Competing Principles

This morning I listened to a BYU devotional by James Rasband (see here).  In it he made this interesting comment: “Isn’t it interesting how such tough questions often cannot be reduced to easy all-or-nothing answers?...  The restored gospel frequently requires us to wrestle with understanding principles in apparent tension.  Thus, both faith and works are necessary for salvation; both faith and reason are the work of this university; both the body and the spirit constitute the soul of man; both personal inspiration and priesthood authority are important to understanding God’s will. Whereas the world often suggests that the answer must be either/or, the restored gospel finds a way to say both/and.” 

As I think about this idea, I believe it is indeed a theme that we see throughout the gospel: apparently competing principles that can cause us to struggle to understand the relationship between the two sides of a coin.  Here’s a look at a few of these in more depth:

·         Faith vs. Works: This is of course one of the classic debates in Christianity, and typically the way the question is posed presupposes only one can be the right answer—“Are you saved by faith (grace) or works?”  Rather than providing a simple answer of one or the other, the restored gospel teaches us that indeed both have their place.  With no works man cannot inherit all that the Father has prepared for us, but with no grace there is no salvation.  Probably the most repeated restoration scripture in relation to this is Nephi’s declaration: “We know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).  And we are left to consider in our own lives what that really means, such as what is “all I can do”? or how much does the Lord require from me before I will receive His grace? 

·         Faith vs. Reason: This is another very important topic in the gospel and one that can seem to have quite a bit of friction (the phrase science vs. religion comes to mind).  The Lord tells us in modern revelation: “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith” (D&C 109:7).  We are supposed to learn from studying the best knowledge of our day (i.e. reason) and through faith in the revealed word of God and revelation from Him.  For example, we are to learn from the scriptural account of the creation and from the wisdom that science can provide about the earth’s origins.  In sickness and healing the tension between these two is really brought out: should we seek healing from a Priesthood blessing or by going to the doctor?  If we have enough faith can we simply be healed through divine means?  The gospel teaches us to seek both, which is why most Latter-day Saints will do two things immediately when there’s a grave life-threatening physical problem: give a Priesthood blessing (faith) and call 911 for professional medical attention (reason).  Like with the faith vs. reason question, we simply cannot say that we can do away with one; the Lord expects us to look to both faith and reason. 

·         Justice vs. Mercy: When we accept Christ as our Savior, what role does justice and mercy play for us?  The question in our own lives is simply this: when we sin in the sight of God, how much should we be required to suffer and pay for that sin?  Does mercy simply wipe it away at our asking?  Or must we fully feel the weight and gravity of our sin to satisfy the justice of the situation?  Alma said to his son who had sinned gravely, “Do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit” (Alma 42:26).  And yet in another scripture we read that the intent of the Savior’s sacrifice is to “bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice” (Alma 34:15).  We know that the Savior’s atonement satisfies the demands of justice so that we don’t have to pay our full debt, and yet even with that great mercy there is still a piece of justice to be paid by us; as Elder Holland once said in a slightly different context, We “will have to pay a token of that price” (see here).  Again, this is not a simple question and one that should cause us deep reflection as we sin and seek to make restitution before the Lord through the mercy of Christ. 

     

There are certainly more that we could discuss here.  The point is that in the gospel there are difficult questions that require us to ponder deeply and sometimes struggle to understand what the seemingly competing principles mean for us.  As Brother Rasband put it, “It seems that a core principle of the restored gospel is that we must learn by our experience to understand, obey, and navigate eternal truths that may appear to be in some tension.”