I had the chance this week to teach my students about Civil Disobedience in connection with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi who was inspired by Henry David Thoreau...but the idea started in the New Testament. Jesus Christ taught that we should turn the other cheek. (Matthew 5:39-41, 44)My students were confused. Wouldn't that lead to being trampled on? It was clear these were new ideas to them. I wished desperately that the setting was Sunday School and not public school. I left them to ponder the idea.
I had told them that rebellions, riots and revolutions happened because people felt that there was something very unfair going on. I often hear people say "Life is unfair...get used to it." The problem with that approach is that it stops short of the full truth. The rest of the story is "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." (Preach My Gospel, 2004, USA p.52) This is why we don't have to take offense when offense is given.
We can leave all the wrongs others commit in His hands and focus on making ourselves right...but we don't do that alone either. "Christ promises to forgive our sins on the condition that we accept Him by exercising faith in Him, repenting, receiving baptism by immersion, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and striving faithfully to keep His commandments to the end of our lives." (ibid.) (see also Psalms 119:165 and 2 Nephi 2:6-8)
With all of my heart I believe this is the way to the peace we all seek.
(The views written in this post are the views of the author and do not necessarily represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
