Anarchy & D&C 98:4-8 & 101:76-80: Befriending The Constitution?
Anarchy & D&C 98:4-8 & 101:76-80: Befriending The Constitution?
Critics of my take on Anarchy & the LDS scriptures may also cite D&C 98 & 101 in an attempt to “disprove” my argument that anarchy is the way of God, is to be found throughout the LDS scriptures, and thus Mormons ought to be opposing & supporting the eradication of the governments of men where some human beings rule over the rest. They may look at D&C 98:6 and D&C 101:80 and say, “see, the Constitution is good and established by God! We must support it, every last article, clause, sentence, and word! Therefore, government is good.” But to do so would be a mistake and would be again another fine example of not seeing the forest for the tree, like zeroing in on one ship in a harbor while ignoring the rest of the ships in the harbor. The rest of the context in the verses surrounding D&C 98:6 and D&C 101:80 are just as, if not indeed, MORE important in helping us understand just what these sections are saying about the Constitution. Let us look at the verses in detail; underlining has been added for emphasis:
D&C 98:4-8
4 And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
7 And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.
8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
D&C 101:76-80
76 And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you—
77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
God may have caused, or rather, allowed the Constitution to be established, but He did so for the express purpose of maintaining and protecting the rights and freedom of every individual human being, regardless of where they come from. This was done so that no one would be in bondage to one another and that they may be able to make their own choices in life according to the moral agency God has given every individual so that they may be judged and held accountable for their choices and actions in life. Anything more or less than this regarding the laws of humanity, i.e. human government comes from evil. God makes us free, therefore we are free.
The laws that God says to support are those which maintain the rights and freedom of all humanity; the Constitution enshrined those principles within it. However, while those principles are indeed in the Constitution, not everything in The Constitution upholds or follows through on those principles. The Constitution itself erects a throne of power that allows officers on high to dictate rules downward toward those below them on how they must live and allows and indeed requires other officers to steal money and property from people in order to enforce those rules, threatening violence and even death upon those who do not obey. It erected an entity that necessarily destroys the rights to life, liberty, and property of the individual, and thus destroys the freedom of the individual.And what powers were not given to the national government, were reserved to the state governments under their state constitutions to do virtually as they please, enjoying “parliamentary sovereignty” so long as they passed laws in the legislature granting themselves power to do such things. These constitutions, those of the states and the federal one, they erected a vast system of literal slavery, putting all who were claimed as citizens by the governments they constituted into bondage under those who occupied those seats of power. But, as these sections of the D&C clearly state, whatsoever does not maintain the rights and freedom of the individual human being, “constitutional” or not, and puts human beings in bondage to other human beings is of evil and is not to be befriended or upheld. This is also consistent with the message of D&C 134:2 & 5.
What these verses are saying, I believe, is that the “Constitution” and upholding it and all its articles, clauses, and words, is not the end goal; the end goal is upholding the freedom and rights of the individual, which principles are enshrined in the Constitution, and upholding those parts of the Constitution which protect those rights and freedom while we are made to be subject to said Constitution. Anything that violates those rights and freedom is evil & is to be opposed. Having a constitution giving authority of some people over the rest is indeed bondage and is not the end goal. Maintaining the rights and freedom of the individual is the end goal. Thus, the parts of the Constitution and laws of man that A.) violate the rights and freedom of the individual and make them a tool of others, putting them in bondage to others by letting them rule over them and stealing their property and violating their rights…these parts, they come from evil and are not to be befriended or supported by the people.
