So, the general feeling is going around the LDS culture that we are in the last days. We are quietly preparing for it. We gather up food storage, watch Temples go up around the world, and seek for signs of the times.
We also have a tendency to look at the evils of the world. We compare the world to Sodom and Gomorrah. I would like to submit that we aren't quite there yet. I offer this as an example:
When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Lot and his family were spared. They were, apparently, the most righteous and the most deserving of being spared. The reason for this is that Lot offered up his virgin daughters to the evil men who were pounding on his door wanting to destroy the prophets who were inside. Later, when they believed that they needed to repopulate the world, those same daughters got their father blind drunk and they both slept with him. They were decidedly misguided, but these were the righteous of the two cities.
I'm sorry, but I just don't think we're there. Most people still think that rape and murder are bad, and most fathers would never deliver up their virgin daughters to an enraged mob. I think, instead, we are more like Nineveh (did I spell that right?) which was described as, generally, not knowing the difference between right and wrong. I think that most people are just a little confused in that point, because the only way to really determine right and wrong is to accept God's definition of it. Many people are not raised with a belief in God anymore.
I also don't think that we're ever going to get to Sodom and Gomorrah. I like my Dad's philosophy, that the good in the world is growing at the same time as the evil. The world is getting better as it's getting worse. Not only do I believe that philosophy is true, it also helps me to have a better outlook on the people and things around me. :)
What is good in your life?
3 comments:
So I totally had this thought a week or two ago too! lol.
And I agree with you too. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I have seen so much good recently that I can't help but think we have a little more to go.
It hasn't been long since President Hinckley said there is still much good in the world today.
Joseph Smith said that the men demanded Lot's daughters and threatened to kill them all but he did not give in, and presumably the men of God, (angels) protected him. In other words, they were not picky in Gomorrah, they'd do anything to anybody. Like hardened prisoners, I suppose. Can you imagine living there? You'd be afraid to walk out your door. And we are not even close to that yet, in general society.
The daughters lacked faith. They could not see beyond Sodom and Gomorrah. Many women are like that--they will marry the wrong person out of desperation rather than wait for God to provide.
As for Lot's drunkenness, there is plenty of that in the Old Testament. Perhaps the reason for the Word of Wisdom today.
Just some thoughts. Kind of long for a comment, I know. You often invite me to think.
WV: sciest: what Lot's daughters did: Sigh + incest.
I wonder what I would think of if, for instance, that WV was on a post about paper. :) Have a nice day.
When I first read the Old Testament, I was horrified by this account. And I have to admit that it pretty much turned me off to the OT. But I think I'm slowly recovering.
You and the comments left here have given me a lot to think about on a more positive note. Thanks for sharing these thought and insights.
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