Truth, Feelings, and Baskets ..... Yours, Mine, and Ours

Business and financial gurus wisely tell us to not put all our eggs in one basket, but I violate that advice regularly in other areas of my life.  Marriage: one basket.  Patriotism: one basket.  Religion: one basket.  Favorite ice cream flavor: ..... okay, maybe that one does branch out .... frequently .....   

I'm digressing.  Let's go back to the religion basket.

We might say that in this basket, the eggs are various points of doctrine along with personal life experiences.  My basket is my testimony, or in other words, my time-tested conviction that the gospel, as taught in the LDS Church, is true.  In addition to a lot of logical evidence, woven into my testimony are .... spiritual reinforcements and communication from God in its various forms, via the Holy Ghost who is often referred to as the Spirit of God.  

Plain and simple, it just never stops feeling right.  

(Note: If you adhere to a philosophy, belief-system, or life style that has not exposed you to such feelings of comfort and ... right-ness .... I humbly offer the suggestion that you are missing out and that you take a look here.)  

I know that many non-LDS Christians are dubious at best, about such feelings.  And their argument has merit.

Some say, "I feel that the doctrine which I follow is correct, and you feel that something different is correct .... therefore one of us must be wrong ...... therefore you cannot trust feelings and ALL answers must come from the <Bible>."  (Feel free to <insert> whatever spiritual resource you choose.)

Makes sense.  And we NEED that reminder that those answers usually DO come from something God has already said ..... a lesson we LDS tend to forget and then get impatient when God doesn't just TELL us already!  (As in ... you mean I have to study??)

Therefore, it seems to follow, that all feelings must be suspect.

And I would agree.  Caution definitely has its place.

So should I toss out feelings all together?

Heavens no.  The Bible, which centers on the mission of Jesus Christ, promotes those feelings.  In the Book of Luke, chapter 24, Christ is resurrected, meaning after death his body is again united with his spirit and he rises from the grave.  Word of this miraculous event naturally spread and some time soon thereafter, his uncle and another man were walking along and talking about what had happened.  Unrecognized at first, Jesus joined these two men on their walk and the conversation continued.   Later that day they realized who he was and at that moment, he vanished from their sight.  Their words then say it all as they marveled at not recognizing him sooner:

"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (verse 32)

Hence ...... feelings.  The Holy Ghost, who testifies only of truth, is doing his job.

So can the Holy Ghost confirm one thing to you, and to me something different?

There are several possibilities here:

1. One of us is wrong and one of us is right.

2. We're both wrong.

3. We're both right.

Numbers one and two are pretty obvious.  They happen.  But number three?  Let's look at it .....

I firmly believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only religion on earth with the God-ordained power to administer the ordinances needed by all for exaltation.  Repeat .... needed by all.  "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Ephesians 4:5)  But there may be different roads getting there.

IF the Lord confirms your quest to find Him in another religion then, in my opinion, go with that.  By all means!  We have many, many converts in the LDS Church who came to us from other faiths and they bring an invaluable wealth of freshness and perspective.   Their road was right for them.  I was born into this religion and the Lord tells me to stay put.  That's my road and it's right for me.  Some .... in fact a huge, whopping MOST, will never receive those above mentioned saving ordinances in this life and the Lord in His loving wisdom and mercy, has provided a way for them.  In the meantime, and for now, they may be a blessing to the world right where they are.  There are countless individuals and organizations who set the bar very high by their charity and other contributions to our unsettled world.  Truth can be found in more than one basket and we should never be afraid of finding and acquiring more eggs.  

That said ...... we have been commanded in the last few verses of the Book of Matthew to share what we have, so share we must.   Eternal principles are just that .... eternal .... and there are people who are ready to return to those truths that they embraced before birth veiled their pre-mortal memories.   That "veil", so to speak, keeps us from remembering our past and seeing our future thus causing us to develop our faith*.  (*See previous blog post.)  We must find those people and they must find us.  But again, there are others who, perhaps, still have things they need to do or to experience elsewhere ... on their own road .... before coming home.  And we must respect that.  The Lord is your Father and my Father and He loves us all.  If we turn to Him in full trust and humility, He will direct each of us on whatever road we need to bring us safely to the one and only gate that leads back to Him.  No one wants that end result more than He does.

So back to those feelings.   Are you right?  Or am I?

I cannot speak for you nor for anyone else.  I cannot claim to know what God has told you to do.   I can only speak for me and ....... I am where I belong .... holding the door open, ready to welcome anyone who might want to share my basket of eggs.

"What did you think it would look like .....?"

Recently I listened to a podcast recorded by fairmormon.org featuring an interview (emphasizing Part 2 of the interview) with Bill Reel, a member of my religion, who told the story of his faith crisis.  A faith crisis is when a person begins to question, doubt, and consider leaving his religion.  Reel was a bishop (similar to a minister) at the time and was at a loss where to go, or who to talk to for help.  It began when he started reading things about our church's history that just didn't make sense to him.  

The LDS Church does indeed have a colorful past.  Polygamy, racism, angels, a mysterious gold book, ancient scripture found in mummies, intense persecution, interpreter stones, and the recording of every word that every past church leader has ever uttered.  Thanks to the internet, we have enough information to make almost any devout Mormon shake in their boots.   

Bishop Reel was at a loss.  He talked to trusted friends, his own local church leaders, and even wrote to one of the church leaders in Utah.  He received some comfort, but no real answers.  Some didn't even know what he was talking about because, even though it has always been accessible in the archives and many articles have been written in Church magazines, most of this information is not taught in our manuals.  Reel was almost to the point of leaving, when he turned to some LDS discussion boards online.  And through this resource, he received an email from a stranger, that began to turn him around.  

