On God's Side

Credit to my Mom for sharing this quote on Facebook:

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.” - Abraham Lincoln

God, as many Christian churches regularly repeat, does not change. His commandments don't change. His teachings don't change. And certainly His moral principles don't change. It is we, flawed humans, who change.

While it's true that sometimes God gives specific commandments and teachings to specific individuals and groups that don't necessarily apply to everyone across all of time, I believe that we'll one day see that it was the circumstances that related to the rules that changed, not the rules themselves. For example, if there was a rule, "No Left Turn, Except on Green Arrow," a person could still make a left turn, but only on a green arrow. While most people, by this rule, would be forbidden from turning, others would not be. The rule didn't change - the circumstance did.

But even so, I don't know of many rules like that among the commandments God has given mankind, and the basic moral principles, such as honesty, kindness, gratitude, and virtue, have (as far as I know) remained unchanged throughout the eternities. While there are certain circumstances in which killing is necessary and justified, the general commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" has been in force since the days of Adam. We can usually count on God to not change His mind on whether something is good or bad, and we can especially rely on God not to switch sides, as people occasionally do.

The idea, then, is not to get God to be on our side, to win Him over to our way of thinking, but rather to get ourselves to be on His side, to win ourselves over to His way of thinking, for, as President Lincoln said, "God is always right."

There are at least two sides to every issue - Green and Red branches on every tree (See Agency - Green and Red Branches). It's not our place to choose whatever branch we want, then paint it. And even if we could convince everyone, including ourselves, that we're doing the right thing, that wouldn't make it right. God is the judge of what's right and wrong, and if we want to be right, we need to listen to Him. President Lincoln knew that. He listened to his conscience and to God, and I believe that he was right.

But actually, what I believe doesn't matter. What God says is true, no matter what we or others believe of want to believe. If God says something is wrong, then it's wrong, even if other people say it's okay. If God says it's important, it's important, even if others say it doesn't matter. And if God gives us a commandment, we should obey it, no matter who or what opposes us. No matter who else is on what side, we should always try to stay on God's side, because God is always right.