Someone I know has left the church.
It was a struggle for them.
They did not make the decision lightly.
Their family is hurt.
Their social position has changed.
And after I learned the reasons they left I have found myself wondering why?
Why did they leave the church?
So many of the issues they had with the church were not gospel issues.
Jesus taught us to love.
I’m sure they would still agree with that.
Jesus taught us to forgive.
I’m sure they would agree with that.
Jesus taught us to have charity in our hearts.
Actions indicate that charity is still in this person’s heart.
So why did they leave?
I think in part it was because of all the junk they had been taught that people accept as part of the church. The junk are the ideas and rules and customs with no truth behind them.
They are the inventions of wishful thinkers.
They are the imagined answers of people who wanted answers, and when God did not provide answers then people invented them so that they could look wise or, at best, put their own minds at ease.
They are appealing answers and beliefs that people can agree on and conform to.
But agreement is not revelation any more than agreement is science. And while conforming to Christ’s example is a worthy goal, conforming for the sake of conforming is simply following fashion.
They are the made up rules that make us look effective while they distract us from doing real good in the world.
They are the comfortable bonds that slow us down where the truth would set us free.
They are things that we think we hold dear, but find we cannot defend in our hearts or in our prayers.
I think of this junk as a pile of sand that comes between us and the rock of truth. When the world blows the sand away we may find we have wondered a step or two and are no longer standing on the rock we thought was beneath us. Perhaps that is what happened here.
I think the person I know will seek out truth. I hope that search will bring them back to the gospel.
The gospel as taught by the Lord, not the gospel of folklore, politics, and traditions.
Having left, this may be the last place they look. But I believe that if they look long enough they will find what they are searching for and they will also find they will be welcomed back. (And perhaps they will have something they can teach us.)
Someone I know has left the church.
What was it they left?
What should we do to help them back?
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Two Lists
Recently at church we were presented with two lists.
One list was love, charity, purity, honesty, humility, courage, and hope.
The other list was hate, rage, despair, jealousy, and pride.
Listening to some conversations at church reminds me of one of the lists.
The actions, attitudes, and rhetoric of state leaders we elected calls to mind one of the lists.
The voices that are popular in our culture find their energy from one of the lists.
The lesson taught that one of the lists will lead to misery, the other to goodness.
Who is leading us? Who are we following? The lists tell us.
One list was love, charity, purity, honesty, humility, courage, and hope.
The other list was hate, rage, despair, jealousy, and pride.
Listening to some conversations at church reminds me of one of the lists.
The actions, attitudes, and rhetoric of state leaders we elected calls to mind one of the lists.
The voices that are popular in our culture find their energy from one of the lists.
The lesson taught that one of the lists will lead to misery, the other to goodness.
Who is leading us? Who are we following? The lists tell us.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
We Believe All Things
It’s been an interesting week. I’ve been rummaging around through the same thoughts so its time to put them down.
In Utah Valley politicians do bad things and their popularity appears to go up. People around here listen to talk radio and watch cable TV shows where people lie, or at the very least they say a LOT of things that aren’t true. Some read books that are not the best books. People don’t want to spend a dime on education and are afraid that a classroom with a union joining teacher is the same thing as a gulag (not that they know what a gulag is). And people consistently invest money with crooks. Everyone knows someone who has been scammed and they’ve crossed paths with someone who has done some scamming.
Is this what the thirteenth article of faith refers to when we say “we believe all things“? Are we agreeing to be dupes?
What must outsiders think? What do we think of ourselves? What does the Lord think?
If we lack common sense in our politics and we lack integrity in our infotainment. If we distrust education and we don’t know enough to resist mortgaging our homes and handing our savings over to every slick pitchman that wears a white shirt and shows up at church from time to time, then why would we imagine that anyone could take us seriously when we talk about religion?
Maybe these are things God doesn't really care about.
In Utah Valley politicians do bad things and their popularity appears to go up. People around here listen to talk radio and watch cable TV shows where people lie, or at the very least they say a LOT of things that aren’t true. Some read books that are not the best books. People don’t want to spend a dime on education and are afraid that a classroom with a union joining teacher is the same thing as a gulag (not that they know what a gulag is). And people consistently invest money with crooks. Everyone knows someone who has been scammed and they’ve crossed paths with someone who has done some scamming.
Is this what the thirteenth article of faith refers to when we say “we believe all things“? Are we agreeing to be dupes?
