I’ve been thinking a lot about how it’s our inherit nature to judge. I mean, we were given the knowledge to know right from wrong, good from evil. We all were blessed with the Light of Christ. And it used to bug me in my collegiate studies of Philosophy how there would always be a debate as to whether something was “inherently good” or “inherently evil”…or, whether we simply believed that because of our religion. Well, I thought it was a pointless argument. And, I’ve recently realized why, after reading the first two lectures from “Lectures on Faith” which illustrates elaborately God’s hand in everything from before the creation down to the time of Adam and Eve, after their fall, and continuously through prophets afterwards. Now, if we believe that everything was created by God…if we believe in a Supreme being, then there is no debate as to whether something is inherently right or wrong. We would know that everything has the Light of Christ within it, since He is the creator of our world and everything in it, including us. And it’s this light that gives to us a conscience of whether something is right or wrong. It’s not some mystery of the universe. So, it always bothered me to debate something that is inherently woven into my being from the very beginning. I suppose some just don’t realize who they are, where they came from or the potential they have of who they can become and what they can obtain. And that saddens me.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:9
9 The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men.

Doctrine and Covenants 88: 6-7
6 He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;
7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.

I guess Smashing Pumpkins were correct in one of their earlier songs they wrote, titled Jesus is the Sun. Here are a few excerpts of lyrics from that song:

As Christ grows
Christ shows nothing but love
Jesus, can you hear me
My pain is echoed through you

…

If I try, why, why
Jesus is the sun

Here’s another one of their songs where they reference “the sun” and “the son” being the same. It’s titled Innosense:

Any way, you choose
The sun and the son are true

I was thinking about some of my favorite songs which express a belief in God and our divine origin. And, not strangely enough, I thought about one from my favorite bands, Smashing Pumpkins. Their album Machina/The Machines of God was a concept album which contained a song named With Every Light. Here are its lyrics:

With Every Light

We’re taking over, we’re taking over
Throw the weight up off your shoulders now
That we can show our love

It’s almost over, it’s almost over
Nor more war and no more soldiers
To stand against his love

Away with all the troubles that you’ve made
Away with waiting for another day
Away

Look ma the sun is shining on me
Impatient, in love and aching to be
Could you believe in Heaven
If Heaven was all you had?

Away with everything you’ve grown to hate
Away with anything that holds you safe
Away

And every light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me
Every light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me

Every Light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me
I’m never alone

Look ma the sun is shining on me
I’m taking my time to do as I please
Could you believe in Heaven
If Heaven was all you had?

The sun is beaming, radiating
All the love we are creating
We are creating

And every light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me
Every light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me

Every light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me
Every Light I’ve found
Is every light that’s shining down on me
I’m never alone

I am reminded of the 13th Article of Faith:

13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

There are many things that give us “light” and knowledge.

Doctrine and Covenants 93: 36-37, 39-40
36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
37 Light and truth forsake that evil one.
• • •
39 And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.
40 But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth.

Doctrine and Covenants 84: 45
45 For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

These things we find in life can give us greater light. That’s why we should seek after these positive, uplifting things. They can help strengthen our testimonies and fill us with light and joy, which is truth…and actually givess us intelligence…spiritual intelligence…knowledge and understanding. We can remember things we once knew already, but have forgotten because of the veil.

While it is true that we can not live off borrowed light, sometimes one needs another to shine a little light their way and help make the dark path just a little bit brighter for them. Sometimes we all need someone else to reach out and show their love to us to help ignite that spark within us, so we can help develop our light and make it brighter and stronger.

I hope that we can all not be afraid to give of our light to others. We’re here to help one another and not judge. Just like you can’t judge a band by its genre, you can’t judge another based on what they wear, where they live, how much money they make, what you’ve heard others say about them, etc. Take the time to get to know people. You will have a better understanding of what makes them special. After all, we are all God’s children and wants us to love others as He loves us.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” –Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities