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Surprisingly, I was asked to talk in church last Sunday. I say surprisingly because my bishop knows my distaste for many things LDS. But I appreciated his trust. The topic was about the restoration. [emoji15] I often fantasize about getting up and talking in church, but never about as sticky a topic as this. After struggling through my preparation I decided to make it personal and be honest, yet keep it appropriate for sacrament. I told about my parents and how thanks to the restoration, they had a church that inspired them to come together in love and raise a strong family. How their strength affected my upbringing in a positive way and got me where I am today.
Then I went to college and studied the sciences, which made me question everything I knew about God. Living the gospel through my parents had gotten me far, but I couldn’t get past the issue of the nature of God on borrowed light, I needed personal answers.
I then talked about paradigms and borrowed an example from The Crucible of Doubt about how we search for enlightenment but can’t progress because our paradigms don’t allow us to ask the right questions. I then talked about Joseph smith and how he had experienced death and sickness, and that the classical Christian God didn’t provide the answers he needed. So he prayed about which religion to join, but that was the wrong question.
Borrowing again from Crucible, I talked about how even when we follow the string of scientific reason, it will lead us to a singularity and unscientific hypotheses about a multiverse, which requires, of all things, belief.
I then said that basically the atheist, Christian and mormon points of view are equally “unlikely” and all require faith. Then I talked about what principles the restoration gave us that were absent in classic Christianity such as our eternal nature, life as a moral classroom instead of a fallen world, a parent-like God who wants us to progress according to all that we are willing to receive, and eternal relationships.
I tried to focus on what I did believe despite my struggles and bore a simple testimony that I believe God cares about me in ways that are sometimes insignificant, but meaningful, even if I don’t understand why.
It hit a nerve with several people who came and had good discussions with me afterward. Many said it was refreshing and they wished we talked like this more often in church. For me, it was a challenge to be positive after so many struggles in the church lately, but getting a positive response to this talk was helpful in moving forward.
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I would have eaten up this talk at church. Key points I found interesting — that even being an Atheist requires faith…presumably faith that there isn’t a God! What an interesting thought! The other point — that often our paradigms don’t allow us to ask the right questions, using JS’s “which church should I join” question as an example…..
Were you alluding to the Emporer’s New Clothes Phenomenon, where LDS culture prevents us from asking hard questions?
SD, no I wasn’t thinking of that–but I would love to be able to give a talk about that subject somehow. The people I talked to afterward seemed to be interested in that idea, and some told me they are more trusting of people who tell them there are no good answers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well done. I think I have gotten the best responses to talks when I have been very authentic, as it seems you were. I think people are tired of hearing the parrots. Well Done. I love your authenticity and courage. I am saving your post with other talks people have shared that open up our paradigms and help us improve our practice of the 11th Article of Faith. Impressive job. :clap: startpoor wrote:Surprisingly, I was asked to talk in church last Sunday. I say surprisingly because my bishop knows my distaste for many things LDS. But I appreciated his trust. The topic was about the restoration. [emoji15]
I loved reading the summary of your talk. I’m curious about the (general) location and make-up of your ward.
Ann, my ward is in an urban area in the Midwest. Pretty diverse makeup with a lot of professional and PhD students, and a large amount of people with low or no income. Very few established families. Still pretty conservative as a group, but I’m noticing individuals who are more liberal. Very few established families. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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