Not only do believers have to sort out the contradictions (apparent or real) within scripture, but they have to choose which scriptural passages to follow. No one lives all of the Bible’s commands...Modern Mormons, like other Christians, believe the Bible to be the word of God—well, except for that stuff about women not speaking in churches, or slavery being okay, or menstruating women being secluded every month, or…you get the picture. Every believer will tell you that they don’t live up to everything that their religion tells them they should, but if we’re being honest we must admit that we also think there are a lot of parts that simply aren’t worth living up to. So we just kind of forget about them, or skip over those verses, or don’t cover them in officially approved Sunday School and seminary curriculums. ...People may not even realize they are choosing from a smorgasbord of possible options when it looks like everyone else is putting the same stuff on their plate. In the end, it’s not so much that cafeteria Mormonism (and Catholicism, and Islam) is good or bad. It’s simply all we have. ...Though selectivity can indeed lead to relativism and the tyranny of individual choice divorced from any sense of community obligation or responsibility, when exercised in good faith and in the context of community it becomes a gift. ...The purpose of this diversity within the body of Christ is not to create division, but paradoxically to create harmony and complementarity. In Christ’s cafeteria, your plate might look a little different than mine. But so long as we pay the price of admission and partake from the same buffet, there’s no reason we can’t all sit down and enjoy the feast together.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:50:30 +0000
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