These people described as “doubters” seem to want remake the Mormon church from a hard-Right political institution into a hard-Left political institution. And when they post their remarks on blogs and Facebook, they get both agreement from the other so-called “apostates” and demonization from the so-called TBM’s (true blue Mormons). These are your typical, expected, knee jerk Facebook responses. This is really nothing new.
What I have to offer, and it seems refreshingly new to me, is that nobody besides me is pointing out:
(1) Nobody in all of history ever reformed a church or religion, including Christ. Christians were driven out of the synagogues and formed their own congregations.
(2) Obsessive love or hatred for the Church is two sides of the same coin and indicate an attachment to the Church. It’s the Tar Baby from Uncle Remus. Once you get stuck, love it or hate it, you can never break lose. (Unless, of course, you find something more appealing to take your attention off the church and what you love or hate about it.)
(3) Joseph Smith was both a genius and a charlatan. Like all of us, he was a complex mix of both good and evil. This was prophesied by Moroni who said his name would be known for good and evil. Moroni never said that either reputation was undeserved.
We need to discern the true principles that Joseph Smith taught and find ways to apply them to today’s world, not the nineteenth century world. We need, also, to clearly identify his ruses and his mistakes, and take care to not repeat them and call out others who do.
Joseph Smith taught some principles that will empower us as individuals, as families (both traditional and non-traditional), and remake society and the whole world. But, this cannot be accomplished using the failed model of the traditional church or organized religion. We must find something better.
But, the haters don’t want to see this. They are too busy fighting brush fires and kicking against the pricks to see the larger picture.
And, why is nobody else pointing out these simple facts? Because nobody wants facts. Facts end the argument and stop the discussion. Bullshit keeps the argument, the discussion, and hence the game going.
I’m sorry to step in and spoil your game, but as I said above, the only way to get people to pry loose from the Tar Baby is so offer something better. A bigger game. A more important game. That’s what this blog is all about.
John144 