Several of my friends at Church have recoiled in horror after visiting Church blog sites like T&S and BCC. When I tell them I am a fan, their response is, “how can you read stuff that basically promotes apostasy?”
Now, let me make this extremely clear: I do not share these opinions. I repeat: I do not share these opinions. I think many, many posts on both T&S and BCC are incredibly faith-promoting. And they are clearly better blogs than M*.
However, I would like to make one small attempt to try to explain to some of my friends (and I do consider them friends even though I don’t know them personally) in the Bloggernacle why many people in the Church respond this way.
I have learned my lesson about questioning anybody’s righteousness in the Bloggernacle. Not only is it not right morally, but, I don’t have the keys or the authority to question the righteousness of the many people out there whose opinions may not agree with mine.
But I am concerned that many people in the Bloggernacle get so caught up in intellectual games that they lose track of where they are headed and where their arguments are taking them. And, again, I say this with as much charity as possible and with the best of intentions. I really think some people are not being introspective and are losing their way. And it concerns me.
I refer specifically to the post I linked in the title, which can also be accessed here. In this post, Julie M. Smith linked a fascinating article about modern-day polygamists who live in suburban Utah. Three women, one man, 21 kids with another on the way. I read the entire story and even listened to the interactive media presentation. A great story.
The comments were, to be quite frank, disturbing. There were several that seemed to justify polygamy and then we heard the old argument which I will summarize as, “consenting adults should do whatever they want.” Adam Greenwood and Bbell jumped in, very mildly at first, to point out the obvious: polygamy is a grievous sin, it is illegal, and it will get you excommunicated.
The comments got more and more contentious and over the course of the comments suddenly everybody seemed to be jumping on Adam for being “mean.” While I agree that Adam’s comments sometimes are a bit forceful, and he uses a tone that I would not use, he was simply pointing out an obvious fact.
But Adam somehow became the bad guy when he was simply repeating the Church’s position. In contrast, very few people had a problem with all of the people questioning the Church’s position and beating up on Adam for being “mean.”
Now, I will be quick to say that I am biased because I actually agree with Adam’s position and I thought he presented it quite well.
It seemed to me that Adam was crying out for somebody, anybody, to say, “oh yeah, Adam, thanks for reminding us that the Church is against polygamy. You make a good point.” Perhaps I am the only one with that perception.
But I would like to point out that the Bloggernacle, which I have grown to love, has a big, big perception problem in the Church among many rank-and-file members. Members read a thread like that one on polygamy and watch a defender of the Church position get pilloried, while people promoting polygamy are basically taken seriously, and they recoil in horror. I really think that has got to change.
Every group has a dynamic, and the group dynamic for the Bloggernacle very often seems to me — and many, many other Church members — to be that all of the commenters are way, way smarter and more sophisticated than the average Joes in the Church. And because they are so much smarter and sophisticated, it is OK for them to question silly doctrines in the Church. And of course anybody who believes those silly doctrines is an uneducated rube. And if anybody dares to say, “ahem, as Church members we actually follow the Prophet and do what he says, and he has said XXXX,” they are immediately laughed at and, yes, pilloried.
Folks, most of us get laughed at enough for our silly adherence to Church doctrine by our neighbors, co-workers, anti-Mormons, evangelicals, liberal seculars and on and on. The last thing we need is to suffer even more abuse on a site inhabited by fellow Church members.
Just a quick reminder before I close: In Aug. 1842, Joseph Smith said the following:
“God said, ‘thou shalt not kill;’ at another time He said, ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.’ This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted — by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the chidren of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.
Polygamy was right in some limited circumstances from the 1840s until 1890 (yes, I know that there were a few other polygamous unions for a few more decades). Today, in 2007, polygamy is wrong, illegal and will get you excommunicated. I don’t know if that will change, but the Church position is as clear as can be on this issue.
OK, one last comment: my intention with this post is a positive one. I am trying to point out something that I think many people in the Bloggernacle have not considered. Notice I do not mention anybody besides Adam by name. Please do not take offense because no offense is intended. This is constructive criticism, and I hope it will be received this way.