I’ve said before on many occasions, that while I am certain I can claim to be a good Mormon, I am not a remotely perfect Mormon.
And neither are you.
Neither have been any members of this church. Nor prophets, founders, or leaders of this church.
I’m not just saying they haven’t been perfect. I think most people are willing to at least passively assent to that statement. I am saying that none of them have been REMOTELY perfect.
Brigham Young was a man who prided himself on the mastery of his vices. Unless you count pride. He also can be accused of at least some level of hypocrisy. He railed against the baseness of the human pursuit of wealth, but was notorious for acquiring or retaining fellow saints’ property by less than ethical means, and he died one of the wealthiest men in Utah.
The most beloved apostle of the early church was Parley P. Pratt, who is widely considered to be the most holy martyr in Mormonism outside of Jesus, Joseph, and Hyrum. But Parley probably wasn’t murdered for his testimony of Jesus. He was gunned down by the bitter legal husband of his 11th polygamous wife, with whom Parley had conspired to kidnap her 3 children. Hector McLean was a deplorable man in almost every respect, but let’s be honest… Parley was no choir boy.
Any way you slice it, Ezra Taft Benson was a racist… and most of his contemporaries were too, though they ranged in their level of “benevolence”.
Even the deeply beloved (including by me) Gordon B. Hinkley was duped by a forger and con-man and spent personal fortunes on acquiring documents that purported to disprove some of Mormonism’s truth claims, presumably to keep them hid from the public eye.
I don’t think I need to start on Joseph Smith.
I think you get the point.
Not only are our leaders and fellow saints deeply and tragically flawed, they are deeply and profoundly human. They are like you and me. They are proud, jealous, angry, unfair, petty, intractable, loving, kind, forgiving, faithful, devoted, and loyal. They embody the full range of human potential from the heights of our genius to the Sheol of our basest instincts. Their souls contain surpassing compassion and yet they are sometimes guilty of astonishing neglect. People I love with all of my heart have accused me of fault-finding, negativity, and “evil-speaking of the Lord’s anointed” and well, they might be right.
But the meddlesome facts I delineated above actually serve to strengthen my faith. They give me confidence in my own walk through this incredibly fallen world. At my most honest and introspective, I see the same range within myself. I am developing the most enveloping charity at the same moment I am fighting off the most deplorable and hideous anger. I am a fiercely loyal friend and I have a foul tongue. I blame driving in Boston, but in all seriousness I’m the fountain from James 3:11. I bless and I curse all day long. Like the scriptures themselves, I am a cornucopia of contradiction. In short, I’m a person.
How can my faith be strengthened by knowing the worst about people? Because it echoes the worst in Jared Mooney, who is the person in my life that I am least likely to forgive or try to redeem. Also, because Jared has faith in a mystical force we often call the Lord Jesus Christ, but which I often like to just call redemption. Here’s how it works:
Imagine the best actual human being you can possibly imagine… somebody like Gordon B. Hinkley (or I’d even aim at like, Ghandi… even Ghandi was kinda sexist, but I digress). Jesus doesn’t count in this scenario if you accept his infinite nature… which I do. Let’s say that incredibly enlightened person gets out of life with like 7 Million “righteousness points”, hereafter designated as (r). And then Jared gets out of life with like, negative 850,000 righteousness points. (Maybe there’s some wickedness points in the balance, too)
So, Ghandi and Jared come to eternal the judgement bar.
