God and Nature
In Doctrine and Covenants 82 it says, “And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you; Or, in other words, I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” I have read or heard these verse perhaps hundreds of times, but as my perspective on scripture has evolved and my understanding of things changes, a new thought emerged for me. Likewise, I don’t know for sure if it is a subtle change or a cosmic shift. So, what follows is an exploration of thought.
It all starts with the idea that God is in perfect harmony with nature. How I have arrived at this is in trying to comprehend God.
There are certain things about God that I know for certain because of Joseph Smith’s First Vision; God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate, personal beings who inhabit glorified and perfected, tangible bodies. By building on this foundation, we can know that all of his attributes are bounded within this kind of being. It seems to me, this corporeal existence would necessarily involve a framework, within which God acts. I believe it is the ultimate form of being from which power and authority is exercised. In other words, God’s existence is within that of all other matter and cosmic laws of physics.
Mainstream creedal Christianity has a very different concept of God that is contradictory and confusing at best, so I reject it. Another creedal idea is that God is Sovereign, meaning that God can do whatever he wants, and is not bound in any way. They believe he makes things out of nothing. They believe he does things just because he feels like it. To their credit, they say that all he does is good. However, they turn around and say things like only some of us are destined to heaven and others to hell. This completely undermines the notion of us having any sort of free will, which is an atheist argument. But then they say salvation is based on confession of Christ. Like I said, it’s all perplexing and contradictory. In the end, it explains nothing useful about God and nature.
Let me step down from my soapbox. Okay, now I will proceed with what, I believe, is more sensible.
If we believe that God works in perfect harmony with nature, it stands to reason that when he uses phrases like, “I, the Lord, am bound…”, he is working within some sort of framework. In other words, he is saying; reality dictates that if you act a certain way, certain things follow. That is just how it works.
When someone reaches a certain level of proficiency and skill at something, we call them a “master” at that thing. They work within the boundaries set by the materials and instruments they manipulate. They understand the nature of everything involved in that realm and produce something beautiful and profound. Father in Heaven is a master of all things. He understands the nature of all things and uses that knowledge to form and manipulate matter, using the forces of reality to create all things.
Because of his love for his creations, he allows us to make the most of what we are. I am not just talking about us, his greatest creations, I mean everything. Everything he makes is commanded to fill the measure of its creation. Again, this suggests boundaries that are in place that cannot be crossed. Doctrine and Covenants 93:30 says it this way, “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” Said another way; if things fail to act within the laws of nature, they cease to exist.
Well, that was a lot, but that is how I see things for now. As I learn more, maybe —or certainly— I will see things differently.
So, how certain can we be that God will come through on his promises? As sure as existence itself.
I see myself more in alliance with the ancient cultures who saw nature as God than with religions that see him as some kind of arbitrary power that can do things on a righteous whim. At least the ancient cultures saw reliable patterns in the world around them and acted accordingly. Did they go to extremes at times to try to influence the gods with their sacrifices? Certainly. But I can imagine that the cultural influencers and leaders of some cultures took advantage of these kinds of things to bring people into submission. Sadly, that is human nature. Even the leaders of the medieval church fell prey to the darker side of their nature, and tortured and killed the so-called heretics who dared to think for themselves.
This stark contrast between human nature and the God who works within the boundaries of reality —which produces the ultimate thriving of all things— should give us confidence to do what the Lord says. It is in our best interest to follow Jesus Christ. Anything else will end badly.
And on that note, Happy Sunday!