Government is Ordained of God

Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 134, which is not a true revelation but rather a declaration of beliefs in regard to governments of the earth. I remember when I was a new missionary, I lived in a townhouse with another companionship. One of the elders that I lived with was from New York, Long Island to be exact. One morning he was reading his scriptures during scripture study time and he came to this section of the Doctrine and Covenants. I can only assume he had never read it before because he was very surprised to find it and when he read it he was just floored that Latter-day Saints uphold their respective governments.

I was raised by my parents to believe that the Constitution of the United States was inspired by God and that the founding fathers were led here and put in place by our Heavenly Father for the express purpose of founding the United States of America on the principles of religious freedom so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored. Now, most of that is opinion but we DO know that most, if not all the founding fathers have accepted the gospel. It is one of my favorite stories in LDS culture that the founding fathers of this nation appeared to Wilford Woodruff and he was able to perform the saving ordinances for those wonderful men.

It is good to read this section and remind ourselves that governments are approved by God as long as they adhere to the principles in this section. In our current day when so many people are losing faith in the American government and by all appearances the American political leaders are following their own agendas instead of listening to the voice of the people who elected them, it is a comfort to be reminded that governments are instituted for the benefit of man. I of course was not alive during the time, but I am told that even during World War II members of the church in Germany were advised to follow their leaders and obey the laws of their land.

Obviously every law/rule has a circumstance when they can be broken. Even murder is condoned when it is self defense or when God Himself tells you to do it such as when Nephi was asked to kill Laban. Although I cannot think of a time when rape would ever be condoned, so there are exceptions to this exception. But I bring this up because I find it so interesting that in verse 5 of this section it states that as Latter-day Saints we are bound to sustain and uphold our governments and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen. I bring this up because I can think of multiple reasons to rise up against a government and in fact I can bring to mind at least 2 scriptural cases where this happened without even pausing to ponder on it. So while this is the norm, there are obviously cases where such is approved by God. I have never been in a situation where I felt God was telling me to disobey any law or commandment so I cannot speak from experience, but perhaps the difference is similar to Nephi, you know it to be ok because you feel the Spirit whisper it to you. Again, I can't say for certain because I have not had such an experience.

I remember back in the first part of the last decade when the government wanted to invade Iraq and Afghanistan I was in college. And even though I was attending BYU - Provo, there were still lost and lots of students that wanted to protest. I don't know what it is about college students and protesting, but they sure seem to love it. I felt at that time and still feel, most of the time I should clarify, that the government really does have our best interest at heart and that they have access to information that we do not. In matters of international affairs, I have always trusted that our leaders are acting on the information that they have and that they have the best interests of our country at heart. To believe anything else is only going to drive you crazy because there is no way to prove it for one thing, nor can you do anything about it. I personally try and leave the government alone and hope they return the favor.

I will close by urging everyone to read this section some time soon and ponder on it's message. Our government may not be perfect, none are or will be until the Savior returns and takes over, but the Constitution is ordained of God as was revealed to Joseph Smith in section 101. It is our duty as citizens of this country to uphold it's principles and uphold our leaders as long as they adhere to the terms set forth in this section. And truly, yes they make some blunders, but again, I do believe they have the country's best interest at heart, at least most of the time. Until tomorrow.