Wrong

Wrong

• an injurious, unfair, or unjust act or action or conduct inflicting harm without due provocation or just cause
• a violation of the legal rights of another
• something wrong, immoral or unethical semicolon principles, practices or conduct contrary to Justice, goodness, equity or law

Synonyms- bad, evil doing, ill, immorality, iniquity, send, villainy, evil

Antonyms - good, morality, right, virtue

If you remember my definition of sin it is ”Sin is the act of making wrongful choices in a mortal state where you are learning from experience to no good and evil. Sin encompasses all the consequences of wrong choices and is meant to educate us so that we will learn to choose good and discover the principles upon which a life of true happiness is based.”

So what then is a wrongful choice? According to the dictionary something is wrong when it inflicts harm on another person. That should be extended because we can harm the community, the environment, the mood of a gathering, etc.

Even worse we can harm ourselves. For example, take the law of tithing. It is not morally wrong to not pay tithing. Doing service in general is not an act expected of all and if you don't do either you are not condemned but for me it is different.  I have made a commitment to pay tithing. It is a personal thing between me and the Lord. As my way of thanking him for all he has given me, and for my way of acknowledging that everything I have is His, on loan to me while I am here, I choose to give 10% to my church. If I don’t pay my tithing I will feel bad – for me that is a harm to myself, a lack of integrity.

There are somethings are just accepted by all societies as wrong.  The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a wonderful example.  It was written to protect the rights of all people against certain behaviors.  All people deserve to be protected against:

murder
theft
human trafficking
bondage
sexual abuse
physical abuse
emotional abuse

There are other which I see as wrong but which are debated in our society. Those would include:
abortion
extramarital sex
infidelity
end-of-life issues
pornography
diversity
inclusion
poverty

There are other actions which I would state are wrong which have become so commonplace that they are not even debated anymore:
cheating
not paying taxes
breaking the speed limit
swearing
speaking badly to and about others.

So in our modern society we each are forced to determine for ourselves what we believe” wrong”. Some of that we learn by experience. The alcoholic who loses job and family finally chooses to get help. He starts life anew as a sober individual.

Some things we learn through the spirit – if we are in tune. A child who cheats on a test is troubled in spirit, confesses to the teacher and never does that again. It is a great blessing to have that spiritual gift.

For myself - and I can only speak for myself - I have thought for a long time about what heaven would be like - that Zion community. My vision of a Heavenly community is what has defined the concept of right and wrong for me.

I get sort of homesick sometimes

For the home I had before my birth.

For my other Father and Mother

That I left to come to earth.

I miss all the Heavenly peace 

of that place where no pain can be found,

Where there is no hate, and there is no hurt, 

but only love around.

But till it's time to go back home, 

there's just one thing to do, it's clear.

I'll try with my heart

I'll try with my hands

To make a happen here.

What does this heaven of mine look like?

No pain - no hate – no hurt

Do those words not encompass it all?  Doesn't everything Jesus taught us create that kind of a society?

There would be NONE of these:  murder, rape, theft, infidelity, lying, cheating, slavery or bondage, slender, swearing, pornography, drug use, alcoholism, abuse of any kind, anger, lust, criticism, and the, war, gangs, etc.

Heaven would be FILLED with: love, kindness, every person valued and included, patience, forgiveness, forbearance, truth, honor, charity, serving others, the Golden Rule, humility, honesty.

If something doesn't create this kind of heavenly community, it is wrong.

Question: If experiencing good and evil is the way we are to learn what is good and what is not, then isn’t it okay for us to do wrong?

That is not a good question. It seems to play with the principles in place.

Another question might be: Can I learn from choosing good only? This also is a hard question. We only saw good in our pre-existent life and it was necessary for us to come here to the earth where we would eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Perhaps we just have to be honest enough to say that by choosing certain actions some of us have learned through sad experience that our choices caused pain and hurt. We don't try to justify the choice. We just humbly admit we chose wrong and we learned a difficult lesson.  Experiences like that teach us to stop and consider consequences before we act.  It can all work for our good if we are sincerely trying to live a good life.