It is time for a new Mormon acronym. Let's go with BCM for "Business Card Mormon." A BCM is the type of person who will not acknowledge any scripture outside the one verse that suits their immediate need. The one verse that possibly supports some passionately held typically worldly view. Hence, they can carry their scripture(s) to church on a business card. They don't need all those other verses, chapters, books, etc.
There are a great number of BCMs in the blogosphere at this time. Sometimes you can even meet them in person if you pay attention at church.
Try this, enter a blog discussion that is looking at immigration in the United States. If you try and say anything about charity, kindness, families, or common everyday respect for other humans--BAM! Someone drops the 12th Article of Faith and there can be no further discussion. The 12th Article of Faith is all that matters. If you mention anything else the BCM will imply that you are something of an apostate, unpatriotic, and lacking in any understanding of the gospel. The "gospel" of course being that one verse the BCM likes. Now, some people might read, oh, say the 13th article of faith, with its mention of being benevolent or doing good to all men. Some people might even read the Book of Mormon and learn from the stories of pride, humility, charity and migration. In fact there is nothing stopping us from using all the scriptures from Genesis to the proclamation on the family. But the BCMs appear to know better.
I suspect that BCMs do not read the scriptures much, or at least they don't do so with charity in their hearts. In fact, I suspect that the current crop of BCMs are influenced more by the still small voice of cable "news" and talk radio than a more spiritual guide. But that is just my assumption. I don't have a favorite scripture to back it up.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Vote, vote while you can
In Utah there is a law requiring you to present I.D., like a drivers license or a concealed weapon permit, before you can vote. Identification costs money. Identification requires you to have transportation to the government offices that can issue your identification. In the past, two hundred years ago, only property owners could vote. In the near future it looks as though in Utah only owners of automobiles will have the vote.
In Utah I’ve heard that there is a new law allowing towns to cancel elections if there are no opposing candidates on the ballot. This sounds good. It saves money. But what happens when one person, and only one person decides to run against an opponent? Now they have to justify the cost of the entire election simply because they wanted to live within their rights. It sounds like euthanasia for democracy. If your election is weak is it really best to just let it die?
When you add those laws to the recent secret meetings on redistricting Utah (our right wing leaders insist that they aren’t secret meetings, its just that they are the only people who can attend), their attempts to block access to communication by office holders, and some people’s concerns that democracy is equal to socialism, it appears we are well down the road to losing our voice.
If we don’t vote out the far right soon we may find that it is no longer an option for us.
In Utah I’ve heard that there is a new law allowing towns to cancel elections if there are no opposing candidates on the ballot. This sounds good. It saves money. But what happens when one person, and only one person decides to run against an opponent? Now they have to justify the cost of the entire election simply because they wanted to live within their rights. It sounds like euthanasia for democracy. If your election is weak is it really best to just let it die?
When you add those laws to the recent secret meetings on redistricting Utah (our right wing leaders insist that they aren’t secret meetings, its just that they are the only people who can attend), their attempts to block access to communication by office holders, and some people’s concerns that democracy is equal to socialism, it appears we are well down the road to losing our voice.
If we don’t vote out the far right soon we may find that it is no longer an option for us.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Purse & Script
Recently a number of blogs (here and here) have looked at the ideal of perfection and the trouble it causes. Those blogs made me ask myself where do we get our ideas of what perfection is?
Consider the scripture Matthew 5:48 which tells us to be perfect. What is perfect? Whose idea of perfect should we follow? I submit that we can look at the ten commandments, the simple straight forward commandments, to get a good idea of what perfect is in God‘s eyes.
Are you killing people? Are you messing with your neighbor’s spouse? Do you steal or lie? Do you respect you parents? Do you put God first?
There is nothing in the scriptures that tell you to have a clean kitchen, to bake you own wheat bread, to make center pieces for church lessons, or to wear a white shirt. I think our ideas about perfection come from two sources: The consumer driven world we live in. The world of TV shows and intense consumer marketing. And a church that once, a century ago, that was near financial bankruptcy but now has all the money it needs. That money pays for buildings, books, manuals and travel. That purse and the scrips it pays for create a environment where more and more content heads our way to show members just how perfect they should be. But that content may not be helpful. In fact, it may be a distraction.
Pause for a moment an ask yourself, “Do I need all the material items of my culture to be perfect?” Things like granite counter tops, smart phones, another pair of new shoes, and four wheelers. The answer is no. Now, ask yourself, Do I need a church building and manuals to be perfect according to the scriptures?” Once again the answer is no. Jesus didn’t hand a manual to the woman by the well. He didn’t gather the twelve to a last supper in the cultural hall. He let the world take care of the world and he lead by the spirit.
We are a people who are blessed with abundance. An abundance of goods and an abundance of expectations and rules. I admit I enjoy the abundance of goods and I chafe are the abundance of rules. But, like a child who has been given so may birthday gifts, we try to carry them all around with us. We carry the social expectations of for both materials goods, behavior appropriate to our status, and a tightening number of pseudo-religious rules on dress, conduct, and lets face it, politics.
