Folly Made Manifest

I ran across some scriptures about how folly would be made manifest, and that intrigued me, so I did a search to see what else I could find with that language and what I could learn about it.

8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. (2 Tim. 3:8-9)

So the folly of rebellion is something that will be made manifest to all around the person who rebels. That’s usually the opposite of what the rebelling person wants; they want to be respected and be a leader, but they get the opposite.

And it shall come to pass that there shall be a great work in the land, even among the Gentiles, for their folly and their abominations shall be made manifest in the eyes of all people. (D&C 35:7)

This tells us we should not be surprised that people know the faults of society or the evils of apostate religion. The folly and abominations will be obvious.

14 There were among you adulterers and adulteresses; some of whom have turned away from you, and others remain with you that hereafter shall be revealed.

15 Let such beware and repent speedily, lest judgment shall come upon them as a snare, and their folly shall be made manifest, and their works shall follow them in the eyes of the people.

16 And verily I say unto you, as I have said before, he that looketh on a woman to lust after her, or if any shall commit adultery in their hearts, they shall not have the Spirit, but shall deny the faith and shall fear. (D&C 63:14-16)

Adultery is another sin, the folly of which shall be manifest to all. I get the sense that it is the kind of thing that the person committing it is so given over to it that they are completely blind to the awfulness and wrongness of it, while everyone else shakes their head, wondering how the person could be so foolish.

And if any man shall seek to build up himself, and seeketh not my counsel, he shall have no power, and his folly shall be made manifest. (D&C 136:19)

Selfishness and attempts to self-aggrandize are other faults that are made obvious to othrs, and it especially would be in this context of the Saints moving west, when resources were scare and the Saints needed to help each other.

To sum up, it seems rebellion, abominations, adultery, and self-aggrandizement are sins that the person committing them will be blind to the folly of it, while to everyone else the folly is obvious.

As In the Days of Noah

41 But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man;

42 For it shall be with them, as it was in the days which were before the flood; for until the day that Noah entered into the ark they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage;

43 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. (Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:41-43)

This statement about how things were in the days of Noah has always puzzled me. Why are eating and drinking and marrying used as statements to encapsulate the wickedness during the days of Noah? What is so bad about eating and drinking and marrying?  On the surface, there isn’t anything wrong.

When I was thinking about this scripture, I thought it was odd that eating and drinking (something that is done a least three times a day in prosperous, plentiful times) is paired with marrying and giving in marriage (something that ideally is only done once in a lifetime).  It realized that pairing those activities together was implying something about their frequency. 

Eating and drinking happens often because we need food and water. But if marrying happens just as often, that really says something about appetites and passions—they are practically unbridled.  It is as though people are marrying and divorcing almost as often as they are feeding themselves. It means marriage has lost its sacredness and is used as a hypocritical cloak for casual sex. It says something about how unstable families and society will be.  

Now, I don't know if that will literally be true or whether it is a hyperbolic statement meant to emphasize hyper-disloyalty and moral decadance.  However, it seems to me that these verses warn us that unbridled gratification of appetites and passions shrinks spiritual awareness to nothing, since these behaviors made people completely blind and deaf to the warnings of the flood in Noah’s day. It will similarly prevent awareness and responsiveness to the signs of Christ’s coming as well.

I ran across a quote by M. Russell Ballard about the influence of the entertainment industry which is related to this: “I believe human sexuality cannot be continually portrayed as just another physical appetite that has to be satisfied—whenever and with whomever the urge strikes—without diminishing respect for God and His commandments.” (“When Shall These Things Be?” Ensign Dec 1996.)

So, while everyone else seems to surrender to their appetites and passions, we must not. We must keep marriage sacred.

Avoiding Lust

28 But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart.

29 Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart;

30 For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell.(3 Nephi 12:28-30)

The part of this scripture that is most memorable is that looking to lust is accompanied by the mental act of committing adultery.  In this day and age, probably the main sin we probably associate with looking is pornography.  But the warning is about adultery, which is a sin associated with another person one knows and probably commonly associates with.

There’s another part which is just as important but which is not so well noticed—the instruction to “suffer none of these things to enter into your heart.”  What are “these things”?  I think it could be two different things.  In one way, it could mean the lustful desires.  But it could also be a reference to the interactions that led to the lustful desires rising in the first place.

Those who are visually oriented maybe attracted one way, but others may be attracted by a small and simple acts of consideration over time.  If a person doesn’t guard their heart, they can build up an affection rivaling their marriage. Ego gets involved and feels fed in a new way.  This is why Christ gives further instructions to deny oneself “these things” and take up the cross.  One must deny oneself thoughts and ruminations about the other person.

Taking up the cross is a good way to express how one must deny oneself thoughts of the forbidden one.  Taking up the cross is a burden one carries hour by hour. It will be the last thing a person wants to do, so comparing it with the prospect of bodily torture is apt.  The forbidden thoughts will seem too sweet, too delightful, and putting them out of mind will seem too hard, but it must be done, or else a person will wallow in a sea of lust.

When Christ says it is better to deny self of these things than be cast into hell, that hell He speaks of is not just after mortality. It is also in mortality.  In fact, “hell” is His name for that sea of lust one may have unwittingly become immersed in.  This might seem contradictory; lust is so alluring to those in it.  But in the unflinching light of truth, “hell” is a good name for a state in which a person wants something very badly but can never lawfully have it, worlds-without-end-Amen.

How does Christ know this? To me it implies that in these things as in all others, He had faced the same temptations, was tempted to the very extremity, and He overcame it.  He who is called the epitome of love was Himself tempted with the counterfeit. He accepted worship and devotion without using it as an occasion to gratify any appetite or lust.