(FROM EDUCATION WEEK ADDRESS BY JOSEPH FIELDING MCCONKIE ORGINALLY TITLED “THE HOW OF SCRIPTURE STUDY ON 21 AUG 2006)
(THIS IS ONLY A SMALL PART OF THE ORIGINAL TALK)

“THERE IS A NEED OF KEEPING THINGS IN THEIR PROPER CONTEXT. CONTEXT GIVES COLOR TO OR CHANGES THE COLOR OF, EVERYTHING WE OR ANYONE ELSE SAYS. WHEN MY WIFE TELLS ME I OUGHT TO SAY I LOVE YOU MORE OFTEN, SHE DOES NOT HAVE IN MIND MY SAYING THAT TO OTHER WOMEN. SHE MAY HAVE IN MIND MY SAYING THAT TO MY DAUGHTERS, WHO ARE NOW BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMEN, BUT SHE DOES NOT HAVE IN MIND MY SAYING THAT TO YOUR DAUGHTERS. EVERY SCRIPTURAL TEXT HAS TWO CONTEXTS.

FOR INSTANCE, WHEN THE SAVIOR SAID, TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW, WAS HE SPEAKING TO YOU AND ME OR WAS HE SPEAKING TO THE TWELVE APOSTLES, WHO HAD BEEN CALLED TO THE FULL TIME MINISTRY. WHEN HE SAID FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO, DID HE MEAN THE ROMAN SOLDIERS THAT DROVE NAILS IN HIS HANDS AND IN HIS FEET OR DID HE MEAN ALL THOSE IN HISTORY THAT SEEK TO CRUCIFY HIM AFRESH.

WHEN PAUL SAID, IF THEY CANNOT CONTAIN, LET THEM MARRY, FOR IT IS BETTER TO MARRY THAN TO BURN. WAS HE SUGGESTING THAT MARRIAGE IS FOR PEOPLE THAT ARE INATELY WEAK AND LACK MORAL CHARACTER OR WAS HE SUGGESTING THAT THOSE LABORING AS MISSIONARIES OUGHT TO WAIT UNTIL THEIR MISSIONS ARE COMPLETED? WHEN CHRIST SAID, GO YE UNTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH MY GOSPEL WAS HE GIVING A COMMISSION TO EVERYONE SO INCLINED OR WAS HE SPEAKING TO THE TWELVE WHO HE HAD COMMISSIONED AND TRAINED?

AS A YOUNG MAN, I SERVED AS A CHAPLAIN IN THE MILITARY. WHENEVER OUR UNIT RECEIVED ORDERS TO GO INTO COMBAT, THERE WERE SOME OF OUR NUMBERS THAT DECIDED THEY WERE CONSCIENCIOUS OBJECTORS AND THUS COULD NOT TAKE UP ARMS. THEIR CLAIMS WERE ALWAYS TREATED WITH RESPECT AND AMONG OTHER THINGS THEY WERE SENT TO SEE THE CHAPLAIN TO SEEK HIS AID IN ESTABLISHING THEIR CASE IF INDEED THEY HAD ONE.

THE FIRST QUESTION I WOULD ASK IN SUCH CASES WAS IF THEY HAD EVER DONE ANYTHING THAT COULD BE CITED AS EVIDENCE OF THEIR BELIEF. I KNOW OF NO CASE IN WHICH THEY WERE ABLE TO COME UP WITH ANYTHING. THE SECOND QUESTION I WOULD ASK WAS IF THERE WAS ANY RELIGIOUS BASIS FOR THEIR NEW FOUND PROFESSION. THE ONLY ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION THAT I COULD REMEMBER BEING GIVEN WAS THAT GOD COMMANDED MOSES, SAYING, THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

WITHOUT PROLONGING THE DISCUSSION I HAD WITH THESE YOUNG MEN I NOTE THAT WITHOUT EXCEPTION THEY WERE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT THE WORD TRANSLATED KILL COMES FROM A HEBREW WORD MEANING MURDER.
THEY WERE FURTHER SURPRISED THAT THE PENALTY FOR MURDER WAS DEATH. THEY WERE EQUALLY SURPRISED THAT MOSES HIMSELF WAS A GREAT GENERAL WHO REPEATEDLY LED THE ARMY OF ISRAEL AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES WHO THEY KILLED IN RATHER STAGGERING NUMBERS. THE POINT HERE IS THAT THIS IS THE GREATER CONTEXT FOR THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT.

GOD DELIBERATELY PLACED ADAM AND EVE IN A SITUATION WHERE THEY HAD TO MAKE A CHOICE BETWEEN CONFLICTING COMMANDMENTS. THEY HAD BEEN COMMANDED TO MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH. A THING THEY COULD NOT DO WITHOUT PARTAKING OF THE TREE OF GOOD AND EVIL; A THING THEY HAD BEEN COMMANDED NOT TO DO. THIS REQUIRED THEM TO MAKE A CHOICE AND THEN LIVE WITH ITS CONSEQUENCES.

WISELY AND PROPERLY THEY CHOSE TO KEEP THE GREATER OF THE TWO COMMANDMENTS, THAT BEING TO HAVE CHILDREN, WHICH OF COURSE REQUIRED THEIR PARTAKING OF THE TREE OF GOOD AND EVIL. WE REFER TO THIS AS ADAM’S TRANSGRESSION, NOT ADAM’S SIN.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRANSGRESSION AND SIN?

TRANSGRESSION IS THE BREAKING OF A LAW. SIN IS WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE. THE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS BROKEN LAW CREATED A NEED FOR CHRIST AND THE ATONEMENT. ON OCCASION, CORRECT PRINCIPLES COME IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER.

FOR INSTANCE, ON THE ONE HAND WE WANT TO BE HONEST; ON THE OTHER HAND, WE DO NOT WANT TO BE HURTFUL OR INSENSITIVE. BOTH ARE VIRTUES BUT ANY VIRTUE OVERDONE BECOMES A VICE.

WE ARE TAUGHT TO MERCIFUL AND FORGIVING AND YET AS ANY GOOD BISHOP KNOWS, MERCY CANNOT DENY JUSTICE. WERE IT TO DO SO WE WOULD DESTROY PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, THE DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE AND ULTIMATELY THE ENTIRE PLAN OF SALVATION.”