I might have said a few days ago (I really can't remember), that it may be time to, once again, try to bring this blog back to the basics of the Gospel, such as faith and repentance. Today, I'd like to write a little bit about faith.
Faith links pretty strongly to what I wrote about yesterday. Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to trust Him. As far as I'm concerned, that includes trusting His honesty, His goodness, and His wisdom. His wisdom allows Him to know which paths are the best ones to take. His goodness inspires Him to desire for us to follow those good paths. His honesty is shown as He tells us, through the scriptures and prophets, which paths we ought to take.
If we trust all that, then we know that He knows which path is best for us, and we know that He wouldn't lie to us, so when He tells us which paths we should take or avoid, we know that we should follow His advice. That's great in theory, but in reality, it's a little bit harder.
At the risk of getting political again, I'm going to bring up the recent events concerning the Supreme Court and Proposition 8. I support freedom and equality. I want people, all people, to be treated fairly. If it were up to me, I'd let people - no, I'd want people to follow their hearts courageously, and not have the government or the general public trying to tear them down for acting according to their beliefs.
Prop 8 is a complicated issue for me, as I think it is for many Mormons. Everyone agrees that freedom and equality are good things. I don't think homosexual marriages would really hurt anybody. It might have some kind of effect on future generations, but whether that effect would be net-positive or net-negative, I can't tell. I can't predict the future. But God can. And while I'd normally not try to tell people what they must or must not do, God has spoken.
So, here I stand at the crossroads of opinion on gay marriage. I can support it, oppose it, or try to stay neutral. I have no idea where any of these paths will lead for me or for society. But I do know (or at least believe) that God has made it pretty clear which way He's going. So the question for me is: Am I going to follow Him or not? I trust Him. But do I trust Him enough to make a decision that doesn't make sense, is rather unpopular, and seems (to my logic) to be wrong?
I know that He knows more than I do. I know that He's wiser than I am. I know that when He says that a certain decision is the right one, then it is, even if I would have chosen something else. God makes better decisions than I do.
Without God's guidance, I might have chosen to try to stay neutral. If they win, then whatever. They can live their lives while I live mine, and when this is all over, we'll all end up wherever we end up, and we'll have no one to blame (or thank) for getting us there than ourselves (or God, if we follow what we think He's telling us and it happens to work out).
But, apparently, God thinks that's a bad idea. In fact, He seems to think it's such a bad idea that He wants it to be illegal. I don't understand that, but I have to trust Him. I oppose gay marriage - not because I think it's wrong, but because I believe God said it's wrong. I guess that amounts to about the same thing, doesn't it? It seems different enough to me. This may be another piece of evidence that my logic is flawed. Which is why I'm trying to rely on someone else's logic to help me make good decisions.
I mean, if a foolish man knows that he's a fool and that he makes bad decisions whenever he makes any decisions at all, and he knows that someone else is wise and makes good decisions all the time, wouldn't it be wise for the foolish man to follow the wise man's advice, rather than his own, at least until he gains some wisdom for himself? That's what I'm trying to do. And some people may call me a "sheep" for that, but at least I've got a Good Shepherd. Being completely lost, but following a good Guide is better than just being completely lost. And I feel completely lost most of the time. Without a good guide, I know I'd just wander around aimlessly and never get anywhere at all.
I am a sheep. I need a shepherd. And if I need to put all my faith into somebody (and I know I can't trust myself with that kind of responsibility), I have to put my faith in God. So I'm going to lemming behind my Heavenly Father, and if we both fall off a cliff, so be it. I probably would have stumbled off a cliff anyway. But if we both end up in heaven, at least I got there somehow, and hopefully I'll have learned some wisdom along the way.
God voted Yes on Prop 8. And for that reason alone, so did I.
1 comment:
Well said. That is pretty much how I feel. Left to myself and my own (miniscule) wisdom I probably would have said to each his own. (Although I do have serious concerns about what children are being taught in school contrary to their parents' moral and religious beliefs). But He whose thoughts are above our thoughts, who sees and knows all, has spoken. Although it offends people I care about and respect, I must follow God and His prophets. I have been weak and hesitant. I must learn to stand.
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