Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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.
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Allison, I get what you're saying here, and even *I* winced at the video. It was sending entirely the wrong message. I agree with you that we're all supposed to be on the same side, that we all love and believe in Jesus Christ. But you have to look at it from a view outside your own church, as well.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, what Mr. Epic did was wrong, drawing out those two boys who only want to preach the word of God as they know and believe it to be, with a video camera and about 7 of his own friends. That's not the way to handle it. But what is? You said it yourself, our religions are very similar, yet from a Catholic point of view, the Latter-Day Saints are asking to convert to their specific beliefs. Asking to reject the Catholic-specific beliefs, which have been taught to most of the followers of the Catholic church since birth, even if it's just a few seemingly minor differences. And that didn't seem quite right to me, either, until I got older and learned a bit more about both my faith and the beliefs of other forms of Christianity.
I'm not saying that's exactly how it is. With what comparatively little knowledge I have of your church, it's most likely not. And I'm not saying that's what I believe now. As I've grown up, I've learned that a simple, "No thank you, I'm content with my Catholic beliefs and I trust in the Lord just as you do, so let's not discuss this," will at least shorten a conversation about my faith to a few sentences and no arguments, leaving both people happy and satisfied and not hurt in either emotion or faith. But let's face it, not everyone is Ryan. Some people are going to take that kind of interaction differently. I'm not trying to legitimize what Mr. Epic did, I just ask that you try to see it in a different light before taking personal offense. The commentors and Facebook "friends" don't hate you or hate your faith, (and even though I can't speak for them) I'm assuming they just don't know how to handle religious topics and got excited when someone showed them how to dominate a conversation, even when dominating a conversation isn't the way to handle the situation properly.
Ryan, by liking that video, whether you meant to or not, you condone it. It shows a surprising lack of respect for my beliefs. Missionaries don’t ask people to reject their beliefs; they ask them to listen to a message. And just like the missionaries have the right to ask if a person is interested that person has the right to say no. My church is different, very different in some ways and I have seen that fact, time and time again, bring every hateful and spiteful person out of the woodwork. I’m sure that some of the people accepting this video don’t really have anything against my church and I sincerely doubt that any of them has something against me personally, but they think that this sort of behavior is right and it’s not, especially not for someone who espouses to follow Christ who not only taught that we love those we like, but those we don’t like or don’t understand as well. They have the freedom of speech to say it but that doesn’t mean I have to sit down and take it. There is no different light. There is black and there is white. There is right and wrong. I’m not offended by this video or the people who condone just saddened by this hypocrisy of values and impassioned against a prevailing attitude of willful ignorance which I aim to do my best to fix especially among those I consider my friends.
DeleteI was happy when I found out my brother was getting sent to the Philippines for this very reason. While I'm sure he will encounter adverse reactions to his teachings, I think the hardest missions are the ones in the US. Maybe I'm underestimating my brother's abilities, and Heavenly Father's for that matter, but it was not a burden I wished him to bear.
ReplyDeleteAs per the issue in general, is that people think they know enough about our religion, but they actually know nothing at all about the doctrine. They know what they see on TV, and what their best friend's cousin said about what it was like "when he was a Mormon." They know that we have missionaries who have the gall to knock on their doors and ask them if they would like to hear their message.
The fact of the matter is that many people fear what they don't understand, and most people (even people within the church) don't understand the doctrine of the church.
I see a church that promises families that they can be together forever. It allows for free will, learning, and repentance. It seeks to put people on the path to becoming like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There is a law. There is a right and a wrong. There is no free ride. The goal is to continuously learn, grow, and become a little better every day. It's hard, but it's worth it.
Unfortunately, this is not easy for others to understand and respect for whatever reason.
Agreed. It's to be expected I suppose. No one gets through this life without adversity and trials. I've just decided that I can speak out more publicly. :)
DeleteThat's a good decision. I know sometimes I get caught up in my own life so much that I don't realize how much more I could be doing. We will be held as much as accountable for the good things we do, as the good things we don't do.
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