by RB Mac
Have you ever wondered how President Nelson, a Prophet of God, warns
you in essence that the proverbial defecation is about to hit the rotary oscillator
(the crap is about the hit the fan)? He says
it like this: "There's much more to
come…Wait until next year, eat your vitamin pills, get your rest”.
Change is a big deal especially in theology, where most religions
including ours, are known more for not changing then they are for any type of
change at all. Few things are more consistent
in the world than religion. But guess what, that is not how our religion was
setup. The theorem of our faith is very,
very different.
It sounds a little cold to describe part of one’s faith as a
theorem, but that’s really the way it is. Every faith in the world has a logic to
it. The fun part is that in the world of
religion, is each church gets to make up its own logic. Its very own cause and effect, its own axiom
set if you will. I am not just talking
about a logic that religions use to deduce rules that govern behavior. But a rule of logic (theorem) by which their
very beliefs are derived.
This is a lesson I learned in a theology class, we were required to
take in high school. As much as I love seminary, it is not in any stretch, a
serious class of theology! Take your imagination
into one of my memories. You show up to school
and the first lecture you get, is on how so many religions in the world don’t
get along. He tells us about the hate of
the Crusaders, the eternal battle between Islam and Judaism, Southern Baptist
and Mormons, and so on and so on… illustrating that fact that nothing in the history
of this world, is full of more animosity and war then religion.
The teacher then sits on top of his large desk, in the front of
the room and utters the following words “We expect you young people to be able
to bring the harmony of logic to every situation in this life and you will
start by bringing the most emotional subject in the history of this world into logic
and order. Because if you can do it
there, you can do it anywhere”. For the
next year I learned a lesson that has paid many dividends in my life, that the study
of theology is really the study of philosophy within the bounds (rules) of
logic a specific religion has chosen to be governed by. That even something as seemingly complex as
religion, has a simple straight forward core.
If you want to flatter the most adherent believers in a religion,
make them smile, have them look you in the eyes and say, “Yes that’s true!”… Tell
them that their religion is so solid it is based on logic. They will get all of the warm fuzzes they
desire and their minds eye will flash with images of their religion being the
one true religion that has found a way to bring together the world of science and
logic with the Universe of God in Heaven. Next, if you want to make most adherent
believes in a religion, any religion mad, really mad, make a point of
telling them that the logic their religion is based on is totally made up,
subjective and full of so many holes of varying size that it makes a sieve look
water tight.
Different religions have different logic. The fun part is that once you know a certain
religions foundational theorem, “logic”, they become easy to understand, easy
to argue with (the Greek meaning of the word argue, thank you very much). You also learn that in every religion there
is a fallacy in their logic, a belief that does not fit, a doctrine that it
does not explain. That is every religion except for a true one. If a religion is to be true, then the theorem by
which their beliefs are derived from must be perfect. Their theorem must bear
the weight of any test.
So why am I bringing this up?
Because President Nelson, our Prophet, knows this probably better than
several of the church’s Presidents that have come before him. He knows the power of the theorem of our
faith. And what is even greater is that,
he is totally, and completely 100% unapologetic about it!
Nothing is off limits to him. There is no faith of our fathers that he feels
can’t be changed. He has no reverence
for administrative rules that the general church membership has mistaken as doctrine.
He seams to detest customs that somehow evolve into unofficial law and there is
no revelation he is afraid to put forth to override principles we have had for
almost 200 years…. In short, this Prophet is one of the few leaders of an
established religion in history, that is absolutely not afraid of progress and
change!
We just heard the Prophet say to take our vitamins, that we have
not seen anything yet. To get ready
because the changes are coming… I think we need to make a good old fashion Pioneer
Trek to GNC and stock up, I mean a year of food storage
level stock up! And don’t skimp, get the good stuff, because this guy really
understands the theorem of our faith, he understands the power of change.
But here’s a question for the members of the faith, do we
understand our own theorem?
Think about this for a minute: what is our theorem? What is the
rule of logic that governs how we establish what is doctrine and what
principles we abide by? It’s really important because this is also the rule
(doctrine) that gives the Prophet the power to change everything… EVERYTHING.
Look at what he has changed so far, Scouting, gone. Duty To God,
gone. Young Woman’s Recognition Award, gone. Three-hour church block, gone. Doctrine
that all temple ordinances have to be performed by Melchizedek Priesthood, gone.
High Priest groups, gone. Even the way doctrine is taught to its members has
been changed.
What do we call this? Well
according to President Nelson, we call it a warm up.
There is a real power in change.
For all of us Sci-Fi geeks out there, Frank Herbert’s book series Dune
has the best line on the subject “Without change, something sleeps inside us,
and seldom awakens…The sleeper must awaken”. And boy are we waking up and I think this is exactly
what we need.
In the modern world, the church was becoming more and more behind
the times and even less and less relevant. I am not talking about our doctrine,
but the way the church interfaced with people’s lives. We are supposed to be a peculiar people in,
but not of the world. But this modern
world is rocketing forward and we are starting to live in the realm of thin
oxygen, the boundary of outer space.
I really can’t understate this power of and need for change! Not to
mention the power of the Prophet to bring it about…. The Prophet could walk to
the podium in General Conference and if the Lord told him to announce that we
are no longer going to be using the Doctrine and Covenants as part of our standard
works…. I’m not kidding he could do this and the best part is that it fits
perfectly in the theorem of our faith. We
as a faith are setup from our very foundation to evolve and progress and our
new Prophet really understands this!
Well, here it is the theorem or better said rule of faith for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:
“We believe all that God has revealed, all that He
does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and
important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”
-9th article of faith.
-9th article of faith.
In short, we believe what God says when he says it. We don’t quantify
or qualify what he says by comparing contemporary revelations to historical
ones, we don’t believe in putting limitations on what God can say/reveal such
as “the Lord will never remove the Doctrine and Covenants from the standard
works” or “the Lord will never give women the priesthood”. The sole litmus test as to whether a
revelation is from God, is the spirit of God. There is nothing that is off the
table, nothing the Lord cannot do, say or update in his own church. President
Nelson made this clear when he pointed out that the restoration of the church
is not done, that there is still more to come. That takes us from “restored
church” past-tense. To a state in process of “being restored”. That means that
the Lord is still revealing (also known as teaching) things to us. Knowledge
added Line upon line… precept upon precepts = expanding knowledge or simpler said,
change and progression.
The greatest thing about our rule of logic is that it is the Lords
logic not ours. Omnipresence and omnipotence are his eternal attributes, not our
mortal ones. He is the one with the eternal perspective of which our theorem is
based. We (if we are smart) don’t need claim to understand all aspects of logic
from an intellect such as the Lords, we just claim the opportunity to believe
it, obey it and make covenants to display our commitment to it; thereby
becoming members of the Kingdom of Heaven. Remember our theorem we believe what
God says when he says it.
This can be allot to take in, so I guess its time to sum this up
and let it sit for a while … but first lets summarize what the Prophet was
really saying when he talked about us taking our vitamins and being ready for
the big stuff. What he was saying was
not do you have faith in what we have now. What he was saying was in essences, “make
sure you have the personal strength of faith to believe and support what is
coming next”.
And the big question is do
we? Do I have the level of faith that if the Lord should say something like
women will now be ordained to the Priesthood, that I believe him and support it?
I am not saying that I think that is going to happen, but I am asking if each
of us has the kind of faith to embrace that level of change, because I do think
that is the level of change that is coming.
On second thought you might want to add some probiotics to that vitamin
regiment because real change and the hardcore growth that comes with it is
heading our way. Make no mistake about it and it’s going to hurt because change
always does, especially if you’re not ready for it.
