We members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often think we know what to expect in the Final Judgment. Each Sunday, we review commandments and why we should obey them. However, if we never link a behavior with a commandment that forbids it, we generally believe the behavior should be okay, shouldn’t it? Actually, there are many ways that conclusion is wrong. We do many little things that, with some thought, are pretty awful. Let me give you an example of such a behavior – running red lights. Let’s follow a fictional man named… Brother Hurry. Brother Hurry drives through red lights regularly. Really, he thinks, what’s the worst that could happen? The worst thing that could happen is that one of the times Brother Hurry runs a red light, a minivan with a young mother and her three young children are approaching the same intersection as Brother Hurry from the crossing street. Exhausted from a long day of family activities, the young mom is grateful that the stoplight she is approaching turns green just before she enters the intersection. Without needing to brake, she continues into the intersection – and her minivan is T-boned by Brother Hurry’s speeding F-350 pickup truck. Brother Hurry was willing to endanger the lives of innocent strangers, just so he could take a minute or two off his commute. With that attitude, do you think that Brother Hurry should be allowed into the celestial kingdom?
Email - ScottRFrazer@gmail.com
Website - ScottRFrazer.com
S3E5 – You Will be Judged for Running that Red Light – In this Life or the Next
This is the podcast Science and Scriptures, Season 3, Episode 5, or “You Will be Judged for Running that Red Light – In this Life or the Next.”
Hello everyone. This is Scott Frazer of the podcast Science and Scriptures.
We members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often think we know what to expect in the Final Judgment. Each Sunday, we review commandments and why we should obey them. However, if we never link a behavior with a commandment that forbids it, we generally believe the behavior should be okay, shouldn’t it?Actually, there are many ways that conclusion is wrong. We do many little things that, with some thought, are pretty awful. Let me give you an example of such a behavior – running red lights.
I have lived all across the United States and Utah is by far and away the worst place I have seen for running red lights. I see it every day… and it angers me. I’m not talking about the many drivers who blow through stale yellow lights regularly.I am talking about the drivers who watch the stoplight turn red long before they enter the intersection. Now, we are told in the Articles of Faith that “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates and sustaining the law.” Often, however, a common misinterpretation of “sustaining the law” is that we should not commit felonies, such as murders and robberies. Really, is it possible that we will be judged – and possibly denied access to the celestial kingdom - for running a red light?
After all, running a red light is rather a local custom in Utah. Let’s think about this for a minute. Let’s follow a fictional man named… Brother Hurry. Brother Hurry has a full life, with work demands, hobbies, family responsibilities, and a church calling. Having been raised in Utah, he considers red lights to be a nuisance designed to make him late for his appointments. Consequently, Brother Hurry drives through red lights regularly.Really, he thinks, what’s the worst that could happen? The worst thing that could happen is that one of the times Brother Hurry runs a red light, a minivan with a young mother and her three young children are approaching the same intersection as Brother Hurry from the crossing street. Exhausted from a long day of family activities, the young mom is grateful that the stoplight she is approaching turns green just before she enters the intersection. Without needing to brake, she continues into the intersection – and her minivan is T-boned by Brother Hurry’s speeding F-350 pickup truck.
Brother Hurry was willing to endanger the lives of innocent strangers, just so he could take a minute or two off his commute. With that attitude, do you think that Brother Hurry should be allowed into the celestial kingdom? I realize that comparing earthly laws and celestial laws is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. You may argue that it depends on Brother Hurry’s other attributes. He was just unlucky to get into that accident, you might argue. Yet, vehicular manslaughter is a felony for a reason - and Brother Hurry killed an innocent family of four. Was it really an accident? There was no intent to kill, but there was intent to endanger. Even if Brother Hurry had been extremely lucky and never got into a fatal accident like this, I think I would still resist allowing Brother Hurry into the celestial kingdom. On a regular basis, Brother Hurry was willing to put innocent lives in danger just because he was in a hurry. It’s hard to imagine a more selfish act. It’s frightening. Brother Hurry could, of course, repent for his role in this collision. He could seek to provide reparations for the family, meet with his bishop, and do everything possible to change his life and attitude. If you have ever been in a serious car crash in the past, please know that you can be forgiven for whatever fault was yours. If Brother Hurry didn’t repent - then I don’t think I would want Brother Hurry to be allowed into the celestial kingdom.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to tell you that, upon my death, I fully plan to change my profession from science to law. Granted, I am speculating that I will have the freedom to make such a career change, but it might be possible. I am going to apply to be a prosecuting attorney in the millions of Final Judgments that will need to be held. Last year on this podcast, I interviewed Tim Taylor, Deputy County Attorney for Utah County, about the “Rule of Law”. I’m hoping I can serve my internship under Tim.
