I got this expert from my blog friend TStevens from Apples at the Chapel. It followed a book review about a young nun. He brought in his thoughts regarding his own religion and I found them to be close to my own. I hope this does not offend anyone, just help us all reevaluate our priorities.
"Anyways, when stopping for the beggar she did not receive the mythical “A”, rather she was berated for having too much pride. “Do you think you are the only one who could help?” “You think you are that important.” In a larger sense it strikes me as ironic that rather than obey the basic rules of the gospel, we overcome this by make more rules about the unimportant. It is more important how we dress, what hand we use in partaking the Sacrament, what color shirt we wear, what meetings we attend, what callings we have, etc. Ultimately I believe there will be some disappointed people one day who think helping out in Scouts, wearing a white shirt, avoiding diet coke & r rated movies, and their blind obedience to any number of Pharisaical rules will excuse their avoidance of the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is love. That is like me creating my own currency then fully expect my local stores to accept it as payment.
And to those of the “I show my love by wearing a white shirt”, etc; I say Merde de Bulle!! You show your love with LOVE. Christ’s life was a mission to bring others equal to him – to have all the Father has. In trying to emulate Christ is your mission in life to have everyone have all that you have? I suggest this, when serving others do not follow the prescribed path of forcing your religion on them as part of the deal. Just serve them and the converts will take care of themselves. Help where you can help, give where you can give, sacrifice where you can sacrifice. In my very limited opinion that will leave you in a lot better stead than just looking "good.""
5 comments:
My feeling is that we show our love for Christ by being obedient to his Prophet. If that means that we wear certain clothing, take the sacrament with a certain hand, and obey those "Pharisaical rules," then so what? If we are unwilling to follow even those basic "rules" how would we ever expect to be able to follow the bigger ones? If we obey the small commandments the big ones are much easier.
I believe there will be LOTS of disappointed people who thought that just loving Christ would be enough! That just serving where you can would be enough.
Thanks Lena, I like this. When we moved out of the Utah bubble, I learned a whole lot about the church. Here we don't emphasize those nitpick things. The main point is going back to gospel basics, learning to be the best people we can be, and not getting caught up in things that don't matter that much. I agree with the point above that following the prophet's counsel is important (obviously) but there is a way to get to caught up in those things and miss out on the point.
I think you're right. We do need to reorganize our priorities. It was a very thought provoking article. Also... I like that it swears in a different language. :)
I love your tripas Lena!
I think the point is a lot of people get so fixated on being obedient on the little things as an excuse to never be obedient on the more important things. As if the more little things they do makes them some how better than their neighor and will also buy themselves a better place in the celstial kingdom.
Some of the nastiest people I have ever met are usually the most publicly presented. They have no love in them.
TStevens is Awesome :-)
There is nothing wrong with doing the small things, it's even commendable, just do them in conjunction with the truly important, love your neighbor as Christ would, n matter who your neighbor is.
There is a problem that pervades any religious life, even my own; that is the tendancy to feel complacent doing the small things as an excuse to judge others or not serve them. It is used to not bring others equal to ourselves, but rather to let ourselves feel superior to them.
Plus all the advice given to us by the prophets (and other leaders) are meant to be a means to an end, not the end itself. Ithink we lose sight of that difference to often.
By the way, thanks for the discussion, it is more than I got when I wrote it. And it is a geat book, Hope Endures by Colette Livermore.
And finally, Parker, you are the best Poodle a guy could ever have :-)
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