What must outsiders think? What do we think of ourselves? What does the Lord think?
If we lack common sense in our politics and we lack integrity in our infotainment. If we distrust education and we don’t know enough to resist mortgaging our homes and handing our savings over to every slick pitchman that wears a white shirt and shows up at church from time to time, then why would we imagine that anyone could take us seriously when we talk about religion?
Maybe these are things God doesn't really care about.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Democracy and the Gospel--Can I Believe in Both?
I heard today that one of our candidates for office wants to dismantle the national parks. That isn’t as bad as another political meeting I attended where an office holder and a member of the audience got into a love fest over the possibility of eliminating not only national parks but public roads and public schools.
Really. Really? Do these people understand what they are proposing? The idea of a utopia free of strong government and public projects appeals to these people. A lot of people in this area must agree because they vote for the same party year after year. I suggest they use their free time to visit a country that is living the model of freedom they espouse. Why don’t they take a junket to Somalia to see how nice a land can be when the population is free of political structure and education.
The fact that in a county filled with people who profess to follow the Lord, people who should live lives filled with charity, people who should work together as the body of Christ, people continue to vote for leaders who represent platforms based on selfishness, hate and fear is troubling. If democracy means our leaders represent us, represent us in government but also represent our values, then I can’t accept that the gospel is working in my area.
When a local leader is questioned about apparent bribes and favors his poll number go up. That does not bode well for us. A generation ago the same party that is in power talked of family values. Then came the stalking, the prostitutes, the hot tub party with a minor, the fraud, the booze, this list goes on. Today we don’t hear about family values we hear about freedom and state’s rights. I believe the only right these people want is more power for themselves.
We are bombarded with messages of hate and fear that are not spread by people who care about the truth. There is such a fear of anything short of complete individual freedom (read leave my money alone) that I expect to hear the scriptures paraphrased to “whenever two are gathered in my name…it’s socialism!”
Across the nation the same party these people are associated with has issues with racism, perverse e-mails, homophobia, and a curious embracing of ignorance as a value. Is that representative of us? (Odd how no one mentions the perception that the majority of the party doesn't value our religion much.) Of course simply voting for the other party won’t change things in the long term. The people who love power and their own wisdom may simply shift their allegiance and we won’t bother to learn about them.
We appear to be an intellectually lazy people. It does not appear that we are lead by leaders with vision and integrity. In a few days the majority of people in this area will go to church where they should learn about Christ. A few days later they will go to the polls where many will vote based on fear, hate and petty greed.
Will we choose the right? Only politically I suspect.
On second thought, Jesus lived in a land with no national parks, no large public school systems or fire stations. He didn’t have hospitals and highways. There were no big public water and sewer systems. He didn’t benefit from educated people finding cures for leprosy and smallpox. If that life was good enough for him I suppose I can’t complain about where our leaders want to take us.
Really. Really? Do these people understand what they are proposing? The idea of a utopia free of strong government and public projects appeals to these people. A lot of people in this area must agree because they vote for the same party year after year. I suggest they use their free time to visit a country that is living the model of freedom they espouse. Why don’t they take a junket to Somalia to see how nice a land can be when the population is free of political structure and education.
The fact that in a county filled with people who profess to follow the Lord, people who should live lives filled with charity, people who should work together as the body of Christ, people continue to vote for leaders who represent platforms based on selfishness, hate and fear is troubling. If democracy means our leaders represent us, represent us in government but also represent our values, then I can’t accept that the gospel is working in my area.
When a local leader is questioned about apparent bribes and favors his poll number go up. That does not bode well for us. A generation ago the same party that is in power talked of family values. Then came the stalking, the prostitutes, the hot tub party with a minor, the fraud, the booze, this list goes on. Today we don’t hear about family values we hear about freedom and state’s rights. I believe the only right these people want is more power for themselves.
We are bombarded with messages of hate and fear that are not spread by people who care about the truth. There is such a fear of anything short of complete individual freedom (read leave my money alone) that I expect to hear the scriptures paraphrased to “whenever two are gathered in my name…it’s socialism!”
Across the nation the same party these people are associated with has issues with racism, perverse e-mails, homophobia, and a curious embracing of ignorance as a value. Is that representative of us? (Odd how no one mentions the perception that the majority of the party doesn't value our religion much.) Of course simply voting for the other party won’t change things in the long term. The people who love power and their own wisdom may simply shift their allegiance and we won’t bother to learn about them.
