What does Moses 8:22 mean?

Question

Gramps,

What does it mean in the sentence, “Every man was lift up in the imagination of the though of his heart, being only evil continually” as said in Moses 8:22 Why would the Lord continue to teach hardhearted people while its a waste of time and while we have better things to do. Please help me to understand this

Dallas 

Answer

Dallas,

 Would you consider it a waste of time if there was the possibility that even one might be saved? Or the possibility that the hearts of the people might be changed?  I would hope that God would never think that it was just a waste of time.

John Taylor had this to say:

“Let me ask, what did the Lord do before He sent the flood? He sent Noah among them as a preacher of righteousness; He sent Enoch; He sent many Elders among the people, and they prophesied to them that unless they repented, judgment would overtake them; that God would overwhelm the earth with a flood and destroy the inhabitants thereof…

Thus we see the dealings of God with those people. Noah had nothing to do but to preach the Gospel, and obey the word of the Lord. We have nothing to do but attend to the same things. We then leave the inhabitants of the earth in the hands of God. It is not for us to judge them; for the Lord says: “judgment is mine and I will repay.” (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 24: 292-293)

Noah tried with all of his might to preach the gospel and to bring the wicked to repentance.  God realized that their hearts were hardened, and wickedness was the continual thought of the people.  Therefore He proclaimed that He would cleanse the earth of wickedness.  This is where the flood comes into play as described in the scriptures.

Hartman Rector, Jr. had this to say:

“I believe that families are under a more serious attack today than at any time since the beginning of the world, with the possible exception of the days of Noah. It must have been bad then too. Maybe we today are not quite as bad as they were. Moses recorded in the Book of Genesis: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5.) I don’t believe I have ever known anyone quite that bad, whose “every thought was evil continually.” (“Turning the Hearts,” Ensign, May 1981, 73)

Gramps