Kindness and the Essence of the Gospel

I saw on a car today a sticker that said something like this: “My religion is simple. My religion is kindness.”  For those of us who claim a religion and a belief in a loving God, kindness certainly must be a part of how we live in the world, and this is clearly taught in Latter-day Saint doctrine.  In a talk on kindness Elder Wirthlin said, “Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known….  Kindness is the essence of a celestial life.  Kindness is how a Christlike person treats others” (see here).  President Hinckley gave a talk on the need for kindness just a year later, saying, “[Miracles] can happen and will happen when there is kindness, respect, and love.  Why do any of us have to be so mean and unkind to others? Why can’t all of us reach out in friendship to everyone about us?  Why is there so much bitterness and animosity?  It is not a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (see here).  In a more recent general conference Sister Cook encouraged us to remember that “kindness begins with me” (see here).  In the scriptures we are taught the need to show forth “brotherly kindness” to others (2 Peter 1:7).  Clearly as Latter-day Saints we would embrace someone’s belief in living a life of kindness—it is a fundamental part of our religion.  So why do we need more than kindness?  What is it that a life “of kindness” lacks? 

                Joseph Smith made this summary statement about our religion: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (see here).  Kindness is important, but it is still only an appendage like so many other gospel principles.  The essence of our religion is faith in Jesus Christ and His ability to change us, lift us out of our struggles, to cleanse us of our sins, to sanctify our souls, and to ultimately bring us back to the presence of our Father in Heaven because of His suffering, death, and resurrection.  If we will embark on the path and follow Him, the Savior through His atonement will certainly seek to develop kindness in us, but He will also work to change our hearts so that we become men and women of humility, diligence, patience, virtue, knowledge, and charity (see 2 Peter 1:5-7).  Perhaps this famous analogy from C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity is applicable here: “Imagine yourself as a living house.  God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.  But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.  He intends to come and live in it Himself” (see here).  In my mind the life of kindness without religion is that “decent little cottage” that the honorable of the world who know not Christ seek to make for themselves.  It is noble and worthy of praise.  But Christ’s vision for all of God’s children is so much more than that cottage; He seeks to make us into celestial beings and give us all that the Father hath.  As Isaiah and Paul taught, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).  It is not kindness alone that will get us there, but it is by loving God with all our might, mind, and strength and trusting in the great mercy and enabling power of the Savior that we can receive this great gift of eternal life.