MORMON SPEAKER TALKS ABOUT PROPOSITION 8 VIDEO
I thought the speaker was very brave for what he did, standing up in front of the entire congregation of fellow church members and authority figures to share his personal struggle with accepting the church's involvement in the issue. I thought it was interesting (though also very typical) how the bishop tried to shut him down, eventually turning off the microphone.
I know from personal experience how the church will shut out anything that might contradict or endanger its gospel. So many questions I had growing up were dismissed. I would even be told that I was not being faithful enough and that harboring these doubts was a terrible sin. The truth is, I was a wonderfully obedient child to both the church and my parents, never making any of those "train-wreck-transgressions" or looking to other "evil" sources of information (that is, anywhere else but the church itself).
It wasn't until BYU when a former member of the church cleverly
suggested that I read a book that I could buy straight from the LDS Bookstore entitled IN SACRED LONELINESS: THE PLURAL WIVES OF JOSEPH SMITH.
Many questions that I had about the church started with polygamy and issues that I simply felt uneasy about... but feelings were not enough to allow Satan power over my spirit by looking at dangerous outside material, yet it was my fearful feelings that kept me in!
It was when I began reading this book when I discovered the importance of logic and began searching desperately for something to reassure me that the church is true! But with every book I read and every new, unanswered question that arose, I began to disconnect.
There have been so many times where I have wished for the courage to do what that speaker did, to stand up in front of my family and friends so entrenched in the church and to tell them what I honestly believe about it. And I am familiar with the ways in which they will try to shut you down. Any times before when I have tried bringing questions or doubts to my family members (honestly, politely) I was met with a terribly defensive attitude and then shut down. No logic or reasoning. No open-mindedness or patience. Instead of a deep, mature conversation, I was cast off and condemned for my lack of faith. I was never looking for a fight. I was only looking for answers.
So I admire that speaker as a very brave member of the church. Did you notice the pat on the back from his Bishop? The look on the man's face who stood up to the microphone afterwards? Part of me hopes that he will not be excommunicated for this (though he will likely be dis-fellowshipped), but another part of me hopes for something better for him than this terrible cult.
Kit Curious
I know from personal experience how the church will shut out anything that might contradict or endanger its gospel. So many questions I had growing up were dismissed. I would even be told that I was not being faithful enough and that harboring these doubts was a terrible sin. The truth is, I was a wonderfully obedient child to both the church and my parents, never making any of those "train-wreck-transgressions" or looking to other "evil" sources of information (that is, anywhere else but the church itself).
It wasn't until BYU when a former member of the church cleverlysuggested that I read a book that I could buy straight from the LDS Bookstore entitled IN SACRED LONELINESS: THE PLURAL WIVES OF JOSEPH SMITH.
Many questions that I had about the church started with polygamy and issues that I simply felt uneasy about... but feelings were not enough to allow Satan power over my spirit by looking at dangerous outside material, yet it was my fearful feelings that kept me in!
It was when I began reading this book when I discovered the importance of logic and began searching desperately for something to reassure me that the church is true! But with every book I read and every new, unanswered question that arose, I began to disconnect.
There have been so many times where I have wished for the courage to do what that speaker did, to stand up in front of my family and friends so entrenched in the church and to tell them what I honestly believe about it. And I am familiar with the ways in which they will try to shut you down. Any times before when I have tried bringing questions or doubts to my family members (honestly, politely) I was met with a terribly defensive attitude and then shut down. No logic or reasoning. No open-mindedness or patience. Instead of a deep, mature conversation, I was cast off and condemned for my lack of faith. I was never looking for a fight. I was only looking for answers.
So I admire that speaker as a very brave member of the church. Did you notice the pat on the back from his Bishop? The look on the man's face who stood up to the microphone afterwards? Part of me hopes that he will not be excommunicated for this (though he will likely be dis-fellowshipped), but another part of me hopes for something better for him than this terrible cult.
Kit Curious
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