Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom to judge his people and to distinguish right from wrong. The Lord blessed Solomon because he asked for this gift and not gifts of power or long life. Yet didn't Adam and Eve get forced from the Garden of Eden because they ate from the tree that gave them the knowledge of good and evil?
Today's sermon illuminated this supposed conflict and brought the question into our modern society. The difference is that Solomon was asking for God's guidance in distinguishing right from wrong, while Adam and Eve were looking to create their own distinctions between what is good and what is evil. It's the same battle that we are currently fighting in our world: Is there an absolute truth?
So many people confuse right and wrong with popular opinion. They believe that if they convince half the nation that something is right, it makes that action right. Unfortunately, one does not need to look far into history to see where this idea goes astray with disastrous consequences. Mob mentality should not decide moral issues.
How then do we know right from wrong? We ask God. He showed us the way through His teaching, especially in His time on Earth as a human. He founded a Church to give people a moral compass, and while the people in the Church have sometimes lost their way, His message of Love and Understanding has stood for thousands of years.
We are granted wisdom when we ask for it. The problem is that we often don't like what we know is the wise course of action; it often challenges us and it illuminates some of our faults that we would prefer to ignore. The wisdom of Solomon is there for each of us if we have the strength to look for it.
Today's sermon illuminated this supposed conflict and brought the question into our modern society. The difference is that Solomon was asking for God's guidance in distinguishing right from wrong, while Adam and Eve were looking to create their own distinctions between what is good and what is evil. It's the same battle that we are currently fighting in our world: Is there an absolute truth?
So many people confuse right and wrong with popular opinion. They believe that if they convince half the nation that something is right, it makes that action right. Unfortunately, one does not need to look far into history to see where this idea goes astray with disastrous consequences. Mob mentality should not decide moral issues.
How then do we know right from wrong? We ask God. He showed us the way through His teaching, especially in His time on Earth as a human. He founded a Church to give people a moral compass, and while the people in the Church have sometimes lost their way, His message of Love and Understanding has stood for thousands of years.
We are granted wisdom when we ask for it. The problem is that we often don't like what we know is the wise course of action; it often challenges us and it illuminates some of our faults that we would prefer to ignore. The wisdom of Solomon is there for each of us if we have the strength to look for it.
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