On Love

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Liz

Happy Valentine’s Day! My favorite thoughts on love are found both in the New Testament (1 Cor. 13) and The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Moroni 7). In particular, this statement has resonated with me many times:

…if ye have not charity, ye are nothing,
for charity never faileth….
But charity is the pure love of Christ,
and it endureth forever;
and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day,
it shall be well with him.

I have a wonderful colleague who has been one of my most faithful supporters over the years. We didn’t always see eye to eye, and sometimes I would find myself at odds with her, anywhere from frustrated to furious at what she was choosing to do. During those challenging moments, I would inevitably feel that what God wanted me to do was get over my pride or my anger or my stubbornness – and love her despite our differences.

It wasn’t always easy. It wasn’t usually even fun. But over time, I grew in my capacity, and I learned that I can love even when we don’t agree. I learned that I can love even when my friend’s choices hurt me or those I care for and work with. I even learned to love the parts of her that sometimes drove me crazy and the ones that made me roll my eyes. Sometimes I wondered why, but always the Spirit gently guided me back to the path of love.

This same colleague was recently laid to rest after a brief battle with an aggressive disease. Although I grieved, in my sorrow I more clearly understood the Lord’s hand in our relationship. All those times I had swallowed my pride and yielded to the Spirit’s gentle guidance had softened my heart and taught me to love her the way Jesus Christ loves her – as a daughter of God, a sister, a friend, a woman of infinite worth. It shed great light on the nature of our loving Father in Heaven, His Son Jesus Christ, and the infinite Atonement He wrought on our behalf. And it gave me greater hope in the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart,
that ye may be filled with this love,
which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;
that ye may become the sons of God;
that when he shall appear we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is;
that we may have this hope;
that we may be purified even as he is pure.

For me, Valentine’s Day is not just about candy, chocolates, diamonds, and love notes; it is about giving another the benefit of the doubt, of seeking his or her eternal growth and welfare, of true forgiveness. It is acknowledging that the power of the Atonement of Christ will change a heart, and thus make a new man or woman of the one who caused us pain or sorrow. It is about the pure love of Christ.

Posted in Jesus Christ, Religion, Why I Believe | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Naturalistic Fallacies

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Mostly A Martha

I was very disturbed by my reading for school this past week. I’m taking a class that looks at sexual coercion in primates and humans and we learned about sexual coercion theory. One aspect of the theory is that males are genetically programmed to coerce females to mate with them and females are genetically programmed to want to mate with the most coercive males. I was appalled to think of men justifying domestic violence or rape as something they are “naturally programmed to do” and thus morally okay.

Gombe Stream NP gegenseitiges LausenOnce I got to class, I was a bit relieved to find my teacher discussing the “naturalistic fallacy” that happens when we decide that just because behavior occurs in nature it is moral. We still have many other factors that allow us to change and/or choose how we will act upon our genetically and evolutionarily programmed urges.

At first the discussion reminded me of a scripture that is oft-quoted in Mormonism:

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

In class, this scripture kept coming to my mind since it seemed to support my professor’s argument that just because certain behavior occurs in nature doesn’t mean that’s the way things have to be. (Yes, I realize the scripture itself is a naturalistic fallacy because it ascribes negative moral judgment to natural behavior. However, the scripture also supports the proposition that we have agency to chose whether or not to engage those natural tendencies.).

This train of thought eventually became a “wake-up” call for me. I realized how often I make “natural” excuses in my own life. How often do I justify my laziness in self-improvement and my resistance to institutional or societal change by saying that “I’m just like that and I don’t need to change myself” or “that’s just the way things are so they should remain that way?” If I really believe that I, and others, have the ability to choose to overcome our natural tendencies, how can I be more pro-active in recognizing when I need to change and then actually changing?

Readers, how do you go about overcoming your “natural tendencies”?

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Media Attention Misses the Heart of Mormonism

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Abalyn

The plethora of articles I’ve been seeing on the web lately about Mormons are missing a very vital something.  They range from how Mormons try to keep the rules and stay cool, how we are leaving the church, our strangest beliefs, that Mormon doctrine is too complex for sound bites, or how the Book of Mormon is great Christian fan fiction.

