all right welcome to Quick show my name
is Greg Matson and I am your host in
this episode we're talking about charity
or Christian love being changed into
tolerance and is this where Christianity
as a whole is going is this where the
latterday Saints are going this is
certainly where culture is going
tolerance is becoming
the it would seem the primary doctrine
of our culture sometimes you see this in
the responses that I've had on the
recent episodes that I've done on the
opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics
and of the female boxers Olympic boxers
and you get these responses back that
are saying hey what are you doing why
are you bringing this up you're a
homophobe or why do you care about
whether it's a man or a woman or what
chromosomes they have the message is
just tolerate anything that goes
tolerate the destruction of order
tolerate any expression of sexuality and
not only tolerate but you know maybe you
should advocate for these things as well
even when it's to children and to
families that may be the whole world
watching the opening ceremonies of the
Olympics but of course this is just one
example it's happening all over the
place now I'm excited to say that I am
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these now what I'm pulling from here is
an article that my friend Ralph Hancock
BYU professor of political philos
philosophy wrote and it was published by
Public Square magazine back in 2020 and
so I'm going to pull a few quotes from
him the title of his article was
Christian love secular progress and
holistic higher education I'm going to
hold off on the higher education at
least really delving into that even
though that's something I like to do
we're going to hold off on that in this
episode Ralph starts off talking about
nche right the the philosopher n and he
says n once suggested Christianity is
vulnerable to appropriation by lofty
humanitarian aspirations are we falling
into the tendency unawares and what he's
talking about is a discrepancy from what
Christianity really is the focus on the
atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ
repentance becoming a better person
moving toward more of a temporal move
toward humanitarian needs now look
humanitarian needs are important they're
part of Christianity but the temporal
needs are never above the spiritual
needs not overall not ideally but we
seem to be moving toward that more and
more you have questions from many
outside of the church or formerly of the
church that will say why do we spend so
much money on the temples why do we
focus so much time on keeping them so
clean and why do you pull labor from all
of the members of the church to help out
there couldn't this money go to the poor
sure it could or what do the church do
for humanitarian needs well of course
the people that ask that today have no
idea how much we do we do an awful lot
but the primary mission of the church
above humanitarian is spreading the go
and helping people live it because
ultimately the solutions of the world
including humanitarian and temporal
needs are solved mostly by a knowledge
of and a following of the principles of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ
how would the world change if this was
the
case and there is a higher law and a
lower law just like there is a higher
law of Charity the Pure Love Of Christ
and a lower Law of Tolerance and we are
sliding down that muddy Hill very
quickly from charity to tolerance from
talking about the well-being of an
individual the Eternal well-being of the
individual and moving toward affirmation
and tolerance of pretty much anything
goes and those pointing fingers of the
great and spacious building come at you
when you don't support tolerance here's
another one of my favorites within the
church right well president Nelson said
you know you're not supposed to have
contention okay well there's a
difference a great difference between
contention and
conflict contention is directly trying
to cause a problem conflict is
inevitable if you are following the
Covenant
path if you are trying to do what is
right and the world is sliding further
and further into Babylon and into chaos
and and and a deconstruction of order
there's going to be conflict no matter
what do we do as president hinley said
and stand for something or do we
tolerate everything in the name of no
contention that it was not the message
of of President Nelson but it's
weaponized to allow for tolerance shame
seems to be the number one way that the
world now works to allow for tolerance
but it's also flattery you can do
anything that you want I hate to beat a
dead horse here but this is something
I've brought up an awful lot it is the
difference between the Antichrist in the
Book of Mormon uh and and not focusing
so much on Kore and we do that and of
course that was just recently brought up
in our KF follow me studies but Kor is
not the major problem it is a problem
but Kor is an atheist he is preaching
atheism that is not usually the carrot
that people that drags people away from
the church and the church will survive a
threat from atheism and I'm not saying
people don't eventually get there they
do a lot of people that leave the church
they then fall into maybe Christianity
or some other sort of Christianity and
then they kind of their belief because
quite frankly there's nothing like the
restored gospel but cor hor is not the
issue for the church the problem with
the for the church is neoris that is
what destroys everyone and we see a book
of Mormon that is written for our day
and the problems of all the denters that
leave the the Nephites because that's
really what the book is about right it
is centralized on Jesus Christ and
Liberty but the story of The Book of
Mormon that that teaches these things is
the story of the nephite
dissenters and most of those dissenters
follow neoris or something very close to
it we can go back to the first
Antichrist in the Book of Mormon that is
in Jacob you've got sheram who comes in
interestingly enough from another place
we don't know where he comes from
actually this is similar to the way it
was with a deuteronomist when they lost
brought in a an antichrist message to
the children of well those that were at
Jerusalem
back in the time of of Isaiah and
Hezekiah and then dominating things in
the time of Josiah and later Jeremiah
and Lehi where they got rid of Christ
here's sheram right being introduced in
Jacob 7 it says and now it came to pass
after some years had passed away that
there came a man among the people of
Nephi whose name was sheram and it came
to pass that he began to preach among
the people and to declare unto them that
there should be no Christ
and he preached many things which were
flattering unto the people right we need
to look at that term flattering and
understand look you can do what you want
this is the exact same me message that
Satan had for Eve right when she he said
there there there's no death don't worry
about it you shall not surely die what
is he really saying there he's saying
there's no judgment it's spiritual death
just as much as it is Mortal death it's
spiritual death so don't worry about
things dig a pit for your neighbor
Express Yourself however you want to
express yourself don't worry about order
of any sort you'll get a little slap on
the hand and everything's done there's
no judgment don't worry about it many
things which were flattering under the
people this is what nior ism is all
about also no judgment look at AMC and
and Elma and teaching in almana how they
have to go over and over and over
judgment the zoramites which we just
read about also in K me same same thing
they lose Christ no judgment right so
why sheram do this he does this
flattering people so that he can
overthrow the doctrine of Christ and
this is interesting here in verse four
where we talk about language I talk
about that a lot and how postmodernism
has adopted this and put a virus in the
language it it it's things Equity now
means something very different than it
did 50 years ago you pick certain words
and you use them over and over and over
again in certain situations you give it
a new meaning you've got an ASU
Professor that spoke at BYU last year
that told everyone when you read the
word iniquity in the Book of Mormon
think inequity right a division an
oppressor and a victim trying to change
the meaning of the word yes that's
within the church it says in verse four
here and he was learned that he had a
perfect knowledge of the language of the
people wherefore he could use much
flattery and much power of speech
according to the power of the devil his
Focus again here is on the gospel of of
or the doctrine of Christ he says to
Jacob I have sought much opportunity
that I might speak unto you for I have
heard and also know that thou goest
about much preaching that which he call
The Gospel or the doctrine of Christ
well he's trying to completely get rid
of Christ this is preist coming to Earth
right we need to remember that after
that well there's a new secularization
of the Gospel in probably by the late
first century or early second Century
where you've now got these Scrolls of
the different books of the of the New
Testament and it's like okay there's
Witnesses here the church has been
founded on the idea of the resurrection
and and atonement of Jesus Christ and
the witnesses of that have been there
with him so that's pretty hard to change
but we can change some meanings of
things the nature of God the words that
are already written in the New Testament
again the words like what does it mean
to be one what does it mean that God is
the the father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost are one well that's very different
to the philosophies at the time compared
to what Jesus means when he's giving the
intercessory prayer to the father in on
behalf of the disciples and again we
might ask ourselves are we creating a
teddy bear Jesus are we trying to change
the nature of God just like was done in
the great apostasy are we trying to do
something similar to changing the
godhead into the trinity a watering down
of the Plan of Salvation reducing the
value of exaltation because this is how
that corruption works it's not getting
rid of it it's not throwing the church
away it's changing it just like
postmodernism and a lot of the efforts
in the woke world today are trying to
change language now I bring up sheram
first because we need to understand that
this idea of getting rid of Christ has
already been in place it's not neor that
founds this and again even though Cor
wants to get rid of Christ he he he's
trying to say there is no God at all
it's a very atheist argument but sheram
is here saying that there is no Christ
and that there is no judgment this
strain this idea has already been in
place by the time neor comes around and
he just adopts it it seems to me and
what he does is he takes this and he
wants to change the doctrine within the
church he wants to create a virus in the
doctrine of the church corrupt it not
get rid of the church he wants to
corrupt it the only time that these
individuals want to get rid of the
church is when they descent away and
then they turn back and they want to get
rid of the church they want to get rid
of Christ so it says here in Elma 1
verse three and he had gone about among
the people this is neor preaching to
them that which he termed to be the word
of God which he termed to be with the
word of God bearing down against the
church declaring unto the uh unto the
people that every priest and teacher
ought to become popular and they ought
not to labor with their hands but that
they ought to be supported by the people
and this is what a lot of people think
about when we get down here a little
further into priestcraft with nior ISM
that's not the biggest problem it is a
