Tag: control

Kingdom of Heaven

Luke recorded a confrontation between the Lord and the Pharisees in which they demanded He tell them of the coming of the kingdom of heaven.  These foolish men thought the kingdom of heaven which might be acquired and controlled by men.  They wanted something over which men could rule.

The account reads: “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.   And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.   For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.”  (Luke 17: 20-24.)

When the kingdom of God reappears on the earth, men like the Pharisees will not be able to observe it.  It will not come in a way observable to those outside.  Instead, the kingdom will be “within” those who are included.  For them, the “observation” comes from the Lord making Himself known to them.  (See Numbers 12: 6.)  But such experiences are not public.  So for the Pharisees, it will be “without observation.”

For His disciples, however, He went on to explain the time would come when they would want another day with Him, but that time will have passed.  They may wish it, but the time to draw near Him is while He is available; not after His departure.  When He has departed, then it will not be possible to find Him among those who say He is here! Or, He is there!

Though He may make Himself known on the same conditions to any who prepare themselves to receive Him, when He appears again it will be as lightening which lights heaven itself from one end to the other.  It will be entirely unmistakable.

The Pharisees were interested in the subject because they envied the kingdom of heaven.  They wanted to own it.  They wanted to control it.  If they could locate it, and usurp it, then they would have power over others who sought it.

Christ’s answer completely frustrates man’s capacity to control the kingdom of heaven.  It is not a franchise, giving Pharisees any authority or right.  It is not even capable of being “observed” by those who are blind to its appearance.  But it is nevertheless real.  It is “within” some few who qualify.

Dolores Umbridge

In the Harry Potter series, I like how Dolores Umbridge turns questioning her actions into questioning the Ministry of Magic.  And by extension questioning the Minister of Magic.  What a power-hungry wench she was.  She parlayed herself and her every move or decision by extension into the acts of the very pinnacle of their social authority.  It is a sort of pathology you only see in very unhealthy social groups who are ruled by fear and intimidation.  I thought it was brilliant of J.K. Rowling to envision such a character.

Perfect love casts out all fear.  (Moroni 8: 16.)

Peter gave instruction about how the church ought to operate.  It was never through fear or intimidation; but through gentle example: “I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” (1 Peter 5: 1-4.)
What a marvel the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in all its details.  When it appears on the earth, it appears in weakness, does not force itself upon the world, and persuades others to the truth.  When it is lost, then religion turns into the means to control and exercise compulsion.  It becomes all that Catholicism was.  Though, in truth, once the Protestant Reformation gathered power it greatly improved Catholicism by reducing its capacity to rule and reign with compulsion and intimidation.  By disposition men tend to abuse power whenever they think they hold it.  (D&C 121: 39-40.)  Just like men, institutions are best when humbled, and worst when they reign with pride and power.
How delightful it is when fiction, like the Potter series, captures a character which puts a timeless conflict into a modern yarn.

Schism

Right now there is such a diversity of views among the political groups in the United States that there is potential for a national breakup.  States are talking about seceding from the Union.  Texas, which was an independent nation before it joined the United States, has always retained the right to secede.  Other states have discussed departing, and the reasons are diverse.  Taxation and profligate Federal spending motivate some.  Liberal issues motivate others, like Vermont, to want to leave in order to avoid conservative backlash.  Conservative issues motivate others, who believe the Federal agenda is just too reckless.
The problem of national politics is its “one-size-fits-all” approach to governing.  There is no room for diverse local populations to make independent decisions about their course of political development.  Originally the nation was intended to be loosely governed from the national level, where such minimal governance as was necessary would be provided.  National defense and interstate commerce were to be controlled to prevent invasion and internal warfare between the states.  But the states were to govern their populations as independently sovereign states whose authority sprang from their people.
When you move power to the national level alone, you then create a distant and oftentimes disconnected government which will take so much upon themselves in taxation and regulation that they alienate local populations throughout the country.  Taxes which would never be assessed at the local level are levied to impose policy decisions and programs which are not wanted by the local populations.  That continues until, as we see now, there is resistance from both sides of the political spectrum and talk about how oppressive the national government has become.
There’s a lesson there about how humanity will react when they are forced to accept a one-size approach to a divergent local circumstance.  When there is only one approach tolerated, and others suppressed and controlled, then people will eventually rebel.  They will simply walk away from the benefits of national programs in order to pursue their own course freely.
It is always better to leave room for divergent approaches to divergent problems.  That was what the separate states were originally intended to accomplish.  A problem could be experimented with at the state level.  Kentucky could try one approach, Florida another, and Maine yet another.  If Kentucky’s worked better, and Florida’s was a disaster, and Maine’s somewhat of a success but nothing like Kentucky’s; then the populations of the various states could learn from what worked and what didn’t.  They could debate based upon the outcome of various experiments they conducted in their sovereign territories.  Every one of them would benefit from the conduct of the other.  Now, with only a national approach to social issues, tax issues, educational issues, and health issues, failure is not acceptable.  When there is failure, the failed program is given more money, more personnel and more rhetoric to justify it.  It becomes a matter of politically-correct thinking and speaking; because if you don’t believe in supporting some failed program then you are uncharitable, or racist, or bigoted, or ignorant, or worse.  Experimentation is not permitted and therefore failure is national in scope and expensive to endure.
It is always best to “control” as little as possible and to interfere with development of separate ideas as little as necessary.  This is true of government, and it is true of rearing children [after you have instructed them in the foundational truths], as well.  It is also true of churches, civic organizations and any cooperative human endeavor.  Cooperation through persuasion, meekness, kindness, pure knowledge and love unfeigned works, whenever it is tried.  (D&C 121: 39-42.)