God’s Dilemma

Have you ever been in a room with a powerful person, and a crowd around him? He laughs, and everyone else laughs. Everyone in the room mirrors his thoughts and emotions. Everyone says “yes.” Nobody would dare contradict him. The president of the company meets with workers and tells them to be honest -- but none of them can be. He has too much power so they will tell him what he wants to hear. 

Before coming to earth, in the presence of the most powerful being in the Universe, we were all sitting around being yes-men. We did everything to please Him. We wanted to please Him. We could not be ourselves. We could not express any thought contrary to His. Those who did were cast out of heaven. So, all that are left are the yes-men. Now, what can God do? All He has are these stupid people who have no balls, and will only echo His will. Nobody will think for themselves. What good is a yes-man? No good at all. They do not contribute to the Corpus, they only take. 

So, God has a dilemma. He has to cast out all those who oppose Him, because they are like a cancer in the body, being in opposition. They will take away from the function of the group creating war within. They will not submit, or take orders. They will not join or be part of growth, but will stunt growth and kill the body. So, they must be removed, surgically excised, and cast out. So, none are left but those who will say “yes” to everything. They say things they don’t mean. They don’t have an opinion, they don’t use their talents, they don’t build, they are almost like a tumor that doesn’t kill, but neither does it contribute -- though they don’t oppose and try to take over, neither do they promote growth, they just sit around and take nutrients from the body. They are all dependent children. Yes-men are useless!

Every body has these. The physical body has cells that just fill space and perform no useful function. Ideally, these become senescent, and the immune system takes them out. Corporations have many employees who show up, fill space, take a paycheck, but don’t add to the growth of the company. Politics are filled with these -- Poly-, meaning “many” and -tics, which are “tiny, blood-sucking creatures.” Clubs, churches and all organizations have the same issue, many people who are not useful, but are like the dogs that take food from the children. 

God’s dilemma, then, is to have a body with a large number of people, and find a way to organize them into appropriate groups, allowing each to be themselves. Inviting them to His house where they are star-struck is not the way. It is the opposite. The best way to allow them to act for themselves is to put them on a planet where they can just be together, without Him. This is “Lord of the Flies” on steroids! Here we are, a bunch of four-year-olds playing in a big sandbox without any adult supervision. Some are going to take over control. Others are going to throw sand in their eyes - and get beaten. Some are going to copy what they see, while others sit back and watch. There would be a lot of crying, whining, complaining, accusing, “She destroyed my sand castle! WAAAAA!”

When the famous atheist, Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, was asked what he would say if he died and found himself in front of God he replied, “Why did you hide so well?” God is certainly well-hidden in plain sight. But the question is valid, why does He hide so well? Part of that answer is to allow us to be who we are. The hidden God allowed Mr. Dawkins to be atheist. This could not have happened in His presence. Everyone is afforded the opportunity to become who they really are only outside of the presence of God. 

Studies of children left in classrooms for a long time without a teacher show that personalities come out. While the teacher is there, all the children are “Yes, Miss Jordan!” But, as soon as she is gone for a little while -- the usurpers take power, the abusers abuse, the abused are abused, and the fearful ones remain quiet. 

Likewise, we must leave the presence of God to find out what we really are. Once we come to ourselves and discover our likes, dislikes, needs and desires, we can put ourselves into the proper place in the kingdom of God, as Alma says, “thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges.” (Alma 41:7) We do what we want outside the presence of God. We choose. He gave us choice so we could choose to be ourselves, and not live forever being a yes-man. God does not like yes-men. He wants us to be happy, having our own desires, fulfilling our own destiny, and living according to our own talents and abilities. Happiness is making a contribution. We become a contributing partner only as we have responsibility and ability to do our own work. 

The dilemma is solved by hiding -- putting everyone on a planet outside of His kingdom and letting them choose. It’s easy to be atheist when God is not present. I can be who and what I want because it feels like I can hide. Nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I’m thinking. I can do what I want, think what I want, and be who I really am. I am making thousands of choices every day to become myself because I only see myself. I have no supervision by God. God is like the teacher behind the one-way mirror in the classroom who can see everything that goes on, but allows the children, like Mr. Dawkins, to believe that there is no oversight.

