The Arithmetic of Heaven

Reading:   Judges 20-21

In a nutshell, the dispersal of the raped and murdered concubine that was divided and sent forth in twelve pieces, brought about the brutal conflict between the Benjamites, who refused to give up those men who had committed the crime, and all the rest of Israel.  The number of counted dead were 83,000 and I'm sure, at minimum, that number could be doubled for actual dead.  In fact, I would not be surprised if the number of dead surpassed 250,000!

At the beginning of these last five chapters of Judges (17-21), it was made clear that the people had no king and therefore did as they thought best (see The Bitter Harvest of Ethical Relativism).  The culmination of these chapters, and the book of Judges, ends with the same note - in fact it is the very last verse...

JUDGES 21:25

25    In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 

I'm not going to delve too far into this subject again, as I'm sure your mind is still pudding from my last attempt at coherence, but I wanted to point out how fascinating it is that these are the bookend verses...without a leader the people did what was right in their eyes.  I quoted Neal A. Maxwell in the previous post on this subject and I'm going to quote him again, albeit from a different conference address...

Why do we resist and resent life's developmental and obedience tests? By declaring, "I will walk in my own way and do that which is right in my own eyes," we reject the curriculum of the mortal school in which we are irrevocably enrolled. (See Judg. 21:25; D&C 1:16.) There is only one exit gate leading unto eternal life. Unhappily, only a few find it-but not because God is exclusionary, but because they exclude God from their lives. Even God cannot bring to pass a reconciliation involving only one party. 

Why do some think adultery and similar sins are permissible as long as anything else they do is commendable? The Lord's focus is not on the one thing we do which is good, but, instead, on the one or more things we still lack in order to have eternal life. (See Mark 10:21; 2 Pet. 1:9.) To compose a symphony, to win a battle, or to save a company-each can be a commendable and worthy entry in the book of life, but these do not fully compensate for breaking the seventh commandment. In the arithmetic of heaven, several commendables do not cancel out one inexcusable! The clear command from Jesus is to deny ourselves immorality and "to take up [the] cross daily," not to indulge ourselves and to take up the cross occasionally! (Luke 9:23; see also 3 Ne. 12:30.) The Old Testament advises, "He that ruleth" himself is better "than he that taketh a city." (Prov. 16:32.)  

~Answer Me, 1988 October General Conference

I love this talk and have quoted from it before (see Ritual Prodigalism) but the important thing to squeeze from Maxwell's remarks is the simple truth that walking in our own way and doing that which is right in our own eyes can only lead us away from the path of eternal life (and could easily lead to the death of 250,000 people).

Don't be that guy...

~Kipling