I found something very interesting in my scripture study this morning. I was reading in D&C 19, and took note of a few verses.
This revelation was given to Martin Harris shortly before the church was organized. Joseph needed some way to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon, and the Lord asks Martin to help. I found it interesting, though, that the Lord, in order to convince Martin to agree to using his property as collateral, treats him to some mysteries of the gospel.
Anyway, to the point, the Lord says in verse 8, "I will explain unto you this mystery, for it is meet unto you to know even as mine apostles." So this mystery was previously only known by the apostles. A little odd that it's in print for the whole world now, but that's not the point.
He then goes on to explain that "eternal punishment" isn't necesarily never-ending. For "eternal" is one of God's names, thus "eternal punishment" is God's punishment (note that it can also be assumed that "eternal life" is God's life).
So here's the point: Why is this a mystery? God must have known when he revealed to man that if they sinned they would suffer "endless punishment" how they would interpret it. It seems obvious that we would interpret it as never-ending punishment.
God reveals a little later in the revelation that the world could not "bear meat now, but milk they must receive; wherefore they must not know these things, lest they perish" (verse 22). Okay, so the world isn't ready for this mystery. But can you see that God deliberately deceived the world? Isn't that interesting? He did it to protect us. From what?
Well, consider this... If the world believed that we would suffer a brutal, but temporary, punishment, what would happen? Remember "eat, drink, and be merry"? Look at 2 Nephi 28:8. "And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God -- he will justify us in committing a little sin... and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God."
Interesting, isn't it? God is protecting the world from falling into this doctrinal trap, a trap that many eventually will fall into (I assume this will be in the period of time at the end of the Millenium when Satan is loosed again).
But even more interesting to me is that God would reveal a doctrine that was apparently obvious and easy to understand, but ultimately it was intended to mislead us in order to protect us. It's already obvious to me that there are other doctrines that have are intentionally deceiving for simpliticity's sake. I will discuss a few of these in the future. But it's important to know this, so that we do not content ourselves with the simple doctrines, but instead prepare ourselves to learn the more comprehensive and beauttiful mysteries of God.
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Couple of comments...
To Enoch Jehovah declares..."Behold I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and ENDLESS and ETERNAL is my name, also.
Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also and among all the wokmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.
But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanhsip of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? (Moses 7:34-37)
And Enos's insight into the tendencies of the natural man:
"And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things--stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction." (Enos 1:23)
I agree with you that the "mysteries of God" are only mysteries to the spiritually young or simple minded. Like His parables he used to teach doctrine to ALL spiritual levels, so He reveals line upon line to the capacity of His children to comprehend and obey. To sin against the greater light is to bring greater condemnation, and greater suffering, which suffering causes Him to weep. And therefore, He does all things in His perfection and wisdom, for the benefit of His children in helping them to progress. He's protecting us from ourselves.
To call it "deliberate deception" I disagree with...as it smacks too much of lying, which God cannot do in His perfection. God reveals truths, BUT in our spiritual simplicity we INTERPRET those truths within our framework of thinking until we look to God for greater understanding. But it makes sense that God reveals truths to us IN SIMPLICITY (milk) as we are able to "bear" it, but couches greater truth (meat)in more complex ways for our protection from greater condemnation until we are sufficiently able to understand and obey.
It does kind of sound like lying, but it's not. I think God knew very well that most people would not be able to understand the full doctrine of eternal punishment, and therefore gave them this simplistic explanation and allowed them to understand it as they would. It's not lying, since it can be interpreted correctly.
It reminds me of Obi-wan Kanobe on Star Wars Return of the Jedi, where Luke was a little upset with him for not telling him the truth about Darth Vader being his father.
"Why didn't you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father"
"Your father was seduced by the dark side of the force. He ceased to be Anikan Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man that was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true... from a certain point of view."
"A certain point of view?"
"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Obi-wan didn't lie to Luke. He simply told the truth in an obscure way that he knew would mislead Luke. He hid the truth from him until he was ready to hear it.
This is exactly what God did in this case. He knew that most of the world wasn't ready to understand, so he deliberately let them believe something much more simplistic, although not really true, for the time being. And when idiviaduals are ready to understand, he enlightens them with the true interpretation. It's quite brilliant, if you ask me.
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