And So I Bear Witness

Thursday, January 12th

It's not a day that will live in infamy. If I'm honest I'd already forgotten the date and just looked it up for the sake of keeping an accurate record.

It was a Thursday. It was the last week of Christmas break. I had gotten up and gotten ready for the day and decided to check my Facebook and was abruptly confronted by a video entitled "Mormons vs Epic Black Guy".

(Now I refuse to post that video on my blog. If you want to watch it go to youtube. If you can't find it I'll send you a link.)

And I couldn't help myself. I had to know even though I knew it would probably upset me and make me doubt the decency of humanity. So I did and it was as expected. Except worse. And then I read the comments and that made it doubly worse.

A few examples of the comments were: "Amen! This pumped me up so much I wanted to go run thru a brick wall! haha" "Ahhhhh man I just got hyped! I can't wait till I'm strong enough in my faith to conquer like this!!!! Man! GOD IS GOOOOOOOOOD!" "Great way to to start the day! Better than a cup of coffee!" "just hit y'all with some knowledge"

And then I looked at the likes. And recognized people I'm facebook "friends" with. And then I wasn't angry. I was just depressed.

I won't talk religion. I won't argue who's right. Because in the end that's not what this is about. It's about indecency--the indecency of both the "epic" black guy and these facebook "friends" of mine.

First, let's discuss the "epic" black guy and let's disband with that long and awkward phrase and just call him Mr. "Epic". For me this is an easier topic to approach. It's someone taking a stance against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It's nothing new; I've been dealing with that particular situation since middle school, if not earlier.

The problem with Mr. "Epic" is that he's under the misconception that picking a fight with the missionaries makes him some warrior of God or something (and if you don't think he was trying to pick a fight then you tell me why he and his buddies were standing around with a video camera and a soapbox speech ready for action).

The comments tell us that "God is good". This is true. But God is also love. And that man had nothing but contempt and hatred for those young men. He tries to excuse his actions by using logic and scriptures and repeatedly cutting off the missionaries. In short, he tries to "bible bash" to use the catchy colloquial.

And here's the thing: missionaries don't "bible bash". They share their message with those that want to hear it and in situations like this they answer questions no matter how aggressively asked until it cannot be called a discussion any longer and then they try to extract themselves from the situation as nicely as possible. Maybe you call that losing, but I don't.

And one more word of support for those missionaries: Those young men give up two years of their lives--no family, no dating, no TV or video games or most music, no parties, no school, just proselyting. Beyond that they deal with people who hate them day in and day out--they are yelled at, they are threatened, doors are slammed in their faces. And yet they continue--without shouting, without raging, without bible bashing.

Contention is of the devil. The scriptures say so. Those scriptures that both you and I hold so dear.

Old Testament: "A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes" --Proverbs 18:6

New Testament: "But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God" --1 Corinthians 11:16

Even the Book of Mormon (though I understand that this book means nothing to you): "For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another" --3 Nephi 11:29

Now to the second indecency. Let's talk about my facebook "friends". Actually, let's talk about me.

Really, I am not a Mormon. "Mormon" is a nickname. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, my Savior. I know they live. I know that Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane to bring about the Atonement that through his sacrifice we can be saved after all we have done to save ourselves. I believe that the Bible is the word of God. I also believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I believe in continuing revelation--that I can pray to God and he will answer me. I believe in prophets from Adam to Abraham to Joseph Smith. I believe in serving and loving my fellowmen. I know that by serving others and by loving them that I will be more able to follow in the footsteps of my Redeemer, even Jesus Christ.

I understand that there are differences between my religion and other religions. What I don't understand is why you don't see the similarities. My church is not to be hated because of our differences but rather, if not accepted, at least not actively sought out to be despised. We both claim to be following Jesus Christ. That similarity should be enough.

I'll conclude with one final point: I am not Allison, who happens to be a "Mormon". I'm a "Mormon". I am a Latter-Day Saint. If you have a problem with my church, then you either have a problem with me or you don't understand because I do my best to emulate the attributes of a righteous member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I wish I didn't have to do this. It shouldn't even be an issue. I don't want to offend anyone. That's not my purpose. But I cannot let this hatred and misinformation continue and then stand blameless before God at the last day. And so I bear this witness.