Man's Inhumanity to Man
by Debra Woods
May 16, 2004
When I was still within
my first year of church membership, my boyfriend took me to a rock
concert in Cincinnati at the coliseum. I had never been to a big
rock concert and I was not prepared for what I would encounter. I
witnessed a mass of humanity - most of whom were engaged in various
forms of substance abuse and the subsequent behavior that erupts in
such situations. The star act was delayed, as is typical - giving
the crowd just that much more time to become high and out of
control. by Debra Woods
May 16, 2004
I cannot wonder at the children of Israel - when Moses went up into Mt. Sinai to receive the gospel - they made a golden calf to worship - I cannot wonder at the German mentality that lead to the Holocaust - when I see what men are capable of - to harm themselves and each other. The history of the earth is riddled with horrific accounts of man's inhumanity to man.
But my heart wails in mourning. I could not bear the scene at the rock concert and buried my face in my hands till my boyfriend suggested we leave. The music was so loud I could not enjoy it - outside with the doors shut behind us, I finally heard the music. I was so shaken by the experience. But it was mild in comparison to what else goes on.
Nation against nation, race against race, religion against religion, family against family - and oh oh oh, domestic violence - which is now the leading cause of homicide - not strangers and enemies killing one another, but families harming their own blood kin. And in total lack of reverence for our own lives, we abuse ourselves in ever increasingly vile ways.
Oh Father! How long can you abide this heartlessness in your children on this planet? What becomes of us when we come to this place, that we could stoop to such abominable treatment of ourselves and each other? Mortality is so awful. Beings of light, and glory and divinity - cut off from our heavenly parents and left to the influence of satan and the dark spirits who followed him - in a veil of forgetfulness, housed in bodies of corruption with such debilitating awkward physical limitations - limited in communication, imprisoned by time and space restrictions - and thus we fall into such a vortex of sin and wrong.
It may not be any wonder that this happens, but it still grieves me deeply to see it.
In the face of a world devoid of light and values, any light we have shines - like a star in a black sky.
*
Alma the Younger
told of his "exquisite" mighty change of heart conversion experience in
Alma
36I have experienced willful
victimization. It is small in the whole scope of earth's history,
but it hurts none the less, because it happened to me. I am trying to understand
how Father can stand it. The atonement takes on a whole new
meaning. If we are so susceptable to the influence of the
adversary and so blind and forgetful, and beset about by temptations
within and without - what hope is there that anyone can escape the
damning effects of mortality?
The atonment. What I have recently come to understand is that God planned from the very beginning to provide a way to alleviate the effects of mortality. And this is not just for the very nearly perfect among us - this is offered to ALL. The very most despicable transgressor is offered the same reward, if he/she will but turn from sin and come unto Christ - he/she may be numbered among the saints and achieve eternal life. THAT is how powerful the Atonement is. And it isn't just an offer, it is an entreaty - it is a pleading call - made to all God's children.
The atonment. What I have recently come to understand is that God planned from the very beginning to provide a way to alleviate the effects of mortality. And this is not just for the very nearly perfect among us - this is offered to ALL. The very most despicable transgressor is offered the same reward, if he/she will but turn from sin and come unto Christ - he/she may be numbered among the saints and achieve eternal life. THAT is how powerful the Atonement is. And it isn't just an offer, it is an entreaty - it is a pleading call - made to all God's children.
HEARKEN, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words
of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning
you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write, saying:
Turn, all ye
Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of
your lyings and deceivings,
and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your
idolatries,murders, and your
priestcrafts, and your envyings,
and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be
baptized in my name, that ye may receive a
remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may
be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.
3 Nephi
30
wherein he was racked with the horror of his own sins, till he plead for mercy - and was immediately filled with peace of forgiveness - and joy as exquisite as was his prior pain. If Alma can have such an experience, so can any one of us - faith and repentence is possible for all.
And this is the comfort - this is the good news - in this world of unspeakable iniquity and hate, that at times would consume us with despair. It is not automatic - but it IS possible, it is available to ALL. And in as much as each of us stands in need of forgiveness of a merciful Father, we must, we MUST afford our fellow beings, our spirit siblings, the same mercy we require and seek after.