Ghandi’s righteousness = + 7,000,000 r ≠ ∞ r
Jared’s righteousness = – 850,000 r ≠ ∞ r
The requirement for entrance into exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God, as I understand it, is infinite righteousness. Unfortunately both Ghandi and I will fall short of that number, despite our best efforts, and no matter how many Latter Day Saints get dunked in the G-man’s behalf. But God, being infinitely good at math, knows how our judgement will go if left to ourselves, and so he devised a way that we could make an eternal covenant that would bind us to a being that possesses infinite righteousness… the Lord Jesus Christ. Having received all that his Father hath, our redeemer not only pays our debt of sin to redeem us from bondage, he shares his righteousness with all those who have covenanted with him. And that righteousness, being infinite, finally gives us the needed variable. The equation now looks something like this:
Ghandi’s righteousness = + 7,000,000 r + ∞ r (Courtesy of Jesus) = ∞ r
Jared’s righteousness = – 850,000 r + ∞ r (Courtesy of Jesus) = ∞ r
Every last one of us will need the intercession of our Lord, not only to “atone for our sins” but to qualify for Eternal Life, which requires something substantially more than a zero sum. If we would become like God, we must be made partakers of the heavenly gift. We need saving GRACE. Judgement comes down to not what we do, but what we have and are willing to become. Our very nature must be transformed. Paul calls it “putting on Glory”. As Stephen Robinson puts it, “The question is not, ‘have I been good enough?’, but ‘Do I have a covenant?’.” I’m as grateful for Brigham and Joseph and Parley and Ezra’s weaknesses as I am for my own. Frailty and failure is the disease and consequence of mortality, the same as death. Deep and abiding imperfection is our lot, and most of us never escape it. The message of the gospel is that there is hope for all of us… even a sure word of hope. And our hope is in Christ.
Jared Mooney
Jared Mooney is a video and audio systems engineer from Boston, MA. He has the world's awesomest wife, daughter and puppy. Argue if you must.
All posts by Jared Mooney
well done!
Excellent piece, Jared.
I think the problem lies in the fact that most members think somehow they have to do something to qualify for “the needed variable.” And so, they amass works of “righteousness” they think make them more worthy of such a blessing as the Atonement. What they fail to realize, however, is that they are already bought and paid for by Christ’s blood. The only question that now remains is will their lives and their character set them up to feel worthy to remain in God’s presence? Or will they wither and shrink at the very thought of it?
God won’t keep us out of heaven. Christ has assured us of it. But we may keep ourselves out if we have not sufficiently converted our character to resemble Christ and his Father.
“But God, being infinitely good at math, knows how our judgement will go if left to ourselves, and so he devised a way that we could make an eternal covenant that would bind us to a being that possesses infinite righteousness…”
Wonderful post! Makes me want to shout “hallelujah and praise the Lord.” For real. Thanks for that.
Love this!
Over the years I’ve realized that making our leaders into flawless beings is actually quite awful, because then we act as though all the good they did was because of their own inherent qualities, and we completely ignore the Savior and the atonement. If anything, a leader’s weaknesses can teach us even more, because then we can learn from their example how even someone in a high position of power/authority still needs Christ as much as anyone else, and perhaps even learn how to come unto Christ in a new way we wouldn’t have seen or understood before.
I believe our leaders’ weaknesses are just as if not more important to know than their strengths. By focusing only on their strengths we show a lack of faith in the atonement. I think we are worried people won’t believe in leaders if they’re obviously flawed, yet like you, I find it the most encouraging thing to realize we all need the atonement and that God will still call imperfect people like me and them to serve His children in spite of my mortal failings.
And to qualify for the mercy of Jesus? Do I need to give intellectual assent to him as god, despite the fact that everything we know of him is filtered through the minds and pens of these “flawed… deeply and profoundly human” religious leaders? Do I need a baptism by one of a thousand sects that claims the pure keeper of the one gate?
Either the gift of grace is truly free and is given to all, in which case it is meaningless (infinity righteous points to all!) or it is conditional on arbitrary thoughts and actions that many “righteous” individuals can not, with conviction, think or do–in which case the grace you speak of really represents a deplorable injustice.
ScottH,
Grace is a free gift. The only requirement is acceptance.
ScottH,
Even baptism is unnecessary. Ordinances are only outward displays of inward commitments. Commitments that anyone can make.
Would you condemn a 4 year old child to eternal and infinite suffering for not obeying your rules? How does our knowledge compare to the god you believe in?
I think this gets complicated when we move from the abstract idea of “the judgement bar” to the very real version we have here on earth (and a supposed direct substitution), the temple recommend interview. The Bishop and Stake president aren’t going to really care about what kind of person you are at heart and whether you feel like you feel like your covenants are effective and you feel the spirit, they have very clear lines that they can draw to keep you out of the temple. And in most Mormon thinking “no temple recommend=going to hell.” So I appreciate the empowering thinking behind this article; it’s great to think about in theory. But when the rubber meets the road in temple recommend interviews, there are very clear behaviors that you must be doing the “right way” in order to qualify for a temple recommend, which, again, is seen as the equivalent of qualifying for salvation.