To continue my fictional account, despite the accident, Brother Hurry continued his habit of running red lights until he died of a stress-induced heart attack at the age of 62.He never did consider breaking traffic laws a sin. He chalked up his accident that claimed the lives of a family of four as an awful, regrettable accident. Though he was sorry it happened, Brother Hurry never repented of his part in causing the accident. He continued to accelerate through red lights, making them fully prosecutable offenses in the Final Judgment.
Hopefully, as a prosecuting attorney, I will have video of all of Brother Hurry’s traffic offenses.I can show the video of Brother Hurry running a red light and plowing into the young mother’s minivan. So, members of the jury… do we really want to give Brother Hurry a place in the celestial kingdom? Would we ever want to give Brother Hurry more priesthood power, with which he could endanger other people’s lives? Again, earthly laws and celestial laws must be different.
In the end, I believe I could win this case and send Brother Hurry to a lower kingdom. Please don’t feel sorry for Brother Hurry. He put people’s lives at risk to save himself a few seconds of waiting at a red light! In my judgment, such a selfish attitude does not belong in the celestial kingdom.
I know I sound a little angry about this subject, but a few months ago Cheri and I had our own near-miss accident. We were driving down a major throughfare, and were coming to a stop at a stale yellow light.The car behind us swerved around us and charged through the red light. Sure enough, it crashed into a car pulling out into the intersection from the crossing street. We stopped, of course. I checked on the condition of the drivers as Cheri called 911. The young man who blew the red light actually had an older man in the car with him. The young woman whose car had been struck was sobbing. When the police officer arrived, Cheri and I each wrote down what we had seen in an Accident Report, which is an ironic name because this wasn’t really an “accident”. This was the predictable result of a young man being irresponsible and stupid. I’m sorry if that word offends you, but my life and that of my spouse were put at risk. The young man did not apologize to anyone. I will never know if he repented at all for the damage and trauma he caused. But he will, I believe, be held accountable for a choice he made that could have killed someone. Harm was done and lives were threatened.
There are reasons behind the traffic laws and the other miscellaneous laws we often think of as trivial. For some reason, when some people get behind the steering wheel, they do things they would never do elsewhere. For example, when you tailgate someone, you are threatening them with a rear-end collision if they don’t hurry up. When you pass someone on the blind curve of a two-lane highway, you are putting the lives of those in oncoming traffic at serious risk. Unless there is actually a collision or a policeman sees you, there is no earthly penalty for such uncharitable behavior in this life. However… shouldn’t there be a penalty in the Final Judgment for being willing to put innocent lives in danger?
Final Judgment Surprises
Of all the emotions that we will see in the Final Judgment, I believe that Surprise will be the most evident. Christians in general have a very narrow definition of unrighteousness.Generally, many believe that if they are not breaking one of the ten commandments, then they are not sinning and won’t be held accountable for their actions. When these people find their assumptions were wrong and the Final Judgment will hold them accountable for non-commandment violations, they will be shocked, astonished, and incredulous.
The Savior tried to warn us of this risk of surprise with a few stories and teachings. In Matthew chapter 7, we read,
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:21-23).
This is a curious verse. We can debate whether these people to whom the Lord was speaking truly prophesied, cast out devils, and did other wonderful works in the Lord’s name. In any case, they pretty obviously believed they had been doing the Lord’s work. They considered themselves to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ and clearly expected to enter the kingdom of heaven. What a surprise! This scripture makes it clear that it is possible for someone to appear to be a religious person, carrying out work in the Lord’s name – and yet live the rest of their life so poorly that they are not admitted into the Lord’s kingdom.
