By Jared Harding Wilson
Have you ever tried to move past your biggest mistake, only to find that the world wouldn’t let you?
In our last Spiritual Sunday post, we discussed the danger of permanently labeling people as “criminals,” “addicts,” or “monsters.” We looked at how these tags lock people out of the healing process. Today, we are diving deeper into the spiritual danger of labeling. What happens when we become the person holding the permanent marker?
When we label others, we aren’t just assessing their current situation; we are attempting to write their final chapter.
The Older Brother Paradigm: Labeling the Prodigal
In the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, we often focus on the beautiful reunion between a broken son and a forgiving father (Luke 15:11–32). But the true cautionary tale about labeling belongs to the older brother.
When the younger son returns home, repentant and humbled, the older brother refuses to join the celebration. Instead, he confronts his father with a scathing indictment:
“But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.” (Luke 15:30)
Notice the exact wording. The father sees a son who was lost and is found. The older brother sees a label. He paints his brother as a reckless wastrel and essentially characterizes him with the modern equivalent of a severe criminal record: sex offender. In ancient Israelite culture, wasting familial inheritance on such riotous living wasn’t just a social faux pas; it bordered on a legal and spiritual offense that could cut someone off permanently from the community.
By defining his brother strictly by his past sins, the older brother became entirely blind to his brother’s present repentance. He refused to let the boy change.
Trapped by the Past: The Tragedy of Hometown Labels
This human tendency to keep people trapped in their past is incredibly resilient. In a powerful classic address, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland shared a heartbreaking, real-world example of this exact tragedy:
He spoke of a young man who grew up being the brunt of every joke in his hometown. Seeking a fresh start, he moved away, joined the military, found deep fulfillment, and embraced the beauty of the gospel. He was completely reborn, active, and happy.
Years later, he returned to the town of his youth. But the people there weren’t looking at who he had become; they only looked at who he used to be. To them, he was still just old “so-and-so” with the same old flaws.
Tragically, the constant weight of their old mindset and refusal to accept his growth slowly chipped away at his progress. He eventually fell back into inactivity and died unhappy. Elder Holland noted that he was surrounded by “Lot’s wives”—people who thought his past was far more interesting than his future. They ripped out of his grasp the very progress Christ had given him.
Other Times Labeling Went Wrong in Scripture
History and scripture are littered with the tragic consequences of societal labeling:
The Savior of mankind: Jesus Himself was labeled a “gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matthew 11:19). Because the religious leaders labeled Him based on who He associated with, they completely missed the Messiah.
Alma the Younger: After his miraculous conversion, can you imagine how hard it must have been for the Saints in Zarahemla to stop labeling him as the “rebel who tried to destroy the Church”? If they had held onto that label, we would have lost one of the greatest prophets in the Book of Mormon (Alma 5).
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies: Formerly fierce Lamanite warriors with blood on their hands, they buried their weapons and covenantally changed (Alma 24). Had the Nephites insisted on labeling them permanently as “bloodthirsty enemies,” an entire generation of faithful people would have been rejected.
President Oaks on Intermediate vs. Final Judgments
Why is labeling so dangerous to our own spiritual health? Because it crosses a line into territory that does not belong to us.
President Dallin H. Oaks, speaking on the scriptural command to “Judge not,” clarified a crucial distinction for Latter-day Saints:
“The key is to understand that there are two kinds of judging: final judgments, which we are forbidden to make, and intermediate judgments, which we are directed to make, but upon righteous principles.”
He went on to explain that a righteous intermediate judgment must refrain from declaring that a person is irretrievably bound for hell or has forfeited all opportunity for exaltation.
When we label someone permanently based on a mistake, a crime, or a lifestyle, we are attempting to pass a final judgment. We are declaring them unchangeable. In doing so, we essentially declare that the Atonement of Jesus Christ isn’t powerful enough to reach them.
The Book of Mormon reminds us in Mormon 8:20 that “man shall not smite, neither shall he judge; for judgment is mine, saith the Lord.” Let us hand the permanent marker back to the Savior. He is the only one qualified to write the final chapter.
💬 What Do You Think?
Have you ever felt trapped by a “hometown label” or past version of yourself that people refused to forget?
How can we better cultivate wards and communities that celebrate a person’s future rather than obsessing over their past?
Leave a comment below and share your thoughts!
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