Doug Tales 96: Natural Law, Part Six

The sixth principle of natural law, cause and effect, expressly relates to the other natural laws, reinforcing the concept that all of the natural laws will take effect at some time. Are we creating positive or negative effects with our thoughts, feelings and behavior, and when will we see our need to repent and change course? Or, can we perceive we are acting in truth and what its consequences are? Daily we put into action a cause, many causes, and what are we learning from their effects? Doug Mendenhall briefly talks about these concepts in I See…Awake! (2015), on page 46 and Conquering Spiritual Evil, Volume Two (2020), on page 58:

Natural Law Principle 6: Everything happens according to law; it has its cause and effect.

When someone robs a store (the cause) there will be jail time (the effect). Every cause has its effect and every effect has its cause.

“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:20-21)

Is free will or agency involved? Yes. Is there free will or agency to ignore law without a consequence? No, there is always a consequence or effect.

Since God declared that time is measured only unto man (Alma 40:8), there is often a delay from the action until the consequence takes place. If the consequence always happened immediately, we would be less inclined to sin, but then the lessons caused by a delay would be lost, and the chance to learn more lessons and repent of the offense would also be lost.

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When we go against natural law it activates another natural law. The law of Karma. Many people say it this way, “Whatever goes around comes around.” If you disobey natural law and it affects another person, law states that you will have to pay a price for that, if not in this mortality, in some other realm of existence. There is always a price paid for disobedience. The Savior’s atonement, if applied, will nullify the application of the law of karma. Praise God for our Lord Jesus Christ and His willingness to suffer for us.

All of our causes or what we do have effects or consequences. Some take a while, others are immediate. One of those immediate effects are tendrils that come up from hell and attach to the disobedient. That is a concept that I had never considered or even knew about before.