Am I an Enemy to God?

It may sound like a ridiculous question, but scriptural evidence suggests that the answer is actually "yes."

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. Mosiah 3:19

Now, I know what you're thinking. I am not "the natural man." The natural man is the carnal side of people, not the people themselves. I'm not an enemy to God; it's the evil inside of me that's God's enemy.

That's what I thought.

But then I read The Guide to the Scriptures, "Natural Man," which defines the natural man as "A person who chooses to be influenced by the passions, desires, appetites, and senses of the flesh rather than by the promptings of the Holy Spirit."

I am such a person. I am a natural man. I am an enemy to God.

Granted, it doesn't always feel like a question of choice. I don't feel like I'm choosing to be influenced by "the passions, desires, appetites, and senses of the flesh." I try to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit. If I fail, when I fail, is that really a choice?

Theoretically, it is. I can, theoretically, choose to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit instead of my own desires.

But in practice, that's easier said than done, and, in my defense, just about everyone is influenced by their own "passions, desires, appetites, and senses of the flesh," but that just means that just about everyone is an enemy to God, including me.

Unless.

...unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. Mosiah 3:19

So, that's it. That's the solution. That's how I can stop being an enemy to God. All I have to do is:

1. Yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,
2. Put off the natural man.
3. Become a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord, and
4. Become as a child:

• Submissive
• Meek
• Humble
• Patient
• Full of love
• Willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon me.

That's all. That's all I have to do to stop being "an enemy to God."

I have not done all of those things.

Arguably, I have not done any of those things, except becoming as a child, but I don't think being childish is what King Benjamin meant. And I'm sure I've "yield[ed] to the enticings of the Holy Spirit" at least once in my life, so I guess we can check that one off the list, too.

The one that really gets me is number three, "Become a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord."

I am not a saint. Far from it.

And yet.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is powerful, powerful enough to change hearts, perhaps even powerful enough to change my heart. I am an enemy to God, a natural man, "a person who chooses to be influenced by the passions, desires, appetites, and senses of the flesh rather than by the promptings of the Holy Spirit," but maybe the Atonement can change that about me. Maybe the Atonement can make me stop being like that. Maybe the Atonement can help me become a saint.

I am an enemy to God, but maybe Christ's Atonement can make me a saint instead.