Doctrines, principles, and laws are encoded into religions, belief systems, governments, and even the sciences. Some have lasted for thousands of years like, “Thou shalt not kill.”
And then there’s the world full of ideas and philosophies that are as varied and complex as each individual. They change over time, they come out of trends and social experimentation, and often seem like they change from day to day.
Every generation seems to have its own selection of sins paraded around as desirable virtues while condemnations are pronounced upon the religious people that reject them.
We see this happen again and again especially in the Book of Mormon.
Sometimes they are rising voices like Sherem, Nehor, and Korihor, and other times, the wicked take hold of the entire society like King Noah and the secret bands of robbers in 3rd Nephi.
Many of these proponents will latch onto ideas that sound good because they appeal to our most carnal desires. Korihor revealed some of his thought processes that fueled the spread of his teachings:
…I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I taught them, even until I had much success, insomuch that I verily believed that they were true…
Alma 30:53
This causes many to latch onto new ideas that promote behaviors that go against God’s designs and are justified because they align with people’s dispositions.
As Nephi reflected in his psalm on his own temptations he asks the question:
“And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh?”
2 Nephi 4:27
Do the predilections of the flesh justify yielding to sin and defying God’s commandments and order?
Look at the example that Jesus has set for us to follow:
[Jesus] descended in suffering below that which man can suffer, or, in other words, suffered greater sufferings, and was exposed to more powerful contradictions than any man can be. But notwithstanding all this, he kept the law of God, and remained without sin: Showing thereby that it is in the power of man to keep the law and remain also without sin.
https://lecturesonfaith.com/5/#2
Nephi answers his own question in depth and it is worth our own deep consideration. What might our own “psalm” look like to combat the ideologies of our day and even those that might have taken hold upon our minds?
Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.
Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?
May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!
O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.
O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.
Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.
2 Nephi 4:28-35
