Well, I'm back. The haitus is over.
I want to start this foray into the blogosphere with a more overt expression of my current intentions. I read through my previous statement, and I don't necessarily want to amend that too much. I'm still interested in pop culture, and I like to flex the ol' PhD occasionally. I might even wax funny occasionally, if PhD's are actually allowed to do that without sucking all the moisture from the atmosphere.
But I am increasingly interested in having a voice in the national--check that: world--dialogue about religion and its place in the public sphere. I am also interested in both Mormon and general Christian apologetics
So, here is my intital salvo:
I am still an orthodox member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I have a personal witness from direct experience that there is a God. I have faith that I am in the image of God, and that he looks human though I haven't seen Him.
I have direct personal experience--I might rather say "experiences"--that prove to me that God loves me. I have faith that He loves everyone.
I have direct personal experience--again, multiple experiences--that prove to my satisfaction that God does not lie. In all cases in which I have been able to personally test the veracity of what God has said (either through the LDS canon of scripture or through personal experience), I have discovered that God has spoken the truth. I have faith that He cannot and will not tell a lie. I have faith that cases which I have not been able to test--either because they have not happened yet, or because the test is otherwise not available to me--these cases will also prove that God speaks the truth. I have faith that things I do not currently know or understand will be knowable and understandable and will prove God's veracity.
A long time ago, I prayed to know if "the Mormon Church is true." The unequivocal answer was a resounding "Yes!" There can be no possible doubt for me that the answer came from God. I am reluctant to publish too much of my spiritual experiences, and indeed, I don't believe it's necessary for me to prove to the world that the experience I had on the first night I prayed, or experiences I have had since, are from God and not my own little brain. However, I feel a certain responsibility to be a witness, just as if I had received a subpoena to testify in court.
I have had innumerable spiritual witnesses that the Book of Mormon is a true, ancient document, and is the Word of God, equal to the Bible. I am perfectly willing to discuss the Book of Mormon at length. I love the book. Both as a scholar of literature and as a practicing Latter-day Saint, I confess that the Book of Mormon is my favorite book. If I were allowed only one book (and me a compulsive reader!), and if I were confirned to some limited space, I could find happiness in reading and studying and pondering the Book of Mormon--both as a literary and as a devotional text. The King James Bible, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain would be icing on the cake--but the cake alone would suffice.
So here I am. Back in the saddle again. Chafing at the bit. Champing in the gate.
And maybe I can finish that novel while I'm at it...
Showing posts with label Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Show all posts
Monday, January 20, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Millenialist, Mormonism, and Prop 8
It's about time that I identify myself as a practicing, orthodox member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It was not my intention, at the beginning, to allow for the obvious confusion that would arise from a Latter-day Saint writing about Millennialism. I never intended for the trends that I choose to call "Millennialism" to be identified with the Mormon idea of the Millennium, or thousand-year reign of Christ. In fact, it would be better to draw a contrast.
I originally wanted to speak quietly, bridging as well as possible the gap between academic and popular writing, and point out motions that I have seen in American culture in the past thirty years. My academic background is in culture, the arts, and languages, and I believe that I am more than qualified to say, "I've noticed something interesting or different . . ." I expected that only a few of my friends will read this blog, but I confess that I'd hoped that, eventually, it might be heard by others. It's a fantasy, but it's one I share with many, I'm sure.
What has happened to make me explicitly insert my religion into personal academic and cultural meditations?
Proposition 8, the California Constitutional Amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
What is intersecting here is my feeling that it is very likely that a majority of Americans will accept same-gender marriage as normative within a generation, my sincere religious hope that it doesn't happen, and my sincere religious fear that--if it happens--it will be devastating to American life in less than a century.
The wide-spread acceptance of homosexuality is being nurtured through the schools. School children, especially in large urban areas, are carefully groomed by the schools to believe that homosexuality is not unnatural, and that, if two people truly love each other, they should be allowed to marry--or do anything that they deem essential to their sexual happiness. It is very unlikely that, given current movements in the schools, traditional marriage will be able to hold out on a national level. That coupled with the genuine appearance that same-gender marriage causes no (immediate) damage to a culture, will erode the resistance to it.
This, I think, will become one of the hallmarks of Millennialism. Traditional marriage will cease to exist as a cultural phenomenon in America.
I don't think it will go down without a fight, however, and I can easily see a second Civil War on this very issue. Constitutional crises, proposed national amendments, conventions, and political disorder could foreseeably come about in the near future.
Furthermore, within a hundred years if the traditional family continues to erode, or if it ceases to exist, it will very likely become necessary to legislate reproduction, much as is currently happening in China and Italy. Un-reproductive promiscuity will abound.
If there is no Civil War.
As a religionist, however, I am hopeful of many things. I am hopeful, for example, that Millennialism will end at the beginning of the true Millennium. I am hopeful that persecutions will galvanize support for traditional marriage (it is already happening), and that will delay the worst--perhaps indefinitely. I am hopeful that people will see reason in the current arguments, and can agree to disagree--even with love and acceptance of each other as individuals and human beings. I believe in miracles.
It was not my intention, at the beginning, to allow for the obvious confusion that would arise from a Latter-day Saint writing about Millennialism. I never intended for the trends that I choose to call "Millennialism" to be identified with the Mormon idea of the Millennium, or thousand-year reign of Christ. In fact, it would be better to draw a contrast.
I originally wanted to speak quietly, bridging as well as possible the gap between academic and popular writing, and point out motions that I have seen in American culture in the past thirty years. My academic background is in culture, the arts, and languages, and I believe that I am more than qualified to say, "I've noticed something interesting or different . . ." I expected that only a few of my friends will read this blog, but I confess that I'd hoped that, eventually, it might be heard by others. It's a fantasy, but it's one I share with many, I'm sure.
What has happened to make me explicitly insert my religion into personal academic and cultural meditations?
Proposition 8, the California Constitutional Amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
What is intersecting here is my feeling that it is very likely that a majority of Americans will accept same-gender marriage as normative within a generation, my sincere religious hope that it doesn't happen, and my sincere religious fear that--if it happens--it will be devastating to American life in less than a century.
The wide-spread acceptance of homosexuality is being nurtured through the schools. School children, especially in large urban areas, are carefully groomed by the schools to believe that homosexuality is not unnatural, and that, if two people truly love each other, they should be allowed to marry--or do anything that they deem essential to their sexual happiness. It is very unlikely that, given current movements in the schools, traditional marriage will be able to hold out on a national level. That coupled with the genuine appearance that same-gender marriage causes no (immediate) damage to a culture, will erode the resistance to it.
This, I think, will become one of the hallmarks of Millennialism. Traditional marriage will cease to exist as a cultural phenomenon in America.
I don't think it will go down without a fight, however, and I can easily see a second Civil War on this very issue. Constitutional crises, proposed national amendments, conventions, and political disorder could foreseeably come about in the near future.
Furthermore, within a hundred years if the traditional family continues to erode, or if it ceases to exist, it will very likely become necessary to legislate reproduction, much as is currently happening in China and Italy. Un-reproductive promiscuity will abound.
If there is no Civil War.
As a religionist, however, I am hopeful of many things. I am hopeful, for example, that Millennialism will end at the beginning of the true Millennium. I am hopeful that persecutions will galvanize support for traditional marriage (it is already happening), and that will delay the worst--perhaps indefinitely. I am hopeful that people will see reason in the current arguments, and can agree to disagree--even with love and acceptance of each other as individuals and human beings. I believe in miracles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)