Here is a link to an article I recently read on LDSLiving, which is a sort of Mormon lifestyle magazine that is published by Deseret Book, which is owned by the Mormon church.
The author tells a tragic story of how she dealt with the death of her parents and two brothers from carbon monoxide poisoning while she was serving as a full-time missionary for the church. While I sympathize with the author’s situation and wish that these kinds of things did not happen, and while I’m glad the author found a way to deal with her grief that brought her peace, I feel compelled to write a reaction of sorts.
The story begins with a visit by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland to the author’s mission, where he gives a talk that includes a promise to all of the missionaries:
“As you serve your missions with all your heart, mind, and strength, your families will be protected.”
In reaction to Elder Holland’s talk the author relates:
“He spoke with such power, and I remember the Spirit testifying to me that he was indeed an apostle of the Lord and that anything he said would be of God.”
Near the end of the story, some time after the funeral for which the author had to return home early from her mission, the author writes:
“I’ve often reflected back to that apostolic blessing given to me as a missionary, and I have come to realize that Elder Holland’s promise was fulfilled. My family is okay. No, they are not with Ian and me right now, but they are near us always. They are safer than they could ever have been here on earth.”
While I can understand how this kind of thinking might comfort a person, for me, personally, this kind of story just makes me feel a little sick and angry. Any General Authority or Apostle of the church would fully agree with and endorse the author’s perspective on this tragedy. This type of thinking is at the heart of the Mormon message, namely, that the leaders of the church speak for God, and therefore anything they say (particularly if it is said in a church meeting and if one feels “the Spirit” when they say it) is true and correct no matter what. Even if it’s not.
If a Mormon Apostle promises a group of Mormon missionaries that their families will be protected while they serve faithfully on their mission, and then the entire family of one of the missionaries (except one brother who was also serving a mission at the time) is poisoned to death by an invisible, odorless gas in the middle of the night in their own beds, then that still means that that family was protected, just like the Apostle promised.
This is madness.
My apologies to the author, and I am comforted by the fact that she will likely never read this. If for some reason she does, I hope she will understand that I mean no disrespect and am trying to react to a set of ideas and a way of thinking and not to her personally.
Finding a way to make church leaders be right even when they’re wrong is the kind of approach that led and still leads people to gladly sign off on a variety of bad behaviors from Joseph Smith and all of his successors.
If the church is “true” and its leaders speak for God no matter what, and if there is no acceptable evidence that could ever show that the church is not true and the leaders speak only for themselves, then how meaningful is the truth of the church really?
Mormon Mouse 