Wickedness

The Broadway musical Wicked critiques our human tendency to divide the world between good and bad people. The musical opens with the munchkins celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch and singing gleefully, “No one mourns the wicked.”

Fortunately, that’s not true.

The prophet Mormon lived in a time of rampant violence and cruelty. “A continual scene of wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since I have been sufficient to behold the ways of man,” he wrote. How did he feel about his people’s behavior? “Wo is me because of their wickedness,” he lamented; “for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness, all my days” (Mormon 2:18-19).

Mormon mourned the wicked.

The Book of Mormon teaches important truths which can help us navigate environments where people are making wrong choices. Here are some principles to help us better understand and deal with wickedness:

1. We are all wicked.

When we see other people making poor decisions, a little humility may be in order. Alma counseled his son Shiblon, “Do not say: O God, I thank thee that we are better than our brethren; but rather say: O Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember my brethren in mercy—yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times” (Alma 38:14). An angel taught King Benjamin that “the natural man [or woman] is an enemy to God” until we humble ourselves and let Him change us (Mosiah 3:19). A Lamanite king later asked Benjamin’s grandson, Aaron, what he must do to be “born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast” (Alma 22:15). We all make wrong choices, and we all need God’s help to overcome our weaknesses and imperfections.

2. Wickedness is not binary.

It’s possible to be more or less wicked. Mormon writes to his son, “Thou knowest the wickedness of this people; thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling; and their wickedness doth exceed that of the Lamanites” (Moroni 9:20). While there are many places in the Book of Mormon where people are labeled simply as “the righteous” or “the wicked,” Book of Mormon authors sometimes speak of the “more wicked part of the people” or the “more righteous.” After the destruction which coincided with the death of Jesus Christ, He extended the following invitation to the survivors: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13, italics added). At this time of catastrophic consequences for wickedness, the Lord doesn’t call the survivors righteous, but merely “more righteous,” and still in need of repentance.

3. Wickedness need not be permanent.

Alma warned the people of Zarahemla and Ammonihah that if they chose to “persist” in their wickedness, they would be destroyed. (See Alma 5:56, Alma 9:18.) Mormon lamented that his people “repented not of the evil they had done, but persisted in their wickedness continually” (Mormon 4:10). The invitation to repent is constant throughout the Book of Mormon, and it is extended even to people who have done terrible things. (See 3 Nephi 30:2.) The fundamental message of the gospel is that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, wicked people can overcome their wickedness and become righteous.

4. As we become less wicked, God can entrust us with more responsibilities.

The metal plates containing the records of Mormon’s people were passed from one caretaker to another for more than 1,000 years. These people were not perfect. One of them even wrote, “I of myself am a wicked man” (Omni 1:2). But they took their responsibility seriously and fulfilled it.

However, by the time Mormon passed the records to his son, Moroni, there was no one left who could be trusted with this responsibility. Mormon explains to us that the records of his people must be “hid up unto the Lord,” because “it is known of God that wickedness will not bring them forth” (Mormon 5:12). They had to be buried, hidden away for about 1,400 years, until Moroni could entrust them to Joseph Smith.

Joseph and Martin

These principles help us understand the Lord’s repeated statement to Joseph Smith that Martin Harris was a “wicked man” (Doctrine and Covenants 3:12, Doctrine and Covenants 10:1, 6-7). God clearly wasn’t ostracizing Martin. He later chose Martin as one of the Three Witnesses of the gold plates. But He was teaching Joseph something about trust.

“Because you have delivered the writings into [Martin’s] hands,” the Lord said, “behold, wicked men have taken them from you. Therefore, you have delivered them up, yea, that which was sacred, unto wickedness” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:8-9).

The Lord went on to clarify, “I do not say that you shall not show [the manuscript] unto the righteous; but as you cannot always judge the righteous, or as you cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous, therefore I say unto you, hold your peace” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:36-37).

This counsel is consistent with the principles taught in the Book of Mormon. “Wicked” doesn’t mean “irredeemable,” but it may mean “untrustworthy.” We should love all of our brothers and sisters and believe that they and we can overcome our wickedness by the grace of Jesus Christ. At the same time, we should be realistic and careful about sacred things, and not entrust them with people who may be unwilling or unprepared to safeguard them.

Conclusion

Today, I will be grateful that God loves all of His children, in spite of our weaknesses and sins. I will strive to repent and not to persist in my wickedness. I will treat others fairly and be careful how I share sacred things, knowing that I “cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous.”