The believers, the un-makers

I have been following a popular case of a man who has made clear that he doesn't believe in the LDS church or in following the council of it's leaders. He is now, however, making news because he wants to be re-admitted into the ranks of Mormons in full fellowship. 

Apparently the PR he received is waning and he needs an attention boost. A smart move that will keep people downloading his pod-casts for another month or so.

To the point: There are those who wish to distance themselves from the Mormon belief system and doctrine. Their stance is their own business and their own choice completely. In the past I have fought for our God given agency to choose and I still do. It is not ones choice or ones choosing that I speak of here.

This is the portrait of Christ
 that I grew up with.

The issue is this; Who do I choose to follow? Who do I believe? In whom do I put my faith?

The un-makers would have you believe that they alone poses genuine understanding or that only they are smart enough to interpret facts or read a book.

Joseph Smith was a polygamist they say. Really? Like I have never heard that.

Emma Smith stated that the prophet looked in a hat to read through seer stones. Wow. another shocker.

The temple presentation and the masonic ceremony have much in common. More than much, if one is paying attention. And I knew these things and more when I spent a family vacation in Nauvoo at the age of 13.

Do you want to talk grand masters and salamanders?  Been there.

The majority of us have known about these things for decades, and our faith is neither shaken nor stirred. We acknowledge that there are questions for which we currently have no answers. But we trust that there are answers to be had and that answers will be given to us if we are faithful enough to obey now.  

We believe in the power, authority and the atonement of Jesus Christ. We seek after truth and we expect new knowledge. When we find real truth it does not throw us into a tailspin.

We do not lack for talent, articulation or nuance. We aren't the leftovers with no-place better to go but to church for three hours on Sunday. And here we are courageously taking a stand.

We are they. We are those who believe.

Stake President: in the hospital corridor: hit to the nards.

In the past several days I have been occupied as a mostly-human pin cushion at a Timpanogos Regional Medical Center. While I lay there trying to override my fear of enclosed spaces by mulling over my daughter's thought process in loaning me her stuffed ninja turtle, I thought about a lot of things.

Here is a short list of things I didn't think about while I was in the ICU for a few days.

I didn't think about the press release by the LDS church about religious rights. Didn't consider how many are up in arms trying to ensure that Mormons don't have a say in their marriage, or how Mormons are trying to protect their temple sealing

I didn't think about John Dehlin and his excommunication.

As gay as I am, I didn't think about LGBT rights or changes in how we write these rights down.

I did think of my bills and wondered how on earth I was going to get them paid. I thought of my daughter who is moving back in with two kids and a husband who disappears for a day or two and reappears as if all were normal.

I thought about the weather and it it was warm enough to re-paint the house and how I was going to lead the choir for ward conference in a hospital gown.

I barely thought about why BYU sports can be so brilliant one minute and then loose to a team like the Contra Costa Community Brown Rice the next.

Most of all I thought about my family and how my ailment would effect them. I thought of my wife who wouldn't get any sleep. And then I re-thought the bills thing.

I thought of my marriage and how my wife had threatened to kick our stake president in the nards if I died before he finished getting our temple sealing approved.

Now that I am back on the other side of the river, I will look up what happened to Brother Dehlin and see what new outrageous things was said from the extreme left or the extreme right about it. I will probably have a say.  In the meantime I have bills to pay and a wife to treat to a late Valentines day.

Who says that MarMoHos can't have a good life?