This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
In Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul encouraged the Saints at Ephesus to “henceforth be no more children”(vs. 14) and to “put on the new man” (vs. 24). He was encouraging them to grow and mature in their faith. He warned that ignorance and blindness of heart alienates one from God.
Ignorance and blindness are very common.
It is important to remember that ignorance and blindness are not something that just happens to us. They are the place we all start – as babies and children. The challenge is to continually grow in knowledge and wisdom throughout our lives.
When we are born, we find ourselves in what William James called a “great blooming, buzzing, confusion.” The world of a newly born child is a chaotic mix of sights, sounds, and smells. The mind has not yet learned to organize and make sense of all the sensations the infant is experiencing.
As we grow physically, we also grow in knowledge (hopefully). The deception is that, as we grow, our ego constantly encourages us to think that we know more than we actually do. This voice in our head is lazy and self-centered and it blocks our progress. (See “Are you sure about that?“)
This “vanity of the mind” causes us to celebrate our own ignorance and become committed to our own blindness. Satan doesn’t want us to humbly seek the truth. He prefers for us to loudly and proudly assert our uninformed opinions – like a petulant child.
The online social media that we hungrily devote hours to each day is largely filled with content forwarded from the ignorant to the blind.
Saints should seek the truth
Paul said the followers of Christ should NOT be like the Gentiles, walking “in the vanity of their mind.” He was, of course, warning them because they were doing it – as are members of the Church today. Here is what Jesus said about the vain Pharisees:
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we need to be better than this. We need to put aside our vanity and humbly admit our own ignorance. We need to break out of our information silos and actively work to overcome our blind spots. And we need to stop the foolish practice of indiscriminately forwarding memes on the internet simply because they tap into our outrage.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
We need to be frank about what we know and don’t know, and we need to be willing engage each other on such. The Church also needs to do this. An example, during the last conference one of the brethren made appropriate remarks against abortion. I agree with him. But Utah’s abortion trigger law is a dangerous and cruel law. I make my case for changing it on my website – lewjeppson.com. But no discussion among us LDS is possible apparently. We need to be able to talk!
Not much excuse for grown adults to still be blind to history or to events currently playing out, is there?
Noting Lew’s post about the Apostle who spoke against abortion…then why do so many of them remain quiet when it comes to the current leadership of this country? I don’t recall hearing or reading anything in the months lead up to the Vote. Most of my family, many in my ward and many of my friends are all proponents of Mr. Trump’s brand of leadership which is hurting not only people but our country….it has ruined relationships for many!