Dear Mormons,
This last week I had the great
opportunity to go to the temple and serve dozens of individuals who had come to
contemplate, and show appreciation for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. While I was waiting for my “shift” to begin I
sat in a room with several other individuals who had also come to serve. I relished this moment of silence, as I was
able to reflect upon the many tender mercies I had experienced over the
previous week.
The words of a particular hymn come
to mind as I look upon that experience, “Count your many blessings, name them
one by one . . . and it will surprise you what the Lord has done” (Hymn
241). I can only say that I was, in fact,
surprised by how merciful the Lord had been.
Such a surprise opened my heart to feel a peace I needed, and
appreciated.
It was at this point that a man
leaned over to me, and stated that he had thought of something.
“Is God a bad parent?” he asked,
but it was phrased in that way where you can tell he already had his answer.
Noting immediately that my peace
had diminished, and not entirely sure I wanted to engage I responded by saying
that, “it wasn’t appropriate to condemn God in his own house.”
Not deterred by my response he
continued, “If God really lost a third of his children before even coming to
earth, and then think of how many of his children here on earth are wicked and
evil…I wonder if he is a bad parent.”
I won’t fill you in on the whole
conversation, but suffice it to say that this man believed that God was not the
Heavenly Father of the vast majority of mankind. Their apparent wickedness signified that they
were the offspring of some lesser eternal being, which would explain mankind’s
inability to recognize the truth in this life.
Our conversation ended shortly
thereafter, and I’ll note that I won the debate (I’m not entirely sure he
agreed with me, but I was able to show how inconsistent his view was with anything written in any scripture). While the conversation was over, the
impression I had lingered.
It struck me as terrifying that in,
what he and I both considered, the holiest place on earth, someone could
possess and express such a repellent, and illogical idea. As I have ruminated upon our conversation
over the past few days I notice that more and more of these ideas are creeping
into the church. I would like to show
how one of these ideas manifests itself in the church, why this is such a
problem, and what I propose should be done.
While I’ve addressed this to
Mormons, I hope that my friends of any religion will find something to gain
from this. This is not an attempt on my
part to convince you to join my church, but to maybe become more committed to
your own.
An instance
The problem I have seen is often
unrecognizable as it comes in many different forms, but is undeniably
hypocrisy. It has manifested itself most
recently in something I have read repeatedly in articles, blogs, and facebook
posts, “General Authority X overstepped their bounds in addressing subject Y.” Overstepped
is a politically correct way of saying, “they have no right to comment on this
matter.” Will someone please let me know
what scriptural basis you have for saying that there is no precedent for a
religious leader to speak up on an issue?
Whether it be matters of politics, public policy, morality, family life,
or any other subject, it is clear that if God wishes his prophets to speak on
that subject they will. The Old
Testament shows that Prophets have regularly spoken up about political matters,
financial matters, and even the moral issue of slavery. The New Testament shows that prophets spoke
about sexuality and chastity, and economics.
The Book of Mormon shows that prophets can speak about how husbands
should treat their wives, what family life should be like, whether or not and
how to lead a war. These prophets have
also spoken about lifestyle habits, eating habits, political rivals, rape
murder, and even what constitutes a decent working wage.
What I’m trying to point out with
these instances is that God’s prophet can speak about whatever he chooses.
It is, furthermore, interesting to
me that a religious leader is excluded from entering the public discourse, but
we’ll allow judges and politicians to speak for God, and to make decisions on
morality; musicians to speak on human rights issues; and actors and actresses
to address medical issues, and participate in political policy forums. Apparently everyone else can speak about
anything they want, but as soon as they get a religious background they are unqualified. If anyone doubts this, please scroll through
my blog. I write about music,
relationships, movies, and literature, most of which I’m woefully unqualified
to address. Or better yet, go to
Twitter, and look at all the things that other people post. The fact is that ALL of us have an
opinion. Most of us are unqualified to
have that opinion, but that doesn’t stop us.
Please recognize, that I’m not
angry at anyone for having an opinion.
What I want to make abundantly clear is that your opinion constitutes a
choice, and I want you to carry it out—without hypocrisy (I’ll come back to
this in a minute).
The Terror of This Situation
The reason this type of hypocrisy
is so terrifying is because scriptural history shows us that this is when the
wheat and the tares get separated. In
the scriptures are repeatedly referenced the two churches of the earth. God says that either you are on his side, or
you are not. Either you are the sheep,
or the goats. This is also expressed in
the political juxtaposition with the kingdoms of Zion and Babylon.
We often talk about how bad Babylon
is, and how oppressive it is against God and the people striving to be like
Christ. To use some jargon from the
Mormons, Zion is made up of the active members, probably the less-actives, and
anyone being really good. Babylon is
made up of anyone who opposes the Church.
While that is a great description, I believe it has led many to assume
that in order to be a part of Babylon you need to be so full of spite, and
anger, and opposition towards the church.
I don’t think that is true. The worst oppressors of Zion were those who
were lackluster in their commitment.
