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As a card-carrying nerd, I understand your desire to apply the scientific method to test the truthfulness of facts. I have a 25 year old son from a prior marriage before I joined the church. To illustrate the dichotomy that he grew up living under, his mother and I divorced (in part) because she decided she was lesbian. Within the next year I joined the LDS church. Due to split-custodial arrangements, he came to church with us 2 Sundays a month until he was about 11, then we moved further away, and he spent weekends with his mom, so he stopped coming to church. He has become, like his mother, a professional critic–in his words, “skeptic”–and firmly believes in the scientific method. He is a very intelligent young man, though lacking a little common sense, and very full of himself, in that he thinks that he can master the world through his mind. He very muchresembles me at that age. But what he is missing is that the scientific method disallows for another dimension of thinking that secular individuals probably think of as intuition but which I think of as revelation. These are things that we intrinsically know are true outside of any objective, conclusive proof. My 2nd wife and I both grew up in alcoholic families. I recognized that the painful death of that marriage had a lot to do with my family history. I felt crazy. In my mid-30s, despite the absolute best efforts of my mind, my life had broken apart. I was an agnostic searching for answers. On the advice of others, I went to Al Anon, and they told me I had to get a Higher Power. What’s a Higher Power? I had no idea. But I remember with extreme clarity the night 21 years ago I was journaling and God touched me. As I journaled, I was influenced to write that I needed to know who Jesus Christ was. That was a bolt of lightening out of clear blue sky. That feeling from 21 years ago and the knowledge that those words were given to me by God is as tangible to me today as the table lamp next to me.
In our Elder’s Quorum class two weeks ago, the teacher drew an analogy between the scientific method and personal revelation which I found interesting. To test the validity of facts, we apply the
Scientific Method: [list][*]Formulates a hypothesis[*]Conduct careful, controlled research to evaluate the hypothesis[*]Evaluate the research and draw conclusions[*]Using our minds, compare the hypothesis to the outcomes of the research. [/list] Then we ask, was the hypothesis true or false?As you suggested, to test the validity of God, we apply D&C 9:8, aka the
Gospel Method: [list][*]Formulate an idea, opinion, or conclusion[*]Carefully consider and study the topic, gathering information[*]Evaluate the information gathered and make a decision[*]Guided by the Spirit, submit the decision to God for confirmation. [/list] Then we ask, what would God have us do?I submit that these are not different processes, but one and the same. The difference is how willing we are to receive answers that are given to us in ways that others cannot discern, and how willing we are to rely on and stand by our experience. At the MTC, you experienced an extraordinary witness to the truth of the Gospel, the kind of revelation that few of us get in our lives. Is that experience any less true these many years later? Are you doubting or denying that it happened? It doesn’t sound like it.
The LDS culture has a strong element of conformity built into it. It is very hard to openly challenge other people’s statements especially in classroom type settings. You were rightly alarmed and upset by this individual’s statements about church principles and gays. Uncertain how to respond, you left. I sense a bit of guilt on your part, that you ought to have stayed and questioned his assertions.
I can understand the feeling of not wanting to belong to a group that welcomes anyone who calls homosexuals “fags”. That language is not Christian. It is uncivil, judgmental, biased, and homophobic. However, should I disassociate myself–emotionally, physically, or in other ways–from that organization because he is also a member? I believe that is wrong. First, it allows the bigot to stand without the countervaling forces of good that I represent. Second, I will lose the many, overwhelmingly positive benefits i receive as a member of that group. It would be foolish of me to reject the entire group because one of its members–be it an instructor, a General Authority, or even the Prophet–made a mistake. My testimony does not rely on a human being’s behavior. My knowledge of the truth of the Gospel relies on the Gospel Method.
You can read about and see an illustration of interview questions asked the Saints in 1857 before they could enter the Endowment House here: http://byteline.blogspot.com/2007/03/temple-recommend-questions.html ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://byteline.blogspot.com/2007/03/temple-recommend-questions.html They reflect the context of the times, including questions about branding an animal that you did not own and using another person’s irrigation water.
