Goodness

What is goodness? It is the opposite of badness. What is badness? It is anything that is contrary to iron righteousness, fiery holiness, or stern obedience to the Father.

There are no degrees of iron righteousness or stern obedience to God. An action either is righteous or it is not. Absolute righteousness, that is, absolute conformity to the laws of God, will be required of every member of the priesthood and the saved nations. Righteousness shall be enforced with the rod of iron.

A person either is obedient to God or he is not. There are no levels or degrees of obedience. When God tells you to do something nothing is acceptable except stern, uncompromising obedience. Obedience to God shall be enforced with the rod of iron on all saved people in the ages to come.

There are no degrees of the will of God, such as a good will, an acceptable will, a perfect will. There is only the one will of God. God's will is always good, always acceptable, always perfect.

We who deal with imperfect people, and our own imperfect nature, are prone to compromise, seeking mercy because of our shortcomings.

Let us point out the difference between naked salvation from wrath and participation in the royal priesthood, participation in the first resurrection from the dead. Then we can perceive where God's mercy truly applies.

Let us say a private in the army successfully endures boot camp. Then there is an opportunity to enter an officer candidate program or the Ranger course. These programs are much more demanding than boot camp.

Let us say he fails the officer candidate program. He is not made an officer in spite of his failure. The commandant does not issue the bars on the basis of mercy or grace. If he were made an officer after having failed the tests he would be a liability to the army.

No, he is not made an officer or a Ranger by mercy or grace. But neither is he given a dishonorable discharge. He is still part of the army.

You can see how ridiculous it is to talk about making a man an officer, or a policeman, or a doctor by grace or mercy. Either he meets the standard or he does not. But neither is the individual to be cast from society just because he attempted to meet a high standard and failed.

So it is in the Christian life. An individual may have the high mark of the royal priesthood set before him. He may try and fail to walk as a disciple. If his heart is contrite, if he is sore troubled by his sins, God will see and understand. He is a bruised reed. She is a smoking flax. Something in the person's background has crippled him or her.

To be continued.