Sometimes I find myself thinking of passing the Final Judgment like passing classes in high school.In high school, if you fail one class, your grade point average is high enough to pass you into the next grade. Most of us think that grade point average will get us into the celestial kingdom as well. I know I do bad things, but I do good things that make up for it! I don’t believe the Final Judgment works like that…
This rather naturally leads us to the story of Lazarus, the beggar. In Luke chapter 16 we read,
“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores”.
Interestingly, the scripture does not specify that the rich man ever refused to give the scraps of his table to Lazarus. But the wording certainly conveys the desperate situation that Lazarus faced.We continue…
“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented”.
This story completely contradicts a popular belief today called the “Prosperity Gospel”.The Prosperity Gospel is a belief among richer Christians that their wealth testifies to the fact that they have been especially blessed by God. In other words, they consider their financial success as a sign of divine favor. Thus, believers in the Prosperity Gospel fully expect that they will be given a high place in heaven. This concept has existed for centuries. The Prosperity Gospel is simply the latest version of this mistaken idea.
The scripture about Lazarus certainly teaches otherwise. The scripture does not report that the rich man sinned. In fact, the story points out only one difference between him and Lazarus. Lazarus endured a terrible life of poverty and disease, yet he made the best of his terrible situation. The rich man dined sumptuously and apparently made nothing of his enviable position in life.That is all we know about these two men.Like the rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, there will be many wealthy Christians who will be shocked and angry when their Final Judgment is handed down.
We live in a day and age when repentance and forgiveness are emphasized in church teaching.This is appropriate; people should know that they can repent. But those teachings should not be taken as meaning that the Judgment will be easy.Too many people seem to believe that their average efforts in keeping the commandments will get them into heaven – or the celestial kingdom. I don’t believe that the Judgment will be just another temple recommend interview… though that may be how it begins.
Then, in my mind at least, the questions in the Judgment will be based on the Sermon on the Mount. Were you merciful? Were you a peacemaker? Were you often angry with others? Were your thoughts lustful? We tend to judge ourselves on our activity in attending Sunday services. However, the very first time that Jesus Christ preached His Gospel was in the Sermon on the Mount. It is significant, I think, that He led with the Beatitudes. The qualities listed there are obviously what the Lord would have you build. We can be like the Jews of old and measure our righteousness on church and temple attendance. However, I think the Lord will be looking at qualities of empathy and caring for others. In the end, I think that Brother Hurry will have wished he had paid a lot more attention to those Beatitudes and Jesus’s teachings about love.
I have driven tens of thousands of miles, but I still hate approaching stale yellow lights. When a stoplight turns yellow, you have milliseconds to decide whether you go through the light or not. In Utah, the pressure is even greater. When I moved here from Minnesota, I had to change my response to yellow lights as I almost got rear-ended a couple of times. Yet, in those milliseconds of decision, I will not go through what might become a red light before I get to the intersection. The risk I might hurt someone is too high.
In philosophy, the Theory of Everything is an ultimate, all-encompassing explanation or description of nature and reality. General relativity describes the large-scale structure of the universe. Quantum theory describes subatomic structures. The Theory of Everything would explain both the very big and the very small.
As I read the scriptures, I always looks for a verse that describes living the Gospel -essentially a “Theory of Everything” verse that I can follow. I believe the closest such verse is the thirteenth Article of Faith. Let me read it to you…
“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
If I take that Article of Faith as my ‘motto to live by’, I think I will pass the Final Judgment okay. Isn’t this a great Theory of Everything verse? The words “honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men” conflict directly with the brazen practice of running red lights and putting other’s lives in danger. So do the words, “anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” Next time you get behind the wheel of your car, you might think on those things. There are many rude drivers out there. When you are cut off or being tailgated, being benevolent and virtuous toward them is a real challenge.
So maybe think about how the videos of you driving your car will look when they are shown in the Final Judgment. Then think about the 13th Article of Faith. Driving is a good trial of how committed you are to living a virtuous life. Be careful out there, for yourself and God’s other children who are driving beside you.
So, that is all I have for you today. As always, thanks for listening to my podcast.If you have a friend who drives a lot, please share this episode with them. This is Scott Frazer from the podcast Science and Scriptures. Take care, have a good week, and may God bless you.