I searched back through the podcast to find the words of that letter.  I wanted to keep them because with careful reading, they are profound.  Here it is in blue, as best I could transcribe it from the audio version.   

His question:  "Why does the Church ignore these elephants in the room that I perceive and I feel like I am the only one who sees them?"  

The answer:  "There are not problems as you characterize them and the elephants in the room are not the baby elephants you keep hoping are going to trumpet the answer.  In the very back corner, there is a humongous, massive bull elephant who is sitting on his side, resting from all the bellowing he has been doing, hoping to get your attention over the mass of baby elephants making all the racket.  He is obscurred from your view because all you keep seeing are those baby elephants covering him from view.  

There is a work underfoot that you do not grasp yet.  It seems to you to be a work to hide and protect the Church.  That is completely incorrect.  When you think of Bruce R. McConkie’s take on the Ten Virgins and that they represent members (of the Church) and that half of them will fall away ...... what do YOU think is going to separate the Saints from one another?  We do love each other and as a group, we are very tolerant when appropriate, but what is going to drive a wedge between the members to push them apart?  

Faith is the big elephant, lying on its side resting.  The 50% who fall away are those who do not realize that theology is built upon a requirement of faith.  Without it, none can please God.  

One can never overcome theological demands of faith by an appeal to empirical proof.   They are at odds.  One destroys the other.  Proof will only leave you weak and unable to stand, when stand you must. One leads to life eternal; the other leaves one unable to call upon God when the time is ripe for destruction.  The work that is underfoot is the sifting of the wheat from the tares.  In the coming days, and I have no clue how long, but soon enough I am sure, the truth of the history of the Church will save no lives.  The only thing that will, is in those that live, breath, and feel in their hearts and souls the faith that can stand at this moment.  

The beginning of the onslaught against the Church is the same ideological battle that pulled the third of heaven to follow Satan.  It will escalate from there to becoming a physical battle and the world will be arrayed against us.  It will take powerful faith, perhaps Enochian faith to turn against those that would destroy the members of the Church.  You are only in the beginning stages of the battle of the war of words and ideals and you are already falling prey to the efforts.  What will you do when destruction is between you and the powers of heaven to forestall?  

Faith, so few understand it, is a genuine power.  Sometimes I think that members are hell-bent on avoiding, denying, and fleeing away from the opportunities to exercise faith, the power that holds worlds in their orbits and enables the creative effort.  We lip-service it and then ignore it constantly.  This day is a blessing to you.  You are being tossed and torn and beaten and abused in the crucible of faith.  The anxiety you feel is because you are slowly feeling the heat of the flames that will prepare some and destory others.  You acknowledge the need for faith, but it is not impressed upon your soul the power of what faith really is.  

Again I ask, what did you think it would look like when we were in the middle of this sifting?  It looks like what you are seeing.  It is painful until faith provides the healing.  And there is NO faith in questioning the motives of the Church.  They know exactly what is happening and they are stemming it as best they can within the boundaries of agency and teaching correct principles."  

(Back to me.)  There is a finite number of issues that our critics love to circulate over and over.  I have personally become familiar with all of these issues, some more than others, and thankfully, my faith has not been shaken.  Possibly because I was taught most of these things as I was growing up, so very little was a surprise.  I also just don't seem to have a questioning nature.  It has always been easy for me to believe and the blessings of being a Mormon have been obvious to me my entire life.  The few things I don't yet understand, I set aside for now.  

To summarize ....  

We are on this earth to learn faith.  As soon as we have that scientific or physical proof that many of us desire, faith is over.   "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  (Hebrews 11:1)  The lessons on gaining, growing, and exercising our faith permeates all scripture.  We are not here to prove anything .... we are here to believe and to act on our belief ..... without physical proof.  Our only proof for now, is the whisperings of the Lord's Spirit, AKA the Holy Ghost.    THAT, in my opinion, is why we have not yet been given any type of archaeological discovery, or DNA research results, etc., that we can trot out to the the nearest mountain top and yell to the world .... SEE??  WE TOLD YOU SO!!!!!  

Have you ever thought the Lord was unnecessarily cruel when He directed Abraham to slay his beloved son Isaac for a sacrifice?  I have.  How awful!  Why would a loving God put Abraham through such a dreadful ordeal before stopping him?  I don't have all the answers, but apparently there is great value in testing one's faith.  God knows our faith.  He knows our limits.  And He knows our potential.

But we don't.  I need to learn about me and you need to learn about you.  And we learn through being tested.  The Lord always knew that Abraham would be obedient in all things, and now Abraham knows it too.  

My point:  The Lord let all these oddities in our Mormon history happen.  Some He directed, and some He left for his prophet, an imperfect human, to figure out.  He gave us all the freedom of choice and in our humanness, some mistakes were made, along with the inherent clumsiness of restoring a religion that the world had not seen for centuries.  There was no template, nor pattern, from a neighboring church and God let those things BE for our own modern-day Abrahamic test, so to speak.  At the same time, I think He kept a firm hand on those parts that affect eternity.  The doctrine of Jesus Christ, the saving ordinances with the keys of administration, and the Plan of Salvation are rock-solid and everlasting.  THAT is our gospel.

The Church has wisely taught us all along that the most important thing is to develop our faith and our ability to recognize the voice of the Spirit.    Regardless of whatever form the vexatious wedge that seeks to divide us may take, our faith will keep us firm.  We will have our iron rod to anchor us.  In other words, if God tells you it's TRUE and through faith you believe Him .... then nothing else matters.  And eventually, we will have all the answers ... and the proof, after our test is done.

Thus we are buffeted and sifted, separating the wheat from the tares.  This is just the beginning and it will get worse.  We knew it was coming because the prophets have told us.    

We just didn't realize what it would look like.