Laman and Lemuel followed their father Lehi into the wilderness. They obeyed a ton of the commandments, and
did a lot of stuff, but when push came to shove they decided to fight back,
rather than bend. They tried to kill
their brother and their father. This is
just one example, but as far as I can ascertain, every instance where the
church is attacked and is at a risk of being destroyed, comes at the hands of
those who weren’t committed. The King of
Babylon showed great mercy upon the Jews in his kingdom. Some of the most memorable stories come from
the house of Israel interacting with those who were many denominations away
from them on the religious spectrum (Think of what happens after Daniel,
Esther, and Shadrach).
Paul was admired by Agrippa, but
despised of the Jews, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, a man who was in the inner
circle. Joseph was attacked, and almost
murdered by his 11 other brothers, and then sold to Egypt, where as a slave he had
more favor showed upon him than anyone in all of Pharaohs kingdom. The Nephites
didn’t get along with the Lamanites, but it was the Amalakites that spurned
them on, and hunted the nephites with a blood lust that can be described as
animal-like. In each of these instances,
it isn’t an outside force that is attacking God’s people, it is those closest
to the church who are partially committed, but vehemently opposed to one or two
things.
I have had several friends leave
the church because they no longer agreed with it. While I am sad because I don’t understand
their motives, I still love them with all of my heart.
Besides loving them, I also admire
them. I haven’t extensively researched
this, but for the most part, my friends who’ve left the church tend to be quiet
about the church. In following their
conscience they have no reason to constantly attack the church or its members. In doing this they embody a love and a
spiritual maturity that is amazing. This
shows their commitment to actually strive after righteousness as Abraham
did.
On the other hand, I have plenty of
friends who claim to be active, participating, and believing members of the
church, and yet for some reason they complain about it constantly. It, meaning the leadership, and the doctrine,
etc. While they might be “Mormons” in
name, they are so opposed to the doctrine that they view it as their personal
calling to correct the church from the misguided leadership of those called to
lead it.
Complain about the culture all you
want. We are weird. I don’t get why we eat so many funeral
potatoes. I don’t know who invented fry
sauce, and there are countless other cultural things I like to make fun of, and
point out, but doctrinally, leave the church alone.
My Solution
Here is where I get to my solution. One to which I’ve given a good amount of
thought. I had a second solution, one
that hit me last night when I had insomnia.
I’ll keep thinking about it, and maybe post an addendum.
The first solution, is
amazing. Are you ready for this? Sit
down and engage in a fearless inventory of your life and your beliefs. If you are sitting on Facebook, or Twitter, or
some other social media site berating the leadership of the church, or if you
are constantly apologizing to your friends about how misinformed the leadership
is, but you still go every Sunday and partake of the Sacrament, or you go to
the temple, or worse yet, you sustain your leaders in meetings, then leave
(Mormons have the unique opportunity to literally cast a ballot—6 times a year—for
the leadership and decisions within the church). You are being a hypocrite. It might be easy to stand atop your facebook
wall and cast stones at those around you, but be courageous and make that stand
in one of the 6 annual meetings. When
the Brother leading the meeting asks for the sustaining vote, have the
fortitude to say no. Don’t keep quite
and then cowardly go back to the anonymous safety of the internet.
Mormonism
is not buffet. You don’t get to pick and
choose which doctrines belong and which don’t.
You need to decide what is important to you. If a religious leader speaking up about
political issues is wrong in your eyes, then maybe everything else we do isn’t
worth it either.
Maybe our attempts to provide
humanitarian relief are misguided.
Maybe our emphasis on living
healthy is a joke.
Maybe it is a waste to donate 10%
of your income, and then to fast and specifically dedicate that to helping the
poor.
I feel like I could go on, and
on. However, I hope I’ve made my
point. You are either in, or you’re
out. Either the President of the Church
is a prophet, or he isn’t. YOU have to
decide that for yourself. When you make
that decision you accept all of the consequences or ramifications of that
decision. Once again, to those of you
who have left because you HONESTLY are searching for truth, I love you. I hope you find it. And when you do, I hope you’ll loving
proclaim it from the mountaintops. To
those of you of other faiths, COMMIT to that faith.
On the other hand, if you’re with
us, then have the humility and courage to say, “I might not understand this,
but God’s chosen servant is saying it, so I’ll obey.” Then you obey, and sit back with the
confidence that God will support you.
Conclusion
I have spoken about the problem of
hypocrisy I see creeping into the church.
I believe this to be dangerous because it is so pervasive on the
internet. Furthermore, I believe that,
scripturally speaking, this hypocrisy is going to drastically divide the wheat
from the tares. If we truly believe that
Christ is going to come again, then this is certainly one of the tests, and God
is rapidly sifting the wheat from the tares, those who have the courage to
stand, and those who don’t. I’ve also
presented my solution. It isn’t a convenient
one, and it isn’t comfortable, but it is the best.
References
Oatman Jr., Johnsons. Count
Your Blessings. Hymn 241. The LDS Hymnbook.
eEdition. Accessed 2.28.14.
