The county where I live in Colorado lifted its mask mandate over the weekend, and happy Latter-day Saints responded by getting rid of their masks at church today.
It was great to see everybody’s faces, and people were happy and optimistic. A week ago, when the county mandate was still in place, about half of the people in Sacrament wore masks, and the other half did not, and there was almost zero contention about this situation. One of the reasons I love living here is that most people are truly tolerant and do not feel a need to boss other people around.
On the internet, however, not so much. I get hate mail all the time claiming I am “going against the Brethren” by writing that almost all masks are and always have been useless against viruses. Sorry, the uselessness of most masks is simply a fact (strangely accepted by almost everybody now), and I prefer to live in the world of reality, not the cult world that others have created.
So, as I said, until recently masks were “mandatory” in our ward because of local county guidance, but only half of the people wore them. And now that masks are no longer mandatory, but are “highly recommended,” nobody wears them. So, it appears that at least where I live all of the Church members are “going against the Brethren” by following the science, rather than the mask cult.
(This should be obvious, but I will write it anyway: if you are immunocompromised and wear a mask, you are not part of the cult. If you are perfectly healthy and still wear a mask because of COVID, you really should reconsider because it is not good for your long-term mental and physical health. But at end the end of the day, your wearing a mask doesn’t hurt me, so do what you want. But if you feel other people around you should be forced by government to wear a mask, yes, you are part of the cult and need to reassess your life).
Here is the reality: the Church only asked us to wear masks for two reasons: 1)because governments insisted on masks and 2)many people were afraid, and the Church was encouraging kindness by asking people to wear masks around people who are afraid. So what has changed? The government guidance, that is what.
The primary reason that no Latter-day Saints should have any anger towards the Church’s actions during the pandemic is that the Church was held hostage by thousands of tyrannical governments around the world anxious for any excuse to shut down worship services. If somebody is held hostage by a kidnapper, you don’t blame the victim, you blame the kidnapper. It was the governments doing the evil, not the Church.
Does anybody remember that the churches were among the first institutions to be shut down in March and April 2020, while pot dispensaries, liquor stores and bars were all considered “essential?” Our worship services were shut down for two months, and we could only go back under strict rules including massive chemical cleaning (the science clearly showed that COVID was not spread on surfaces, but again the science didn’t matter), distancing and masking. No singing was allowed. There is no doubt that many government rules seem to be inspired by Satan and are pure evil.
I don’t blame the Brethren for doing what they needed to do to keep chapels and temples open. I don’t blame individual members doing what they needed to do to go to Church and take the Sacrament. But I do blame individual members who joined the cult and gleefully came up with excuses to boss other people around and support the government tyranny taking place all around us. I blame anybody who ever yelled at another person to “mask up” or tried to bully other people minding their own business. This was a test, fellow Saints, and if you supported the government actions that limited other peoples’ freedom, you failed the test. You should be ashamed.
Take that shame and learn from it. For the next government “emergency,” (and there will be others) always stand up for individual liberty and true tolerance. If you find yourself supporting rules controlling the actions of others, rather than supporting their free will, you should stop and realize you are on the wrong side. It’s not that difficult. As I said, almost everybody in our stake in Colorado was on the right side during the pandemic. But the stories I have heard from other wards and stakes indicate there were many, many people who failed during the pandemic. Wheat and tares, my friends, wheat and tares.