In the summer of 1977, I was on my mission and a district leader in the city of Tampico, Mexico. While I was there, Elder Dean L. Larson from the First Quorum of the Seventy came to speak at a stake conference. I was asked to translate for him. On Saturday, in between leadership meetings, we talked about the Gospel. I remember to this day almost everything he told me. We started talking about the latter days. With time, Elder Larson assured me, society would deteriorate. On his notepad, Elder Larsen drew two diverging exponential curves. One line curved up from its origin and the second line curved downwards from the origin. He told me that in the latter days, people would decide to follow one of these two curves. The majority of the earth’s population would follow the descending, increasingly unrighteous curve. In response, the righteous would have to further separate themselves from that society and take an ascending curve of increased righteousness towards God. I have always wondered what that separation would look like. Now, these many years later, I think I am witnessing the beginnings of that separation.
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S1E29 – “Recent Signs of the Latter Days”
This is the podcast Science and Scriptures, Season 1, Episode 29, or “Recent Signs of the Latter Days”
Hello again. This Scott Frazer of the podcast Science and Scriptures. I have been thinking about the separations in our society for… months now. I am not a latter-day alarmist… and this is NOT a podcast about earthquakes or wars and rumors of wars. But I wanted to relate this story about a particular sign of the latter-days. I hope this comparison will help you to better understand what is going on with our world… and how dangerous this new world attitude has become. We are going to discuss diverging exponential curves and how they will lead us into the last days. Don’t worry, the math is easy.
In the summer of 1977, I was on my mission, a district leader in the city of Tampico, Mexico. While I was there, Elder Dean L. Larson from the First Quorum of the Seventy came to speak at a stake conference. I was asked to translate for him. On Saturday, in between leadership meetings, we talked about the Gospel. I was thrilled to talk one-on-one with a general authority. Elder Larson was an amazing man who was willing to talk to a single missionary about the Gospel. I remember to this day almost everything he told me.
We started talking about the latter days. With time, Elder Larson assured me, society would deteriorate. On his pad of notepaper, Elder Larsen drew two diverging exponential curves. One line curved up from its origin and the second line curved downwards from the origin. He told me that in the latter days, we would see the people of our world deciding to follow one of these two curves. The majority of the earth’s population would follow the descending, increasingly unrighteous curve. In response, the righteous would have to further separate themselves from that society and take an ascending curve of increased righteousness towards God. The Second Coming would be a natural consequence of that separation. Two such opposing groups, whose separation continues to grow and grow, cannot coexist without conflict.
Exponential curves are a very good way to depict this separation, because they are not linear. If you remember your algebra, an ascending exponential curve barely rises at first. But, like a bacterial growth curve, with time the curve rises, ascending more and more quickly, finally rising precipitously up. Likewise, a descending exponential curve turns down slowly at the beginning. So, those on this curve will barely notice that they are gradually distancing themselves from the church, their faith, or their general morality. The change is too gradual. A little later, those on the curve headed down may notice they have not been as attentive to prayer, the commandments, or church attendance. But life is busy and the politics of life are taking more and more time.
Those on the ascending exponential curve will notice that it is getting more difficult to uphold their standards in the world. They may have to redouble their efforts to attend church, have Family Home Evening, and family prayer. The two curves continue to diverge. Those on the descending curve have a lot of company – most of the rest of the world, actually. It is easy to get caught up in the trends and opinions of the world.
The separation will continue. Those people on the ascending exponential curve will see the world becoming more and more of a mess. Morality will be in shambles. Goodness, empathy, respect for others, and religious observance will become rarer. Those on the ascending curve will have to consciously continue to pull their families away from the rest of the world, because they know that their families cannot be happy there.
Some people, Elder Larson explained, will jump from the descending curve to the ascending curve because they will be aghast with what the world is becoming. There will be other people who abandon the ascending curve for the descending curve because they decide they simply cannot resist the temptations of the world. They decide there is no use in even trying any longer.
I have thought about that Elder Larson’s lesson many times since my mission. I have always wondered what that separation would look like. Now, these many years later, I think I am witnessing the beginnings of that separation. Separations are everywhere. Our political parties have grown further and further apart. Republicans are separating themselves from Democrats and vice versa. Blacks are separating themselves from whites and LBGTs are separating themselves from straights. We are seeing ever widening gaps in economic status.
I now realize that Elder Larsen’s diagram should have shown thousands of exponentially diverging lines. It seems everyone is breaking off into their particular “tribe”, with Facebook and other social media seemingly acting to coordinate and communicate these divisions. There are hundreds of reasons that church members break off from the church and follow the descending curve.
The separation gaps get wider. Those who don’t follow the extremist beliefs of their social group or organization are shamed over their social networks. A choice must be made. You either follow the group and accept their beliefs… or you abandon the group. We are becoming a nation of extremists. Everyone will have to choose which exponentially diverging curve they wish to be on.
