There Is Room for You To those who have separated themselves from the Church, I say, my dear friends, there is yet a place for you here.
Come and add your talents, gifts, and energies to ours. We will all become better as a result.
Some might ask, “But what about my doubts?”
It’s natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true.7
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.8 We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some might say, “I just don’t fit in with you people in the Church.”
If you could see into our hearts, you would probably find that you fit in better than you suppose. You might be surprised to find that we have yearnings and struggles and hopes similar to yours. Your background or upbringing might seem different from what you perceive in many Latter-day Saints, but that could be a blessing. Brothers and sisters, dear friends, we need your unique talents and perspectives. The diversity of persons and peoples all around the globe is a strength of this Church.
Some might say, “I don’t think I could live up to your standards.”
All the more reason to come! The Church is designed to nourish the imperfect, the struggling, and the exhausted. It is filled with people who desire with all their heart to keep the commandments, even if they haven’t mastered them yet.
Some might say, “I know a member of your Church who is a hypocrite. I could never join a church that had someone like him as a member.”
If you define hypocrite as someone who fails to live up perfectly to what he or she believes, then we are all hypocrites. None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be. But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin. With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
If these are your desires, then regardless of your circumstances, your personal history, or the strength of your testimony, there is room for you in this Church. Come, join with us!
That said, with the Book of Mormon, we are not dealing with a civilization with no written record. What we are dealing with is a written record with no civilization. (Runtu, Feb 2015)
I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
Boanerges wrote:I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
And now you have a very clear message on what will happen if you do.
The Mormons will be a tight or a loose herd. The configurations make sense depending on the terrain and the threats. There are costs and benefits to staying in and being out. Everyone will make their own calculation. Whether they live by it is another matter.
Boanerges wrote:I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
Do you see this as a healthy state, for you, and those other individuals, where you are all effectively silenced in terms of sharing what you have learned, or believe to be true, with others? Is this not an undesired effect of having an authoritarian leadership, threatening excommunication to anyone who publicly expresses those views which conflict with the party line? Where does the search for truth enter into the equation? Is this not a violation of one's free agency?
Boanerges wrote:I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
Wow! And just imagine how happy your children will be when they find out one day what a load of bull it all is! It ain't the same thing as Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, bub! They don't dictate your entire life and world view. Good luck!
Boanerges wrote:I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
The problem is the talk does not say
"There is room for you as long as you keep your doubts private"
Let's be clear here. John was not tossed for any beliefs he personally held, he was tossed for being a public figure openly expressing those doubts.
The new criteria for membership has expanded a bit to:
Pay, Pray & Obey quietly.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Boanerges wrote:I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
Boanerges wrote:I don't think they sound hollow at all. I think they're true. I am known to be a questioner/doubter by both my bishop and stake president. I hold a responsible calling in which I could at any time express my divergent views. That's the difference in me and Dehlin. Some of my views are very much like his - I don't believe the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are real/true, either, for instance. I also believe in gay rights and gay marriage. I am not publicly teaching those things, or telling the church they are wrong, or gaining followers and setting up chapters of followers, etc. That is the line Oaks and Christofferson talked about in the Trib Talk. Dehlin crossed it. There are many, many more of us who do not.
So do you get up on Fast Sunday and give a testimony that the Church is true?
That said, with the Book of Mormon, we are not dealing with a civilization with no written record. What we are dealing with is a written record with no civilization. (Runtu, Feb 2015)
Fence Sitter wrote: The new criteria for membership has expanded a bit to:
Pay, Pray & Obey quietly.
Nailed it.
I'm an outspoken critic of the church. I make John look like a hedging wuss - but I don't have a platform so my audience is very tiny. I'm not at risk of excommunication even though I deserve it more than John.
The church has sent the message that doubts and questions are just fine ... so long as you shut up about them.