Edward Gibbon, in 1788, set forth in his famous book,”Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” five basic reasons why that great civilization withered and died:
1.The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home which is the basis for human society. 2. Higher and higher taxes: the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. 3. The mad craze for pleasure, with sports and plays becoming more exciting, more brutal, and more immoral. 4. The building of great armaments when the real enemy was within—the decay of individual responsibility, 5. The decay of religion, whose leaders lost touch with life, and their power to guide the people.~ Richard L. Evans (from Richard Evans’ Quote Book, Publishers Press, 1971, p. 91)
Freedom is a God-given inalienable right, and is essential to the soul’s salvation in the highest sense. And every man must be protected in his right to choose as to certain essentials. But when we flout any law—of society, of the land, of nature, or of God—we pay a price. We reap the results of the seeds we sow. Freedom can be used or abused, but there is this certainty concerning it: freedom cannot keep us from consequences. ~ Richard L. Evans (from Richard Evans’ Quote Book, Publishers Press, 1971, p. 90)
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience, and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
