What are We Thinking?

You know, I've been reading a lot of Mormon blogs lately. I write for two (this one and Toward an LDS Cinema), and I've noticed that a lot of us "Christians" can use some pretty uncharitable means of expression when we want to make our thoughts and feelings known.

Now, I think I know where it may come from, and it's a good place. We all believe in truth. That truth is eternal and unchangeable is one of the most important ideas in Mormon teaching and it's rooted itself firmly into our culture. That's a good thing. The problem is that many of us apparrently think that whatever idea we currently have is the absolute, eternal, unchanging truth, and that's where we run into trouble.

Now, I know that I can be pretty strong-voiced sometimes. I hold my opinions fast and defend them, but I'm not above changing if I learn something more (as evidenced by my last post) and I hope that I don't discard other ideas out of hand.

The thing that concerns me the most is the way some people use the scriptures and the words of the prophets. For example, we may well believe that our ideas are true and we may feel that we have scriptural backing, but using divine warnings about being deceived by the devil on anyone who disagrees with us is wrong, in my opinion. There are plenty of scriptures that isolate the true believer and warn against evil trickery, but are we justified in using those to support our political and social ideas - especially in areas where there has been no definitive prophetic statement? I think not. Not only is it exclusionary, it's anti-christian.

Here are some of the examples of scriptures and prohetic statements I've seen recently used to defend personal ideas:

"Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"

"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance… Yea, wo be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!"

"It mattereth not whether the principle is popular or unpopular, I will always maintain a true principle, even if I stand alone in it. "

"I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves."

You get the idea.

Now, I want to be clear that the above quotations were not used in defense of some gospel doctrine or official church teaching. They were cast into the teeth of those who disagreed, in some cases very respectfully,with things like a political/social position, a personal opinion, and a movie review.

Now let me ask some pertinent questions. What are we thinking? Do we even consider how much damage can be done this way? What is the impact on our own souls? What about those not of our faith who are encountering the Church for the first time? What about investigators? What about each other? Are we so hard-hearted towards each other that we feel we need to use the scriptures against each other at every turn? Are we so self-confident in our personal access to heaven that we consider ourselves in greater favor with God than anyone not bearing the appellations "Elder" or "President?"

I'm not saying not to use the scriptures. Use the scriptures! But use them righteously! Remeber the weightier matters, like faith, hope, and charity - especially charity.

I offer thanks to my friend Ty for posting this timely quote on his blog:

"What kind of men and women should we be, as Latter-day Saints, in view of this wonderful knowledge that we possess, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God? We should be the most honest, the most virtuous, the most charitable-minded, the best people upon the face of the earth." –Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, October 1925, p. 9-10

Are our online activities as charitable-minded as they could be? I'm not just talking about our use of scripture anymore. Do we treat the topics we write about and respond to charitably? What about the people?

I don't want to forsake charity myself in this post, so I will say I don't think the examples above were necessarily intended to be self-righteous. Nevertheless, they certainly come across that way to the one receiving them. That wasn't me in any of the examples either, in case you were wondering. All of the above were taken from a discussion in which I took no part.

We ought to bring refinement and dignity to the discussions we participate in both online and in real life. Considering that truth can come from any source, we ought to be considerate of other ideas almost to a fault. We shouldn't be hasty to condemn personally those who disagree with us, even if their ideas strike us as reprehensible.

Sometimes I think, and here I find myself guilty, that we're so anxious to distinguish ourselves as intelligent or to come up as some inspired voice of warning that we are careless in our comments. I learned this lesson early in my online career when I first called for an end to the name calling and then immediately used the popular word "uninformed" in reference to one who didn't see it my way. I used to think that was a charitable word because, after all, it's not your fault that you haven't learned as much as me. I'm sure you're busy. Now I know I was wrong.

We should remember whose name we bear and that His defining characteristic is love. We should, I believe, be a little quicker to discuss and not so hasty to condemn. Perhaps your interpretation isn't the best or only one after all.