The eternal nature of Karma

The theft of our scooter reminds me of the talks Terri and I gave at Youth Conference a few weeks ago. There is a direct correlation between our decisions to commit sin and the kind of life we experience. Evil always returns evil, and good always returns good. And it always starts with that first temptation...

Temptations are thoughts that come into our minds that prompt us to do evil. These evil thoughts come to everyone, and are part of what could be considered a personal 'test' while living on this telestial world. Everyone is tested, or tempted--even Jesus Christ was tempted!

It is important to understand that simply having bad thoughts, or being tempted, is not a sin in and of itself. After all, even Jesus was tempted:

Matthew 4: 1-11 Jesus is tempted to sin
Hebrews 4:15 Jesus was tempted in the same way we are, yet did not sin

We can understand how temptation is NOT a sin by asking: How does Satan tempt us?

"Invisible Influences: Those evil spirits…invisible to our eyes, yet palpable to our senses, are constantly seeking to instill into our minds evil thoughts and wrong desires, to prompt us to commit sin… But there are also angels around us. Though invisible to us they are continually inviting us and pleading with us to do that which is right. The Spirit of God, too, rests upon us, and it prompts us to keep the commandments of God. By means of these influences, therefore, we are receiving experience and we are growing in knowledge. (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, Vol. 1, p.84-85)

Satan tempts us by placing evil thoughts in our minds… We cannot prevent these thoughts from appearing (it is part of the test of this life), but we can decide what to do with those thoughts once they appear! We can choose to discard those thoughts, or to act upon them...

Why does a loving God allow us to be tempted?

"And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet." (D&C 29:39)

In order for men to have freedom of choice, and be held accountable for the choices they make, they had to be tempted, or given the choice to do evil. Then they could, and would, be held accountable for the choices they made.

"Part of man's mortal probation is to see if he can control his thoughts in accordance with righteous principles. The saints are commanded, "Cast away your idle thoughts" (D. & C. 88:69), which obviously includes all evil thoughts, all those that do not edify, and all that are unproductive. Thoughts are idle if they do not work to further man's peace in this life and eternal reward in the next. King Benjamin counseled his people: "If ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish." (Mosiah 4:30.) (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.792)

There are two principles at play here:

1. Satan has been given the power to place evil thoughts—temptations—in our minds

For example, in 3 Nephi 28:38-39 the Three Nephites had to be physically changed so that Satan no longer had the power to tempt them; showing us that there is some innate feature in human nature that permits us to be tempted, and proving that this nature can be changed.

2. God has given us the ability to resist those temptations:

"Everyone Has Power to Resist Evil: The Lord our God has sent us here to get experience in these things so that we may know the good from the evil and be able to close our hearts against the evil…. It is true that some have greater power of resistance than others, but everyone has the power to close his heart against doubt, against darkness, against unbelief, against depression, against anger, against hatred, against jealousy, against malice, against envy. God has given this power unto all of us, and we can gain still greater power by calling upon Him for that which we lack. If it were not so, how could we be condemned for giving way to wrong influences?
'There could be no condemnation for our doing what we could not help; but we can help doing these things. We can help yielding to wrong influences and being quarrelsome and selfish. We can help giving way to the spirit of theft, and we can resist the spirit of lust. God has given us power to resist these things, that our hearts may be kept free from them and also from doubt; and when Satan comes and assails us, it is our privilege to say, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for I have no lot nor portion in you, and you have no part in me. I am in the service of God, and I am going to serve Him, and you can do what you please. It is no use you presenting yourself with your blandishments to me. You come and try to insinuate into my heart evil thoughts about the servants of God or about the work of God, and I will not listen to you; I will close my heart against you…."
"Whenever darkness fills our minds, we may know that we are not possessed of the Spirit of God, and we must get rid of it. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are filled with joy, with peace and with happiness no matter what our circumstances may be; for it is a spirit of cheerfulness and of happiness…. (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth 1:19)

It is clear, however, that pondering upon those evil thoughts until they lead to sin, is a sin:

"Evil thoughts are sinful. (Prov. 15:26; 24:9.) They are an abomination in themselves, and they lead to further wickedness. Evils are not committed until they have been thought out in the heart. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." (Mark 7:21-22; Matt. 15:19; Luke 6:45.) (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.792)

"If men's secret acts shall be revealed it is likely that their secret thoughts will also be revealed, for the iniquities of the rebellious shall be spoken from the housetops.
The one who harbors evil thoughts sometimes feels safe in the conviction that these thoughts are unknown to others and that they, like acts in the dark, are not discernible. The Revelator, John, seemed to clear this matter when he wrote:
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Rev. 20:12.)
"And in the last days an angel will "sound his trump, and reveal the secret acts of men, and the thoughts and intents of their hearts ." (D&C 88:109.)
Accordingly, men's deeds and thoughts must be recorded in heaven, and recording angels will not fail to make complete recordings of our thoughts and actions. (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.108-109)

So, this brings us to a question: What is the difference between temptations of the devil (evil thoughts that come into our mind whether we want them to or not), and evil thoughts that we can control?

