Skip to main content

Gentle Reminders

A short list of things that do not necessarily make you a good person, prevent you from doing or saying any wrong things or even from doing horrific things to other people and ruining their entire lives:

  • Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Holding a calling
  • Being in a position of authority
  • Being a long-time member
  • Being widely-respected
A short list of people who have ever been perfect:
  • Jesus 
A short list of people who should be trying to be as good as they can even though they mess up, but who also have the ability to decide whether or not they're up for that challenge:
  • Me
  • You
  • Literally everyone else
A short list of what not to do when allegations come out against members of the church, especially high-profile ones:
  • Freak out
  • Lose sight of your faith
  • Shush it up in the name of "defending the Church"
  • Defend those at fault
  • Protest in the streets (or the online equivalent)
  • Make an absolute hype about it
  • Decide the church isn't true
  • Throw dirt on the church because of the actions of some
  • Get hyperfocused on the people of the church (there's no guarantee of their goodness, remember)
  • Doubt everything
  • LOSE SIGHT OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS
A short list of what TO do when allegations come out against members of the church:
  • Acknowledge it--which may be done with all the rancor and consternation of your soul if necessary
  • Trust the Lord
  • Stay true to the Church
  • Re-center yourself on the important things and what you already know
  • Re-commit yourself to be better
  • Re-commit yourself to taking care of your brothers and sisters
  • Remember all the good in the world and in the Church
  • Trust the Lord
  • Trust the Lord's Prophet
  • Be patient (Isaiah 55:8-9)
  • Trust the Lord
  • Trust the Lord
  • Pray a lot
  • Remember that the Church is the Lord's
A short list of scriptures that have helped me right now:
  • D+C 123:17 - "Therefore, dearly beloved bretheren, let us cheerfully do ALL THINGS THAT LIE IN OUR POWER; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
  • Proverbs 3:5 - "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
  • Isaiah 55:8-9 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
  • Psalms 82:3 - "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy."
  • Alma 48:13 - "Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood."
Yes.
Be angry.
This is horrific, and ugly, and disturbing, and terrible and we have every right to be angry at him.
After all, it was more than just his victims' lives that he ruined.

BUT REMEMBER we have brothers and sisters who will leave behind the Gospel because of the actions of a few terribly misguided and errant and wicked individuals. In all your anger against him, and those who enabled his behavior to continue and allowed him to go undisciplined, don't be angry at the Church of Jesus Christ, or at His Gospel. Defend what you know to be good about it. Stay true to Him. 
Remember that the Church isn't an ordinary organization: you can't change its policies by protesting in the streets. Only God can do that, through His prophet.
Remember that the Church *is* only an organization in the sense that is has limited powers of investigation.
Remember that the Church has a responsibility for the souls of the victims, but also for the souls of the abusers. Sometimes it may be tough to understand why a particular course of action is taken. Remember that we don't have all the facts, that every soul is precious, that God's thoughts are not our thoughts.

Remember above all that God is just as well as merciful. 

Many times our first thought in a situation like this is, "SOMEONE MUST PAY." 

NEVER FORGET that Someone already has. 

At the end of everything, God will make up every injustice and wipe away every tear.

In the mean time, you and I have a responsibility to take care of our brothers and sisters. Look around you. Your responsibility is here, now. Be involved. Be there. Send your roots deeper and invite your brothers and sisters to come with you. Respect others. Extend compassion and understanding and the benefit of the doubt to others. Protect others. Defend your faith, defend truth and justice and mercy, and defend the Lord and His Gospel.

The more stuff like this happens--and it will only keep happening more and more--the more the Lord needs you and I to be strong.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wanderers in a Strange Land

"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world." ~C.S. Lewis   Recently, it hit me in a totally new way, and has continued to do so, that we as human beings really are other-worldly creatures. We are not made for this world. We are wanderers in a strange land, poor wayfaring strangers here. We're equipped for this world, but it's not our natural habitat. What makes me think this? There are many things that have brought me to this conclusion. Let me list a few. Desires which nothing in this world can satisfy. There are so many of these, are there not? We hate goodbyes, whether that goodbye is temporary or long-term; we want to be with our friends and loved ones forever. We also want friendships that go so much deeper than is humanly possible. I don't know if I can describe this desire, but hopefully you've felt it and you know what I'm talking about. We want to...
8 comments
Read more

This is for You

My dear friend, I'm about to tell you something important, something true. Something I know from the bottom of my heart. it is not a painful truth, it's a happy, awesome one. It will make your life better when you know it, too.  But you are not going to believe me. You have self-conditioned to disbelieve what it is I am going to tell you. It's not that it would be painful to accept. It would, in fact, be wonderful. You don't accept it because you can't see it. But faith is believing in things we can't see. So I am asking you to suspend your disbelief for a minute and be willing to believe what I am about to tell you, because I KNOW it's true. And here it is. You... are beautiful. I'm serious. You have no idea. Girl, you're amazing! I know you can't see it in yourself, but even the most drop-dead, unbelievably beautiful people can't see it in themselves. And I'm telling you, you are so beautiful! Don't you dare disbelieve me! ;)...
5 comments
Read more

The Path

I feel like one of those characters at the end of an epic movie who finishes their quest in the exact same place as it started. The place looks the same, and so do other people, but they know they will never be the same. They cannot be.  The girl stands, looking up at the place where it all began, knowing she is not the same. She takes a deep breath. Runs her fingers through her hair. Sighs. But instead of end credits rolling, she turns around and realizes there's a path before her feet. It's foggy and twisty, but it's a path . She doesn't know where it goes. She takes one last look over her shoulder at all that she can see of her previous adventure. Then she turns and, without looking back, follows the path. She has no choice; she can't go back the way she came. So she goes forward, into the fog. She knows that somewhere along this path, someday, she will come to a place... and look up at it... and go inside... only to come out a different person. And she'll ...
6 comments
Read more