Doctrine
I've been going through Wikipedia, scanning the stuff about the Mormon church, partly from boredom, and partly because El Reg has been lately bitching about Wikipedia being worthless.
I haven't found anything disturbing, and I haven't found anything that seemed inaccurate. There are a lot of historical details that I coulnd't verify to save my life, but I'm not concerned about those overmuch anyway.
The whole Black African American thing was disturbing, but it always has been. I've filed that as one of the things I don't care enough to pursue actively. The church does not have an official position beyond "God said so". I've found that God does not always provide explanations for weird things that fail to make sense, and it fascinates me that this one bothers me while other such issues do not. Interests me? Fascinate may be the wrong word. After all, this is about discrimination, and it probably should disturb me, even if I reach a point where I find myself totally accepting that it is a part of what I believe.
That's a point I should probably make: I hereby declare that I believe every official doctrine of the church. I may have some reservations about them, but I believe them. I believe certain things about the Book of Mormon and about the Lord that mean I believe in this church. I believe in all of it.
Including the parts which require more faith for acceptance.
The Gospel is perfect, right? And so is the organization. None of the people involved are perfect, and so it is possible to have screw-ups within the governance of the organization. It is also possible that the whole Blacks and the Priesthood thing simply wasn't resolved because no one sat down and prayed about it until then.
See, this qualifies as one of those things that I don't think I'm going to find an answer to, regardless how much I study about it. Prayer is the only possible answer.
Bah. I feel like I was born in Missouri sometimes. It is hard to take someone's word (even Christ's) for some things.
But I do.
I haven't found anything disturbing, and I haven't found anything that seemed inaccurate. There are a lot of historical details that I coulnd't verify to save my life, but I'm not concerned about those overmuch anyway.
The whole Black African American thing was disturbing, but it always has been. I've filed that as one of the things I don't care enough to pursue actively. The church does not have an official position beyond "God said so". I've found that God does not always provide explanations for weird things that fail to make sense, and it fascinates me that this one bothers me while other such issues do not. Interests me? Fascinate may be the wrong word. After all, this is about discrimination, and it probably should disturb me, even if I reach a point where I find myself totally accepting that it is a part of what I believe.
That's a point I should probably make: I hereby declare that I believe every official doctrine of the church. I may have some reservations about them, but I believe them. I believe certain things about the Book of Mormon and about the Lord that mean I believe in this church. I believe in all of it.
Including the parts which require more faith for acceptance.
The Gospel is perfect, right? And so is the organization. None of the people involved are perfect, and so it is possible to have screw-ups within the governance of the organization. It is also possible that the whole Blacks and the Priesthood thing simply wasn't resolved because no one sat down and prayed about it until then.
See, this qualifies as one of those things that I don't think I'm going to find an answer to, regardless how much I study about it. Prayer is the only possible answer.
Bah. I feel like I was born in Missouri sometimes. It is hard to take someone's word (even Christ's) for some things.
But I do.