Against the World – Sunday, September 13, 1942
It was said of Ishmael, before he was born: “his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.” (Genesis 16:12.) There are some people who remind us of this—people who are against the world and who think that the world is against them. But there are some things that all honest men are against—-our thoughts, our voices and our feelings are set against the evil that is abroad. We resent the brutality that has been unloosed.
We resent the thought of starving millions, of persecution and oppression. We resent waste and inefficiency, indecision, corruption, disloyalty to trust. We resent loose-living, evil-thinking, injustice. We are against every malady, every difficulty, every trouble, every malpractice and every evil that stalks the ways of earth. But perhaps it is time to remind ourselves that it isn’t enough to be against something bad. You’ve got to be for something good.
You could sit at home in your rocking chair and be against everything—your neighbors included—and still not accomplish any good purpose. To be really effective you’ve got to be actively for something. If there is a great evil abroad in the world—and there is—the only way to get rid of it is to see that it is replaced by a great good.
Evil will not run from a negative attitude. If you’re against slavery you must do something for freedom. If you’re against falsehood, do something for truth. To eradicate wrong ideas we must plant right ideas, and to make the world what it should be, we must crowd it so full of positive good that evil will be ashamed to show its face. We must make freedom so utterly real for all men that no tyrant could ever promise them anything that would sound better.
There are a lot of people in the world who are against evil, who will probably never reach the heaven they expect and who will wonder why, and then perhaps someone will tell them that it isn’t enough to be against things. Said the Savior of mankind. “He that is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30) Evil isn’t content with being passive. Evil is an active force. And those who would see righteousness cover the earth must also set in motion an active force. And so, if you’re against the evils of the day, do something about it.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Sept. 13, 1942, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright-1942.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 13, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,682