I love this so hard. I’m with Laurel, in that we do our leaders a serious disservice when we deify them. And ourselves a disservice because we create standards we can’t live up to, and see ourselves lesser because of it.
The truth is that we all have equal access to the Atonement, and we all equally NEED the Atonement.
Yes the Atonement is for everyone. Every single person ever born can use the Atonement to repent and be forgiven if their sins. This doesn’t mean that every single person will get into the celestial kingdom. Ordinances are important. In ordinances we make covenants that allow us to better ourselves and return to live with or Heavenly Parents. And if ordinances weren’t important, why would we do them for those who have already died?
I think an important thing to remember about God is He loves us infinitely. The Plan of Salvation is set up so that we’ll be going to the place where we’re most comfortable after judgment. And all three Kingdoms are still way better than Earth here now.
Sorry this comment was more in response to a couple comments above.
I like the idea of this article because I am so grateful for the atonement. I would literally be lost without it. But though I know every human has flaws and messes up, I just don’t like to focus on those so much. I don’t want other people to focus on mine and I don’t know how those people of the past wrestled with those flaws.
First of all, this was an awesome post Jared. I’ve been wishing someone would write something like this for a long time, and you do it beautifully.
Secondly, In response to Steven Hopkins – In the same way that temple ordinances are physical representations of an inner commitment and covenant, the temple recommend interview can only police the “lower law” necessary to enact those physical representations. It’s true that it is a crying shame that members will judge you for not having a temple recommend, but rather than argue for the persistent shallow perfectionism of our rhetoric, why don’t we argue for more understanding members instead? I believe that Jared is arguing for exactly that – for if we can accept that even the prophets make occasionally serious mistakes (I mean, have you read the Old testament?), then we will have more acceptance for members who struggle with the same.
I like the question “Do I have a covenant?” and I dislike it, greatly. I have had to resign my church membership only because thinking upon the temple rites has finally become so emotionally painful and obsessive that I can’t go on. I can’t continue asking myself why God hates all the daughters. I can’t go on that way. So, I am resigning only for the purpose of breaking those covenants that — I am taking a leap of faith — do not reflect a true version of God because I feel that God — Jesus — doesn’t hate all the daughters as much as the temple rites would suggest. In fact, I think that the temple rites are wrong. I think that women are as much heirs of God as men are. I think that women are not meant to be servants to men anymore than men are meant to be servants to women. We are meant to become ourselves and serve one another.
Here is my question: Do I have a covenant?
“Any way you slice it, Ezra Taft Benson was a racist…”
You should really substantiate this.
Thank you for that. I too am struggling with the place of women in the church… and in that right, in the majority of the religions that currently exist. If the people mainly men who have controlled the flow of religion for so long are not perfect and have made such blaring mistakes, why is it not seen and considered that very possibly women’s role in religion and the world has been tainted by imperfect men from the beginning?
Brian T,
There’s a lot that I could point you to, if you’re serious. Note my comment about benevolence though. I am not accusing President Benson of being a member of the KKK. Just being like that odd racist grandparent we all seem to have. I think Benson’s racism is pretty established in his own speech and by his own hand, but I also don’t think he was very malicious in his racism. No more than other privileged, elderly white men of his day.
Mungungadin,
I think the question “Do I have a covenant?”, in your case is probably better stated as, “Did I make a commitment to be Christ’s disciple and do I maintain that commitment?”
Ultimately, I think what the church has written down on your record is totally irrelevant.
Steven Hopkins,
“I think this gets complicated when we move from the abstract idea of “the judgement bar” to the very real version we have here on earth (and a supposed direct substitution), the temple recommend interview.”
I find this statement fascinating. I guess because I find the temple recommend interview to be both incredibly abstract and incredibly peripheral to my eternal destiny. It is the meeting with my maker I consider to be more “real”.