This past weekend was General Conference and President Dallin H. Oaks delivered an address where he outlined five inspired principles of government which he taught are what make the U.S. Constitution an inspired document and why Latter-day Saints should feel some special loyalty to the document. Outside of the typical American culturalism in his talk, what really astounded me was that the five principles he outlined are not unique to the U.S. Constitution. They’re not even fully realized in the Constitution because of how the violence of statism limits or altogether prevents these inspired principles from operating to their fullest. But they do in consensual, non-statist government systems such as those found in libertarianism, anarchism, and voluntaryism. In this article I explore each principle individually, demonstrate how they are hobbled in the U.S Constitution, and how they are actually principles of consensual governments like anarchy, libertarianism, and voluntaryism because those forms of government allow these divine principles to operate at their highest and holiest potentials. In teaching these divine principles as the basis for righteous governments, President Oaks has inadvertently made the strongest argument for the rejection of the U.S. Constitution and the embracing of anarchy I have heard from any General Authority.
Tag: Elder Oaks
Christians, Guns, and Killing in Self-Defense
In the United States guns are an inescapable part of everyday life. Depending on what state you live in you could be surrounded by people either carrying a gun secretly or openly. Even outside the USA it is a rare country that doesn’t glorify its military and soldiers as armed heroes of the nation who do the work of fighting and killing which all within the country’s borders. The entertainment of the world is awash with violent heroes whose solutions to the problems of the world is to kill anyone who stands in their way and not even ask questions about it later. They’re just assumed to be right. Everywhere we turn violence is idolized as the ideal and justified in endless ways. But are these ways of the world also the ways of Christ?
The short answer is no, they are not. A Christian should reject killing, even in self-defense, and should instead rely upon the power of God as the only true source of safety one can have in the world. Guns, bullets, and bombs will never keep you safe. They are merely idols whose worship demands human sacrifice – your life or theirs. Instead of of focusing on killing or getting vengeance upon his or her enemy the Christian should be working to forgive and redeem his or her enemy.