"Satan will insinuate himself and his ideas into our thoughts and life-style if we will let him. But one of the grand rules even he must obey is that he may not tempt us above that which we are able to bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13.) (Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, p.13)

"Students at our universities and elsewhere come to me and ask me for advice: "What can we do?" Perhaps I can give you some practical suggestions concerning what you can do. Evil thoughts come to every one of us. None of us are free from evil thinking, but God has given us a brain and has given us will-power to overcome this thinking, but we have to have some help to do it… We must all be prepared and be ready so that when these evil thoughts come we can have something to drive them away. You have got to carry something in your pocket, maybe just a slip of paper with some noble thought on it, or some little poem that you want to remember, or a little saying. (Theodore M. Burton, BYU Speeches, January 17, 1961)

It is clear that we will be judged for every evil thought we have… However, we are not judged for simply having bad thoughts, but for what we do with them! Do you fight them, or cultivate them? We must decide to fight against these evil thoughts…

How did Jesus fight the temptations that came into his mind from Satan?


Temptations, or evil thoughts were placed in the mind of Jesus. However, He had memorized scriptures, and quoted them as he argued against doing the evil that he had been tempted with.

What are other ways we can fight evil thoughts and desires?

"Two servants of the Lord have given us specific suggestions about how to control our thoughts. Both suggestions involve the banishing of evil thoughts by filling our minds with good ones.
"President Marion G. Romney taught: I am persuaded, my brothers and sisters, that it is irrational to hope to escape the lusts of the world without substituting for them as the subjects of our thoughts the things of the Spirit, and I know that the things of the Spirit are taught with mighty power in the Book of Mormon… And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67.)
"If we fill our minds with "the things of the Spirit"--things that teach of God or promote that which is pleasing to him, things that are "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" (Articles of Faith 1:13)--we will be able to control our thoughts within the bounds our Creator has set as the preconditions of spirituality.
"Elder Boyd K. Packer gave this memorable suggestion for controlling our thoughts: The mind is like a stage--the curtain is always up except when we are asleep. There is always some act being performed on that stage. . . .
"Have you noticed that without any real intent on your part, in the middle of almost any performance, a shady little thought may creep in from the wings and attract your attention? . . .
What do you do at a time like that, when the stage of your mind is commandeered by the imps of unclean thinking? Whether they be the gray ones that seem almost clean or the filthy ones that leave no room for doubt?
"If you can control your thoughts, you can overcome habits--even degrading, personal habits. If you can learn to master them, you will have a happy life.
"I would teach you this. Choose from among the sacred music of the Church a favorite hymn, one with words that are uplifting and music that is reverent, one that makes you feel something akin to inspiration. . . .
"Now, use this hymn as the place for your thoughts to go. Make it your emergency channel. Whenever you find that these shady actors have slipped from the sidelines of your thinking onto the stage of your mind, put on this record, as it were. As the music begins and as the words form in your mind, the unworthy thoughts will slip shamefully away. The hymn will change the whole mood on the stage of your mind. Because it is uplifting and clean, the baser thoughts will disappear, for while virtue, by choice, will not associate with filth, evil cannot tolerate the presence of light. . . .
"Once you learn to clear the stage of your mind from unworthy thoughts, keep it busy with learning worthwhile things. Change your environment so that you have things about you that will inspire good and uplifting thoughts. Keep busy with things that are righteous. (Teach Ye Diligently pp. 46-47)

"Truly, the best way to fight an evil thought is by preempting it with a wholesome one. We need not participate in a frontal contest between thoughts that are evil and thoughts that are good. We should fill the stage of our mind with what is good, and when this is done the doorkeeper of our minds will give no entrance to the evil, because there will be no vacancy in the place it seeks to occupy. (Dallin H. Oaks, Pure in Heart, p.145 - p.147)

If we act upon the evil thoughts that come into our minds, this becomes a sin. We know that 'universal punishment' or Karma is involved, because we feel guilt and shame.

If we want to reverse the consequences of our bad actions, we have to repent, or change our life so that we begin to follow good thoughts and actions. Then that same universal Karma will reverse, and instead of feeling bad, we will feel good, and life in general will become better for us and those around us.

Should we fall prey to temptation and sin, remember that not all sins are the same:

"When we talk of freeing ourselves from all sin, there remains a danger: inappropriate guilt. It is as difficult to talk some individuals out of false guilt as it is to talk others into repentance. Clearly, all sin is not equal in the degree that it offends the Spirit. On a scale of one to a hundred, some sins rate five while others are ninety-five. If we would allow it to do so, the Spirit would not only tell us which behaviors are sins; but, in addition, how serious those sins are. Also, the Spirit will instruct us as to when repentance is complete.
"The Spirit is our yardstick for measuring sin. Whatever offends the Spirit is sin; whatever the Spirit says is forgiven, is forgiven. Why do we argue?
"One reason is that Satan can be the source of thoughts and feelings. He lies to us; he tells us to ignore the Spirit of the Lord and believe the worst about ourselves. False guilt, inappropriate guilt, can be just as destructive as if it were ordinary sin. The Spirit of the Lord never teaches excessive guilt, but Satan does.
"One of the great benefits of learning promptings of the Spirit is the option to pray and ask for information as to the truth about particular sins. We should feel guilty about sin, but not more than is appropriate. (Errol R. Fish, Promptings of the Spirit, p.144-145)

Anyway, this is what we talked to the youth about. Unfortunately, most who would hear and understand such things are already on that path, while those who need it most have placed themselves in a position where they never hear how to escape there lives of sorrow!