The Intolerance of Jesus Christ

Through his prophet Alma, Jesus Christ taught:

And he said: Thus saith the Lord God—Cursed shall be the land, yea, this land, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, unto destruction, which do wickedly, when they are fully ripe; and as I have said so shall it be; for this is the cursing and the blessing of God upon the land, for the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. (Alma 45:16)

We know that God loves us. And so he must possess the virtue of tolerance to a degree that we do not. But from this passage we learn that there must be things he does not tolerate. What are they?

God does not tolerate sin. Why? It is because he loves us. Sin causes us pain. It injures us. It brings failure and disappointment. Ultimately it destroys us. We should not marvel that Jesus Christ is intolerant when it comes to sin. He is intolerant because he loves us. He wants us to be happy, and he knows better than any of us where the path is that leads to happiness. Hence, Jesus Christ loves us, but he is intolerant of our sins. We must repent of them or we will suffer.

The Search For An Honest Man

In ancient Greece it is said that Diogenes went about all of his life in search for an honest man and could not find one. We Latter-day Saints place a high value on personal honesty, whatever that is. We all know the passage, “Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.” (2 Nephi 9:34) And every interview for a temple recommend includes the question: Are you honest in your dealings with your fellow man? So why don’t we get more instruction on just exactly what this virtue is? Is complete honesty commanded? I never heard of honesty requiring that we tell the whole truth when our wife asks, “How do I look” or “Do I look fat?” Are there other situations when incomplete honesty, or in other words dishonesty, are desirable or even required? I for one would like to know more about what honesty actually is.  There seems to be a wide variety of opinion among the members of the Church, and even some of our Church leaders seem to be confused on this subject. It would be useful if the definition of honesty was as well understood as the definition of chastity, don’t you think?