Busting Myths about the Family Proclamation
Thirty years ago, in a meeting most of the world ignored, fourteen Apostles and a Prophet of God presented a proclamation. That proclamation would become one of the most quoted, debated, and misunderstood documents in modern religious history. When President Gordon B. Hinckley read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" on Sept 23, 1995, few could have predicted the intense controversy and cultural battles that would hit us during the next 30 years, nor that this uncontroversial nine-paragraph statement would become the great divider of the Church. Yet the apostles who crafted it knew exactly what they were doing. And three decades later, their prophetic foresight has been vindicated. As the Church has made its stand, Satan has responded from both without and within the Church. One tactic he utilizes within the Church is to spread myths and misconceptions about the Proclamation itself, hoping to undermine its authority and the confidence of members in its teachings. Let's separate the truth from the myths.
Do We Proclaim the Proclamation?
I’ve always been an odd duck. Most kids played soccer during recess; I preferred reading and discussing theology. As a young adult, I discovered FAIR (a leading organization for Latter-day Saint scholarship and apologetics). Now, my annual pilgrimage to Utah for their conference is a highlight of my year. But Latter-day Saint apologetics is a niche hobby-- one my friends have always found uninteresting... until now. Over the past two weeks, many have reached out, saying they watched the FAIR presentations and want to attend next year’s conference. What sparked this newfound curiosity? The old adage: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
You need to die
In Alma 22, we read of the powerful conversion of King Lamoni's father. I noticed something strange in the account following the king's lesson on the plan of salvation. The Book of Mormon is clear that the Nephites understood that both the wicked and the righteous would be resurrected. Yet, in response to learning about this universal resurrection, the king prays to God, asking "that [he] may be raised from the dead." Stranger still, in answer to this prayer, the king is immediately "struck as if he were dead." What is going on here? I have some thoughts.
You sure you want to say that?
A few years ago, I saw a Twitter post asking how a Latter-day Saint might respond to a situation involving family and same-sex marriage. It was a great question, so I reposted it with my brief thoughts about the tricky balance of love and faith and how I might respond, and then I happily went to bed. I had no idea what was about to happen.
Justice and Mercy Aren’t Enemies—They’re Married
I was standing in the Conference Center at Temple Square, a place I’d previously only seen on a TV screen. This past summer, I finally got to walk its halls in person—an experience that felt like stepping into a storybook. I’m not usually an art guy, but one painting in the Conference Center art gallery grabbed my attention immediately and hasn’t let go since.
More holiness give me... even if I'm not sure I want it
Last week, I had the privilege of working a baptismal session in the Temple with our wonderful Spanish branch-- most of them recent converts doing this work for the first time. They were untrained and nervous, so there were many do-overs. As I watched these humble brethren intently struggle through the ordinance, I thought back to my own first time doing baptisms for the dead, and how I managed to fumble things in my own unique way. When I was twelve, only endowed Melchizedek Priesthood holders could perform the ordinances, so the responsibility for all the baptisms often fell on a single young men's leader for the entire session. I could see this good brother's arms growing tired, so when it was my turn to be baptized, I tried to lighten his load by leaning myself into and out of the water. I guess I overdid it. After just two names, he laughed and said, "Matthew, you're trying to baptize yourself; that's not how this works. Just let go a bit and let me do the work. I've got you." I didn't know how important those words would become to me later in life.
Why our resolutions fail
I'm writing this post from the cafe of the YMCA (I come here regularly, but I'm no gym rat-- I drop the kids at the daycare while I work). Right now, this place is absolutely packed! I shouldn't be surprised-- it always fills up during the first month of the year as people try to meet their resolution to lose weight and get in shape. I looked it up just now-- the word "resolution" only occurs once in the entire Book of Mormon. Alma 47 tells of a group of people "fixed in their minds with a determined resolution" to break out of a rut and make some wonderful changes in their way of living. How did their resolution go? They started very strong. Then old temptations started to wear them down a bit. Then they started to cheat and compromise. And within a few weeks, they were right back where they started. Sound familiar?
Popsicle sticks and the Atonement of Jesus Christ
Thirty minutes had passed and most of the missionaries were back in the chapel. But not my companion. Forty minutes and a few more stragglers came in. But not my companion. Fifty minutes and the APs started us singing hymns and bearing testimonies to pass the time, but my mission president and my companion were still absent. I started getting nervous. Finally, after a full hour had passed, my companion came back into the chapel alone, and our mission president hurried to the stand to continue the meeting. I didn't ask my companion what happened; when we wrapped up the day, he told me himself. And what he said changed my understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ forever.
"Efficiency" isn't that important to God
As a software engineer, it's my job to find the optimal way to do things. I'm constantly looking for the most efficient method to sort a list, store stuff in a database, and speed up a program. And once my brain is set to "optimization mode," it's hard to turn it off. For example, recently, as I waited for a temple session to start, I found myself mentally inventing ways to increase the throughput of proxy ordinance work. I came up with a way we could do ten times the number of names per endowment session with just a few minor tweaks and no degradation of the experience. But the Spirit interrupted my silent design session with a gentle rebuke: "This is the Temple. Look around. What gave you the idea that 'efficiency' is what's most important here?" As I pondered this experience later, many stories and insights from ancient and latter-day scripture flooded my mind. What did I learn? That by mortal standards, God operates very inefficiently, because He's working with a completely different set of priorities. Here are several seeming "inefficiencies" I'm grateful for.
Nephi's "burning love"
It's amazing how much we can learn from a story the second time it's told. Details and viewpoints you missed entirely the first go-round tend to come out in subsequent tellings (like Joseph Smith's First Vision). You may not have caught it, but this month in Come, Follow Me, we're reading one such re-telling that teaches us some important truths about love-- what it is and what it isn't. Perfect for Valentine's Day.
You're not ready for Zion if you won't even clean the building
On June 5, 1976, Idaho's Teton Dam broke, sending a massive wall of water fifteen feet high over the valley below. The 80 million gallons of water that rushed over Sugar City and Rexburg carried away houses, demolished businesses, and covered the whole community in a thick layer of rancid muck. Pres. Henry B. Eyring, then president of Ricks College (now BYU-I) noticed that some individuals went to work and became heroes to their fellow men, while others ran from every opportunity to serve, betraying their wards, quorums, and even their own family members to the disaster. Being an analytical businessman, Pres. Eyring performed "a small but scientifically significant study" into why some people rose up while others ran away. What he found was very interesting