Wednesday, May 24, 2023

James Keith Melvile on Brigham Young's Rejection of Total Depravity

  

The spirit is not naturally subjected to the power of Satan; rather, it has an affinity to the Spirit of God. As Satan has power over the flesh, God has influence with the spirit of man. These opposite inclinations are not equally balanced. Brigham Young said: “I am satisfied that he /man/ is more inclined to do right than to do wrong. There is a greater power within him to shun evil and perform good, then to do the opposite.” (Journal of Discourses, IX [March 23, 1863], 246) He added that “it was never designed that he [man] should naturally do and love evil.” (Ibid., IX [June 15, 1862], 305) This is simplified by the following statement of Brigham Young: “In every man there is a candle of the Lord which burns with a clear light; and if by the wickedness of man it is extinguished, then farewell for ever to that individual.” (Ibid., IX [January 5, 1860], 104, 105)

 

Brigham Young believed that man is sovereign over his own actions, yet he did not rule out the omnipotence of God. He recognized the possibility of divine intervention, such as the religious experience of Paul, but believed the ultimate decisions of life affecting man’s eternal destiny are to be left to man. This idea was so important to Brigham Young as he conceived the purpose of this mortal existence that he said that “the consent of the creature must be obtained before the Creator can rule perfectly.” (Ibid., XV [August 18, 1872], 134) Explaining this with eternal perspective, Brigham Young said: “Man is made an agent to himself before his God; he is organized for the express purpose, that he may become like his master. . . . The Lord has organized mankind for the purpose of increasing in that intelligence and truth . . . until he is capable of creating worlds n worlds, and becoming Gods, even the sons of God.” (Ibid., III [August 8, 1852], 93) Believing that “the power of choice all intelligent beings inherit from the Gods of eternity; it is innate,” (Ibid., IX [January 5, 1860], 105) Brigham concluded: “If you have a blank ticket for the theatre, you may fill it up for the boxes, or the gallery, or the pit just as you please. Your lives must fill the blank, and if you would fill it for one of the best seats in the kingdom, you must live accordingly.” (Ibid., IV [March 15, 1857], 289)

 

Disagreeing with Socrates and Plato, Brigham Young believed sin was a result of more than just ignorance. Man’s power to choose evil, which would ultimately result in his destruction, was part of the plan of life and consistent with the principle of free agency. To express how man could follow a path of life which would end in death, Brigham Young used Jeremiah’s analogy of the potter and his clay. (Jeremiah, 18:1-10) Brigham Young said that if the clay continually mars in the Great Potter’s hand, He will cut it from the wheel of life and throw it back into the native element. The second death, or the death of the spirit, is a result of man’s decisions to follow the enticement of His Satanic Majesty. (James Keith Melvile, “The Political Ideas of Brigham Young” [PhD. Thesis; University of Utah, January 1956], 125-27)

 

Further Reading:


Answering the Tanners' Misrepresentation of Brigham Young on the “natural man”

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