Good

“Being good means to be separate from the world, united in charity toward each other, and to have united hearts. It is not enough to avoid outright evil. We have to be good.”¹You’ll know them by how they live. Because if their actions are good, then they’re good. God has said: A person who’s evil can’t do good. Because if they offer a gift or pray to God, unless they do it with real intent, it’s of no benefit to them — it isn’t credited to them for righteousness. If a person who’s evil gives a gift, they do it grudgingly; so it’s credited to them the same as if they had retained the gift….So everything good comes from God and everything evil comes from the accuser….But godly things constantly invite and persuade to do good. So everything that invites and persuades to do good and to love God and to serve Him is inspired by God. Therefore be careful, my dear people, not to judge what’s evil to come from God, or what’s good and from God to come from the accuser. You are required to determine, so you can distinguish good from evil. The way to determine things is as plain as the daylight is from the dark night, so you can know it clearly. Because the Spirit of Christ is given to everyone so they can tell good from evil. Therefore I’ll show you how to decide. Everything that invites to do good and persuades to believe in Christ is sent out by the power and gift of Christ. Therefore you’re able to know clearly it comes from God. But anything that persuades people to do evil and not to believe in Christ and deny Him and not to serve God, then you’re able to know clearly that it comes from the accuser. This is how the accuser works; he doesn’t persuade anyone to do good — no, not one — and neither do his angels or those who subject themselves to him. Now, since you understand the light by which you can decide things, and this light is the light of Christ, take care you don’t make the wrong decision; because you’ll be judged by the standard you judge with. So I implore you to search diligently using the light of Christ in order to know good from evil. And if you embrace every good thing and don’t condemn it, you’ll certainly be a child of Christ (Moroni 7:2–3 CE). The Book of Mormon challenges men to test truths by accepting and applying them in their lives to determine what effect the truth has (see Alma 16:28). If it proves to have a good effect, then he can trust the truth is godly and good. And if it proves to have a bad effect, then he can reject it. Applying that test requires only the smallest degree of belief. That small step should be possible, even for the most tradition-bound and fearful.²