I received quite a few comments on my last post about the laws that we live and how we live them. Some of the comments I received focused on people agreeing with, almost saying that I was writing about some sort of disestablishmentarianism (and yes, I did just use a 24-letter word), suggesting that we should not depend on the Church or other organizations or institutions to help us decide how to live the commandments and laws we receive.
I thank everyone who replied to my post, but I should tell you that those who implied a sense of disestablishmentarianism in fact, do not agree with me. I support the organization of the Church because of the very components that make up the organization, such as apostles, prophets, and other Church authorities. It is because of the Priesthood that there needs be an organization. Without the organization, the power of God would be in an organization contrary to its nature: complete disorganization and anarchy. Christ established a Church for a reason: to ensure that His people had order and that there would be some way to help people along. Harkening back to my last post, people aren’t spiritually mature enough to just read their scriptures on their own and do things of their own free will; they must be pushed along. People themselves are rarely proactive on things they read or learn. To illustrate the point, how many people do you personally know who read they scriptures 30 minutes every day? I know very few. And taking it a bit further, how many people (yourself included) do you know who live according to what they learn in their gospel study? My guess is that your answer to this question is a FAR smaller number than your answer to the other question. So why have the institution? To help people along.
Now, with organizations and institutions comes corruption; it is a given. But does it not say in the scriptures that we will lay down this corruption and take up incorruption? We are ALL corrupt. Why must we insist that we be incorrupt or that member of the Church be incorrupt? We will ALWAYS be disappointed if we expect people to be sound. Jesus did not come to hang out with the people who had already made it to perfection, but rather to make it possible for us—those who are far from perfection—to form a covenant relationship with Him and then be able to get back and live with Him. That is precisely what frustrates me about many people who leave the Church as a result of other members’ actions—I may be wrong, but I get the impression that they merely tire of the all-too-common Mormon culture, which admittedly can be fairly judgmental and clique-y. For any of you people reading this who aren’t members of the Church, let me clarify what is “Mormon Culture.” Often members of the Church can get into a bubble mentality, thinking that everyone thinks similarly or should think similarly to how they think. The problem comes when they react to those people whom they encounter who don’t think similarly to them; they can at times be a bit closed-minded and judgmental, which can lead to shutting people out and not being open to listening to their different points of view. This is of course completely contradictory to that Christianity teaches, and that is where the frustration of those who leave the Church [I imagine] originates. And here’s the ironic part: that is where my frustration with those who leave the Church originates, because I don’t think they realize that while yes, it most definitely is not on the OK list to be closed-minded, we still need to help those other people along and help them form a closer, better relationship with Christ.
And THAT is why we have the organization of the Church—we are all at different stages of our spiritual development. We need help in order to get to where we need to be spiritually. Very seldom can people think independently enough to make it on their own and really be taught the way by the Spirit. The organization is there to provide a means to disperse information to other members of the Church who either do not receive revelation for other members or so that those who do think independently of set norms of the Church and [especially] its culture can share their insights and help others live according to how the Spirit has taught them to live. I put that in italics because I wanted to emphasize the point that it is not how they have taught themselves to live, but that the Spirit has taught them. The Spirit will never teach doctrines of teachings contrary to the Church’s teachings because the Spirit is essentially the messenger for Christ and this is Christ’s Church; why would the two differ? The important distinction is the difference between Mormon culturistic norms and Church doctrines. There are some things in Mormon culture that have been practiced for so long that they have come to be accepted as doctrine, but are actually not.
So to summarize, the organization of the Church is necessary to give order to the Lord’s people—to ensure that they are being taught correct principles and to give them aide in living those principles. I believe it is necessary to receive insight from other people in order to confirm that what I am learning on my own is legitimate (sometimes it is extremely difficult to know what is the Spirit and what is not.). The people of organizations are not perfect, but if we are truly working toward a Zionistic society, it won’t matter because charity will get us through. And that is a blog for another day.
Before I end this one, however, I would like to add a quote that has spawned a whole litany of thoughts:
“The devil flatters us into believing that we are more righteous than others and with this very astute strategy, takes us his.”
-President Ezra Taft Benson
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2 comments:
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, too. I remember in Primary, learning about the 12th article of faith. One of my teachers taught me that, if we were living God's law, we would be following a higher law than any earthly law. However, that higher law would also be much more strict, which means we would already be adhering to the laws of the land (with rare exceptions).
I think that the more earthly parts of the church (ie. institution vs gospel doctrine) are like that. We have a higher law we should be following. If we followed that higher law, chances are we would already be following all of the rules and laws of the church. I think that would honestly include the word of wisdom, as well as all the other laws we sometimes think are silly or unnecessary.
I also think that the institutionalized part of religion is there to humble us. Humans are flawed, and it's really hard to follow flawed people and accept them as such. The church requires members to do this. I think, to comment on something you touched on in your post, this is one of the major reasons people leave the church when offended. But then, pride is almost always the problem behind sin, so it's almost a cheating answer.
Anyway, I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I could probably discuss it for an hour or three, but I don't want to leave a ridiculously long comment...
I gave my farewell talk about this very topic, more or less. I don't remember all the details, but I remember talking about the Church--the institution, the structure--as a scaffolding around the gospel teachings. It's there to help us access them. The institution of the Church (like everything else God has set up) is only for us. And, like you said, it is also to help us help others along the way. While our own salvation is undeniably personal, I know that part of it depends on how hard we try to bring people with us. In my mind, in my personal journey back to God, that' s mostly what the church is for to help me be able to help.
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