NO ONE EVER THINKS THEY ARE BEING UNRIGHTEOUS
Forming “tribes” is a natural tendency of human beings. Tribes have provided safety and socialization for mankind for most of our evolution. But in a world of billions of people, tribalization can be a serious problem. We are dividing into opposing groups. There is another human flaw that magnifies this separation and makes it more serious. Every opposing group (in fact every human brain) will stubbornly resist the possibility that it is ever wrong. NO ONE EVER THINKS THEY ARE IN THE WRONG OR BEING UNRIGHTEOUS. Convicted murderers rarely cease from justifying their actions.
The tendency is especially prevalent when people believe that their group is being threatened. Then almost any evil action is justified by the declaration that and the group was just standing up for its rights! Thus, we witness violent protests, destruction of property, and shootings on our news reports. Yet no one is willing to concede that their group might have gone too far in their declarations that their rights have been violated. Violated rights seems to mean that it is acceptable to violate other people’s rights.
In the latter-days, we generally believe that it will be easy to recognize the side of righteousness. After all, the Scriptures tend to depict all conflicts as very black-and-white. The righteous are always really good and the unrighteous are always really evil. And, to be honest, most non-scriptural books and movies follow that same pattern. For example, in the days when Westerns were a popular theme for movies, you could always tell the good guys because they wore white hats. The bad guys always wore black hats – and generally shot people in cold blood early in the movie. Today’s superhero stories from Marvel also make it very easy as to tell which side to cheer for. Both reading scriptures, or watching movies, could convince you that it will be easy to tell the righteous side from the unrighteous side.
But in real life, everyone thinks their side is the good and righteous side. Nobody sees themselves as being selfish, mean to others, or the bad guys in any way. Let’s look at a few scriptural examples.
In the Old Testament, the children of Israel are led by Joshua into the promised land. They battle the Canaanites and destroy the city of Jericho. From the perspective of reading the scriptures and knowing that God has given the promised land to the Israelites, we can identify the “righteous” side of this war. But from the Canaanite’s perspective, the Israelites were invaders. They would have almost certainly considered themselves the injured party in this conflict. If you were an outsider at the time of the Israelite invasion, which side would you have selected as righteous?
Throughout the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites are continually going to war against the Nephites. From reading this scripture, we know that the Lamanites are almost always on the unrighteous side of the conflict. But do you think for a moment that they believed they were unrighteous? I seriously doubt it. When Moroni was fighting against the Lamanites in Alma 54, their leader Ammoron reminds Moroni why the Lamanites believed they were on the side of right in this long conflict.
“For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged unto them.
And now behold, if ye will lay down your arms, and subject yourselves to be governed by those to whom the government doth rightly belong, then will I cause that my people shall lay down their weapons and shall be at war no more.”
Please note – nobody on either extremity of a conflict ever thinks they are in the wrong. Everyone believes that they are the wounded party, simply fighting for their rights. If you ever talk to an old-timer in the Southern half of the United States, ask him about the Civil War. He will tell you that, unprovoked, the Yankees in the North invaded the Confederacy in the South to force them to change their way of life. Everyone thinks of themselves as righteous. Even when people commit awful sins, they will justify themselves as being forced into that action. It is a strange aspect of human behavior. We all must justify ourselves in whatever action we choose, however horrendous the action.
Another example may be found in Alma 51, when there was a division between the Nephites. We read:
“And it came to pass that those who were desirous that Pahoran should be dethroned from the judgment-seat were called king-men, for they were desirous that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish a king over the land.
And those who were desirous that Pahoran should remain chief judge over the land took upon them the name of freemen; and thus was the division among them, for the freemen had sworn or covenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges of their religion by a free government.”
“Now those who were in favor of kings were those of high birth, and they sought to be kings; and they were supported by those who sought power and authority over the people.”
Do you think the king-men believed they were unrighteous? I doubt it. Yes, they had self-interests that were driving their political platform, but most people do.
Eleven chapters later, the king-men are back making trouble with a man named Pachus as their leader. This time, Moroni gets serious about putting them down for good.
“…yea, those men of Pachus and those king-men, whosoever would not take up arms in the defense of their country, but would fight against it, were put to death.”
You’ve got to give some of those king-men credit – they were dedicated to their cause. Apparently, when presented with the choice of taking up arms to defend their country or death – they chose death. Obviously, they thought they were in the right.
There are six steps to repentance. The first step is Recognition of the sin. As it turns out, this is also the hardest step of the process for most people. People do not like to be told that they are wrong. They do not like to admit that they made a poor decision, much less be told that they chose an unrighteous decision. Most people will passionately defend their decisions and actions – which makes repentance impossible.
So we have these two common traits that are draw people away from the church. First, we start down a path that will lead us away from God and the Gospel – and, secondly, we refuse to acknowledge the ill effects that path is having on our life. It can be a hard realization. After all, the path will be that of our whole “tribe” or people with whom we share a passion for politics, youth sports, or cage fighting. We have to fight against our natural tendencies to believe that we are unrighteous – and that our tribes are also being unrighteous. Then we have to realize that our separation from the Gospel will start out very slowly, but then will pick up speed as we follow the exponentially descending curve.
