I’ve been thinking about the difference between better and better off.
There is a TV show my family grew up with called Dharma and Greg, where a hippy and a lawyer get married after having known each other for only a day. It’s a pretty fun show and I’d recommend the first season (as that was on only one that we had on DVD, and I’ve seen it probably 100+ times). There is an episode where the lawyer, Greg, gets sick and conscripts his lawyer buddy Pete to come over and bring him some Dayquil. When his hippy wife, Dharma, catches him with the drugs, she takes them from him say “this will only make you feel better” and Greg calls back “but that is what I want.”
I’ve thought a lot about this and chuckled over the years. It’s a humorous scene, but as I was reading the Book of Mormon the other day, I read a story that made me think of this in a new light.
In Alma 30 there is an Anti-Christ (not the one from Revelation) named Korihor. He comes to the people and teaches a doctrine. Basically, what it is, is that no man can know the future, therefore no one can know if a Christ is coming, and furthermore that there need be no Christ as man needs no forgiveness for their sins in fact man can do anything that they please and when they die that is the end there of.
This is of course heresy and is shut down by Alma in the way that only Alma can. Korihor meets an awful end having had his mute button permanently turn on he begs for food presumably with notes or hand gestures for a while and then is trodden down and killed by the people. What stood out to me this past time that I read though this is how enticing this heresy is. When I hear or read it, I feel a pull towards the idea. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, eat, drink and be merry because there is no consequence. It is no wonder that it is still on the tongues of non-believers to this day. It makes one feel better. It makes sense Satan has used this line of reasoning for millennia.
The thing is, feeling better does not mean being better off.
Like if you are hungry and you eat a candy bar you may feel better but are not better off like you would be if you ate a proper meal.
In Dharma and Greg, taking the drugs that Greg wanted to would only ease the systems. It would do nothing to heal his body. This is the thing Dharma was trying to get across to him. It would make him feel better, but he would not be better off for having taken them. The underlying sickness would prevail. The sore throat may be sooth, the cough suppressed, the aches dulled, but the problem would persist anyway. Greg could theoretically feel fine as his body dies.
This is the exact same problem with Korihor’s message. It would make the carnal mind feel better. You would no longer need to feel the guilt of sin, the angst over eternal destination, or the sting of regret. Basically, you get to swim in the sea of no cares. But all the while the true problem persists. All the while your soul rots. Upon your death you would find yourself woefully unprepared to meet your God and at the worst of disadvantages.
To paraphrase scripture: what would it profit a man to have no cares in this world but lose his soul in the next? As we learn in Alma 34 this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God, and the same spirit which you allow to run your life in this world will also run it in the world to come. You cannot say when you are brought to that awful crisis, standing before God that you will repent, it will be too late.
Luckily, like unto Greg, we have a Dharma in our life. It is interesting to note for this analogy that the name Dharma means the ultimate truth of all things. And that is exactly what we have. The Ultimate truth of all things to keep us safe from this. When we hear a thing, whether it sounds immediately good to us or not we should test it against this ultimate truth we have. Test it against the scriptures, test it against the words of prophets and apostles, test it in prayer. Test it and see if it will make you feel better or if you will truly be better off with it.
As always I’m praying for thee; please pray for me
Good insights brother