God loves us

We see today that most people fear God the wrong way. That is, most people see God as an all powerful being that can smite us down if we do anything wrong. Even if they see him as merciful, they also keep him as angry. We see that in cultures and religions where you have to literally beg to see if you are worthy enough for the Lord to accept you. Some believe that this attitude developed over the middle ages. However, ancient mythology depicts their own gods as temperamental and unmerciful. Scriptures also show this attitude among His own chosen people.

In Ether 3, the brother of Jared sees the finger of the Lord and is instantly afraid of being smitten. It was apparently not uncommon in his day for people to have the attitude that God is cruel and unmerciful. Even priests of the day feared God.

Yet the Lord's reaction was not cruel. It was faith-building and merciful. God lives us as is taught in the New Testament frequently. How often we can forget this.

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