As we become more aware of chaos in every part of the world, most people begin to wonder what can we do to avoid further bloodshed, anger, and conflict? Religion, which used to be thought of as a way to try to understand chaos and figure out how to avoid it, has become a major source of conflict itself. If there are nearly as many concepts of religion as there are people, how do we find peace?
Nearly a century before the birth of Jesus Christ, a man named Korihor traveled about on the American continent preaching dissension from the religious beliefs held by the majority of people. He is referred to as "Anti-Christ" because he preached against the belief in Jesus Christ. John, in the New Testament warned: "as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are many antichrists.." As long ago as Jeremiah the Lord warned: "The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart." Followers of the mortal Jesus Christ heard Him warn: For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24) John in the book of 1 John 2:22 says, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." The most extensive description of religious conditions in our times is given by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-17. I won't quote the whole thing but it's worth examining. Another prophet, Nephi, in the Book of Mormon quotes Isaiah and explains more about our day in 2 Nephi 25. Again I won't quote the whole thing but he says, "Wherefore, he shall bring forth his words unto them, which words shall judge them at the last day, for they shall be given them for the purpose of convincing them of the true Messiah, who was rejected by them; and unto the convincing of them that they need not look forward any more for a Messiah to come, for there should not any come, save it should be a false Messiah which should deceive the people; for there is save one Messiah spoken of by the prophets, and that Messiah is he who should be rejected of the Jews."
I have no intention of adding to the contention surrounding religion. My purpose in composing this little essay is to give guidance or reassurance to anyone who sincerely wants to know if anybody is right about religion and who that might be. It makes no sense to me that God would punish people for not being able to discern truth from error. It makes sense to me that God has wisdom and if He cares at all for any of us (which I believe He does), He wants to share with us what He knows. It makes sense to me that He would not force us to follow Him because everybody knows that a militant, demanding dictator is hated and eventually loses all followers.It makes sense to me that more than one person at a time on the earth would have some awareness of His existence and His preferences for our behavior. Again I would refer to some words of Paul in the New Testament, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ..."(Ephesians 4:11-15) God appoints those He wants to teach us. Our job is not to train anyone for this ministry but to find those God has appointed. We have an inert ability in us to recognize good and evil. We may not always behave accordingly, but even little children will shout, "That's not FAIR!" Even children will reach out to try to comfort or save from harm others around them. We know what makes us feel good. Sometimes we try to find artificial means to gain a good feeling: drugs, alcohol, spending money, beating someone else in some kind of competition, sleeping too much, eating too much, too much sex, and on and on. Many people actually gain wisdom enough to stop those behaviors recognizing they will not make them feel good or truly happy. God is wiser, more powerful, and more advanced than any of us. He can show us a better way. He's just waiting for us to WANT to know a better way, then ask Him. We don't have to compete with each other. This is not a big court of law where the one with the best argument will win. God wants everyone to know. He wants everyone to win. We have to stop trying to compete and just seek and be willing to listen and learn. God will answer when we really want to know.
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