“How can I discern right from wrong in the present-day world?” New Era, May 1979, 40–41
“How can I discern right from wrong in the present-day world?”
Answer/Brother Dale LeCheminant
As a boy Joseph Smith was confused by the religious rivalry for converts that inflamed the churches in his neighborhood. Though he felt a need to join a church, as some of his family had done, he remained unattached and unable to come “to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.” He watched people pressing their religions on others; he thought about this strange scene and decided that it was not true Christian behavior. Following the heartening words of James in the Bible, he left the clamor of revival for the quiet of the forest where he put his question to God. Through this simple act of faith to learn which church was right, the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the world.
Years have passed since that day in the grove. The church has grown, and the gospel has been taken throughout much of the world. However, the same spirit of contention that troubled Joseph Smith runs rampant in today’s world. With an ever-growing multitude of ideas and life-styles, discerning right from wrong is an ever-present conflict. Persistent as this contention is, there still remains for us, as there was for the young boy in 1820, the blessing to put the question to God and also to search among the many ideas of life for those that are genuine and right. Our Heavenly Father has promised that the Holy Ghost will help us in our search.
Many years ago men used a flintlike stone to determine the purity of gold and silver. This test was made by a streak left on the stone when it was rubbed by the metal; hence, it was called a touchstone. Today a touchstone is any test for determining genuineness. So as we look upon a world cluttered with ideas, we need touchstones to help us determine their genuineness. Let me suggest a few such touchstones.
First, we must know what the right is. A general definition is found in the gospel philosophy of life. We believe the right is the course of action consistent with the gospel that leads man to fulfill his greatest potential as a child of his Heavenly Father and that motivates him to help others to the same realization. Whatever expands man’s eternal capabilities is surely the right for him. Whatever detracts from, discourages, or blocks eternal growth is wrong. Christ spoke of his mission as helping men to live fully: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10. Italics added.)
We can turn to Christ for help in learning the right way to live more fully. He is a vital touchstone. He is the great exemplar of the right; his life and words are the Father’s will for us. He has said, “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28.) Therefore, to know Christ’s life and teachings is to know the life and will of God.
Another touchstone is the counsel we receive from the scriptures, particularly those dealing with Christ’s life and teachings and modern revelation. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32.) The kind of truth Christ lived and taught, as recorded in scripture, frees man from ignorance, fear, and sin—that which thwarts man’s reaching his potential. But we know that knowledge from study is often insufficient to compel one to apply gospel truths. Often one must know through personal experience. He must “experiment” upon the ideas, as Alma said, to know of their genuineness.
Still another touchstone is man’s own personal experience and revelation. This touchstone is suggested by Christ’s words: “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:16–17. Italics added.)
The Savior assured Peter, when the apostle proclaimed Him to be the Son of God, that it was not his personal experience with Jesus alone that had given him the conviction of the Lord’s Messiahship, but it was a personal revelation from God. We too can be assured of God’s will through a serious study of Christ’s life and teachings. A consistent effort to live by his example and precepts will enable God to confirm in our hearts which behavior and ideas will bring joy and expansive life and which will not.
President David O. McKay commented on this process of knowing the right: “The members of the Church throughout the world find confirmation of their testimony in every performance of duty. They know that the gospel teaches them to be better individuals, that obedience to the principles of the gospel makes them stronger men and truer women. Every day such knowledge comes to them and they cannot gainsay it. … As they go through their daily activities and apply religion in their weekly vocations, the truth of the gospel becomes exemplified in their lives; thus with a testimony of the spirit, the testimony of reason, and the testimony of daily experience, members of the Church throughout the world stand impregnable.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1960, pp. 6–7.)
Confusion, competition, and rivalry will continue with us in this world until God’s kingdom can be fully established. Until that time men have available the true touchstones of the gospel to help them realize the right course in life.