our lesson in relief society this past sunday was on apostasy. much comment was made on how we should never criticize/question our church leaders. i disagree, but rarely find it worth my time to openly disagree with a certain lace-clad girl. so i just read my ensign. having said that...
one of the reasons i disliked church in high school was the mutual hatred between my young women's president and me. i won't go into the details, but she did her best to convince me that i wasn't a very good person. unfortunately i had zero respect for her & took some pleasure in goading her into tirades not so subtly directed at me. she still avoids me when i visit my parents' ward. i think my attachment to the church would have been stronger if i had just skipped young women's my last two years of high school. (i have never met anyone as excited to get the hell out of YW & into RS as i was. i started going the day i graduated from high school - 3 months before turning 18)
the only way i made it through those years with a testimony was to question the things she taught & study them out for myself. it turns out she was wrong on several accounts. so i have no problem questioning or criticizing local leaders (although i try not to be too vocal about my issues). these days, i try respect them & the position they've been placed in, but it ends there. i don't think they are automatically good people that will unfailingly provide appropriate guidance. perhaps a flaxen cord is being wrapped around my neck, but it is better than two more years of bitter doubt & resentment.
5 comments:
Wow, Brooke. After reading your post, I wished I had spoken up in class on Sunday. I was pondering the same subject, and no, I don't think not questioning people is the way to go. A lot of people have gotten into a lot of trouble by not questioning their leaders; the obvious example that comes to mind is Hitler and his Nazis . . .
Sure, they weren't called of God, but I have a few examples of my own where leaders took advantage of their callings. No, I think you are right: It's good to show respect for anyone, and it's good to support church leaders. But if you have a question, you should ask it, and if the person is a good leader, they won't mind that you asked.
So maybe that's it -- maybe it's okay to question leaders, but it's not good to silently question and judge without proper explanation. If you're going to question, do it, but do it openly and don't be afraid. If you don't understand the answer, study and pray. It's really a win/win situation for everybody. :)
Anyway, it was good to read your post because I was feeling hyper-critical on Sunday, and felt bad for it. Now I feel like I was on track . . . Thanks. :)
you are awesome!!! :-D
Oh, and btw...i think i had watched one too many "snapped" episodes when i texted you the whole murder question...
hahahahhahaha :D
I am sad that I missed it. I would have spoken up. Having blind obedience was never the intention of the Lord and it is Satan's plan. The lord wants us to use our agency, act,excericse faith, and look at the fruits. The Lacey type comments drive me crazy.
Yes, and I think that there is a really distinct difference between the questioning that is sometimes referred to as leading to apostasy, and the questioning that we all should do on a regular basis. Some people really get that confused and start to make not any sense, which sounds like what is happening with the folks you know.
Believing that a leader is somehow not human, infallible, etc, could really lead to a much greater crisis than questioning that leader could.
I also have spent more than one meeting quietly reading in the back, not wanting to cause a fuss.
Once, however, I did cause a fuss in a meeting (I was much younger, and was deeply offended by the remarks of both the instructor, a member of the bishopric, and some of the other people in the class). I stuck up for what I thought was the actual important gospel principle and said that I thought that what was being disputed where we sharply disagreed was not important gospel-wise.
Someone else in the class said that satan was working through me.
I pretty much keep to myself since then.
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