Preaching After the Holy Order of God
We live in a narcissistic society that confuses sympathy with empathy. Narcissists feel entitled to sympathy in everything. However, empathy values truth, while also seeing things from the other person's perspective. Empathy has the courage to tell someone their view is harmful and wrong and the compassion and patience to explain why.
This is a major theme of the Book of Mormon in preaching the gospel after the "Holy Order of God". The gospel is not just sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes love and empathy requires correction and even an occasional denial of sympathy. Sometimes giving sympathy can actually just be plain apathy, and denying sympathy while providing patient correction reflects true compassionate empathy.
Preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ is not just peaching "greasy grace"; nor is it "hell, fire, and damnation.". Teaching after the Holy Order of God us balanced and binds up the wounded and broken hearts sometimes, but at other times it cuts deep and even widens already tender wounds.
Jacob 2:9 Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds.
And this is what lead prophets in the Book of Mormon like Jacob to address the anti-Christ Sharem and Alma to address Korihor. And it is what led Elijiah to face the false priests of Baal on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18. And this spirit motivated Jesus Christ Himself to call out the corruption of Scribes and Pharisees of His day and motivated the Apostles to contend against the many false doctrines that continually were trying to creep into the Church.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
