable army of bucket-toting brooms to the compelling music of Saint Saëns. One of the indirect signs that men have taken rule and Prophets no longer walk among us is the abysmal way in which marriage has been administered. This churning of the ant heap would not have happened under Rulon or his worthy predecessors. Blog 12. Our higher courts have become increasingly concerned with searching out the intent of those who enacted the law. Of course, the words have to speak for themselves and it is those courts that make the up intent by themselves. It’s called Judicial Activism. 12/4 The traditions of men in jurisprudence rely on a concept they call precedence, that is, what has been decided in one case is used to determine how future cases that are similar will be decided. In jurisprudence increasingly “traditions” are bound up in interpretations by men. The chief contaminant to our edifice of justice is the social engineering concept/aspect. Along with it is interpretation of law to expand the powers of government that shows itself as creating a climate of licentiousness on the one hand and more and more strict restrictions in freedom of economic choice, business enterprise, expression of thought and religious liberty for the middle class. It amounts to a gradual dimming, a twilight of our constitutional heritage. Page 4. For ourselves as fundamentalists we are interested in establishing a government that conforms to Divine will in all aspects, because all four areas of the application of law are interrelated. The world is concerned with law that enables individual license as well as corporate ability to generate wealth. The selection has been made to compel social tolerance and inhibit the range and quantity of individual economic liberty and limit property rights. Since God is concerned with the spiritual growth of the individual in all ways, seeking Divine Will in all areas is equally important. Political justice is concerned with establishing rights and preserving them. In the government’s distribution of governmental powers and jurisdictions figure heavily so that representative government can be preserved. Imbalance in accumulating and exercising power keeps its subjects from experiencing and thus incorporating into their characters the fruits of living the fullness of the gospel. Social justice pays particular attention to preserving rights of minority viewpoints customs, and access to the benefits that are potentially available to all. Economic justice presides over how public wealth is invested, administered. All these interrelated aspects of justice deal not only with preserving rights, but achieving balance between/among corporate, institutional and individual interests. The founders of our American republic believed that only a God-centered people could maintain a government in which powers were diffuse, distributed by and keep the balance so that a return to central government requiring tyrannical powers over the governed would not happen. Pg. 4. I feel it is time to restate that the foundation for this attempt to restore righteous judgment must come from the spirit in each one of us to care about others outside of ourselves. If we cannot form bonds of basic respect, earning trust, taking the baby steps to build friendship, sharing the load, if we cannot find or earn good will from others by extending good will ourselves, we can hardly progress to greater degrees of celestial living. A prayer life is integral to advancing to this goal. Achieving the celestial (life) needs to flow, not be forced. Sharing has to be basic to be believed in. God operates through a carrot and stick, but we do best when we cleave to the carrot and allow ourselves to be motivated by that. Page 6. The following quote from the Book of Mormon is a good summary of what defines the Work now and (lies at the root of) the problems of unease, dissatisfaction, disappointment and disunity we are experiencing. “There is no God today … he hath given his power unto men.” (2 Ne 28:5). God didn’t give anything; men took to interpret, justifying taking for themselves, because they were unwilling to bend their avarice to the governance of God. They took the forms and tokens of high office as sufficient in themselves to justify increasing independence. By so doing they chose the path and the consequences taken by Heber J. Grant. Carrying along a few extra ordinances is just as efficacious before the Lord as the abandonment of those ordinances by the LDS Church. If the spirit is dead, the forms are, too. The covenants and ordinances we undertake must be lived in righteousness and truth. Those who cannot see that are not seeing the fullness of the gospel at all. God makes allowances for the struggles we have with our own human nature, but what these men appear to have done is to forsake the struggle altogether in favor of living the higher law to a lesser, even offensive standard. If righteousness is not practiced at our head, how can this Work be an environment in which the people of God can prepare to become the people of His kingdom? “. . . in all your flounderings don’t betray the brethren.” What about this brethren, us? Are we served by the servants of God, or are we betrayed by being directed by those who have cut themselves off from God because of sin, condoning sin, and sustaining sin? How are we in terms of its spiritual significance that much different from those who bow down in front of statues? Being in harmony with God by obeying his entire statute book is what puts us on the path of eternal life. A false God doesn’t have to be a block of stone; the Caesars “could dance and play just the same as you and me.” A false representation of the true God does as much harm to spiritual maturation as a true representation of a false God. Page 7. Here we are enjoined to repent of all our sins. We cannot repent of our sins if we do not recognize that we are committing them, or that they matter all that much. Being preached only a part of the fullness of gospel teaching will keep us in a fool’s paradise. Part of the problem is that too many of the people of the Work have been conditioned to see themselves a permanent followers and their highest