We appear to be an intellectually lazy people. It does not appear that we are lead by leaders with vision and integrity. In a few days the majority of people in this area will go to church where they should learn about Christ. A few days later they will go to the polls where many will vote based on fear, hate and petty greed.
Will we choose the right? Only politically I suspect.
On second thought, Jesus lived in a land with no national parks, no large public school systems or fire stations. He didn’t have hospitals and highways. There were no big public water and sewer systems. He didn’t benefit from educated people finding cures for leprosy and smallpox. If that life was good enough for him I suppose I can’t complain about where our leaders want to take us.
Friday, October 8, 2010
We Can Change the Church.
Why do so many people quietly dislike the culture of the church? Why do we wish it would change, that someone would step up and, from our perspective, put things right?
Well, we are that person. We need to think long and hard about what is the gospel and what is the baggage left behind by generations of well meaning but less than inspired church members or new ideas dragged into the church by people with self serving political or economic agendas.
We can start with simple things. If we are comfortable that the Lord won’t mind if we wear flip flops to church then we should wear flip flops. If we think that white shirts are fine for missionaries but are an affectation of mid twentieth century fashion for the rest of the population then we can wear blue shirts or stripped shirts. (Can we move beyond the pantyhose generation? Are they for wearing to church or for dressing like a skank?) The list goes on.
Do we desperately want a tattoo or a piercing? It may be a fading fashion but we can get a Madison, a nipple piercing, or a Hello Kitty inked on our bums and no one ever needs to know about it. At least until we are old and our grandchildren laugh as they change our diapers and give us sponge baths.
Are your ward's hymns sung too slow? Let’s ask our choristers why we can’t sing with joy and energy? If that doesn’t work then we can bake cookies for our organists and suggest they just play faster. They probably want to and our encouragement maybe all they need to step things up.
Do our leaders take the boys hiking and waterskiing while the girls stay home? Let’s organize other parents into adventure groups to show our girls we know they can do anything they want to do. We can take the lead and the organization can catch up later. Do our leaders talk down to girls? Well, let’s take them aside and explain that we recognize the gender issues of our culture and that regardless of that burden, we have high expectations for them in this world and we know they can learn the skills to solve the tough challenges they will face just like men do.
I have a friend who is so disappointed that good people are not speaking up in response to the closed minded loudmouths who are leading our popular culture. He has inspired me to make some changes in the way I approach our church culture. I don’t think conflict and contention will help us, but I think it is time for some small steps in leading by example.
Think of the issues that are troubling for our community. Immigration, race, gender issues, greed, substance use, chastity (and of course flip flops and white shirts). Are we dealing with these issues with charity in our hearts or are they an excuse to mock individuals or hate entire groups?
If we want to change how our culture deals with these issues we can start by dropping our concern with appearances.
I know we should avoid the appearance of evil, but concentrating on the appearance of good isn’t much better. Remember, we should be doing unto others as we would have done unto us. No one said we should appear unto other as we would like them to appear unto us. I take that back, business leaders, media personalities and politicians may embrace that idea. But I do not endorse it.
Let’s stop listening to the petty anger in the world, stop worrying about small differences in fashion, stop spending energy on actions that don't build others, and start looking for the good in others. That is how we can change the church. And if not the church, then ourselves.
Thank you friend for speaking up.
Well, we are that person. We need to think long and hard about what is the gospel and what is the baggage left behind by generations of well meaning but less than inspired church members or new ideas dragged into the church by people with self serving political or economic agendas.
We can start with simple things. If we are comfortable that the Lord won’t mind if we wear flip flops to church then we should wear flip flops. If we think that white shirts are fine for missionaries but are an affectation of mid twentieth century fashion for the rest of the population then we can wear blue shirts or stripped shirts. (Can we move beyond the pantyhose generation? Are they for wearing to church or for dressing like a skank?) The list goes on.
Do we desperately want a tattoo or a piercing? It may be a fading fashion but we can get a Madison, a nipple piercing, or a Hello Kitty inked on our bums and no one ever needs to know about it. At least until we are old and our grandchildren laugh as they change our diapers and give us sponge baths.
Are your ward's hymns sung too slow? Let’s ask our choristers why we can’t sing with joy and energy? If that doesn’t work then we can bake cookies for our organists and suggest they just play faster. They probably want to and our encouragement maybe all they need to step things up.
