Let your light shine or Keep it on the DL?

[taekwondave]

How do you reconcile these two pieces of seemingly conflicting advice (commandments?) given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in practice? When do you think it's appropriate to show other people you're doing the right thing versus when it's not? I find this fascinating and I'd be curious to hear your different takes on it.

1. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.." Matthew 5:14-16

2. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven...But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly...(or) when thou prayest...enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:1-6

[jay santos]

Classic new atheist Exmormon groupthink. Keep serving us the best of Exmo reddit.

[DrumNFeather]

How do you reconcile these two pieces of seemingly conflicting advice (commandments?) given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in practice? When do you think it's appropriate to show other people you're doing the right thing versus when it's not? I find this fascinating and I'd be curious to hear your different takes on it.

1. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.." Matthew 5:14-16

2. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven...But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly...(or) when thou prayest...enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:1-6

Don't pray over your food in the CougarEat.

[taekwondave]

Classic new atheist Exmormon groupthink. Keep serving us the best of Exmo reddit.

LOL I didn't get that from reddit. And it's not a gotcha question. Being a big fan of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount myself I have struggled with where I stand on this philosophically (including when I was still Mormon). I don't really want to choose one over the other, because I can see value for both, but they are written in a kind of a blanket way (well...the second technically only refers to giving to the poor and praying, but the spirit of it seems to imply a larger application--at least it always did to me) and so how to apply each piece of advice puzzles me. It's not like I have some super secret atheist approach to this that makes Jesus' advice look dumb or something. It's an honest question and you can honestly answer if you want. Or you can go fuck yourself. I really don't care either way

[Commando]

So doing alms and fasting/prayer is a light unto the world that everyone needs to see? You honestly don't see the distinction between that and acting as a righteous example of good works? I find that hard to believe.

[taekwondave]

So doing alms and fasting/prayer is a light unto the world that everyone needs to see? You honestly don't see the distinction between that and acting as a righteous example of good works? I find that hard to believe.

Wait, you're rolling your eyes at me but I'm not sure why. What kinds of "good works" SHOULD be "seen" in your mind? And how should they be seen? You seem to think this is very simple, but I don't see it as being that simple. What am I not getting?

[taekwondave]

This group may need a reminder that I'm a lover of the scriptures and, although I know longer believe in the literal truthfulness of Mormonism or Christianity, I regard them as Paul does in his second letter to Timothy in that they are "inspired...profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that (man) may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for all good works."

In other words, this is not a secret attack. I just haven't been to Gospel Doctrine in a long time and basically miss this exercise. So chill out. It's an honest question.

[Jeff Lebowski]

What am I not getting?

Nuance.

[jay santos]

I'm losing so much patience with these people. It's OK for the Mormon church to do a few things that are good. Let it go.

You can be a cynical POS and put bad motives on everything the church does, but trust me, that's not a good way to live.

These kinds of things, especially with social media, have a way of exploding in popularity. Sure, some people might do it for show. Sure, at some level some church administrator might be thinking there could be a selfish motive, ie missionary work or something. But let's say 100K church members are participating. Is it bad 100K church members attempted to lighten someone's burden last Thursday or honor their parents last Friday, or are thinking about how to serve the sick today? Is it bad that turning it into a social media thing increased it from 10K to 100K or even 1M people participating? Give it an effing break, Exmormons.

[creekster]

Are you serious? You can't see the difference in the two admonitions?

[taekwondave]

Nuance.

Haha it's always nuance with you, isn't it?

[Shaka]

How do you reconcile these two pieces of seemingly conflicting advice (commandments?) given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in practice? When do you think it's appropriate to show other people you're doing the right thing versus when it's not? I find this fascinating and I'd be curious to hear your different takes on it.

1. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.." Matthew 5:14-16

2. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven...But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly...(or) when thou prayest...enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:1-6

The first is about being a good person, setting a good example, and being charitable. When you are these things your light will bathe those around you and on their own accord will take notice. Some will wonder why you are radiating good vibes and ask you about it. Others will look at your example and seek to have more light of their own.

The second is being charitable without bragging about. Each Christmas I see people that do charitable things but in order to benefit themselves they make sure everyone knows of their efforts. Being charitable for the purpose of self-aggrandizement isn't usually a good thing.

[Pelado]

Intent. Why are you doing your good works? To receive glory? If so, then the second bit applies. If your good works are out of love of God and your fellow man, then keep it up, no matter who sees your efforts.

[taekwondave]

Are you serious? You can't see the difference in the two admonitions?

I mean, I could possibly take the first admonition to be the general admonition and the second to be a more specific one like "Let men see your good works...except when you give to the poor and pray" but I'm not sure that would capture the essence of what either of those things are saying. Do you not see the difficulty in accepting both pieces of advice at face value?

Look, it's an honest question, I'm not here with an argument. I don't have an answer to my question and I don't think it's a ridiculous question. I definitely see Christians pray in public and give money to the poor and take out ads and make facebook posts talking about it but I don't necessarily see that as wrong--in a sense it's setting a good example, but in another...it's not. I mean, we used to doorbell ditch people with cookies and do secret santa around Christmas time and it made feel great, but on my mission we also gave away like 5000 wheelchairs to people in Mexico in front of an army of news cameras and that ALSO felt great so...yeah.

Why is it so cut and dry to you? I'm not attacking Jesus or anything. It's an interesting question to me.

[Omaha 680]

Wait, you're rolling your eyes at me but I'm not sure why. What kinds of "good works" SHOULD be "seen" in your mind? And how should they be seen? You seem to think this is very simple, but I don't see it as being that simple. What am I not getting?

You really want lists of column A = good works to be seen and column B = good works to be hidden; complete with instructions of how to go about hiding or showing them? Moses would break some stone tablets over your head and Jesus would give you a very loving facepalm.

Now lest you think I will only ever give you snarky responses: One of the great things about the gospel as taught by Jesus is that what matters most is what is in our hearts. Two seemingly contradictory commandments can be reconciled if our actions have the proper motivation. The only way I see conflict between the two scriptures you quote is if you want to live your life as a series of lists to check off or avoid. Yes we devolve into that in Mormonism too often but the gospel as taught by Jesus (and in many ways Joseph) was not meant to be this way ultimately.