big problem but the biggest problem is
the corruption of the doctrine and the
getting rid of the doctrine of Christ
and it happens from within and in verse
four here we're going to get the the
Judgment part here he says and he also
testified unto the people that all
mankind should be saved at the last day
and that they need not fear nor tremble
but that they might lift up their heads
and rejoice for the Lord had created all
men and had also redeemed all men and in
the end all men should have eternal life
that's exaltation right the salvation of
the Book of Mormon in almost all cases
they're talking about exaltation no
judgment all men will have exaltation we
can tolerate anything anything goes does
that start to sound a little more
familiar to you in terms of our culture
you know let's not make a conflict here
with anything not that you're intending
the conflict but you are intending to
stand up for truth and again is that as
the world moves down that slippery slope
and you're sticking true to the
principles of the Gospel then there is
going to be
conflict you don't have to go out and
look for it you don't have to try and
magnify it but if you're not even aware
of what is happening then it's very easy
for you yourself to fall into the same
trap and move from a Christian love a
charity down into purely a principle of
Tolerance now same thing here today I
think in verse 5 and it came to pass
that he did teach these things so much
that many did believe on his words even
so many that they began to support him
and give him
money right then he goes and establishes
his own church after the manner of his
preaching this is a similar church right
pre Christ time that would follow the
law of Moses but does not believe in
Christ or a need even for a
christ and that's something that you
need to remember I think and you know
what what is the reason for the
atonement how do you get rid of the
atonement and and the uh
character and nature of Jesus Christ if
there's already Witnesses and you
already believe in a book that talks
about him being in Gethsemane on the
cross and then from the tomb he is
resurrected and all of his teachings how
do you do that well you get rid of the
need for what he did you change
it where hey I just have to believe on
him and now everything is fine or there
may not be that much of a need for the
the
atonement because everything is okay and
we can tolerate everything and God loves
you and therefore he tolerates
everything Professor Hancock goes on and
says the following the risk of importing
the world unknowingly into our moral
vision is apparent all around us as we
see Christian love or charity
interpreted to serve the purposes of
more more
relativism and boundless
self-expression right now here again
it's important to understand that the
philosophies that we're seeing the so
many different things that we're seeing
in the pride movement as an
example and not that there aren't some
people that have a a a a I'm not going
to say legitimate necessarily although
sometimes it is but those that have a a
pure intent of supporting their family
members what they may not understand is
everything that is wrapped up in that
flag everything that is wrapped up in
that
movement includes an
ideology that is about throwing off the
order of God that is about throwing off
the order of the
family and not only for themselves but
for the world this is what the writers
and founders of these philosophies talk
about with queer Theory and gender
Theory
postmodernism and of course cultural
Marxism it's all the same thing they all
want to throw off the shackles of
sexuality the order of marriage and the
Order of having a
family and so many people don't
understand this and so what they lean
into because they don't understand it or
they fall into it is simply
tolerance Ralph goes on and says the
world now increasingly identifies love
with non judgmentalism and this is so
true I get so many of these comments
you know that that says you think that
God doesn't love these people or God
doesn't love you or whatever it might be
a as if there is no judgment same thing
with nior ISM you know judgment is so
crucial to understand it's so important
because there's it's not just the bad
consequences of judgment that
matter it's the good consequences of
judgment that matter if there is no
judgment there is no purpose for your
agency
there's no purpose for your growth
there's no purpose for the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ and having
faith in that there's no purpose for
repentance I want to repeat what what he
said I want to repeat what he said here
again the world's now increasingly
identifies love with nonjudgmentalism
tolerance kind of fights against the
idea of
judgment tolerance can be a very neutral
type of thing well how do you use use it
do you tolerate everything tolerance is
a passive type of a
characteristic it's
easier Professor Hancock has a friend uh
Daniel Mahoney who is the a scholar and
author who wrote a book called the idol
of our age how the religion of humanity
subverts
Christianity and we're going to see this
more and more we're going to move more
Christianity is going to move more and
more toward a temporal type of
love not that it's not important but the
idea of corruption is taking values and
turning them on their head one gets
moved above the other and then
everything falls apart the whole you
know House of Cards
goes Daniel Mahoney says the following
free floating compassion substitutes for
charity he calls it free floating
compassion there's phrases that I've
used such as untethered empathy or
malevolent compassion Mahoney goes on
and says Christianity is shorn of any
recognizable transcendental Dimension
and becomes an instrument for promoting
egalitarian social justice usually in
the name of an ideological conception of
the poor now many here who don't like
hearing these things are going to push