Do our leaders take the boys hiking and waterskiing while the girls stay home? Let’s organize other parents into adventure groups to show our girls we know they can do anything they want to do. We can take the lead and the organization can catch up later. Do our leaders talk down to girls? Well, let’s take them aside and explain that we recognize the gender issues of our culture and that regardless of that burden, we have high expectations for them in this world and we know they can learn the skills to solve the tough challenges they will face just like men do.
I have a friend who is so disappointed that good people are not speaking up in response to the closed minded loudmouths who are leading our popular culture. He has inspired me to make some changes in the way I approach our church culture. I don’t think conflict and contention will help us, but I think it is time for some small steps in leading by example.
Think of the issues that are troubling for our community. Immigration, race, gender issues, greed, substance use, chastity (and of course flip flops and white shirts). Are we dealing with these issues with charity in our hearts or are they an excuse to mock individuals or hate entire groups?
If we want to change how our culture deals with these issues we can start by dropping our concern with appearances.
I know we should avoid the appearance of evil, but concentrating on the appearance of good isn’t much better. Remember, we should be doing unto others as we would have done unto us. No one said we should appear unto other as we would like them to appear unto us. I take that back, business leaders, media personalities and politicians may embrace that idea. But I do not endorse it.
Let’s stop listening to the petty anger in the world, stop worrying about small differences in fashion, stop spending energy on actions that don't build others, and start looking for the good in others. That is how we can change the church. And if not the church, then ourselves.
Thank you friend for speaking up.
Friday, September 24, 2010
White Shirts with Dirty Collars: Utah Valley Mormons and the Environment
Winter is coming and with it the dirty air. Each winter we drive our cars, heat our homes, build our fires and all of that adds to the dirt in the air. I remember one winter when I had a small child that some people didn’t take their babies to church to be blessed because the air pollution was so bad it was not safe. What was our community’s reaction to the problem? Nothing. We acted as though our own actions were an unsolvable problem created by nature. And I suppose that is true, though it was not a problem brought by mother nature, it was the result of our human nature.
I debated writing about our need to find a way to improve our lives. I wanted to write about how we could work together and develop a new way of live that would allow us to enjoy so many modern conveniences without polluting our environment to the point of danger. A sustainable way of life that we could share with our children. But then I stepped back and realized that we are not prepared to move forward. We have not put in the effort to understand our world and the tools available to us so that we can take on new challenges. I realized that even if we did pause for a moment to look at our future we would only attempt half hearted and poorly thought out solutions. And that in the end those programs done on the cheap for political show might be worse than doing nothing at all.
I began to think about my grandmother who used to worry about preparing for lessons on the cultures of other people. She did not grow up traveling but there was something in her life that made her and my grandfather want to know more about the world. Ultimately thy did travel and they encouraged their family to learn and to travel. Today it seems that our culture has lost that energy along with the desire for improvement and is turning its back on building for the greater good.
When I look at our leaders I don’t see a team with the education, understanding and determination to solve our difficult problems. Sure, they can build roads, and I enjoy good roads, but they don’t appear to even notice that our air is bad and our limited water is used to keep silly lawns green in the desert.
This week I read how the Chinese are worried about their pollution and they are working hard to find solutions. Why are the supposedly godless communists able to see through the smog while those of us who think ourselves as chosen are more concerned about trivial political sound bites. The author of the article suggested that educated communists understood that sick people were bad for business. That concept appears too complex for our community despite their love of freedom (which I’ve come to understand means a love of money).
How can a people with an eternal perspective be so short sighted?
I suggest we go back to some of the values my grandparents held, that reading good books and learning skills is important. That learning about other lands and respecting the good they have is of value. I suggest we worry less about pop culture notions regarding our founding fathers and spend less time listening to blow hard commentators and the radio and TV. We might spend that time researching real solutions to local problems. Better yet, we might insist that our children learn about science, research and critical thinking since they will be the ones who have to clean up the mess we are making.
One final note on Latter-day Saint thought: If we believe that the Earth will become a paradise, just who do we think will clean it up?
I debated writing about our need to find a way to improve our lives. I wanted to write about how we could work together and develop a new way of live that would allow us to enjoy so many modern conveniences without polluting our environment to the point of danger. A sustainable way of life that we could share with our children. But then I stepped back and realized that we are not prepared to move forward. We have not put in the effort to understand our world and the tools available to us so that we can take on new challenges. I realized that even if we did pause for a moment to look at our future we would only attempt half hearted and poorly thought out solutions. And that in the end those programs done on the cheap for political show might be worse than doing nothing at all.
