5 Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
A few days ago, I had an interesting encounter. Ever since college, I've had a curiosity to get to know people who are different from me. I guess I kind of think that a good way to understand the world is to learn why people do what they do. A minister sat next to me on a plane, and I was curious as to what made his church different from the other churches in his town. Growing up LDS, which church you go to is strictly based on where you live - so it wasn't until a couple of years ago that this idea of "church shopping" became introduced to me. Also, a new Mormon church is built in a town when there is a need because of numbers. I know that protestant church's didn't work this way, so I've always been curious as to why a minister builds new church and how they get their congregation to choose to attend their church.
When he found out I was LDS, the conversation didn't go very well. The only piece of doctrine he told me, other than Mormons got it all wrong, was that he believed that when everyone dies, God is going to look at you and say "You made some mistakes, but come on in any ways."
This is a nice notion - kind of like some sort of big happy ending - but a phrase that comes to mind is "Mercy Cannot Rob Justice." God couldn't have gone to all the trouble of creating everything, creating rules and blessings conditioned on those rules, and then in the end decided it doesn't matter because he just loves us all so much. I'm not saying that God doesn't love us more than we could ever comprehend, but that for me it doesn't make sense and it doesn't ring true that I can read 21+ verse just from the Bible that clearly state that God expects us to live by his rules, and if we don't then we don't get the blessing.
The good news is that we don't have to do it all alone. We have Christ - and because of Christ's suffering in the garden and the cross we can return home to God without having to suffer the consequences of our sins. However, this is not a get out of jail free card either. Christ seemed to tell everyone he healed or forgave "to go and sin no more." I don't think it was a suggestion, I think it was a commandment. He commanded all to become baptized - not just suggested that it might be a good idea if we felt like it. The mercy Christ extends to us is conditioned on us choosing to follow him, and along with that is following his commandments as well. And excellent short movie on this topic is The Mediator.
A final thought on accountability is from D&C 82:3
3 For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.
Everyone is accountable for what they have - and I hope that I'll figure out a way to better use to gifts and opportunities given me.
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