It could be said that God is basically saying, “if human government can obtain these ends, maintaining the rights and freedom of the individual, then support it; if not, oppose it and support whatever best protects said rights and freedom of the individual.” In that case, eradicating the thrones of power, i.e. human government, and existing in voluntarism and anarchy is the only thing that can sustain and maintain those rights and freedom. The thing is, God may have caused the Founding Fathers, or rather, allowed them, the most righteous he could find on the earth at that time, to establish the Constitution, knowing full well that humanity, stuck on this notion as they were and are that they must have human government, would thus not be ready to abandon human government for His ways of anarchy and voluntarism, just as the Hebrews under Moses’s care were not ready for the higher law and thus were given a lesser law till they demonstrated they were willing and ready for the higher. Therefore, taking imperfect, misguided humanity where it was, he allowed a form of human government to be established that also enshrined the principles of anarchy in it, and proceeded to tell humanity to focus on those principles of anarchy, i.e. protecting the rights and freedom of the individual (as demonstrated in sections 98 & 101 of the D&C). If humanity were to still insist on having human government in which some human beings rule over others, like the ancient Israelites who insisted on having a king over them, in the very least, support the laws of said governments that protect the rights and freedom of the individual. But it is my contention that God knew human government could not do this for long, protect the rights and freedom of the individual, given the nature of human beings to seek power over others and abuse said power. And we see that as our very reality today. What principles of protecting the rights and freedom of the individual that may exist in the Constitution, have been gutted over time since the establishment of the US Constitution, by way of congressional law, judicial interpretation, and executive enforcement and precedent, to the point where the federal, state, and local governments have given themselves the authority and power to violate pretty much every right and thus eradicate the freedom of the individual, making us slaves to those in authority over them by way of the Constitution. It is my contention that, in D&C 98 and 101, as well as 134, God was saying, “OK, fine, if you still insist on this human government stuff, in the very least support the laws that protect the rights and freedom of the individual, for those are my principles that are most important to follow.” Again, the message God is trying to give to humanity in these sections and verses, taking humanity where it is, is, in my mind, preparatory to receiving the higher law of anarchy and voluntarism, that protecting the rights and freedom of every individual so that they may not be in bondage to another is paramount and of more importance than having a government. I believe God was trying to tell us in these sections of the D&C in a round about way is that this whole human government thing wouldn’t work out in the end, as it destroys the rights and freedom of the individual, and that what is of the utmost importance for us to focus on and remember in the end is to seek to protect the rights and freedom of the individual so that every individual can be judged and held accountable according to their own actions and choices and not be said to have been the coerced footstool of others, having no agency for themselves.
Indeed, can you have some people be rulers over others, having the power & “authority” to violently take their property & call it taxes, murder people all over the globe and call it “war, casualties, & foreign diplomacy,” force you to do the murdering, force you to get THEIR permission to do virtually anything upon threat of violence toward you and call it “peace-keeping & regulation,” and NOT be said to be in bondage to said people? The Constitution, from the beginning, allowed for slavery, both of the race based chattel form & the nation-state tax, fee, & permit form, including conscription. It allowed some human beings to own other human beings, either in actual title or in action, while pretending to “take care of & protect them.” It allowed certain people, pretending to have just, divine authority (or as they called it, providence), to violate your rights to life, liberty, and property routinely, in order for them to maintain that power over you. And they have done so routinely, granting themselves the sole power to interpret said Constitution and thus grant themselves more and more power to violate more and more of your rights, enslave you further, and thus destroy more and more of your freedom as individuals. Can a constitution, or any form of human government that not only allows but owes its very existence to such rights violations, destruction of freedom, and enslavement of human beings to other human beings, can it be said to be protectors of those very rights and freedom they routinely violate in order to exercise their power and maintain their status as rulers over us? I think not. If you are asking me, it my opinion that the bit about supporting human government in D&C 98, 101, & 134, comes of man, of evil, and not of a perfectly just and merciful God, because that is what man has always known for much of his/her existence, human government in which some rule over others, i.e. slavery. What D&C 98, 101, and 134 say doesn’t make sense unless you focus on the anarchic principles of each section, that is, maintaining the rights and freedom of the individual from slavery and bondage to other human beings. And to maintain those rights and freedom of the individual, you cannot do so when you erect thrones of power with monopolies on violence and grant access to or place some people on said thrones so that they may steal, murder, torture, and destroy. You cannot be free from bondage and have your rights and freedom protected under such human governments. History and logic proves they are incompatible, for one leads to and indeed owes its very existence upon the destruction of the other. You cannot serve two masters, as it were, for you will love the one and hate the other. And I believe God is showing us this in the actual bits that come from Him in these sections of scripture, that just like Abraham would not find righteous people among Ur, these principles of individual rights and freedom cannot stand & long be protected under a system that elevates some people in power above others to physically and mentally rule over them & dictate their lives as to what they may and may not do.
I believe this is the message of these chapters: that whatever leads to the protection of individual rights and freedom ought to be befriended; that while bits of the Constitution that DO enshrine these principles ought to be befriended, the WHOLE of the Constitution and indeed any system that enslaves some people to others should not be befriended; that systems of human government in which some are given power over others to steal their property, dictate what they may and may not do with their lives (so long as they harm no one else in the process), imprison them for violation of said dictates, and even murder them, should not be befriended, are of evil, and are to be opposed. Thus we are left with anarchy, where EVERY individual is the only sovereign in their life, having complete control over their property and life decisions, that this is the ONLY way to ensure the rights and freedom of the individual are protected and upheld as much as possible. This, coupled with the idea that these scriptural sections were written and have been upheld by fallible human beings who were/are not raised in cultural vacuums, this the ONLY logical conclusions one can come to regarding these sections.
