I have had multiple conversations over the churchs recent article Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo. Many of the people I have talked to are shocked, some are confused, and a few are rightfully angry. I say rightfully, because many people are just reading or hearing some of these things for the first time, and these are church members that have been around our culture for years, sometimes generations. I applaud and am happy that lds.org is creating essays of this nature, difficult essays, even if I think they are a little late. Whats funny is that after trying to figure some of these things out, I have come to the same conclusions Bushman, and even the writers of this article came to, that we just dont know. I observed that that I came to an intellectual and spiritual crossroads the deeper I dug, this would either ruin me or enlarge my understanding. I hope it was the latter. There was also a side effect to my soul searching that I gained a much greater appreciation for those, of all faiths, who doubt. I have more respect for that person who has dived deeply, doubted, and come back stronger than the zealot who refuses to allow his paradigm be shifted out of fear. In this, there have been a few wool fleeces in my life, one is a good friend who had a similar crisis of faith before me and helped guide me through the rocky ridges with more than a Go home and pray about it, and the second has been the writings of Terryl Givens. I want to share two quotes from Givens Letter To A Doubter, that have guided me through my soul searching in hopes that maybe theyll help someone out there. Abraham lied about Sariah being his sister. Isaac deceives Esau and steals both his birthright and his blessing (but maybe that’s ok because he is a patriarch, not a prophet strictly speaking). Moses took glory unto himself at the waters of Meribah, and was punished severely as a consequence. He was also guilty of manslaughter and covered up his crime. Jonah ignored the Lord’s call, then later whined and complained because God didn’t burn Ninevah to the ground as he had threatened. It doesn’t get a lot better in the New Testament. Paul rebuked Peter sharply for what he called cowardice and hypocrisy in his refusal to embrace the gentiles as equals. Then Paul got into a sharp argument with fellow apostle Barnabas and they parted company. So where on earth do we get the notion that modern day prophets are infallible specimens of virtue and perfection? Joseph said emphatically, “I don’t want you to think I am very righteous, for I am not very righteous.” To remove any possibility of doubts, he canonized those scriptures in which he is rebuked for his inconstancy and weakness. Most telling of all, is section 124:1, in which this pervasive pattern is acknowledged and explained: “for unto this end have I raised you up, that I might show forth my wisdom through the weak things of the earth” (D&C 124:1). Air brushing our prophets, past or present, is a wrenching of the scriptural record and a form of idolatry. God specifically said he called weak vessels, so we wouldn’t place our faith in their strength or power, but in God’s. It is us, clearly, who paint our prophets perfect when the historical and scriptural record has done everything to tell us differently. Second, it is okay, and even beautiful, to dig deeply and to wrestle with doubts. In fact, I think it is the better way. I am grateful for a propensity to doubt, because it gives me the capacity to freely believe. I hope you can find your way to feel the same. The call to faith is a summons to engage the heart, to attune it to resonate in sympathy with principles and values and ideals that we devoutly hope are true and which we have reasonable but not certain grounds for believing to be true. There must be grounds for doubt as well as belief, in order to render the choice more truly a choice, and therefore the more deliberate, and laden with personal vulnerability and investment. An overwhelming preponderance of evidence on either side would make our choice as meaningless as would a loaded gun pointed at our heads. The option to believe must appear on one’s personal horizon like the fruit of paradise, perched precariously between sets of demands held in dynamic tension. Fortunately, in this world, one is always provided with sufficient materials out of which to fashion a life of credible conviction or dismissive denial. We are acted upon, in other words, by appeals to our personal values, our yearnings, our fears, our appetites, and our egos. What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is, in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance. Love, JVB
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 19:41:45 +0000
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