back and say you don't care about the
poor Christ talked about the poor all
the time he did yes it's very important
to take care of the Widow and the poor
and the sick and The Afflicted and
everybody else those are all very
important things the problem is they are
weaponized to pull you away from
spiritual goodness and I use this
example all the time but go back to 1917
pre-october and you're living in Russia
and there's a big change coming the Zar
managed the country horribly there is
great poverty and famine disorder and
there is this movement that is headed by
a man named Lenin and someone in that
movement who's recently been made aware
of it and converted says to you on the
street we can make a change communism is
all about taking care of the poor and
you say well I'm not sure about this
I've heard about these things I'm I'm
not really sure I'm not that aware of it
yet well wait a minute the other person
says to you so you don't care about the
poor if you don't want to follow our
movement then you don't care about the
poor you are a hater you're
porobic you're a hater well of course
today economic class has been replaced
by other cultural identity markers such
as race such as sexual orientation such
as gender ethnicity Etc right all of the
different rungs on the ladder of
intersectionality so these temporal
things are are very important but
they're not the most important things
Mahoney goes on and says one cannot help
but ask if Christianity is inherently
vulnerable to humanitarian appropriation
as n suggested with hostile intent and I
would suggest that Latter-Day Saints are
especially
vulnerable to Identity
politics and the
Allure of untethered empathy and
malevolent
compassion one more quote from Mahoney
he says this is why the subtle but
growing Progressive push to transform
religion into a kind of theologically
vacuous humanitarianism worries me it's
fundamentally
unchristian and it is that doesn't mean
that you don't engage in
humanitarian efforts I think many of us
do but stripping down deconstructing the
spiritual laws first and focusing simply
on the temporal brings you closer and
closer to a marxian type of church a
Liberation theology and then Ralph
Hancock says and this is this is crucial
and and and at the center of all of
this he says for the true Christian the
savior's admonition to sell all one has
and give to the poor must live alongside
his later rebuke to those who said why
this waste this perfume could have been
sold for a high price and the money
given to the poor in other words there
was emphasis investment
resources given to the sacred to the
spiritual and so we see within the
church the majority of the funds that
are collected for tithing and more go to
the spiritual efforts of the Church of
course you need chapels to be able to do
this and other temporal things but the
focus on this is the spiritual message
of the the spiritual message and
practice of the Gospel now where most of
this comes from which
is you hear me say it all the time the
religion of Academia the halls of the
humanities departments this is mostly
where this comes from these these
pernicious ideas something that is
called culturally wokeism Ralph Hancock
says this more and more however I see
rhetorical shifts within the
intellectual class of my own faith
tradition
yes call it what it is
and those of other traditions and
absolutely the SBC is in trouble right
now it's
it's pillars are are crumbling the
Church of England the methodists ETC he
says that these rhetorical shifts quote
suggest a kind of reimagining of
religion as merely a vehicle or means to
carrying out a political social social
justice end social justice is a
different religion that is antithetical
to the doctrine of Christ it is
antithetical to the doctrine of the
family and yet we see this
encroaching further and further not only
into the institutions of the west where
they dominate but into Christianity
itself and yes into the church I want to
finish with two quotes one from
president Thomas S Monson and one from
president Ballard president Monson says
the philosophy of men surround us we
need to understand this the philosophies
of men surround us the face of sin today
often wears the mask of
Tolerance you need to see it and
recognize it he goes on do not be
deceived behind that facade is heartache
unhappiness and pain when we lean into
tolerance the results are heartache
unhappiness and pain you know what is
right he says and what is wrong and no
disguise however appealing can change
that have the moral courage to be a
light for others to
follow right that moral courage and that
light then is to pierce through the m of
Darkness of the philosophies of men and
to call out the principle of Tolerance
and lastly I'm going to finish with uh
then Elder Nelson Russell M Nelson this
is a longer quote but I think it's
important he says an erroneous
assumption could be made that if a
little of something is good a lot must
be better not so overdoses of needed
medication can be toxic boundless Mercy
could oppose Justice tolerance without
limit could lead to spineless
permissiveness the Lord Drew boundary
lines to define acceptable limits of
Tolerance
danger Rises when those Divine limits
were disobeyed just as parents teach
little children not to run and play in
the street the Savior taught us that we
need not tolerate Evil Jesus went into
the temple of God and over through the
tables of the money changers though he
loved the sinner the Lord said that he
cannot look upon sin with the least
degree of allowance okay just remember
that when tolerance tries to get the
best of you
tolerance is a passive quality it can be
a pernicious sin of omission it is the
enemy to charity and it is the tool to
devalue the atonement of Jesus Christ
and the necessity of judgment and of our
agency thanks for listening
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