Being Evil and Doing Good

I once wrote about the fact that one of the “best books” in history which has done an enormous amount of good in the world, Les Misérables, came to us through the hands of a man who was, well, no saint when it came to moral behavior.  Mormon stated, “A man being evil cannot do that which is good,” and so I have wondered how Hugo and many others through the ages have produced such good things for humanity despite committing major “evil” acts by gospel standards.  I have recently been discussing this with a friend, and he suggested that perhaps one key to understanding Mormon’s statement is the word being.  Mormon wrote, “For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing…. For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly…. Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift…. Wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ” (Moroni 7:6-10).  The word being suggests in the present and not necessarily that the person is always evil or some final state that they have reached or even their past actions.  All of us are evil at times; all of us succumb to temptations and evil thoughts, and in those times, while we are being evil, we cannot do good. 

My friend’s example to illustrate this idea was the story of Joseph Smith who after having an argument with his wife Emma was unable to translate the Book of Mormon.  One summary of this event reads, “One morning he was upset with Emma over something she had done. When he tried to translate, he found that he could not translate at all. Joseph went out into the orchard to pray and ask the Lord why he could not translate. He soon realized that he needed to make peace with Emma before he could have the help of the Holy Ghost. He came back into the house and asked Emma’s forgiveness. He was then able to continue with the translation.”  Joseph was not an evil man, but in that moment when he had a quarrel with his wife he was being contentions and evil and so in that moment he could not do good as Mormon suggested.  Using another example from church history, Martin Harris was one who did much good and offered a great gift to pay for the publication of the Book of Mormon.  And yet the Lord called him a “wicked man” when he broke his covenant and let the 116 pages become lost by showing them to those he wasn’t supposed to (Doctrine and Covenants 3:12).  Clearly Martin Harris was not always a wicked man, but he was in that event and received chastening from the Lord.  But he still was able to offer a “good gift” after that.  The point is that, gratefully, we can all still do “good” things even after we have done evil.    

Mormon’s point is that we don’t do good while we are being evil, but ultimately it is not our place to judge others’ behavior or even to label them as evil.  Only God “knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart” and the understanding of good that someone has, and we can leave judgment to Him (Alma 18:32).  If we want to do good, though, we should strive to be good, to eschew evil, to repent and be righteous according to the light and knowledge we have been given.  And when it comes to the gifts of music and literature and other works of art that the world offers us, Mormon’s message to us is not that we need to judge the giver of the gift but simply the thing itself: “Behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God” (Moroni 7:13).  If something is good and invites us to believe in Christ and love God, we can know that it was inspired of God no matter what other acts which may not measure up to gospel standards that the person has done.  God will send down light and inspiration on whomever He will, and our job is to simply seek out those things which “inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ (Moroni 7:16).