a blind guide

“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30:19.) In such circumstances no one would willingly and with eyes wide open choose death. The problem is that man’s choices do not always or even often present themselves strictly in terms of life and death, or good and evil. Human existence is much more confused, and most of the time, in order to choose life, man must choose a real good over a merely apparent good. And he must also judge properly the weight of circumstances, for what is good under one set of circumstances – such as the consummation of love within marriage – is not good under a different set of circumstances. Given the inescapable difficulties of choosing wisely, only a fool will ignore the counsels found in sacred testimonies. When man attempts by himself alone to regulate the conduct of this life, he becomes little more than a blind guide. His systems of conduct achieve nothing but a justification of his own weaknesses. How many abuses, for example, has the vague idea of human nature been used to hide? In order to be truly human, man must turn to what is higher than human.

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Three, “What Mean the Testimonies?” p.29