UNTO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN

I remember a lot about the days I was in the second thru the fourth grades because of the double trauma I experienced upon our arrival: First I had to deal with having all new friends to adjust to and second I had to deal with the teasing which came because I had to wear embarrassing high topped shoes the doctor had prescribed because of my flat feet.

It was also during those primary school days that I suffered a onetime affliction of rheumatic fever which resulted in me being confined to bed for several months. There was some good which resulted from that illness. I developed a love for putting puzzles together and as a result of the fever my heart actually ended up being stronger.

However, there is no doubt that the most harrowing event which transpired during those years was the death of my joyfully anticipated little brother Fred when he was just 8 days old. It is still a very short journey into my memory bank to see his small casket in the living room of the parsonage house we were renting, in American Falls, Idaho.

I don’t remember having very many serious thoughts before we moved to American Falls that first time, but there is little wonder that along with or perhaps because of all the trauma, my young brain started thinking about a lot of things besides singing cowboys and being afraid of snakes.

One of the themes which continually played upon my wee brain was how different my life was from that of my friends. Some of their parents did a lot more shouting and hitting than mine. Some of them went to church on Sundays and some didn’t. Some had parents who smoked and some didn’t. I could easily occupy this entire Thought with the differences I remember.

The result of a lifetime of thinking of the vast differences we all experience during mortality could easily be summed up in the glimmer of understanding which has come to me as I have pondered the following scripture.

For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation. (Doctrine and Covenants 82: 3)

I won’t bear solemn testimony nor use the phrase ‘without a shadow of a doubt’, but I have become convinced that our judgement of how we spent our earthly days will be governed by a sliding scale based upon the teachings we have been given and the understanding we have gained during our lives.

Besides the topics we have already addressed in the two previous Thoughts based on King Benjamin’s address to his people, he also talks about the accountability they who have been given much will have.

And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved — I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.

Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.

And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment.

O, all ye old men, and also ye young men, and you little children who can understand my words, for I have spoken plainly unto you that ye might understand, I pray that ye should awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression. (Mosiah 2: 36-40)

Besides explaining the added responsibility and accountability placed upon those ‘who have been give much’ about their obligation to be honorable to their covenants, Benjamin also explains the blessings which will attend they who keep their covenants not just as a reward in the next stage of existence, but during mortality.

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. (Mosiah 2: 41)

Most of the time I have been stimulated to meditate upon the different levels of opportunity Heavenly Father’s children have during their short mortal span when I am seeing firsthand the extremities of the different experiences which exist between eternal brothers and sisters. Children in the streets of Cairo. Sewer dwellers in Bogota. Couples inhabiting mansions in Malibu. Bidders on rare paintings. Etc.

The annals of history have recorded man’s inability or unwillingness to rectify the gulfs in which we humankind have, do and probably will exist. Therefore, there has to be a way in the Eternal Plan of Heavenly Father through His mercy to rectify the inequitable situations of His children during mortality.

With the words of Benjamin we are given a clear understanding of the accountability scale those ‘who have been given much’ to know and understand and therefore will be judged by. But what of those ‘who have been given little or nothing’.

Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no law given there is no punishment; and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claim upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him. (2 Nephi 9: 25)

Only a quick glance around us should give us the understanding that we do not all have equal opportunity during our lives to know and understand the Plan of Heavenly Father, therefore, we should all be grateful that His plan adjusts to fit each of our circumstances and opportunities to know of Him and His Plan during mortality.

Whenever I spend some meaningful time contemplating this theme I am left with a grateful heart concerning the Temple work taking place in these Latter Days which provides the needed ordinances for those ‘who had been given little or nothing’ and opens the pathway for them to come to know and understand in that paradisiacal school in the next phase of our progression.


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY