Principles and Planes of Personal Perfection

This is going to be a hard one to articulate for me.  I've been thinking about this for years.  I'll do my best.

It started something like this.  What is the gospel, really?  Not the church, not the members, not even the leaders.  The gospel is a set of principles.  These principles are true for anyone, anywhere, anytime.  They are universal.  The gospel is for ALL the earth and every inhabitant thereon, not just the members of the LDS church.  These universal principles apply always and to everyone.

So if these are universally true, why is there such discord among people?  As I have talked with people in my life (both LDS and not LDS), it always stands out to me how much we judge these perfect principles in reference to imperfect people.  Zero people that I have talked to argue that any person (besides Christ) is perfect.  We all agree on that.  So if we all recognize that no one on earth is perfect, why are we using their actions to judge the validity of perfect principles?

Warning: here comes a sport analogy.  If I go to a basketball court and show you the absolute perfect form to use while shooting free throws, and I promise you that if you will do that exact form every time it will go in.  Let's say I make 10 in a row using this form to convince you, then I leave.  Will you be able to make every free throw for the rest of your life?  Does that mean you're not trying to use the perfect form I just showed you? No.  You're trying, it's just really, really hard to replicate that perfect form.  Other factors also play in.  Maybe its the fourth quarter of a game and you're really tired.  Or you just shot 200 in a row and you lose focus for a second.  Does that fact that you can't replicate that perfect form every time make the form any less perfect?  No.  By the same logic, the fact that we can't live the gospel principles perfectly, doesn't make the perfection and universality of those principles any less valid.

It doesn't matter what Sally did or what Alex said.  Quit watching the free throw shooter!

Christ showed us the perfect way.  He shot the 10 free throws to show us that it works.  Now we're all trying to replicate that perfect form.

Now, when I speak of principles, I am not speaking of commandments.  Commandments are an application of a perfect principle to an earthly circumstance, usually a base application.  Selfless service, for example, is a principle.  Paying 10% tithing, or doing your home teaching diligently is an earthly application (commandment) associated with that principle.  The principle can be applied to thousands of different situations, though.  Any situation that comes up, actually.  That's the beauty of universality.

For a more thorough understanding of what I believe are eternal principles, study the "Christlike attributes" chapter of Preach My Gospel.

Ok, so there are universal principles.  If we live according to these principles we will be happy.  We will be happy because we will become more like Christ.  Learning to live these principles perfectly, however, is not an over-night process.  Like learning to shoot free throws, there are going to be misses along the way.  No worries, Heavenly Father saw this coming.  His plan is perfect, remember.  Christ came, lived perfectly, and died so that when we miss those proverbial free throws, he can make up for it.  We're also taught in the scriptures the refinement process.  2 Nephi 28:30 teaches us that "[God] will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little."

So, this logically tells us that along the path to salvation, individuals are at different spiritual planes.  So wait, what is not wrong for one person can be wrong for someone else?  Precisely! As I said before, the explicit commandments are a base level, a starting point.  If we start and stop there, we are missing the point.  The goal is not be able to check off a bunch of commandments.  The goal is to become like Christ.

Let's look, for example, at what Christ taught.  When he came, the Jews had very strict "commandments" and guidelines for just about everything.  Let's say that there was a handful of people that were observing every single one of these commandments.  Were they perfect?  No, even if they were living all 600 guidelines perfectly, they still were not like Christ.  They were living the base commandments, but failing to further their progression through personal revelation and refinement.  What do you think the higher law is?  The higher law refocused their view.  Christ says, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

Wait a second, so it's not enough to not kill people?  But wasn't that the commandment?  Yes, but that wasn't the whole principle.  It was the application of the principle that they were ready for at that time.  Likewise, as we progress through life and learn some self-mastery, we are qualifying ourselves for further light and knowledge.  This further light and knowledge is always accompanied by a change in behavior. 

Two thoughts before I stop for now:

1)  This is why it is so essential that we not unjustly judge others.  As I said before, we are all on different spiritual planes.  If we are judging someone else according to our spiritual understanding, we are probably missing the bigger picture.  This is why Christ is the perfect judge.  He knows each of us perfectly, and is, therefore, qualified to be the perfect judge of imperfect people.  For most of us, our job is to love.  If we are focused on the free throw shooter, we are stalling ourselves on our own personal path to perfection.

2)  Where do we get the next lines and precepts?  Luckily for us we have myriad sources.  We have the scriptures, we have living prophets, and we have personal revelation.  I would also submit that the spiritually in-tune can find further light and knowledge even in seemingly "un-spiritual" settings.  This is, of course, personal revelation, but I think too many of us limit personal revelation to certain locales or settings.

I have so many more thoughts on the subject!  They'll have to wait for another time.  This is already really long.  I'll do more soon.