Through the disobedience of one man, death came into the World. If Adam had obeyed the command of God, none of us would ever die. We would pass peacefully from earth to heaven, without enduring the agony of death.
But through the obedience of one Man, life was restored.
It is a popular belief that the commandments of God are oppressive, that the one who obeys them is carrying a heavy burden. While the one who disobeys is liberated, free — he has all the fun!
This is false.
The commandments are the voice of God, who loves us. When anyone breaks His laws — what we call “falling into sin” — the one who suffers most is the sinner, himself.
For instance, “Thou shalt not kill”. Many nations contradict this commandment. They make abortion legal. That means you can kill the baby in the mother’s womb, and you will not go to jail for it. But it is murder. God, in His mercy, forgives. But nature does not.
Once upon a time, in Newfoundland, I met a husband and wife. Newfoundland is much like the Philippines — poor. Their national disease is tuberculosis. They live on potatoes and fish. Their great problem is housing. This couple married late, because whenever they had saved money to build their own house, their parents needed it, and took it away from them. Finally they married, and moved in with his family, thinking: “Maybe, being married, they will let us save for the house.”
One evening, where he came home from work, he found his wife crying. She said: “We are going to have a baby.” He said: “That’s good news!”. . . . “No!” she answered. “No! Our baby will be born here, under the eyes of that woman!”. . . . Then he realized that she was having trouble with his mother.
He went out to buy an abortive. He was amazed at how easy it was. He found it in the first drug store. . . . His wife said: “Please! Understand! I want children. . . . I love children. But not now!. . . . After we have the house, then we’ll have children.” He agreed with this, completely.
With that reservation in mind, she took the abortive. The blood ran out, and with it the life of her baby. . . . But then she began to cry. Every night he could hear her sobbing, but he never asked her “Why?” He knew why.
Then one day they brought her home from school. She was teaching Grade Two. And suddenly, in the middle of the class, she put her head down on the desk and wept. So they brought her home.
When he asked her “Why!” she said: “It was Mildred!” He did not know any Mildred. She said: “Our baby!” She had been thinking, night and day, about that baby. She was sure that it would be a girl. They would call her Mildred. She thought of her as a baby, then learning to walk, then going to school.
She looked down at a pretty little girl sitting in the front row of her class. The child smiled at her. She thought: “This is how Mildred would be, in Grade Two.” Then she put her head down on the desk and wept, and they brought her home.
Things grew a little better for him. He put the down payment on a lot, and began to build their house. His wife conceived. She was climbing around the new construction — it would be her own home! She planned a nursery for their baby, the child in her womb.
She carried that baby for nine months, went to the hospital, and the baby was born. But it was born dead. Every time a nurse would bring a baby to another mother, to be breast fed, she would turn her face into the pillow and weep, thinking: “All these other mothers are good women; they love their babies; and I killed mine!”
When she conceived again, she went to bed for the last months of her pregnancy. She carried the child for nine months, went to the hospital, and the baby was born. But born dead. This happened four times.
After the fourth delivery, she came home, feeling like a burned out bulb. She was in her house, looking at the nursery she had prepared so carefully — with animals on the walls. And suddenly she thought: “We have the house!. . . . The house!. . . . . And for this house I killed my baby!” She wanted to tear it apart with her fingers, burn it down.
Then she knew: no one really wants the house. They want the baby in the house. No one wants the floor. They want the baby, walking on the floor.
By the mercy of God, when I met them, they had three living children, whom they treasured. And they knew. . . . they knew!. . . . that the commandments are wise, with the wisdom of God.