Holding Church Members to a Different Standard

[_Yoda]

Something interesting happened on the Juliann thread recently. BC posted an image of a person who was physically handicapped in order to insult Harmony, indicating that she probably resembled the girl in picture.

There were quite a few posters who were appalled by this type of humor, and indicated their disgust.

For those of you who participated and/or read this thread, do you think that the posters were being unusually hard on BC because he is a devout member of the LDS Church?

I admit that I probably was. As a fellow member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I expect other members, particularly members who are going out of their way in being vocal about defending the faith, to live up to the basic intents of the gospel. And, of course, the most basic intent of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to.....act as Jesus Christ would want us to act. (i.e. "What would Jesus do?").

Nehor asked me to CFR where, in the gospel, it states that we should be kind to our fellow Internet neighbors. The references can be found here:

Luke 10:25-28:

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
26He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’
27He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’
28And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

Luke 6:27-36:

27 "But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
29 If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes away your coat, don't hold back your shirt either.
30 Give to everyone who asks from you, and from one who takes away your things, don't ask for them back.
31 Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.
32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
33 If you do [what is] good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full.
35 But love your enemies, do [what is] good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.
36 Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful."

[/quote]

Also, here is a link to the thread where this conversation stemmed from, for further reference:

http://mormondiscussions.com/discuss/vi ... sc&start=0

[_Mercury]

looks like my behavior is rubbing off on BC. Geez BC, get some new material or at least credit me!

[_Runtu]

No, I don't think I hold church members to a higher standard. Think about it: they have Pahoran and Juliann and selek, among numerous others. Those three would be nasty whether they were in or out of the church. We exmos have our share of nasty people, too, and I am as likely to criticize them for bad behavior as I am to express disappointment in bcspace and Nehor.

That said, I can't think of any exmos I know personally who would have mocked the disabled in that way.

[_beastie]

I really don't expect better behavior from believers at all. However, I will definitely point out the hypocrisy involved in someone who embraces a belief system that involves an element of spiritual/moral superiority behaving in such a fashion. It's just another way of demonstrating that the church is just like any other man-made religion. And in this particular incident, the irony of embracing a belief system that teaches that the mentally handicapped were so worthy in the pre-existence that they don't have to be "tested" in this life while simultaneously engaging in behavior that mocks them is striking.

Of course, as others have pointed out, they're just being dumb yahoos that can be found in any culture....but why shouldn't the influence of the Holy Ghost make them better than that?? The answer is - there is no Holy Ghost. There's just a bunch of dumb yahoos* playing make-believe.

*I'm not calling all believers dumb yahoos, just the ones that mock the disabled while pretending to have some special pipeline to Jesus

[_RockHeaded]

A persons church that they belong to has nothing to do if they have couth. There are many people that do not go to church that would never sink so low as to make fun of handicaped people. IMHO such people are heartless, or very misinformed. I was shocked that BC posted the picture, but not because BC is LDS because it was very distastful.

RockHeaded

[_beastie]

That said, I can't think of any exmos I know personally who would have mocked the disabled in that way.

We do have a couple on this board.

[_Runtu]

That said, I can't think of any exmos I know personally who would have mocked the disabled in that way.

We do have a couple on this board.

Maybe. I'm really not sure. But if they did, I would say the same thing I said to Nehor. Bad behavior is not the monopoly of Mormons.

[_John Larsen]

I think a large—but not complete—part of morality is how you evaluate your own action. Partly, the moral value of the action can be determined by what you think the moral significance of your actions are.

Mormonism demand strict adherence to a tight moral code. The code is laid out before us all. If one publicly proclaim that Mormonism is somehow better than the alternatives, ones actions can and should be evaluated to see if that claim is true and really believed by the claimant.

This is a universal truism. If you co-worker is always bragging about the health benefits of eating only raw food you are going to watch more closely what he eats. When you catch him with a bean burrito, you will have a good measure to evaluate everything else he says.

When one becomes a public defender of the faith, and especially if that person is particularly vehement in doing so—the standards of the faith apply doubly. If that person, who so boldly proclaims the virtues of his philosophy displays through his action that he doesn’t really adhere, they you have the Rosetta Stone to figuring out what his real motivation is.

Yes, you should hold them to a higher standard. If you see an active Mormon with a whiskey or a Hindu with a stake, you have learned more than you could in listening to them for hours if not years.

[_Mercury]

That said, I can't think of any exmos I know personally who would have mocked the disabled in that way.

We do have a couple on this board.

No we don't!



(snicker)

Edited to modify picture

[_bcspace]

looks like my behavior is rubbing off on BC. Geez BC, get some new material or at least credit me!

I give credit where credit is due. I'll take all the credit for creating a post whose humor went above the heads of some, offended the PC crowd, and was so deep it caused all of you to miss the point.

I wouldn't say we're being held to a higher standard here, just a different one.

Matthew 13:18-23