Who's judging whom?

Some people have said to me that religion (esp. LDS religion) causes people to be judgemental and prejudiced. I wish I could explain to them, but I never seem to be able to find the words. I wish that they could see that it's my understanding of, and experiences with, my Father in Heaven and my Savior that gives me the ability to look beyond all of that -- to see the truth and goodness in people -- the truth that lies beyond my prejudices, beyond my insecurities, beyond my own fears and weakness.

Everything good that I know...everything good that I am, or do (or say, or feel, or think) - comes to me by God - either by his power or his example. If ever I'm able to look past a persons actions -- to look into the heart of someone else, to forgive or simply to withold judgement -- it's because he has shown me how. I've felt him look into my heart...to see beyond this brief fraction of time, to see why I act the way I sometimes do, to see the real me -- and to love me even when there isn't much there that I can find to love. I've felt him treat me like the woman taken in adultery, prepared for condemnation and death, who found instead compassion, forgiveness, and hope. When I have this in my heart is when I remember to do the same for others. It's only when I forget God that I begin to judge...condemn...despise...fear...hate.

One of the most basely human (and un-godlike) things we possibly can do is to pass judgement on one another -- to see only what is before us -- the surface appearance, the visible action, the person they may be in this moment...while God looks deep within the soul of people, sees beyond the action, beyond the moment -- he sees all that we have been, all that we will be -- he sees what pain we are in that may be affecting our decisions, he sees what we hope to be. He sees what we love and long for - and the stupid ways we sometimes go about trying to achieve it. That is what I see when I practice my religion. It's when I fail to practice my religion, fail to live as God is teaching me to live, that I find myself passing judgement on others.

Why do people get it so backwards? Why, when they see a person of religion who is failing to live their religion, blame it on the teachings - instead of looking at the doctrine and what it is teaching us to do? The teaching of Christ (and the LDS doctrine) is clear in this manner. It makes me sad that so many people cannot see it, and pass judgement incorrectly and unwisely.

Trinity and the Godhead - part 2

I wrote "Trinity and the Godhead" following a discussion about God with a good friend of mine, and I’ve thought about it a lot since then. I’m reading a book called, “Getting at the Truth” by Robert L. Millet. In it, he talks about the relationship between LDS people and people of other faiths. He encourages open discourse, mutual respect, and truly listening to people of other faiths – not just listening with half an ear, waiting for an opportunity to jump in with our own beliefs. I’m afraid that I still tend to do that – jump in with my own beliefs, rather than truly listening – but I’m working on it, and the effort’s been rewarding. He’s primarily talking about other Christians, but I think the same is true of any sincere, good religion (I exclude Satanism and any similar “religion” which focuse on darkness – this may close-minded of me - but there are times to exclude certain things and times to be more inclusive).

He quotes extensively from a book by Richard Mouw entitled: Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World. The following quote comes from that book:

“We need to have such a total trust in Christ that we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it leads us. He is ‘the true light, which enlightens everyone.’ (John 1:9) Jesus is the truth. We do not have to be afraid, then, to enter into dialog with people from other religious traditions. If we find truth in what they say, we must step out in faith to reach for it. Jesus’ arms will be there to catch us.” (pg 106)

I have never understood the concept of the Trinity, and had some close-minded thoughts about this belief. But, listening then with an open mind and a sincere desire to understand and to see things from my friend’s perspective, I felt surprising warmth, and could see the sense of it, and the beauty of this concept. I still do not place my faith in this concept of God as the true one (for my own reasons); however, I came to respect it as a viable, symbolic, beautiful concept of God.

I hope that I can continue to allow God to stretch me in my understanding of other people and other religions, trusting that I will either a) learn new truths about him or b) learn to better understand and respect other people – both of which would enrich my life.

C.S. Lewis on love

From The Great Divorce

"You cannot love a fellow-creature fully till you love God. Sometimes this conversion can be done while the [love for the other person] is being gratified. [But sometimes it cannot, and...]...when that first love was thwarted, then there was a chance that in the loneliness, in the silence, something else might begin to grow."

"...love, as mortals understand the word, isn't enough. Every natural love will rise again and live forever...but none will rise again until it has been buried."

Experience with light

I was walking out of my garage the other day, and as I stumbled my way through the narrow passage (filled with clutter) leading out to the black night, I could see nothing at all. I stumbled into the door blindly, feeling for the door handle.

