If the LDS Church wasn’t "true", wouldn’t you want to know?

I thought I would share two of my favorite “concise” resources when dealing with issues relating to the church. My favorite thing about both of these letters are that they are coming from people who have seen both sides of the argument and have come to what I believe to be logical conclusions despite the negative social consequences that resulted from their decisions. I believe these are both great resources for any member of the church who answers “Yes” to the question “If the Church wasn’t true, wouldn’t you want to know?”

 The first is a letter is written by a member named Tyler Young. One thing I can empathize with Tyler is that he genuinely wanted the church to be true. This is certainly how I felt at the time. Nobody wants their worldview destroyed but the truth has no limits.

http://bit.ly/whytylerleft

The second and perhaps my favorite is from a current lifelong member who was asked by a CES Director in 2013 to share with him questions and concerns regarding the LDS Church and its truth claims. The following letter is Jeremy's response. As far as I know to this point, no response has been given.

http://www.cesletter.com/

Both of these authors have mentioned that their documents will be updated regularly as they make edits or additions so I would always refer to the links above. Many thanks to these guys for their hard work! Happy reading!

Religion as a Crutch

I distinctly remember on my mission trying to convince the people to listen to the message of the glorious gospel. One of the biggest defenses given was “I don’t need your crutch!” I remember being offended by this insinuation that my religion is a crutch. I also remember saying that it isn’t a crutch but it is something that will help you in your life.  Well now guess what? I can’t think of a better description for religion than a crutch. Does this mean that religion is bad? Not necessarily. The thing with a crutch is that it should only be used when there is a disability.  What religion does is it convinces you that there is something wrong with you. The idea that man is inherently evil is taught by many religions, including Mormonism. 

Religion is no different than these guys that sell water purification systems. They do some bogus test that makes you believe that the perfectly good water you have been drinking your whole life is somehow suddenly contaminated. “Well guess what? Since your water is so badly contaminated, it just so happens that I sell this amazing water purification system. It will only cost you $2,000!” he says.  Similarly, as Mosiah 3:19 says, For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.  In other words, as any good missionary  will say, “Since man is an enemy to God, it just so happens all I need is for you to dedicate your entire life to my church and pay 10% of your income and you too can be saved from your evil self!”

Mormonism along with most religions has some very good attributes and does many good things. Mormonism along with most religions also has a lot of bad things. I have come to realize that unfortunately it really is too late for some people to ever believe that they can survive without religion. They are so convinced at this point that their “leg” has atrophied to the point that it cannot be rehabilitated. However, I do believe that for most, it isn’t too late. They can drop the crutch and rehabilitate themselves. They will find that what they thought was walking at a normal pace was really a hobble and they can now run freely. Will it be painful to get to that point? Most definitely! Any rehabilitation is very painful but it can be very worth it. I have come to realize that I am no longer broken like I thought I was. As a result, I no longer need that crutch to get by. It is hard but I believe one day I will run faster than I ever did with that crutch supporting me. I haven’t left religion but rather I believe I have graduated from religion by realizing that there is nothing wrong with me. Trust me; you can walk on your own!

Indoctrination, Brainwashing and Teaching

Recently I was watching the documentary by Richard Dawkins that is based on his book The God Delusion.  He referenced a quote from the Jesuit that says “Give me the child for his first seven years, and I’ll give you the man.” I can’t agree with this more. Dawkins talks about that our genetic makeup causes us to believe what we are taught by our elders for our own survival.  We need to be taught to not walk to close to the edge of a cliff or to no go in water infested with alligators.  I love these examples because they are true. No child would ever survive to adulthood without some guidance and direction. 

Now I contrast this to part of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” that says “Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.” I do not completely disagree with this statement other than the “observe the commandments of God” portion.  The problem is that no matter what your religion, there are varying degrees of what the commandments of god are. Frankly there are varying degrees within Mormonism i.e. consumption of caffeine, net or gross tithing, keeping the Sabbath day holy etc. Every parent interprets these things differently just as every religion interprets these things differently and these discrepancies are passed on to the kids as facts in their mind. It is sad to think of all the hatred that is passed on from parent to child that is based on religion. To me this is indoctrination and I believe could just as easily be called brainwashing.

I will not indoctrinate or brainwash my kids but rather teach them. So how to balance what I teach my own kids? I now look forward to teaching my kids the basics of life. That is my responsibility as a parent. It is my job to help them be a contributing person in society as well as to not fall off of the cliffs of life. I can teach them to treat others how they would want to be treated. I can teach them the consequences of their actions. I can teach them that there is a whole world out there for them to explore and try to figure out.  I can teach them to try to find their own personal happiness. Sure, I can use my experiences or the experiences of others to help them understand possible outcomes of their decisions.  I can try to explain why I might believe what I believe without forcing or coercing them.  I don’t have to teach them the made up dogma of others that came before them.

Dawkins also has stated “Religious leaders are well aware of the vulnerability of the child brain, and the importance of getting the indoctrination in early.” I believe this is the exact mindset of the church leaders who recently lowered the missionary age. Yes, the same guys that brought you the lyrical gem “Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet he knows the way!” (Seriously, how did I not see this as brainwashing?)

It is sad to see what indoctrination does to the brain. It can force the most innocent child to want to kill their neighbor. It can force people to die for a cause they believe in even if it is baseless. It can cause young adults to leave their world during such an important time in their own life just to say to strangers that my god is better than your god. I sincerely believe that most of the world’s social problems are caused by indoctrination. To combat this we can encourage free thought and tolerance for others. We can remove the arrogance that religion brings to the table.  We can open our minds and the minds of those around us to the idea that there is more than one way.  I acknowledge that my views about this matter could also be seen as arrogant but considering the diversity of this world we live in, I certainly would rather err on the side that allows more than one way to live and believe.

On second thought, the only brainwashing I will do with my kids is to ensure they root for the appropriate sports teams.