It would be easier if we had come to know one another, and had that kind of trust which makes it possible to talk of serious, even sacred things. One may ask, “Aside from he influence God has had on society, what effect can the Lord have on me individually?” Well, have you ever been hard-pressed financially? Have you ever been confronted with an unexpected expense, a mortgage come due, with really no idea how to pay it? Such an experience, however unpleasant, can be in the eternal scheme of things, very, very useful. If you miss that lesson you may have to make it up before you are spiritually mature, like a course that was missed or a test that was failed. Those who have faced a foreclosure know that one looks helplessly around, hoping for someone, anyone to come to the rescue. This lesson is so valuable because there is a spiritual account, with a balance kept and a settlement due, that no one of us will escape. Even your soul can face foreclosure. To understand this spiritual debt we must speak of such intangibles as love, faith, mercy, and justice. Without being able to solve the conflict that has arisen within critical philosophy, we sometimes become convinced the progressive clarification of modern theories will lead back to a physics based on classical mechanics. We have virtues that are both silent and invisible, and we know they are real. We lean of them by processed that often silent and invisible as well. #RandolphHarris 1 of 12

We become so accustomed to learning through our physical senses—by sight and sound and smell, by taste and touch—that some of us seem to learn in no other way. However, there are spiritual things that are not registered that way at all. Somethings we simply feel, not as we feel something we touch, but as we feel something we feel. There are things, spiritual things, that are registered in our minds and recorded in our memories as pure knowledge. A knowledge of things which have been, things which are, thing which must shortly comes to pass. Abstraction (analysis of the assumptions underlying practical ethical study of value judgments) and determining, by an empirical study of value judgment, the interest of pure practical reason, ethical demands put to the human will by reason itself we can come to know of spiritual things. Each of us, without exception, one day will settle that spiritual account. We will, that day, face a judgment for our doings in mortal life and face a foreclosure of sorts. We will be justly dealt with. Justice, the eternal law of justice, will be the measure against which we settle this account. The law demands of the human will the balanced consideration of other persons’ interest affected by its actions. Justice is usually pictured holding a set of scales and blindfolded against the possibility that she may be partial or become sympathetic. There is no sympathy in justice alone—only justice! Our lives will be weighed on the scales of justice. #RandolphHarris 2 of 12

By its content justice determines the duties of the individual by the rights others have with regard to it; in this respect justice is related to communal life and thereby provides this criterion as the concept of the state of rights, by which is meant the condition of a society in which the interests of all members are protected against wrongful violation. Ethics, by this definition, is concerned with the duties of the individual; philosophy of right is concerned with the state of right. “Justice claims the creature and execute the law, and the law inflicts the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God,” reports Alma 42.22. The demands of equality for all before the law and of equality of rights are compatible with the demand to differentiate according to given circumstances; and the demands of force against injustice remain linked to those of freedom of criticism and of public justification for the legal necessity of certain coercive measures. Such coercive measures are particularly necessary when the freedom of humans to form themselves rationally within the framework of one’s own life is threatened; this freedom can be threatened because human beings true need for it is at first obscure and can therefore be mistaken and suppressed. “Despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights,” reports Proverbs 3.11-12. #RandolphHarris 3 of 12

There once was a man called Ryan who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life. In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt. Ryan had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. However, it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. Ryan was sure he could pay for it later. So he signed a contract that allowed him to pay off his purchase sometime in the future. Ryan did not worry about the cost and finance charges because the due date seemed such a long time away. Ryan had what he wanted now, and that was what seemed important. However, the creditor was always in his subconscious, and Ryan made token payments now and again, thinking somehow that the day of reckoning really would never come. However, as it always does, the contract fell due and full payment was demanded. Only then did Ryan realize that his creditor not only had the power to repossess all that he owned, but the power to cast him into prison as well. “I cannot pay you, for I have not the power to do so,” he confessed. “Then,” said Vince, the creditor, “We will exercise the contract, take your possessions, and you shall go to prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced. Run me my money, and you are never going to see the light of day!” #RandolphHarris 4 of 12