I began to think about my grandmother who used to worry about preparing for lessons on the cultures of other people. She did not grow up traveling but there was something in her life that made her and my grandfather want to know more about the world. Ultimately thy did travel and they encouraged their family to learn and to travel. Today it seems that our culture has lost that energy along with the desire for improvement and is turning its back on building for the greater good.
When I look at our leaders I don’t see a team with the education, understanding and determination to solve our difficult problems. Sure, they can build roads, and I enjoy good roads, but they don’t appear to even notice that our air is bad and our limited water is used to keep silly lawns green in the desert.
This week I read how the Chinese are worried about their pollution and they are working hard to find solutions. Why are the supposedly godless communists able to see through the smog while those of us who think ourselves as chosen are more concerned about trivial political sound bites. The author of the article suggested that educated communists understood that sick people were bad for business. That concept appears too complex for our community despite their love of freedom (which I’ve come to understand means a love of money).
How can a people with an eternal perspective be so short sighted?
I suggest we go back to some of the values my grandparents held, that reading good books and learning skills is important. That learning about other lands and respecting the good they have is of value. I suggest we worry less about pop culture notions regarding our founding fathers and spend less time listening to blow hard commentators and the radio and TV. We might spend that time researching real solutions to local problems. Better yet, we might insist that our children learn about science, research and critical thinking since they will be the ones who have to clean up the mess we are making.
One final note on Latter-day Saint thought: If we believe that the Earth will become a paradise, just who do we think will clean it up?
Thursday, September 9, 2010
We Don't Want You
This week I saw a video trailer for a painting by an artist whose work I find offensive. He falls into the group of cultural leaders whose views, words, and actions I am unable to reconcile with charity. It is constantly puzzling to me how people can profess to follow the lord and at the same time embrace the values of these leaders. My desire was to write a post asking these people to go away and let the church grow without the burden of their ignorance, hate, fear, and greed.
As I gathered my thoughts I kept returning to a story I heard in conference years ago. It was the story of a boy who in his desire to be popular chased away another boy who was in need of friends. With a little searching I found that story. It is The martyrdom of Andy, by Ben Burton (Look for Powerful Stories from the lives of Latter-day Saint Men, Leon Hartshorn, comp.)
Clearly I have no right to ask people who are doing bad things to leave the church. It would be the wrong thing to do. I understand that their hate had called up my hate like one rotten banana left in a basket will ripen a bunch of green bananas overnight.
Still, it makes me sad that children will see the followers of these people and think that they represent the gospel. They will grow up thinking that pictures born of hate and fear are symbols of the right and the books based and published through ignorance and fear teach the truth. They do not. It makes me tired and embarrassed to think I will not only have to explain to people why the church I belong to is different, but why it tolerates stupid, greedy, and deceitful people. When I think of Lehi’s dream I think these are the people who make the fog we must wander though. (And, to be fair, I wonder how much I’ve contributed.)
I have no right to ask these people to leave, it is the Lord‘s church and he will do as he sees fit, but I will have to work long and hard to understand why I should stay with them.
As I gathered my thoughts I kept returning to a story I heard in conference years ago. It was the story of a boy who in his desire to be popular chased away another boy who was in need of friends. With a little searching I found that story. It is The martyrdom of Andy, by Ben Burton (Look for Powerful Stories from the lives of Latter-day Saint Men, Leon Hartshorn, comp.)
Clearly I have no right to ask people who are doing bad things to leave the church. It would be the wrong thing to do. I understand that their hate had called up my hate like one rotten banana left in a basket will ripen a bunch of green bananas overnight.
Still, it makes me sad that children will see the followers of these people and think that they represent the gospel. They will grow up thinking that pictures born of hate and fear are symbols of the right and the books based and published through ignorance and fear teach the truth. They do not. It makes me tired and embarrassed to think I will not only have to explain to people why the church I belong to is different, but why it tolerates stupid, greedy, and deceitful people. When I think of Lehi’s dream I think these are the people who make the fog we must wander though. (And, to be fair, I wonder how much I’ve contributed.)
I have no right to ask these people to leave, it is the Lord‘s church and he will do as he sees fit, but I will have to work long and hard to understand why I should stay with them.
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