These are all interesting ideas, but to me these articles are missing the essence of what makes being a Mormon so great. In an attempt to seem evenhanded, they never reach understanding. They never talk about what Mormonism means to the heart of the believer. They want to understand a religion from facts when religion exists in faith, feelings, and Spirit. It’s as much something you feel as something you think about.

Mormonism has changed and is changing my life. It brings me community, scripture, service, healing, and closeness to God.

I feel community in classes as in Sunday School last week when we talked about Nephi’s journey in the Book of Mormon, our own journeys in life, the hard things that can happen, the difficulty of knowing the way, and the different ways we can get inspiration from God. It seemed as if we all felt together a mutual understanding of and compassion for each other’s difficult paths.

The LDS Church also gives me scripture. Feeling some doubts about the Book of Mormon, I reread it last year. This year I am reading the Doctrine of Covenants (another book unique to Mormonism). I have come to feel a simple peace about these books no matter my questions. Spending time within their covers brings me to a place where I can work out my feelings with God.

One of the most important tenants of the Mormon faith is the worth of every soul. I grew up being taught the importance of people and watched my mother, particularly, in her ability to love and care about people no matter their social position or race. The LDS Church emphasizes the importance of caring for each other and offers countless opportunities to serve church members and the community. Caring about other people is at the heart of our faith.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also brings me healing because it is a church of Christ. The Atonement, Christ’s suffering for our mistakes and pains, is God’s greatest gift. His power allows change. I am in awe at the changes that I have seen within myself in the last five years as I have continually turned to God and my Savior for help. The Atonement makes up for my imperfections, the Church’s imperfections, and for the things in life that seem irreconcilable. No hurt is too great for the Savior to heal.

Then there is my relationship with God, my Heavenly Father, which is the greatest thing in my life. It came through this faith. I feel so often his compelling strength and love. I can talk to him about anything and know he will understand. He hears my frustrations, knows my faults, and still loves me. I feel his patient, comforting guidance towards the direction that will bring me the most growth.

You don’t have to agree with us about what we believe. You don’t have to think we are Christian. You can find our practices odd or strange or have issues about our history. Please, though, understand how precious the LDS Church is to the heart of a believer.

Posted in Jesus Christ, Mormonism 101, Why I Believe | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

White horses and other mysticism.

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jordan

This is not going to be a long post, I hope.  I am still recovering from the shock that Tim Tebow did not win his playoff game against the Patriots.  Bad things do happen to good people, even if the person in question is Tebow. Recently, I read an article on Mitt Romney at the online news and entertainment site Salon.com.  There articles are often very interesting and this one blew me away.  As Romney increasingly becomes the likely Republican candidate for a November showdown with incumbent Barack Obama, the LDS church and its Mormon followers will receive more and more attention.  This article addresses an obscure “Mormon” prophecy involving horses and church takeover of the US government at a time when the Constitution hangs by a thread (All I could hear when reading this was Carrie Fisher pleading with Romney that he was “our only hope”).  The article also describes how Mitt Romney has been groomed and destined to fulfill this prophecy ever since he was young.  The tone of the article was not necessarily inflammatory.  I got the sense that the author was trying to provide an interesting insight into how deeply religious Mormons think, act, or believe.

Personally though, my first thought after finishing this article was, “I have never ever heard about this prophecy.”  I was raised in a second generation Mormon household so maybe my roots just don’t go back quite deep enough, but I also lived in Provo, Utah while going to BYU for four years and still had never heard about this or this mysterious Cougar Club (note: All I could picture here was the Hellfire Club from Marvel comic fame, is Mitt Sebastian Shaw?).  To the best of my knowledge, the LDS church has no plans to forcefully take over the government of this or any country using some sort of religious Manchurian candidate.  I think Romney’s record as governor in Massachusetts has shown that he can support issues that are incongruent to the position of the majority of other Mormons.