But as I came back in, I saw a tiny sliver of light from around the crack of the inside door, spilling out from the light within. My way was illuminated – not enough to see clearly, but enough to find the door. When the light was behind me, it was not enough to light my path. But when I turned to face it, it was enough to guide me home.

If we focus on the dark (or the things we don’t know or the things we fear), while turning our back on the light (the things we do know), we don’t have enough to guide us, and we will stumble through in total darkness, even though there is light to be had. However, if we focus on the light, we have enough to guide us.

Do I think we are meant to stumble around in the dark, with only a sliver of light to guide us? No. Do I think that we are meant to just ignore the questions we have? No. I think God wants to shed light on all knowledge, all truth, answer all questions. So why does he let us stumble around in the dark, when we so desire light and knowledge? Why did God allow his perfect, most loving Son to feel alone enough to cry out “Why hast thou forsaken me?”

I come back to these truths and hold onto them – they get me through this night:

1: God’s ways are not my ways. Which is for me to say, “God’s ways are what my ways would be if I could be like God, if I could see as God sees, and comprehend as God comprehends.”

2: The scriptures talk about God’s purposes being to bring us back to him, and to make us more like him. Sometimes this path is hard. It seems to be harder the further along that path you get (look at all the greatest disciples in the scriptures – the Savior, Abraham, Paul to name only a few – they all seem to have suffered more than I ever have). This tells me that some kinds of pain, darkness, doubt bring a growth that light, answers, and ease do not.

I have witnessed this. I have come to appreciate some of the darkest times in my life (in hindsight) as times of learning, growth, change, humility, and faith. But only because I continued to seek God. I think that if I had ever given in or given up, those times would have been for my destruction instead of growth.

I guess in his wisdom, he recognizes that, although he wants us to know him fully, it will come in a process of time, growth, and great personal struggle. We must trust that he knows what we need and what we can handle, and the right time and season for everything.

Trinity and the Godhead

I struggle when people say that the LDS view of the Godhead is true because it is more comprehensible than the idea of the trinity. That is not why it is true. If it is true, then it is true simply because that’s how it is.

I am grateful that it is comprehensible (at least in part) to me, but that is not why it is true. Whether something is currently comprehensible to me (or to the general public) is not the test of something’s validity. However, I do believe that all truth will eventually be made comprehensible – but only when (and if) we become the kind of beings that can comprehend them.

Is he any less of a God when he is incomprehensible to me? Of course not – He is what he is, the truth is the truth – surely there are other truths beyond my comprehension. I cannot comprehend the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This does not make it any less true.

Is he any less of a God when he is comprehensible? Is he any less of a God because he was once a man? I look at the condescension of the Savior – to descend “below them all”. Surely everything in the scripture, everything that the Savior taught, is that we can do as he does, we can become as he is, and we can go where he goes – not because we make ourselves worthy to follow him, but because we trust in his promises, and he leads us there.

Chess and Faith

Maybe what we need most is not the answers to all our questions -- we need a reason to hold on when we don’t have the answers, or don’t understand the answers we have. It’s like chess – sometimes it’s wisest to counter-move instead of to defend. In chess, if you only defend, the offensive player will eventually get the better of you. You will lose the game. (At least, that was my experience). To win, you must do both: defend and counter-move.

Likewise, if you try to find the answer for every spiritual question before continuing forward, you will fail to find all the answers you seek because you will not be in the place you need to be to receive them. It’s not that you shouldn’t have questions, or that there aren’t answers, it’s just that you will likely run into a time when your faith will be tested – and it will be tested in the hardest way possible. For people of analytical integrity, who question in order to learn deeply, who test their own assumptions, who would rather be right than comfortable -- that is likely to come in a way that tests this very quality – which is both strength and weakness.

It takes great humility to say, “Everything I once believed in could be wrong.” In a way, however, it will take greater humility, to say, “There may be truth that goes beyond my comprehension, beyond all my learning, all my logic, all my study. But to find it, and to find peace, I must trust in something beyond my own abilities.”
I do not have this challenge: the challenge of questioning and believing. I still have to search for light – but not in the world around me. There, I recognize light from dark. Mostly I search to separate the light from the darkness in my own heart. But I know that we are all tested in the way that pulls at our very heart-strings, forcing our greatest strengths and our greatest weaknesses (often the same characteristic) to the foreground for purification and submission to God’s will. When Satan tempted the Savior, his greatest temptation was not with the promises of bread or power, to test the Savior’s weakness – the greatest temptation was to challenge the Savior’s strength…his divinity. "If thou be the son of God…"