I suspect that bit by bit we have burdened ourselves with so many cultural ideals (scripts) of perfection that we can do nothing but fail. Sadly, I don’t think God really cares about most of the things we worry about. May I suggest we take a look at the many things we have been told to worry about beyond the commandments and that we evaluate each of them. Is this something God really cares about? (Does God worry if I wear flip flops, does he want me to conform to Republican politics, should I clean my bathroom more than once a week) Think about it. Pray about it. Is it something that effects my purse or my soul? Is it something God asked me to do or am I following the script some person wrote to fill their own need? When we've looked at the things we worry about, we can take the things we don’t need and throw them out. Each person will find a different list that fits their life. Each person will add more or discard other items as they progress (for all I know you can't enjoy church if your bathroom isn't clean, so you keep that on your list if you need it).
In the end I think we will find that the only way to hold to the iron rod is if we unload our burdens so we can keep one had free to hang on. And the only way we will be able to walk through the straight and narrow gate is if we unload the extra burdens that block our ability to more forward. In fact, if we unload enough of our own self-imposed burdens we might find we have a hand free to help someone else.
Consider the scripture Matthew 5:48 which tells us to be perfect. What is perfect? Whose idea of perfect should we follow? I submit that we can look at the ten commandments, the simple straight forward commandments, to get a good idea of what perfect is in God‘s eyes.
Are you killing people? Are you messing with your neighbor’s spouse? Do you steal or lie? Do you respect you parents? Do you put God first?
There is nothing in the scriptures that tell you to have a clean kitchen, to bake you own wheat bread, to make center pieces for church lessons, or to wear a white shirt. I think our ideas about perfection come from two sources: The consumer driven world we live in. The world of TV shows and intense consumer marketing. And a church that once, a century ago, that was near financial bankruptcy but now has all the money it needs. That money pays for buildings, books, manuals and travel. That purse and the scrips it pays for create a environment where more and more content heads our way to show members just how perfect they should be. But that content may not be helpful. In fact, it may be a distraction.
Pause for a moment an ask yourself, “Do I need all the material items of my culture to be perfect?” Things like granite counter tops, smart phones, another pair of new shoes, and four wheelers. The answer is no. Now, ask yourself, Do I need a church building and manuals to be perfect according to the scriptures?” Once again the answer is no. Jesus didn’t hand a manual to the woman by the well. He didn’t gather the twelve to a last supper in the cultural hall. He let the world take care of the world and he lead by the spirit.
We are a people who are blessed with abundance. An abundance of goods and an abundance of expectations and rules. I admit I enjoy the abundance of goods and I chafe are the abundance of rules. But, like a child who has been given so may birthday gifts, we try to carry them all around with us. We carry the social expectations of for both materials goods, behavior appropriate to our status, and a tightening number of pseudo-religious rules on dress, conduct, and lets face it, politics.
I suspect that bit by bit we have burdened ourselves with so many cultural ideals (scripts) of perfection that we can do nothing but fail. Sadly, I don’t think God really cares about most of the things we worry about. May I suggest we take a look at the many things we have been told to worry about beyond the commandments and that we evaluate each of them. Is this something God really cares about? (Does God worry if I wear flip flops, does he want me to conform to Republican politics, should I clean my bathroom more than once a week) Think about it. Pray about it. Is it something that effects my purse or my soul? Is it something God asked me to do or am I following the script some person wrote to fill their own need? When we've looked at the things we worry about, we can take the things we don’t need and throw them out. Each person will find a different list that fits their life. Each person will add more or discard other items as they progress (for all I know you can't enjoy church if your bathroom isn't clean, so you keep that on your list if you need it).
In the end I think we will find that the only way to hold to the iron rod is if we unload our burdens so we can keep one had free to hang on. And the only way we will be able to walk through the straight and narrow gate is if we unload the extra burdens that block our ability to more forward. In fact, if we unload enough of our own self-imposed burdens we might find we have a hand free to help someone else.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Good Fences
When I hear people talk about building a big fence to keep people from the south from invading our state I sympathize with them. It looks like an easy answer to protect the good things in our culture. The problem is with the implementation. Most people I hear want to build a fence along the United States border with Mexico. I, on the other hand, don’t have a problem with Latinos, But, I can see the value of a fence along the Utah boarder to keep the republicans out.
The Latino people I meet are polite, they value their families, and they don’t cause me any trouble. The republicans, on the other hand, disturb me. For example, the Mesa Mormons and the California Tea Partiers who fled what they see as the wickedness of their home states are trouble. They act as though they have come to Utah to teach us “Utah values.” Well, they don’t have good values for Utah. Their hate, their fear, their racism, and the petty greed they promote does not make Utah a better place to live.
So, if they really want to build a fence I guess we should let them try. I just ask that they stay on the southern side of it.
The Latino people I meet are polite, they value their families, and they don’t cause me any trouble. The republicans, on the other hand, disturb me. For example, the Mesa Mormons and the California Tea Partiers who fled what they see as the wickedness of their home states are trouble. They act as though they have come to Utah to teach us “Utah values.” Well, they don’t have good values for Utah. Their hate, their fear, their racism, and the petty greed they promote does not make Utah a better place to live.
