Alike for All Men

Yesterday I wrote about the ending of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Konstantin Levin’s search for meaning and truth. After he came to the realization that the faith of his youth, Christianity, did indeed have the answers he was looking for, he wondered about other faiths. The novel relates that as he pondered the Milky Way, he said to himself, “‘Yes, the one unmistakable, incontestable manifestation of the Divinity is the law of right and wrong, which has come into the world by revelation, and which I feel in myself, and in the recognition of which—I don’t make myself, but whether I will or not—I am made one with other men in one body of believers, which is called the church. Well, but the Jews, the Mohammedans, the Confucians, the Buddhists—what of them?’ he put to himself the question he had feared to face. ‘Can these hundreds of millions of men be deprived of that highest blessing without which life has no meaning?’ He pondered a moment, but immediately corrected himself. ‘But what am I questioning?’ he said to himself. ‘I am questioning the relation to Divinity of all the different religions of all mankind. I am questioning the universal manifestation of God to all the world with all those misty blurs. What am I about? To me individually, to my heart has been revealed a knowledge beyond all doubt, and unattainable by reason, and here I am obstinately trying to express that knowledge in reason and words…. And just as the conclusions of the astronomers would have been vain and uncertain if not founded on observations of the seen heavens, in relation to a single meridian and a single horizon, so would my conclusions be vain and uncertain if not founded on that conception of right, which has been and will be always alike for all men, which has been revealed to me as a Christian, and which can always be trusted in my soul. The question of other religions and their relations to Divinity I have no right to decide, and no possibility of deciding.” He realized two important points. First, the universal knowledge of right and wrong has indeed been “alike for all men”—as we would say, the light of Christ has been given to all men. All of God’s children, deep down, can discern (or could originally discern) right and wrong as it relates to treating one another. As the Savior revealed in our dispensation, “And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:46). He also declared, “And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:2). He has given light to all men, no matter what their religion or culture.  

The second thing that Levin realized was that he could not judge the relationship to God of other religions different from Christianity. That was not his place and that need not affect what he knew as a Christian. As Christians we should not seek to invalidate or contradict or diminish the religious experience of other faiths, for they too have been given light and it is not our place to judge their relationship to God. I love these inclusive words of the Lord in the Book of Mormon to those who might protectively think that the Bible contains all the words that God could ever say: “Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?” The Lord questioned, “Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another…. For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them.” The Lord can speak to all nations, and he is aware of all the children of men. We need not suppose that the Bible or even the words of the Nephites, the Book of Mormon, contain all of His words: “I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it” (2 Nephi 29:6-12). That is a wonderfully inclusive statement, and we certainly don’t know in what manner He has spoken to all the nations of the earth. But we do know that His Spirit can touch all of the children of men and lead them to, in His way, back to Him. Yes, as Christians we believe that all must at some point come to know Jesus and make covenants with Him. For those who do not know Him directly yet we can trust the He is already leading them to Him, for “the voice of the Lord is unto all men” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:2). We can and should certainly share that voice found in His revealed word, but we should not discount how He may be speaking to others of other faiths already. And we can trust this beautiful summary of the Lord’s work through the prophet Nephi: “He doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Nephi 26:33).