Thoughts On Obedience

You hear talks on obedience all the time. As I was sitting in church listening to a talk on Sunday, I wondered if anyone would ever discuss over the pulpit the other side of the issue that’s never spoken of. Of course, I decided that if I ever get asked to give a talk on obedience, that’s precisely what I’d do.

We always approach the topic of obedience from the road of why it’s so important, why we must always obey, what blessing come from obedience. But what about being too obedient? Is there such a thing? Christ sure seemed to think so.

When we obey, we are blessed with the spirit of understanding, a testimony of the commandment’s purpose. We gain happiness in knowing we are growing and progressing and doing God’s will. But if we don’t see these blessings in spite of our obedience, we may be doing something wrong.

Obedience is a means to an end, not an end in itself. If obedience becomes an end to us, the end that it is intended to guide us to becomes lost, and we no longer find ourselves moving toward the ultimate goal, the goal of perfection.

This is what happened to the Pharisees. Were the Pharisees obedient to the commandments? Absolutely. But if so, where were the blessings, the happiness and joy, the Spirit, the promise of eternal life? What was their error? It was their strict obedience. Obedience became so much their entire moral purpose that the basic principles that the law was intended to teach them became lost, and they failed to learn the basic meaning of the law: love thy God, and love thy neighbor.

Internal factions of the modern LDS religion have become pharisaical. They take the commandments as they are given, interpret them as black and white instructions, and harshly condemn any who deviate from them in any way. Take the Word of Wisdom, for example. We have created from the revelation a list of dos and don’ts, these things are okay, these things are prohibited and you will be damned if you partake in them at all. We forget Christ’s doctrine, and fail to understand that, like the Sabbath, the Word of Wisdom was made for man, and not man for the Word of Wisdom. These commandments are given to us to teach us to take care of our bodies and minds, to live a healthy lifestyle that we function properly. It was not meant to be a burden, a trip wire to knock us down to hell.

Is it unlawful to work on the Sabbath? Sure, but that doesn’t mean we do nothing. If the ox is in the mire, we can and ought to take care of it, we should continue to prepare meals, etc. Strangely, though, we often seem to understand this concept only for the law of the Sabbath, as it is the only one that Christ specifically noted. But the principle applies to all laws.

Take “thou shalt not kill” for another example. We know that, in extreme circumstances of war, killing in defense is justified. But what about Nephi and Laban? Was it in self-defense? Was it even necessary? Yet it was permitted, even commanded of him, against the letter of the law.

When we read the laws of God in pure black and white without the intent of understanding the purpose of the laws, we find ourselves misguided and deceived. This is how the idea of celibacy came to be, no doubt to God’s dismay. This is why many religions recite prayers rather than pray. This is why certain Christian religions still observe the Sabbath on Saturday. I've heard stories of couples whose first kiss is over the altar, having kept their fence around the law very large indeed (can you think of any ways this plan could backfire? I sure can).

We have a huge problem of self-righteousness and unrighteous moral judgment in the Church. Many proclaim moral superiority over others due to their obedience (no one thinks they do this, but they do, even if only in their own thoughts), thus in effect declaring their moral inferiority. I find it interesting that those who criticize others fail to note the beam in their own eye, the fact that, while they are living a life of strict obedience, they themselves are unhappy, enough so to find the need to lift their self-image and status by comparing themselves to others.

We must beware of our quickness to judge others for their perceived lack of obedience. Perhaps they ought to do better. Or perhaps it is we who have failed to understand the intent of the law, and they who live the spirit of it.