Saturday, March 21, 2009

A Godless Society

Looney asked if I thought that the reason our society is becoming "Godless" is because of the economic situation. I decided to write a separate post to talk about some of the reasons that I see. I actually think that is because of the wealth we have already experienced that our country is morally bankrupt. The message of the Book of Mormon is that wealth is part of the "Pride cycle". I can never remember the poem that goes with this, do any of you? It goes something like, "War breeds poverty, poverty peace......(can't remember this part)....then riches increase..." Help me out if you know the entire poem.

Reason 1: PROSPERITY

Listen to what Moses said to the children of Israel when they were about to experience freedom and prosperity after having been held captive in Egypt.

"And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

“And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

“Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (Deut. 6:10–12.)

“Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

“Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

“And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

“Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. …

“And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.” (Deut. 8:7–14, 17.)

The Prophet Brigham Young said, “The worst fear I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear … is that they cannot stand wealth.” (James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer, Salt Lake City: Geo. Q. Cannon and Sons Co., 1900, pp. 122–23.)

REASON 2: Many people dont' observe the Sabbath.

One of my most favorite of Latter-day scripture is found in the Doctrine and Covenants section 59, verses 9 and 10
9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;

This kind of goes along with reason number 1, but the part of this scripture that is meaningful to me is the part that says, "that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world". What does that phrase mean to you? To me iy means "In order to keep yourself from becoming worldly, and accepting the teachings of the world". This scripture goes on to tell us that in order to more fully keep ourselves from being corrupted by the world, we need to go to church on Sunday and partake of the sacrament.

3. The breakdown of the family and home.

Children are taught from their infancy their parents' values. But in today's society, people are so driven by money that mothers are leaving the home in search of wealth, and leaving the raising of their children to daycare workers. I know that many daycare workers are loving and kind, but it's not the same as the attention a child gets from their own mother. In addition, daycare workers don't teach religious values....they could be fired for that. I know there are many mothers that must work. But I also know there are many others that just want to support the lifestyle they have. I know many, many women who don't work, and do without the luxuries in life. My friend made a comment about how she thinks most LDS women are dumpy looking. She's probably right because many LDS women don't work outside the home. Because of that, they don't have the money to have their nails done, or to go to an expensive salon to have their hair done. They make do with whatever clothes they have, or can buy inexpensively. It's always interesting to me that even people who are on welfare have cable television and cell phones. Our world would be much better served if mothers would come back to the homes and take care of their number one priority; their children.

I could probably write much more on the subject of why our society is becoming godless, including the danger of becoming so well educated by the theories of the world that we forget the teachings of God. But I think I'll stop now intead of writing a book.

2 comments:

Christina said...

I think you said #3 perfectly. I don't like though that someone would call LDS women "dumpy", and even if they are, so? I'd take dumpy over fake, fake hair, fake nails, fake tan, fake happiness...Not trying to be mean, just my thoughts.

Elizabeth said...

I agree with all your points.

I think you would like this article by Orson Scott Card. It is kind of along the lines of this post. (Sorry I don't know how to make it a link in the comment).

http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/orson_scott_card/?id=6793