So, if they really want to build a fence I guess we should let them try. I just ask that they stay on the southern side of it.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Life's a Beach
A few weeks ago in Primary I thought about the song where the wise man builds his house upon a rock and I wondered, what is the rock? Of all the things in our culture that we attribute to the gospel, which things are the rock? Which things really matter and which things are we doing that are silly human inventions that waste our time, or worse, damage people's souls?
I wondered about the rock again today. Today I read that one of our community leaders has been indicted on no less than a dozen felony charges. I won't list them all, but it appears this has been going on for some time and people have talked about it, but it took a long time for anyone in power to do anything about it. What many people didn't know, until the local paper printed it, was that this community leader was also a stake leader.
So, where is the rock? Where are our leaders taking us when they make girls feel dirty for having their ears pierced twice while their colleague is apparently stealing? Where is the rock when we are pressured to wear the right kind of shoes to church or the right color of shirt while our leaders tell lies and some people think that is just part of doing business? Is that the rock?
Over the last few months I've read about race and the priesthood and I can't find the rock that policy was based on. I can see the procedures that blocked the changes needed to do the right thing and reverse it. But, oddly, no one seems to know the procedures that lead to instituting that rule. Isn't a rock permanent? If the rock was there in the beginning shouldn't the rock be there now?
I've read about the book Mormon Doctrine and how leaders knew it was not correct, but for whatever reasons--personalities or church politics--they let it be accepted for generations. That looks like sand to me, not rock.
I've read about a leader at BYU who was less than honest and yet he stayed in office while vigorously enforcing the Honor Code. Where is the rock there? How much irrational guilt did that man generate for no good reason while it appears he did his best to hide his guilt from others?
Perhaps these things don't matter. Perhaps the local politicians and leaders are right and God is a hard line conservative so he doesn't care if people starve or suffer as long as we all dress the same and act like we are doing good deeds.
Perhaps all he cares about is conformity. Perhaps, just perhaps, if we all wear the right clothes and follow our leaders, no matter what they do or ask, then the stealing, and the hate, and the fear in our community won't matter because we will finally be in Zion.
A Zion with no flip flops.
A Zion of white shirts.
A Zion with complete freedom for business.
A Zion where the poor have the "opportunity to solve their own problems" instead of getting help.
A Zion where ears are pierced only once, if at all.
A Zion with committees and councils who can create an ever growing list of unwritten rules for us to worry about and enforce.
Perhaps that is all the rock is. I for one will be very disappointed if that is all God can offer. In fact, if that is all the rock is then, as they say, "life is a beach" because all I can see today is so much sand.
I wondered about the rock again today. Today I read that one of our community leaders has been indicted on no less than a dozen felony charges. I won't list them all, but it appears this has been going on for some time and people have talked about it, but it took a long time for anyone in power to do anything about it. What many people didn't know, until the local paper printed it, was that this community leader was also a stake leader.
So, where is the rock? Where are our leaders taking us when they make girls feel dirty for having their ears pierced twice while their colleague is apparently stealing? Where is the rock when we are pressured to wear the right kind of shoes to church or the right color of shirt while our leaders tell lies and some people think that is just part of doing business? Is that the rock?
Over the last few months I've read about race and the priesthood and I can't find the rock that policy was based on. I can see the procedures that blocked the changes needed to do the right thing and reverse it. But, oddly, no one seems to know the procedures that lead to instituting that rule. Isn't a rock permanent? If the rock was there in the beginning shouldn't the rock be there now?
I've read about the book Mormon Doctrine and how leaders knew it was not correct, but for whatever reasons--personalities or church politics--they let it be accepted for generations. That looks like sand to me, not rock.
I've read about a leader at BYU who was less than honest and yet he stayed in office while vigorously enforcing the Honor Code. Where is the rock there? How much irrational guilt did that man generate for no good reason while it appears he did his best to hide his guilt from others?
Perhaps these things don't matter. Perhaps the local politicians and leaders are right and God is a hard line conservative so he doesn't care if people starve or suffer as long as we all dress the same and act like we are doing good deeds.
Perhaps all he cares about is conformity. Perhaps, just perhaps, if we all wear the right clothes and follow our leaders, no matter what they do or ask, then the stealing, and the hate, and the fear in our community won't matter because we will finally be in Zion.
A Zion with no flip flops.
A Zion of white shirts.
A Zion with complete freedom for business.
A Zion where the poor have the "opportunity to solve their own problems" instead of getting help.
A Zion where ears are pierced only once, if at all.
A Zion with committees and councils who can create an ever growing list of unwritten rules for us to worry about and enforce.
Perhaps that is all the rock is. I for one will be very disappointed if that is all God can offer. In fact, if that is all the rock is then, as they say, "life is a beach" because all I can see today is so much sand.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Can You Leave A Church You Don’t Belong To?
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?
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, 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.
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