Whatsoever concerning the laws of men that does not protect the rights and freedom of the individual from being in bondage and being tools of others, is of evil. And it just so happens that NO “laws of men,” i.e. human government, protects these rights and freedom in full. And whatever violates these rights and freedom and enslaves some people to others ought not to be supported by those who follow God and HIS ways. The message is clear, to those who allow themselves to see it: anarchy is God’s way, i.e. the “Church of God;” human government is the way of Satan, i.e. “The Church of the Devil.”
God works through imperfect human beings as His mouthpieces. They are bound to make mistakes and get things wrong. Messages will be infected by the cultures those fallible human beings were raised in. But, like broken clocks, they will also get things right, and thus, it is up to us, as fellow sovereign human beings, to parse through the messages God gives to us through our fellow human beings and decider what is truly of Him and what is human fluff worthy of ignoring and opposing. Whether God comes down and tells us all, individually, or relies on our fellow human beings to try to convince us of these eternal truths and principles of peaceful living, the message is still open to the possibility of not being heard for cultural biases. But, with the individual gift of the Spirit, we as individuals can come to our own conclusion and knowledge concerning what is eternal truth and what is of flesh & Satan and thus of evil. But we have to let our minds be open to said inspiration so we can learn to recognize said eternal truths.
If the Prince of Peace be Jesus, and Jesus be the God of the old and New Testament, a representative of God the Father, it must needs follow that Jesus & thus the Father would want to achieve that end goal of peace through peaceful means. And if peace is to reign, it cannot be brought about non-peaceful means, through the violent thefts, kidnappings, false arrests/imprisonments, tortures, and murders of a system built upon the foundations of aggressive violence, doing its existence to said aggressive violence. Thus, logically, the way to peace is through peace, by allowing each individual sole control over their own life in the choices they make and sole control over the property they obtain along the way. This is anarchy. And if it be the only truly peaceful way of living, the only peaceful way of obtaining general peace between humanity, and if Jesus be the Prince of Peace, then anarchy is necessarily by way of logical conclusion, God’s way. Which means, Jesus nor the Father, being peaceful beings who enjoy their own individual sovereignty and wish us to enjoy our own individual sovereignty, cannot be in support of violent means supposedly meant to keep that peace. God, a being of peace and individual sovereignty, cannot be the author of human government built upon aggressive violence; that author is the enemy of God, the one who rebelled, having sought God’s glory and power to become a tyrant and rule over us in order to force us to do his will: that author can only Satan. In choosing and figuratively fighting for anarchy and the eradication of human government that inherently requires the destruction of the rights and freedom of the individual human beings and thus brings some people into bondage one to another, one is choosing and figuratively fighting for God and his way of peace. Peace can only be achieved when there is no coercive violence exercised by some upon others. So-called “peace” brought about by pacifying the individual human soul, coercing obedience through fear using threats of violence is a false imitation of the true peace that comes through voluntarism, love, and persuasion. It cannot last as it is only a facade of the real thing, like all that emanates from Satan, the author of imitative facade. Those who fight to maintain such human government built and reliant upon aggressive violence and threats thereof have been, at best tricked and misguided by the adversary, Satan, and at worst have actively chosen to be in league with him to the destruction of their own kind.
It is very possible that Joseph Smith himself, the writer of these sections in the D&C, raised as he was in the early Republic with all its propaganda celebrating the State and its violence…it’s very possible that his and his compatriot’s touch remains in these sections, that these sections contain both the truth of God (the focus on the rights and freedom of the individual from bondage to other human beings) and the fallacies of misguided and fallen flesh. I cannot accept that God, a perfect being, a man of peace and individual rights and freedom, would tell his servant and mouthpiece to all humanity to befriend and support whatever protects the rights and freedom of the individual while simultaneously telling that same servant to befriend the very entity and system that is built upon violating those rights and destroying that freedom, enslaving people to those in power. No, the message of these sections logically must needs be to befriend the principles of individuals rights and freedom found in the Constitution, the parts of the Constitution that do such, but not the thing that establishes a legal system of slavery that necessarily destroys those very rights and freedom, the human government itself.