duty is to follow. They are preoccupied with following and not developing in their heads the need to live within their spheres as leaders in adopting the attributes of godhood and developing the gifts of the spirit by exercising them. I met a little elf-man, down where the lilies blow. I asked him why he was so short and why he did not grow. He sternly fixed me with his eye and looked me through and through. “I’m just as big for me,” he said, “as you are big for you.” It’s a bias towards control, not empowerment. In fact, does our leadership fear people assuming a sense of initiative lest it be misused? If men are not grounded in correct principle correctly practiced, they can more easily go astray, and that’s what happens when the gospel is lived and taught imperfectly, with biases that favor the will of man above God. We have, in effect, adopted a culture that has some of the forms of godliness, but denies the power (and empowerment) thereof. Yes, the experts who lead us ought to know the right way, but what if they have discarded that way in favor of another way? And because we have not prayed with purpose to discern, we remain none the wiser. Page 5. “… he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.” This is from D&C 88. This should be sufficient admonition to those of us who care about such things to take stock of where we area as a Work with respect to abiding and practicing our lives in which God’s laws that reflect a celestial standard are honored and practiced by our leaders in the form of the Lord’s system of justice given to us at the beginning of this dispensation. If anybody thinks we are beyond that system of law, look around you. You can dispense with the forms of law if it’s written in your heart, but we as individuals and as a Work are a long way from that. In fact, we are under condemnation, evidenced by suspension of the power of God manifest upon us in our midst. If our leaders will not perform the duties of their offices (in the spirit required by God for their exercise), but rather act like laws unto themselves, what hope have we of drawing closer to God through their ministrations? Page 7. God has set the bar high and the reason for that is -the burdens of Godhood to which we have said we aspire are great. “Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God . . . but God ceaseth not to be God.” Alma 42:13 and 23 It’s so easy in trying to follow the law and commandment track to lose sight of the spirit and purpose for which they exist. If we would choose and accept the spirit in which the laws and commandments are given, it would be far easier to live them and be comfortable with them. They all support respecting and valuing each other, sharing our substance and strength and of our virtue. They depend on seeking agreement, harmony, unity, and -on exerting trust in each other’s good will as evidenced by shared experiences. Sacrifice is another big theme of being a Savior; we invest ourselves in the well-being of one-another. Jesus showed the way. Lastly, there is forgiveness. We cannot incorporate into our beings the mind of the Father and the Son, if we do not retain the capacity to forgive so that another may be healed and redeemed. The Lord has serious laws to deal with and we’re not helping him if we harbor attitudes that act as obstacles to him exercising mercy. We start out seeing ourselves as the Lord’s subjects, but as we grow as we should, we become part of His team. Trying to live the laws without the Spirit they reflect is like trying to carry a load upon one’s back when a wheelbarrow is available to share the load. After the wheelbarrow comes the handcart. Page 8. The four justice forms impress themselves as tools. How can we carry out the ways of God and their reward of peace and joy for ourselves and our fellow human beings? These forms of justice each have a sphere in which to be exercised. Parley Pratt in his work, Science, the Key to Theology, would have us consider the powers of God to effect a progression of degrees of change upon our environment. These powers are intimately connected with laws. As religious scientists, we have the opportunity to conduct experiments with political justice, social justice, religious and economic forms of justice. Applying the knowledge with the purpose to act as God would act and act for Him at the same time is what puts the Lord’s spirit in power to accompany the act. The more our attitude and intent match that of God, the greater the power with which we perform our (God’s with our) works. Gradually, we are able to stay “in the zone” for longer and longer periods of time. If we will approach magnifying our callings in this way and teach the newly ordained, we will build a unity that will transform the world. We have to risk, as Joseph risked, to raise others, knowing they may exercise their knowledge and their choices unwisely, but that school of empowerment is what the Work of God should be for its people and for those they minister to in behalf of God. To subjects and slaves, the admonitions of the scripture and the pulpit strike as the thongs of a whip. To practicing students of godliness, the warnings are like road signs, pointing to hazards and prudent driving. We must take charge of ourselves and wrestle with the Angel of knowledge and truth like Jacob did to obtain mastery, the better to serve. We must not shrink from taking our Savior and our Lord at his word, in any part or portion. We aren’t going to see the loving and welcoming face of the Savior beyond the severity and rigor of his laws and commandments, unless we have ourselves fitted with the eyeglasses of charity and act with courage. We have a work to do, and that is to bring about the kingdom of God on the earth and the gospel of salvation as its creed. Creed, by the way, comes from the Latin cred- which means to believe. This work is so important that Jesus put it into the prayer that all Christians who know of the New Testament recite, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Events are going to reveal the truth; I don’t want to have to wait upon the Lord to see whether Bro. Steve is right.
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