Political Crossfire Forums

[Whitefields]

I wrote this in a thread, but I meant for it to be a new topic. So here it is:

I was reading a thread in this forum when I read the following quote:

mODULAR mAN wrote: it is logically meaningless.

Like calling God All-Just AND All-Forgiving. He can't be both.

I disagree. And to show what Christ did to make this possible, I'm going to tell a story, a parable of sorts, that other LDS members will probably be familiar with.

There was a certain man, who we'll call Jacob. Jacob was a good, hard working man. However, he wanted a certain tract of land, but could not afford it. In order to buy it, he took out a loan with a creditor. He signed the contract, and agreed to pay the creditor back, in full, at the appointed time. Jacob wasn't thinking about the date. He figured he had plenty of time. He was just thrilled that he had the money to purchase the land.

Jacob bought the land, and he began to till it and sow crops for the coming season of harvest. However, his friends were'nt as interested in working, and persuaded him to party with them and leave the work for later.

Jacob procrastinated the harvest again and again. The season to reap finally came and the crop was very small. The day when his loan was due was now fast approaching and he didn't have enough money to pay the creditor.

The fateful day arrived. The creditor demanded that he be payed in full. Jacob explained that he didn't have enough money to pay him. He begged with the creditor to give him a little more time to pay the debt, but the creditor would not hear it. The creditor insisted justice be fufilled.

The creditor came with soldiers to confiscate the debtor's land and to sell Jacob into slavery. These were the terms of the contract, and justice had to be fufilled. Jacob begged for mercy and asked "How can mercy be fufilled if you don't forgive me the debt?

"How can justice be fufilled if I forgive you the debt?" responded the creditor.

So these two eternal principles could not both be fufilled. The only way that justice could be served and mercy given was through a mediator.

Jacob had a very good Friend who was well to do. This Friend had warned Jacob to not go into debt, and when in debt to work as hard as possible to pay off the debt. The Friend thought Jacob was unwise, but He loved his friend. He heard that the creditor had gone to Jacob's estate to confiscate his land and take him bound into slavery. The Friend traveled to the estate and talked to the creditor. The Friend said He would pay the debt so that justice could be fufilled. The Friend also was able to thus extend mercy to Jacob by taking on the debt. Both eternal laws were fufilled.

Christ is the Friend who can help us all. We can't save ourselves, and justice must have its demands. Only through Christ, who took upon Himself the sins of the world can we be saved. However, we must have faith in Christ, come to Him in humility, repent of our sins, be baptized by water and fire, keep the commandments and endure to the end that we might be saved.

Christ's mercy is extended to all, if we'll just come unto him. He wants us all to be saved, but we must make the choice.

[ikari]

But that just re-enforces poor behavior. Jacob got away with it, he took out a loan, didn't pay it back, and had the situation resolved for him without doing anything himself. All that story really says to me is do what you want, cry and Christ will bail you out.

The contract could have been arbitrated so as to not involve slavery, Jacob should lose his land because we are responsible for our own actions and must own up to the consequences. The lender gets the land and then can sell it. There's your merciful justice.

[Whitefields]

ikari wrote: But that just re-enforces poor behavior. Jacob got away with it, he took out a loan, didn't pay it back, and had the situation resolved for him without doing anything himself. All that story really says to me is do what you want, cry and Christ will bail you out.

The contract could have been arbitrated so as to not involve slavery, Jacob should lose his land because we are responsible for our own actions and must own up to the consequences. The lender gets the land and then can sell it. There's your merciful justice.

You make a very good point. God doesn't want us to have a "oh I can just repent later" attitude. True repentence is hard work, especially for serious sins. I forgot to include an important part of the story. (I seriously didn't include it for I don't know why). The Friend then becomes Jacob's creditor, and Jacob pays off the debt to his Friend. Its Christ's yolk which is easy, but its still a yolk. I believe that faith alone can't save anyone, we've got to work hard to keep the commandments and continually repent when we make mistakes.