The straw man and the Savior

So I dabble a bit in facebook politics - yes, I'm that annoying guy. I try not to be too excessive, but sometimes more than nothing is too much.

As much as I've dabbled, I have learned about the straw man concept. As best as I can explain it, this is when a politician sets up a fake person so they can knock them down. Kinda like those weeble wobble toys when I was a kid. They looked like big bowling pins - you hit them, they fall over, then they stand themselves back up again so you can hit them again. I guess that wasn't even politically correct back in the 1960's. They didn't last long. But this is the concept of the straw man thing.

This straw man thing is a favorite tactic of politicians and arguers everywhere, and it's not just confined to these days - it was a favorite of "smart" people in Book of Mormon times as well.

So I'm reading at the end of Helaman, in Helaman 16:17 and 18. The backdrop for this is that Christ is about to be born in Jerusalem, and american prophets have prophesied about this. There were to be "many signs and wonders", and they happened as described, but the "smart" people chose to debate rather than accept the miracles being shown them.

17 "And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying 18 That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come, if so and he be the Son of God...why will he not show himself unto us as well as unto them who shall be at Jerusalem?"

So first, it strikes me that their reasoning should take precedence over the plan of the Lord. Whether or not you or I decide that something is reasonable, that will not affect what the Lord chooses to do. He certainly is not going to change his plans, or not do something, because some self professed "smart" guy decides that's not OK.

Secondly, these self professed smart people make assumptions that a real nice straw man argument. They assume that Christ wasn't going to come to America - an assumption that had no basis, and was something they knew completely nothing about. And based on that, they play the "unfair" card and reject everything the prophets had told them. The reality was that the prophets had never told them that Christ wouldn't come to the Americas, but they created a lie so they could argue against it, and then declare the prophets false.

This is a favorite tactic among today's debaters, but winning an argument against a straw man of your own making doesn't make you right. It does contain however, the possibility of convicting yourself as being just a bit slimy.

May we understand that we don't fully understand anything. Not one thing. God's mysteries don't generally get provided to any one person completely - even though there are infinite numbers of them, and they all go infinitely deep, I suspect that the infinite depth of any one of them is not gifted to any one mortal.

This does not mean that we must follow blindly, as viewed by the world. It means that we must understand that our five senses and our perceived intellect (let's call that a sixth sense for now) will only take us so far. The seventh sense will be the spiritual pipeline to God. Each of our pipelines may look different - some may have divine proof that a prophet is God's spokesman and tool on this earth, and they will know that it is safe to follow him. Others may feel the gifts of the spirit to guide them. Others will have something else, or a combination of all of the above. This is not blind at all. This is a wide open seventh sense eye. An eye that the "smart people" are not even aware of. And an eye that you're not aware of is not going to be open.

Imagine losing one of your senses suddenly and trying to function. To illustrate, if you suddenly lost your eyesight, or sense of feel, how difficult would be be to find your way around a room? This is the disadvantage that the "smart" people have who rely on their own intelligence and reasoning, while rejecting or lacking a pipeline to the Lord.

May we live in humility. A humility that allows the Savior to establish this seventh sense. May we rely on the Lord more, and ourselves less. Then I suspect we'll be knocked down less in life - or at least be able to get back up after being smacked by this thing we all call life.