There have been a number of General Conference talks and Sunday School lessons about the dangers of the slow degradation that is plotted out by a descending exponential curve. Those who become addicted to drugs or pornography will tell you that, at first, their use was minimal. Extramarital affairs start out with simple flirtations, nothing to be concerned about. People convicted of embezzlement will usually tell you their stealing started out as small, negligible sums of money. Starting out small, but then following the exponential curve to serious trouble has been around for a long time.
As I mentioned, our society is becoming a nation of extremists. Our media, in its attempts to draw and keep our attention, is making the situation worse. Every group likes attention and likes to hear that they have not received the care and consideration they are due. Thus, as a society, I don’t know if we will ever recover from the separations that are occurring across our country today. Most of the separating groups see themselves as oppressed minorities. Oppressed minorities always feel that their fight for freedom is just – no matter what. For example, Germany came out of their loss of World War I with many economic sanctions above and beyond their ability to pay. Just twenty-one years later, the German people were an oppressed minority in Europe – and it caused them to follow Hitler and start World II. The German people justified their war and its atrocities because of their past oppressions. Feeling oppressed is a dangerous way to live.
Being in a separate tribe fighting for its freedom seems very noble. People sympathize with your cause and may even donate to it. Even better, this attention and sympathy never needs to end, since most oppressed groups never have to identify the individuals who are actually oppressing them. Groups can continue to justify almost anything in their fight for liberty against unidentified oppressive forces of the world. People can abandon friends, family, church, religious beliefs, and even their sense of right and wrong - and consider them to be collateral damage in their fight for liberty.
Now I realize (and hope) that I am addressing an audience that includes minorities. You may be a part of a political minority, or a sexual preference minority, or a racial minority. Despite what the majority of your tribe chooses to do, please note that, as an individual, it is your decision as to whether or not you feel oppressed. No one can make that determination besides you, though I assure you that many people will try. I truly hope you don’t feel the need to exponentially diverge from the church or the people who love you. It is a decision you will have to make – and you will have to make it every day.
I realize, of course, that there have been times in our history when minorities were oppressed. And I have noticed that many news reports continue to focus on that history. But we live in a different world today. Personally, I don’t know any bigots. I have never met a white supremacist, nor a homophobic person. I don’t know anyone who oppresses minorities, as a job or as a hobby.
But the media and activists assure me that oppressors are out there somewhere. And if you wish to spend your life fighting against them, that is your choice. But know that such pursuits have taken over people’s lives. Be sure that you are ready for the separation from other important aspects of your life – including family and your pursuit of living Gospel principles.
In summary, humans have two tendencies that work together to get us into real trouble. We start out on our descent an a slowly degrading, but exponential curve. We are confident that we have everything under control. It’s small stuff – nothing to be concerned about. As we continue the descent, we may start to feel a little guilty. But the human mind does not like to feel guilty. The human mind enjoys being in tribes of like-minded people. So we justify our actions. We believe that anyone in our same situation, or tribe, would bend the rules. We believe that nobody other than our tribe of friends understands our situation, or the stresses we are under. We say things like, “Yes, maybe what I did is questionable – but there are a lot of people out there who are doing worse!
I am not discouraging anyone out there from joining a club or interest group. Socialization is an important aspect of life. In our present day and age, we just have to be very careful as to which groups to join – and with which we align our beliefs. We have learned from Facebook that our social networks can wreak havoc on people’s convictions – be they moral, political, or religious. Through social networks, people are persuaded, mocked, encouraged, scorned, patronized, and enticed into believing exactly what the social group leaders want its members to believe.
Many members of the church today are trying to overlap their belief in the Gospel with the beliefs of an organization of men. Often that organization is a political party, but it can also be social group, a school committee, a charitable organization, or the parental support group of your son’s travelling soccer club. This last one actually happened to us. My son Sean was on a travelling soccer team. The parents were very serious about soccer and all of them had dreams of college scholarships for their sons. There was a lot of driving to far-off matches, but we tried to make them into family trips when we could. Then the club started scheduling matches on Sundays – and the coach was not sympathetic to our protests. So we left that organization. A choice had to be made – and we decided that soccer did not overrule the Sabbath. Organizations of men only follow the dictates of their own causes.
The first commandment is that “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me”. We think of that as an old commandment left over from the days of idol worship. But, in today’s world it is simply a commandment of priorities. You may love your political party, your social group, or another tribe of friends, but understand that your God expects to be your first priority.
So that is all that I have for you today. I hope you have a better understanding of exponentially diverging curves and why we should be aware of their danger to us individually and as a society. I believe we will continue to see many exponentially descending curves, though no one on that curve will admit they are descending. I am confident that everyone on all of those diverging curves will declare that their curve is the righteous side, and the other curves are evil and bent on the destruction of human rights. It already sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
This podcast brought back some good memories of my mission and my discussion with Elder Dean Larson. At the same time, it’s a bit disconcerting to realize I am seeing a definable sign of the times. You are welcome to share this episode with friends who are concerned with disruptions of the past year. This is a natural flow of events that have been expected for decades. In the end, choices must be made, and the choices are becoming more numerous and more difficult. This is Scott Frazer with the podcast Science and Scriptures. Take care and have a good week.