The church is doing a pretty good job, but are we?

as an institution, maybe. but as a people (which is what ‘church’ historically means), definitely not. and the blame largely points to the institution.

soon before his death, joseph smith taught that “the fundamental principle of the kingdom” was friendship. today that idea has largely been replaced with traditional christian notions of worship – prayer, assertions of faith, scripture reading, church worship, etc.

No. It’s the GAs fault that all too many Mormons believe it is more important to ritualistically read their scriptures, pray, wear only a certain # of allowed earrings, avoid caffeine, and attend three hours of church services on sundays than it is to help out the beggar they approach on the street.

Don’t blame the GAs for your own (and other peoples’) lack of initiative, self-direction, and proactivity.

I don’t blame them for my own. However I do blame them for others’ in the church. The rhetoric of the Church today is far more geared at ‘personal righteousness’ (like the pharisees) than communal righteousness (like jesus and the book of mormon). i am not saying that the GAs haven’t talked about helping out the poor and what not, what i am saying, is that the emphasis is disproportionate compared to the teachings of Jesus, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon.

For example, the Book of Mormon is full of teachings about the problems of wealth and the gap betweeen the rich and the poor. The rich are constantly condemned in the Book of Mormon. Sexual immorality is only discussed a few times, and each deals with a communal aspect, not as an individual sin (infidelity to wives, prostitution, forsaking the ministry). The Book of Mormon was supposedly written for today, but the Church’s approach is more like much of traditional protestant Christianity than the Book of Mormon (little focus on wealth, a lot of emphasis on sexual immorality based on victorian sexual ethics and ‘personal righteousness).

The Gospel as taught by Jesus, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon is about community. Its about the plural community (read the sacrament prayers and read about baptisms in the Book of Mormon and rebaptisms in early Mormonism – as in the pioneers all getting baptized again in Utah). Today the Church has taken on a very individualistic gospel (with family twist) that focuses too much on me me me and ‘what do I need to do to get myself into heaven.’ For Joseph Smith, the gospel was about ‘what do we need to do to create heaven.’

there is much precedence in the restoration (and scriptures) of members and lesser leaders pressuring and influencing those above them to change polices, practices, and doctrines of the church – with or without extra revelation. examples of the latter include the word of wisdom (emma pushed joseph about tobacco, whitmer and others wanted hot drinks banned in revenge), blacks and the priesthood ( lester bush’s research and a LOT of pressure influenced the change), and the gospel going out to the gentiles (paul laid the pressure on peter). this list could go on for pages.

as in the quotes i gave you a few days ago, it’s important to question are leaders. one reason is that doing so can strenghten our understanding of their ideas. another reason is that they can be wrong. god doesn’t have them tied to string moving around like puppets. the scriptures show time and time again that the church can falter. look at the old testament, the high priests were going bad all the time. it was the common members who did not hold the priesthood that were charismatically called to correct the faults of the leadership.

I personnally think the church is doing tremendous things in this area both collectively and individually. Large scale humanitarian aid and home teaching. Amazing things.