I was talking with a friend of mine about a few doctrinal questions, which I'll likely discuss later. But we discussed the concept of being judged by the desires of our hearts. This point of doctrine is amazing considering what people had been believing previous to the restoration of truth, and sadly still do. But yet it still leaves a few questions to be understood.
Nearly everyone has good intentions, or at least believe they do. But are intentions the same as desires? Why do you do the right thing? Why do you help and serve others? Is it because you truly love them? Or is it just because you should? Do you feel duty bound or even obligated by your religion?
So you intend to do good... by why? Those are the desires of your heart.
As I thought about the idea of being judged by our desires, I realized that our desires are not constant. Do you desire the same things as you did when you were a kid? What about when you were a teenager? What about a couple of years ago? We keep maturing, and our desires change with us based on the experiences that we have. Shoot, how often do you realize that you don't even know what you really want??
Can God then judge a youth that had died, without giving him the opportunity to develop his desires? A young man or woman can have such radical desires. They've never had the experiences of life that lead to a full understanding. They are just discovering feelings of physical passion. They're desire is to simply have fun by whatever method possible. Can they be judged for that? It seems to me each person must have a chance at some point before judgement to fully discover and develop his or her desires.
I'll have more on these ideas later....
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2 comments:
I'm not sure you can use "the desires of their hearts" as the sole basis of how people are going to be judged. Well, I know you can't. Just look at Mosiah 3:24; Mosiah 16:10; Alma 11:44... where it states men will be judged according to their WORKS, whether they be good or whether they be evil. I think the reason we can also be judged according to our desires is because our desires lead to our works/actions and therefore our actions can usually reveal our true desires. Take your idea of doing something out of duty/religion says we should... and the question of 'is it really our desire to do good, or do we just feel bound to?' Well, I think in that case, if we do good even though we don't feel like it, we are showing that our true desire is to serve the Lord, regardless of other things we would like to be doing. (Obviously not all situations apply perfectly to that though). As for people who die young without maturing in desires and actions, the Lord knows their hearts and I imagine knows how everything would have played out for them were they to have lived longer. Perhaps they just didn't NEED to live longer to prove their desires, etc. I don't really know.
btw, fun blog Mark. Keep the ideas coming. Love ya!
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