The Battle Rages On

I am reading a terrifying book, "Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe" by Mark Mazower. It is neither fun nor lighthearted reading; it is enlightening. Recently, while reading I came across the concept that the Nazis and Communists hated each other. Perhaps that is a no-brainer to people who are better educated than I, but it surprised me. To my mind, the Nazis and Communists aren't all that different from each other. Some of their ideologies are different, but their methodology is surprisingly alike. On the continuum of political ideology they are supposedly at the far, opposite ends of the spectrum; Communists being the extreme left and Nazis (or fascism) being the extreme right. They may start out with different aims, but that forked road converges at the same horrible destination further down the road. Whatever their stated purposes and ideologies are/were, historically they end up using the same methods to enforce their rule: mass murder, terrorizing their own citizens and others, absolute power consolidation, removal of individual freedoms and the crushing of opposition in any form. As I did further reading on their respective beliefs and political motivations, I had an "A-Ha Moment".

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (To those of you who are not members of my church, I hope you will grant me a little leeway here and permit a bit of a theological discussion.) We believe that human soul consists of two essential pieces: the body and the spirit. We also believe that God created our spirits and that we were sent to earth to receive a body to clothe those spirits and make us complete. But that plan was not forced upon us. During what we call the Pre-existence, God presented His plan to us, His spirit children. The plan involved the necessity for us to leave God's presence in order that we might get a body, live by faith and learn through our mistakes. But the key to making it all possible was that a Savior was necessary to atone for our inevitable sins and errors in order that we might repent, satisfy the demands of both justice and mercy, and one day return to God's presence. During that "Council in Heaven", two volunteers stepped forward: Jesus Christ, who promised to implement the plan that God had set forth and give the glory to the Father. The other, was Lucifer, who promised to bring every spirit back to the Father, by force and demanded that he receive the glory.

The key to the entire plan was the agency of man. God knew that in order for us to progress, we must be allowed to make choices, experience the associated consequences and thereby learn. But Lucifer's plan would have thwarted our ability to choose. We were allowed to choose whom we would follow: Jesus or Lucifer. Thus began the great "War in Heaven", where we chose sides and fought an ideological battle for the corresponding plan. Lucifer and his forces were defeated and he was cast out. His role from thence onward was to provide the necessary opposition to all things: good vs. evil, joy vs. sorrow, humility vs. pride, etc. Without said opposition, there would be no way for us to learn the necessary lessons of our existence. If we never have to taste the bitter, how will we ever know the difference in the sweet?

Now we come to my "A-Ha Moment". The battle that Lucifer lost in Heaven was not a final defeat; Lucifer has moved the battlefield, but it still rages on. Lucifer has ever fought for our slavery and it matters not to him what form that comes in. If it comes through sin, addiction, or at the hands of another human, he is successful. When we are slaves, we cannot choose. Any form of government that would make us slaves is thwarting God's eternal purposes for his children. This is the over-arching reason that the fight for our current freedoms in the United States is so critical. The Founding Fathers, regardless of their personal religious affiliations or lack thereof, knew that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, were divinely appointed rights. They are rights given to us by our Creator, not granted to us by any government, king, dictator, etc.

When government of any form tramples our rights, we lose freedom. As we lose freedom, we lose accountability. When we lose accountability, we are separated from our ability to experience consequences and learn from our mistakes. We become useless slaves to the whims of a few who believe themselves to be superior to all others. As the United States government has stepped in to protect foolish mortgage holders, banks, auto manufacturers, etc., they have removed them from the consequences of their actions and thus prevented them from learning the necessary but painful lessons associated with their freely made choices. Not only will they continue to repeat their foolish mistakes, but they are thereby wrongly punishing the innocent and will continue to do so.

I am not suggesting that we should eliminate government. To quote Thomas Paine, "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." Without government we would have anarchy. But we should have the smallest government possible in order for us to have a civilized, productive environment in which to make our own choices for ourselves and our families. That government can only be maintained by the willingness of its citizens to abide by the laws upon which we have all agreed. Without that willingness, we would fail. There are not enough police officers or soldiers to enforce any laws if the people refuse to obey them.

This is where we come back to the essential principle of personal agency. Man is a fallen creature. The natural man is an enemy to God. I don't believe that means that men are inherently evil; nor do I believe we are inherently good. I do think we are very selfish creatures. A large part of our purpose here on earth is to overcome that selfishness. Without the ability to make choices, experience the resulting consequences--good or bad--we cannot learn or progress. Those of us that believe in a higher power, have the guidance of scriptures, prayer and prophets to help us overcome those selfish tendencies. In an ideal world that would be enough; while we as individuals progressed, we would have a decreasing need for government because we would make our decisions based on principles of honesty, fairness and unselfishness. In the real world, too few of us fall short of that. But the answer to solve those problems is not increased government regulation and intervention which is the antithesis of freedom. What is needed, is teaching; leaders, teachers and parents who both exemplify personal responsibility and accountability and allow it to take place. As any parent knows, sheltering your children from responsibility breeds an ever-growing monster whose selfishness and greed knows no bounds.

Our current fight for freedom is not really about government health care, taxation or government regulation. It is ultimately another skirmish in the battle for our souls. I'm not implying that government's are under Satan's control. But whether his ends are achieved by willing pawns or well-meaning dupes, the results in regards to our personal freedoms are the same. It is a battle for our God-given right to choose our own path and the resulting future. God will not interfere with our agency. If He will not, how then can anyone else think they should?