Oct 04
D. Todd Christofferson…Something to Think About
2009 at 5:21 pm | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 13 comments
Quote from message delivered Sunday afternoon, October 4, 2009:
“The societies in which many of us live have for more than a generation failed to foster moral discipline. They’ve taught that truth is relative. And, that everyone decides for himself or herself what is right. Concepts such as sin and wrong have been condemned as value judgements. As the Lord describes it, ‘Every man walketh in his own way and after the image of his own god.’ As a consequence, self-discipline has eroded, and societies are left to try to maintain order and civility by compulsion. The lack of internal control by individuals breeds external control by governments. One columnist observed, ‘that gentlemanly behavior, for example, once protected women from coarse behavior. Today we expect sexual harassment laws to restrain coarse behavior.’ Policemen and laws can never replace customs, traditions, and moral values as a means for regulating human behavior. At best, the police and criminal justice system are the last desperate line of defence for a civilized society. Our increased reliance on laws to regulate behavior is a measure of how uncivilized we’ve become.
In most of the world, we’ve experiencing an extended and devastating economic recession. It was brought on by multiple causes, but, one of the major causes was wide-spread dishonest and unethical conduct, particularly in the U.S. housing and financial markets. Reactions have focused on enacting more and stronger regulation. Perhaps that may dis way some from unprincipled conduct, but others will simply get more creative in their circumvention. There could never be enough rules, so finely crafted, as to anticipate and cover every situation. And, even if there were, enforcement would be impossibly expensive and burdensome. This approach leads to diminished freedom for everyone. In the memorable phrase of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, ‘We would not accept the yoke of Christ, so now we must tremble at the yoke of Caesar.’ In the end it is only an internal moral compass in each individual that can effectively deal with the root causes, as well as symptoms, of societal decay. Societies will struggle in vain to establish the common good, until sin is denounced as sin, and moral discipline takes its place in the pantheon of civic virtues.”
13 Responses to “D. Todd Christofferson…Something to Think About”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I love it.
And then he went on to say, “”Moral discipline is learned at home.”
October 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
So true.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
The statement, “We would not accept the yoke of Christ, so now we must tremble at the yoke of Caesar.” Struck me with it’s simple summation of our exchange of moral civility for the rule of increasingly oppressive laws attempting to maintain order in an amoral society. He also said something about there being no assurance that the political, social or economic institutions we have relied on in the past will continue. Does anyone know the direct quotation on that?
October 4th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
The part you italicize sounds like the ethics and boundaries initiatives attempts. They won’t stop unethical behavior. The unethical will just get more creative. I prefer giving elected officials enough rope (freedom) to hang themselves. The unethical won’t be able to NOT hang themselves eventually. If we are diligent, a few unethical officials will not ruin our republic, but we must continue vigilance to elect the morally best – even if we don’t agree on every particular. An honest man is better than someone who tells us whatever we want to hear.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
The problem with this essay as I see it is who’s definition of sin do we use? Since “sin” is a term generally associated with a theological belief system, there are many very different belief systems used by human beings throughout the world.
In the LDS faith homosexuality is a sin. In the Episcopal faith they elect homosexual bishops. In strict Judaism violation of any of the 613 “commandments” in the Torah are considered sins. Many of those behaviors would not be considered sins by the LDS faithful. In some sects of Islam music and singing are sinful behaviors as is receiving interest on a loan or men wearing silk or gold. In this view of sin those LDS faithful men at the conference this weekend wearing a silk tie and a gold wristwatch singing hymns would have been committing a sin.
My point, of course, is that you folks certainly have the right to your religious and political views, but you need to remember that you are not the only ones here.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I believe God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Some people blame God for physical deformations which is not God’s doing, it’s sometimes human error or it’s handed down from family members at birth. God is also blamed for bad thoughts and mistakes we make in life, like being born gay which is totally wrong.Wrong thoughts and bad habits, homosexuality is learned.
Moral deformity is worse than physical deformation, moral deformity oftan brings hatred and vengence. Vengence is the Lords, it is so very important that we don’t judge the Lord for our wrong doings.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:52 am
I also liked the following from his message yesterday:
“…the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the truth, of things as they really are…”
October 5th, 2009 at 8:53 am
You interpret his words to mean that we should not use laws to protect civility and morality. Perhaps that’s what he meant. If true, then he is apparently arguing that we should not have laws about abortion, homosexuality, drug use, or perhaps anything else for that matter.
I’m not sure that’s what he meant. I think he meant that we would be best off if people learned enough civility/morality at home that we didn’t need these laws at all–laws are a heavyhanded and second-best way to protect society. But implicit in his words was the idea that the yoke of Caesar, though worse than the yoke of Christ, is better than no yoke at all.
Either way, let’s be careful that neither one of us wrests his words in our haste to pretend that LDS teachings point toward a particular policy platform.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:57 am
A person’s sexual orientation is neither learned or chosen, it is simply who the person is. The mistaken belief that ones sexual orientation can be changed or “unlearned” through therapy or religion has had tragic consequences for many individuals and families. Especially in this culture why would any person raised in the LDS faith “choose” or “learn” to be gay when they will certainly be ostracized in their families and communities and treated as second class citizens. It just doesn’t make sense.
For more information go to: http://www.affirmation.org/
October 5th, 2009 at 9:05 am
A follow up. I really appreciate your open policy on comments. Thanks for allowing folks like me to post critical comments of your views on your own website. I don’t agree with everything you write, but I greatly admire your willingness to engage in honest dialog.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:36 am
To John, I think Christofferson spoke in absolute, not relative. Sin is sin, it is up to religions to figure it out. And of course each faith believes that their definition is correct. But that is besides the point. The greater gulf exists between those who claim that there is no sin on the one hand, and those with moral conduct as dictated by religious affiliation on the other.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
KM your statement suggests that those of us who do not accept the concept of “sin” in the theological sense nor have a “religious affiliation” do not have a moral compass nor exhibit moral conduct. That thinking in my view is completely false and demonstrates a lack of understanding of those whose views are different from your own.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
‘that gentlemanly behavior, for example, once protected women from coarse behavior. Today we expect sexual harassment laws to restrain coarse behavior”
Yes and in what world did these good old days exist? In the good old days, women did not work outside the home. The laws were required and necessary when women entered the work force.