Then, when it is time to go back to my heavenly home, I stand before God with the myriad decisions I made in life. I cannot hide any one. I am what I have become by the choices I made outside His presence. I get to say, “this is me,” and find that God loves me for me. He never wanted me to just be an ignorant slave. He wanted me to find my own talents and develop them. He wanted me to add something to His kingdom. He doesn’t want to have to command in all things. God is not a dictator! He says, “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26) 

Also, in the New Testament, “the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8) Among the more relevant tasks of life is to experience all I can, to try everything, as the Apostle Paul said, “Prove all things;” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) meaning “test all things.” 

Jesus commands me to “do the works of Abraham.” (John 8:39) Abraham was NOT a yes-man. When God told him that He was going to destroy Sodom, where Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lived, Abraham started bargaining with God to spare the city. Moses was also bold in front of God, convincing Him to spare the children of Israel. These two are great examples of what Paul recommends, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace...” (Hebrews 4:16) 

Humility isn’t cow-towing to everything, but rather knowing where I stand in the Universe, it is knowing who I am. I am a child of God. When I grow up, I will be as He is, just as my earthly father is now my peer because I have grown up. My grown children are my peers (sort of). As I play in the sandbox, away from God, I learn about me, discovering who I am, what I like, what I want, what I need. I am growing up only because I make choices, I make my own choices because I am away from the Light, and the Truth. I only see me. I only know me. I am only me. I want. I need. I desire. I see. I hear. I feel. I like. I have. I think. It’s all about me. 

At some point, I begin to see that there are others in the sandbox, who are different than me. They don’t feel the same way I do. They don’t like the same things. We don’t think alike. At first I ridicule, reject, or hate them. However, as I get to know them, I see that they are children of God, and their uniqueness is good. I learn to love them. I realize that together we have much more than if everyone thought the same. God is in our differences. He loves our uniqueness. He doesn’t want yes-men to be automatons, only carrying out His righteous will. He wants me to be able to solve my own problems, and use my unique talents to perform tasks, and to love others. He only wants my differences, not my sameness. 

In the world people love sameness. I fall in love and believe that my significant other is just the same as me. She is “perfect” because we fit together so well because we’re just the same. We can finish each other’s... sandwiches. God, however, is just the opposite. Throw out the sameness -- more of the same is useless! He wants the differences in everyone, because it is the differences that add to Him. He is increased not because people who come to Him are all the same, but because they are so different. He loves our diversity. 

Coming to earth and playing in the sandbox with all the other children of God sets me on my course be what I am. I can become exactly what God wants me to be -- ME! If I listen to the “Pharisees,” or religionists of my day, I should think God wants a bunch of robots to sit around and echo everything He says, imitating His every gesture, worshipping Him, so He can say we have all grown up to be “just like our Father!” That’s a world thing, not a God thing. 

God has solved His dilemma by pushing everyone out of the house, to live on our own. He is present in spirit, but we don’t see Him. He is hiding. We do what we want, and make lots of mistakes. We can learn from our mistakes, but we must pay the price for them as justice requires. God solved this dilemma by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for all the mistakes of mankind. I can make mistakes, and put my trust in Him, which allows me plenty of room to be myself. It’s the Lord, Jesus Christ, that allows me to be myself with no worry of reprisal for not being the same as everyone else. I don’t have to be a yes-man because of Him. I can be me. I can become exactly what I am, making choices according to my own desires. I don't have to be under obligation to anyone -- not even God! As I choose daily according to my desires, I become me, and Jesus covers my mistakes, if I repent when I find out it was a mistake.  The plan is perfect! I’m going to become who I really am, I’m not going to have to suffer the consequences of my errors, and God gets all His children back happy, grown-up, peers, with maximal diversity -- no yes-men. How great is that!?!