Ryan was absolutely drenched in sweat and feeling nervous, anxious, and stressed. The survival part of his brain had been triggered. His heart was beating faster, and his hands were trembling. “Can you not extend the time or forgive the debt?” Ryan begged. “Arrange some way for me to keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy? Will you not show mercy?” Vince, the creditor replied, “Mercy is always so one-sided. It would serve only you. If I show mercy to you, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice?” Ryan replied, “I believed in justice when I signed the contract. It was on my side then, for I thought it would protect me. I did not need mercy then, nor think I should need it ever. Justice, I thought, would serve both of us equally as well.” Vince got upset and raised his voice, “Ryan, it is justice that demands that you pay this contract or suffer the penalty. Is you dumb, is you drunk?! Do you not hear the words coming out of my mouth? That is the law and you have agreed to it and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rob justice.” There they were: One meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other. “If you do not forgive the debt, there will be no mercy,” Ryan pleaded. “If I do, there will be no justice,” Vince replied.  A friend stepped in and pay them debt for Ryan, and set new terms for Ryan to repay his debt overtime. That way there was justice and mercy, as no contact was broken. Both laws stood fulfilled. #RandolphHarris 5 of 12

It is interest which makes value judgments possible. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was fully satisfied. As one can see, two basic ethical principles from these interests were highlighted: the law of the balanced consideration of all interests affected by one’s own deeds and the ideal of forming one’s own life independently, according to the ideas of the true, the beautiful, and the good. These two principles are linked by the fact that, on the one hand, the law of balanced consideration, as a categorical imperative, determines the necessary limiting condition for the ideal value of human behavior; on the other hand, the ideal of rational self-determination leads to the doctrine of the true interests of humanity and finds in these interests the standard for a balanced consideration of conflicting interests. Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us. And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended even if there is one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption. Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untampered, unsympathetic, must, absolutely must fall on us. #RandolphHarris 6 of 12

The principles demonstrated are formal and permit determination of concrete ethical demands only through their application to given circumstances as justified by experience.  However, it is precisely this application of the principles of the World of experience which requires preparatory philosophical investigation if the application is to be guarded against hasty generalization of single results, in which changing circumstances are not take into account, and against opportunistic adaptation to circumstances without regard for the practical consequences of ethical principles. In the system as a whole, ethics and philosophy of right appear side by side. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be extracted from us to the uttermost farthing. However, know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and humans, the Savior,” reports 1 Timothy 2.5.T There is no God but The God. In a single stroke, this affirmation demolished forever God’s rivals for human’s loyalty. Once for all, it toppled the innumerable idols. God lives forever. Through the Savior mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice. All humankind can be protected by the law of justice, and at once each of us individually may be extended the redeeming and healing blessing of mercy. This opens the way for each of us to keep our spiritual accounts paid up. #RandolphHarris 7 of 12

Keep your life in perspective and be constant in prayer. The most important and difficult lesson humans must learn and continually relearn, the Bible assumes, is that we are not God. Creature rather than creator, humans have nevertheless an inveterate tendency to place ourselves at the center of God’s Universe and live as law to ourselves. When we do so, however, when we try to play God, everything goes wrong. Humans are creature; our life slips into place and stays in proper perspective only when we recognize this fact. When one asks, therefore, why Christians pray, a partial answer is doubtless: in response to the natural yearning of the human heart to pour forth its love and gratitude toward its Creator. However, accompanying this desire is a need to keep our lives in their proper perspective; to see it in its objective setting; to acknowledge our humanity before our creator, and to submit ourselves to the will of God as rightfully sovereign over our lives. It is one of the glories of faith, that its temples are not always made by hands, and that our prayer ceremonies and spiritual worship can be performed anywhere upon God’s Earth or under the Lord’s Heaven. Every corner of God’s Universe being equally pure, the faithful are encouraged to pray wherever they find peace. #RandolphHarris 8 of 12

