Trying to be like Jesus - Inside

If the first priority for Jesus among the Nephites was organization, the second was catching them up on things that they missed, starting with the teachings from the Sermon on the Mount.

The Atonement and Resurrection have been completed, so we are no longer looking forward through the Law of Moses but now remembering through the sacrament (which will also be part of this visit). From a procedural point of view, the priority makes sense, but what struck me while reading this time was that now we are looking more inward than outward. The rituals and rules under Mosaic Law were supposed to guide you, so it's not that it didn't matter what kind of person you were, but now we are really thinking about the kind of person you are.

I was thinking about that, and thinking it might make more sense to cover that while actually in the New Testament, but then something bothered me that I thought would be a tangent, and actually it fits.

It started with a training segment at the end of a church meeting about avoiding the appearance of evil, with an example about being around in bars and how that looks. I was irritated because I have had good times in bars. I don't drink, I am not tempted to drink, but they are meant for lingering more than restaurants are, and sometimes the food is quite cheap.

The example was that if someone else thinks it looks like you're drinking, it could weaken them. I mean, the non-alcoholic drinks generally look different (pop in plastic cups instead of glasses, other things that make it easy for the staff to keep track of who is getting what), but I only know that because I have hung out in bars.

There is a point to the example, in that I do not want to weaken anyone, regardless of how weak they would have to be for that to be an influence. The "appearance of evil" quote comes from Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:22. That is interesting because his epistles often deal with balancing the traditional with the new. First there was pressure on Christian converts to live the law of Moses even if they had not been raised in it, and that didn't make sense. Then it was just to abstain from food that had been part of sacrifices to idols, and then there was a realization that it doesn't really matter, except if a newer convert is watching. It still has the realization that if your heart is right that many actions are neutral.

I was thinking about that, and when I spend time in bars it is not evil, and it shouldn't even look particularly evil, unless you think the bar in itself is evil. People getting together and socializing certainly isn't evil. Of course we don't drink, but even that isn't evil; it's a thing we have covenanted not to do, and there are good reasons for that, but it is not inherently evil.

There is the potential for bad. There are people who drink to excess and there are people who lower their inhibitions a little and do really regrettable things. If that is your mental picture of a bar, then it may look evil even if it is clean and cheerful and full of friendly people having light-hearted fun. There are bars that are depressing and even dangerous.

But thinking about that, yes, people will let alcohol make them do stupid things without anything other than opportunity, but it is also pretty common that with substance abuse (including alcoholism) that there are deep problems there. People may use the buzz to kill the pain of life. It may not be the most productive method, but if it is the most available, it's understandable.

Sometimes the evil isn't so much the alcohol as it is the economic inequality, and the society that keeps trying to devalue some so that others can feel better. Fix those things, and alcohol abuse goes down.

That is a real evil, not an appearance. The real evil needs to be fought. And as I think about that, it feels like avoiding the appearance of evil makes it too easy to ignore the real evil that we should be changing.

I started out feeling irritated with a message, but thinking that I could find a point in it that wasn't necessarily bad. Now I feel like avoiding the appearance of evil is pernicious.

I am sure there is still a way to do it right, probably most importantly by speaking up when something is wrong rather than going along with it. Getting hung up on appearances, though, I can't see that it does much good.