When I’ve thought about and discussed my religion with others, I’ve often wondered where I would place it in the continuum of other faiths.  I usually end up thinking that it is a very practical and grounded religion.  I’d cite examples such as the welfare program, emergency preparedness and disaster response, and other such programs and beliefs.  It’s a fairly conservative religion, certainly not the most and certainly not the most lenient.  But almost in complete disagreement to those last two statements and especially from the perspective of many outsiders, it is a religion steeped in mysticism.  I often forget this in my day to day life until an article such as the one I just read hits the point jarringly home.  Most religions have a deeply mystic subculture about them and we as Mormons have ours as well.  This is the stuff that is not supported by official church dogma or canon.  This is the stuff that no leader ever really talks about.  But, this is the stuff that some people deeply believe.  This is the stuff that makes for very interesting reading (see: the DaVinci Code).

I think if Romney gets the Republican nomination these kind of stories will get more media attention.  It will be an issue that his opposition will bring up.  He might even address it at some point.  Though if he is Sebastian Shaw in disguise, hopefully Professor X is out there somewhere watching our backs.

Posted in News, Religion | 3 Comments

My Ten Percent

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Anie J. Haven

A principle of significant value to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the law of tithing. With the recent articles concerning the amount of money Mitt Romney has donated to the LDS church, I feel it important to share what we are taught concerning tithing.

An envelope with a tithing slip and money.

The law of tithing is that we give ten percent of our income to the “Lord through His Church.”  Tithing funds are used to support those in need, build and maintain temples and churches, aid in missionary work, aid in humanitarian efforts, and in other uses as inspired by the Lord. We are also encouraged to give a fast offering—fasting the first Sunday of the month and then donating the money we would have used on food.

A full tithe is required for worthiness, but we are of our own accountability. At the end of each year, I meet with my bishop for a tithing settlement. In this meeting, I am given a record of the amount of tithing I have paid and am asked if I have paid a full tithe. Since my bishop doesn’t have access to my personal income records, it is up to my conscience to answer truthfully. Yes, a full tithe is required to be worthy of a temple recommend, but not paying a full tithe does not mean you are no longer a member, just that you lose out on many blessings. Because I know the blessings—and their absence, because I have had years where I did not pay tithing—I do my best to pay my tithing and answer truthfully.

We are taught that by paying tithing we show faith, obedience, and gratitude. In a 2002 conference talk by Robert D. Hales, “Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings,” he states, ““It [tithing] is one of the basic ways we witness our faith in Him and our obedience to His laws and commandments. (…) Tithing develops and tests our faith. By sacrificing to the Lord what we may think we need or want for ourselves, we learn to rely on Him.” Relying on Him, for me, means to accept his blessings with gratitude.

Paying my tithing is not always an easy thing to do. I am a student and living off a very small income. It can be hard to hand over ten percent when I know that it will be a struggle to have enough money to cover rent, bills, and food. But I know that when I do pay my tithing, things will work out.

There are many inspiring stories about tithing and I encourage you to read them on mormon.org.

Posted in Religion | 2 Comments

Mormon Chic?

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Mostly A Martha

As the Mormon Moment continues, the articles I get sent seem, to me, more and more random (for lack of a better word). Until yesterday my favorite was an article in the NY Times about Mormon Hipsters that a friend sent because she very curious to know if I ever went to the kind of house parties the article describes where “the only vice on display was sugar, in the form of a large dessert spread” (I have been to a plethora of parties just like that and have also hosted more than a few).  However unimportant I may think the topic of Mormon Hipsters is, my new favorite random article just came out this past week. It’s a Slate.com article about Mormons and Geek Chic, that details Mormon contributions to Geek Culture (among them Napoleon Dynamite and Battlestar Gallactica).

I find these articles amusing and mostly harmless, however they do make me wonder. As Abalyn pointed out in her last post, many Americans view Mormons as very different from themselves. Do these types of articles help make us seem more like everybody else since they show how individual Mormons participate in many different areas of society? Or, conversely, do these articles make us seem more “other” since they make a big deal out of the fact that these people are Mormon,?  By pointing out the “Mormonness” of Orson Scott Card and Jared Hess, for example, are these articles claiming that Mormons are just like everybody else, or are they saying that we should recognize the distinct contributions of Mormons because they are so different from the rest of society? Thoughts?

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