You, perhaps, are among those troubled people. When you come face to face with yourself in those moments of quiet contemplation—that many of us try to avoid—are there some unsettled things that bother you? Do you have something on your conscience? Are you still, to one degree or another, guilty of anything small or large? We often try to solve guilt problems by telling one another that they do not matter. However somehow, deep inside, we do not believe one another. Nor do we believe ourselves if we say it. We know better. They do matter! Our transgression are all added to our account, and one day if it is not properly settled, each of us, like Belshazzar of Babylon, will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Belshazzar was king of Babylon from 555 to 539 BC.  Remember when King Belshazzar held a last great feast at which he saw a hand writing on wall following words in Aramaic: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” The prophet Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall as God’s judgment on the king, foretold the imminent destruction of the city. And, as prophesized, King Belshazzar died after Babylon fell to the Persian general Gobyras without resistance on 12 October 539 BC, and probably before the Persian king Cyrus II entered the city 17 days later. Belshazzar was allegedly punished for his tyrannous oppression of his Jewish subjects, and because God warned him, but he did not repent. #RandolphHarris 9 of 12

There is a Redeemer, a Mediator, who stands both willing and able to appease the demands of justice and extend mercy to those who are penitent, for “He offered himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of law be answered,” reports 2 Nephi 2.7. Already the Savior has accomplished the redemption of all humankind from mortal death; resurrection is extended to all without condition. The Savior also makes possible redemption from the second death, which is the spiritual death, which is separation from the presence of our Heavenly Father. This redemption can come only to those who are clean, for no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. If justice decrees that we are not eligible because of our transgression, mercy provides a probation, a penitence, a preparation to enter in. Although we know how poor words can be, we also know that such feelings are often carried by the spirit, even without words. At times, we all struggle under the burden of imperfections. Nevertheless, because we know that God lives, there is a supreme recurring happiness and joy. There is only one place where we are particularly vulnerable—when we know that we have abused someone, or caused them hurt, or offended them. It is then that we know what agony is. #RandolphHarris 10 of 12

Ideally, every micro-second of our lives should be lifted to God in gratitude. What happens in nature is, according to the laws of nature, dependent on the given circumstances and on the forces working through them, which are indifferent to ethical values: Under the laws of nature it is a matter of chance whether what should happen is in fact what happens or whether ethical demands are ignored. However, what ethics demands should not be subject to chance but assured by the human will. The law of character in ethics, which demands from the humans the establishment of a basic willingness to fulfill their duties, by which they make themselves independent of concrete circumstances; their inclinations and the influences on the will may or may not be in agreement with the commands of duty. There are certain postulates. These determine the forms of reciprocal action in society which alone assure just relations between individuals; among them are public justice, prosecutability, the law of contract, and the law of property. The transitions from ethics to pedagogy and from philosophy of rights to politics are made in the same spirit. Education, among the many influences on humans, should strengthen our capacity or create those elements which develop one’s capacity for good and oppose those that could weaken this capacity. #RandolphHarris 11 of 12

Everything that happens in nature (including human behavior) is determined by natural laws working through existing powers, and the practical one, which presents the human will with duties that can either be violated and ignored or become humanity’s purpose. Thus, ethical standards should be maintained without compromise and we must reject the skeptical assumption that humans, as a limited creature of nature, are incapable of maintaining them; this assumption is considered a sacrifice of known ethical truth, a mere excuse for those who are able but not willing. The human will should act according to the strongest motivation of the moment, without any guarantee from nature that this motivation will direct one toward what is ethically required. Knowledge is limited to the understanding of relationships in the sphere of experience but cannot achieve absolute perception of reality itself. In the consciousness of our freedom, which is indissolubly bound to the knowledge of our responsibility, humans relate themselves by faith to the World of that which is real in itself and superior to the limitations of nature. We should critically examine our own convictions, and carry out what we recognize as just and goo in our actions. Ethics is there to be used. Redemption’s grand design is where justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine! #RandolphHarris 12 of 12