Do not criticize -- ever.
A few weeks ago I posted a link to a Church website that asked for thoughts and criticisms of the new (and terrible) Gospel Principles manual. Apparently a troop of Mormons decided that any form of criticism is an act of apostasy and went to the post to defend the Church.
Here are some beautiful examples from the comments on the Church's media blog:
Sarah - "I hate to criticize anything put our by the Church because I feel that is not really supporting our Prophet and our Leaders. . . . Please, Brothers and Sisters, let’s not say unkind things about this manual, even if you think they are true. I think it reflects poorly on us as members. We are supposed to sustain our leaders in all things. Including the committees that research and write the manuals."
Annie - "I don’t understand the point of this survey. Isn’t God the one directing the church. Wouldn’t he know whether it was a good idea or not. With our leaders being so inspired why would they need our opinion?"
Jeff - "Some of these comments sadly reflect a glaring lack of faith which I find much more disturbing than any perceived shortcomings of the GP manual. . . . Next time a survey like this is offered, perhaps it should require not only name and email but perhaps membership number? There’s too much anti-mormon nonsense and rhetoric clouding up this page."
Nicolas - "The people here that complain about the book, calling it such things as “an insult to our intelligence”, are NOT asking God if this decision is correct, they are nitpicking and criticising their own leaders. They are not searching for the truth, they are searching for reasons to be offended. Yes we are encouraged not to follow blindly, but that means we have to seek a spiritual confirmation that our leaders’ decisions are divinely inspired. We are NOT encouraged to find fault with them, or to rant and complain about their decisions." (emphasis mine)
I'm bugged by the underlying assumption that if you do ask God, he will tell you to approve the manual. If you feel anything other than approval, you must not be asking God about it. At the very least, you must not be asking God correctly. Take Nicolas: "The people here that complain... are not asking God if this decision is correct." Nice. It seems to me this is a very pervasive view within church culture. And it's exhausting.
ReplyDeleteI love it. The Church specifically requests that members provide feedback on the quality of the manual, and yet these overzealous members insist that providing negative feedback is apostasy per se.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't the Book of Mormon pronounce woes upon those who insist that "all is well in Zion"?
Loyd, you should know that when the Brethren ask for criticisms, they don't really *mean* it. It's a test of your faith, and you failed. Miserably.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, the manual says Nicene Christianity is "false Christianity".
Chris, I was going to ask for the page number, but a simple google search for "gospel principles manual 'false christianity'" brought up the official online version on the third entry.
ReplyDeleteI think this is going to be a whole new blog post.
while i do think that the comments loyd posted reflect a narrow, judgmental, and spiritually/intellectually lazy aspect of some (maybe a large portion) of church members I also think that we should be constructive, helpful, and yeah, nice in our criticisms. Saying things like "insults my intelligence" is not constructive, or humble, or meek, and it invites a tone of conflict that will not help anyone.
ReplyDeleteOkay my favorite part of this is not the actual content of their thoughts, but the fact that Sarah referred to all posters as "Brothers and Sisters". ha...now that's true faith and dedication...using church terms at all times. We should be more like Sarah.
ReplyDeleteI think Annie is inappropriately questioning the judgment of the Brethren by implying that the survey is pointless.
ReplyDelete"I don’t understand the point of this [comment]. Isn’t God the one directing the church. Wouldn’t he know whether it was a good idea [to have a survey] or not. With our leaders being so inspired why would they need our opinion [about this survey]?"
Crap, I think I'm about to fall into a never-ending loop.
Maybe the survey is simply a rip-off of Mao's "Hundred Flowers" campaign. You know, give lip service to the idea of tolerating criticism in order to coax the dissenters into speaking out. So you can punish them.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. I think.
"Yes we are encouraged not to follow blindly, but that means we have to seek a spiritual confirmation that our leaders’ decisions are divinely inspired."
ReplyDeleteYou know what's interesting...I hear people talking about this idea critically...as if it's an unspoken cultural rule that most members are sensible enough to believe is *not* doctrinal.
But for Nicolas, not only is this doctrine, but this is a good thing.
Andrew S, I think the most interesting part of Nicolas' comment is that "we have to seek a spiritual confirmation THAT our leaders' decisions are divinely inspired." For a sane person, the word "that" should be an "if." The way he writes it, it sounds as if the only possible answer is a confirmation that Church leaders are right. The idea that one could come to the conclusion, after prayer, that the decision was wrong, simply does not fit into his worldview.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that I never knew "the committees that research and write the manuals" were part of the group of leaders whom "we are supposed to sustain...in all things."
ReplyDeleteI guess now all that's left to do is to pray and get confirmation, i.e., the only response that is logically possible.