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The recent viral video “Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists” cameos an unbelieving Gen Z-er debating the inconsistencies in God’s ways. As the young man in the hot seat—Ian—supposes, God commands genocide in Deuteronomy 7 and 20, the death of children in Numbers 31, and condones slavery and abuse in Exodus 21 and Leviticus 25. “Is all of this in line with Christian ethics?” he asks Jordan Peterson. “Do you think that God is by his very essence perfect? … Does a flawless thing change? Does a flawless thing reveal more and better information over time? Or would a flawless thing say, ‘here is what’s good—here is the absolute good thing to do in all circumstances in time’?”
I’ve attended many hours of Relief Society in young single adult wards. In classes discussing chastity, identity, or the roles of men and women, many express concerns about “The Family Proclamation” being outdated, misinterpreted, and too entrenched in cultural norms. The lines “gender is an essential characteristic” and “mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children” tend to put worry lines on some young Gen Z faces. Other topics like the Word of Wisdom and repentance bring about similar reactions: old people are stuck in their ways, and the world is a different, more enlightened place now. God gives laws to people based on their understanding of His ways … [He] doesn’t reveal the full weight of His truth all at once.
Even now, changes consistently occur in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The last ten years brought updates to home teaching, priesthood structure, garments, the temple recommend interview questions, the For the Strength of Youth Guide, and Come Follow Me. “We’re witnesses to a process of restoration,” President Nelson said in 2018. “If you think the Church has been fully restored, you’re just seeing the beginning.”
How can the restoration of the Church be ongoing, and yet God stays the same? “I don’t know how a God who’s outside of time is revealing different things at different times,” Ian concluded to Peterson. “That just seems incoherent to me.”
There are certainly gruesome events in the Bible, but there are also enlightening patterns of revelation in the Old and New Testaments. Throughout scripture, God gives laws to people based on their understanding of His ways. Just as you wouldn’t expect a child to know how to budget money and handle millions of dollars, God doesn’t reveal the full weight of His truth all at once, especially to a bull-headed person.
In the Book of Mormon, Alma teaches that God only grants a “portion” of His word unto the children of men “according to the heed and diligence which they give unto Him.” This is a merciful law (see Luke 12, D&C 82, and 2 Nephi 9). God speaks to us according to our “understanding,” otherwise we would be accountable for things we don’t yet have the bandwidth to comprehend.
The law of Moses, “the lesser law” or “preparatory gospel,” was appointed unto the Jews because they were a “stiffnecked people.” Moses received laws, commandments, ordinances, and covenants on tablets from the Lord on Mount Sinai. When he returned from the mountain, he found the children of Israel worshiping the golden calf. Moses was, understandably, extremely upset. He broke the tablets and destroyed the calf. The Israelites were not “worthy” to receive all that was written on the tablets, so instead, they received the law of Moses with performances and ordinances which they were required to observe “strictly.”
When Jesus Christ came to the earth, He did not ‘get rid of’ the old law. He said Himself, I come not “to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Something happened between the “stiffneckedness” of the Israelites and the time when “they shall all know me”––as mentioned in Jeremiah. Jesus Christ came in the “fullness“ of time: the time was ‘full’ for the Savior to teach the people a new, higher law. This law is written “on their hearts” instead of the rigid text (Jeremiah 31). Instead of sacrificing an animal, the Savior instituted a new system where believers sacrifice a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9). The law of sacrifice wasn’t “done away” with, but the implementation and understanding of that law changed based on the capacity of the people in that generation. If the ancients are attached to limited understandings, what is our responsibility to them?
God reveals new truths as generations progress. As illustrated by the examples in the Old and New Testaments, God not only speaks to His children according to their understanding, He––in His mercy––allows people to live according to that understanding. He didn’t give up on the Israelites when they consistently forgot Him; He gave them a law they could follow, even if it was more prescribed and strict.
If the ancients are attached to limited understandings, what is our responsibility to them? The Israelites’ attitude” seems to be an extreme example of the ‘What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?’ syndrome,” Rabbi Joseph Telushkin writes in his book Jewish Literacy. He asks, “What makes us so sure we would be any different?” (Telushkin, p. 44).
This is an important question: what does make us so sure we’d be different?
Most of us don’t practice race-based slavery anymore, although other forms of slavery are rampant. Women have the right to vote in some areas of the world. Most of us aren’t engaged in bloody battles on a daily basis. We started as hunter-gatherers, and now we have the capability of traveling by plane at the speed of sound. But aren’t we just as “prone to leave the God we love”? We are all plagued with the “natural man” and in a “carnal and fallen” state. And yet, the generations do improve. Rabbi Telushkin explains that the old, enslaved generation must die off so a new generation can be “conceived in freedom,” suggesting the next generation would be different from their parents (Telushkin, p. 51).
Young people may know or embrace certain things about our progressing world that old people cannot or do not. But, scriptures often caution against putting yourself above those who came before you. “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother,” Proverbs 30 reads. “There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.” At least a dozen of my friends have left the Church, resent the way they were raised, and have totally lost respect for their parents. Perhaps this is why one in three Gen Zers and millennials do not want to have children. The Lord gave us “honor thy father and thy mother” as one of the ten commandments. This applies to every parent, awful or awesome. Everything we have now is a result of the path paved from those who came before us … all of it is because someone sacrificed something for us.
As painful as it often is, God allows people to live according to what they understand while encouraging them to always understand more. He gives “line upon line, precept upon precept,” and for those who hearken unto His precepts, they will “receive more.” It would be unconscionable to expect a newborn to walk, or a caveman to understand the internet and be trusted with an iPhone. Instead of desiring to do away with old laws and customs, like ancient patterns outlined in the Family Proclamation, we can follow the Savior’s example by becoming fulfillments of our parents and grandparents, and great-great-grandparents’ efforts and knowledge: “Go forward and not backward.”
In answer to Ian’s question: a flawless thing does not change, but God––who is flawless and unchanging––reveals more and better information over time because humans are always changing. Revelation from God looks different from generation to generation. But that doesn’t mean past revelations and generations are obsolete, outdated, or unimportant now: we have simply been blessed with new understandings of them.
“Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause?”
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