I’ll admit that the title up there is misleading. Plenty of members of the Church of Jesus Christ are bothered either by actual events in our history of which they were unaware or distorted portrayals of “facts.” Or stuff that is made up entirely. And there are people leaving the Church because of things they have encountered. That trend has even affected friends and youth that I know well, so the issue has some personal interest for me.
Because of this, the question if better framed as why I am not abandoning my testimony? There are several reasons that I can point to: The lack of context or historical training for those raising these issues. The Church’s years-long effort to publish every single word Joseph Smith ever wrote or dictated (suggesting that there isn’t much that we want to hide). The clear prevarications by knuckleheads who seem to have nothing better to do than trying to convince other people to leave the Church. And former members of the Church who have an axe to grind.
While all of those defenses are valid, my take on the issue is a little different. In my view, you cannot criticize Mormonism without rejecting Christianity as a whole. Why? Because every criticism of the Church can be leveled against God’s servants as revealed in the Bible or in the subsequent history of Christianity.
Let’s start with admitted bad behavior by some of the presidents and other leaders of the Church. Stuff that sends critics of the Church into (oftern fair) apoplexy. Racism. Resistance to federal law. Sexism. Hiding or engaging in child abuse. None of those is remotely acceptable, but you don’t have to look too far to level the same charges against prominent figures in the Bible.
Noah got drunk. Moses committed (at the least) manslaughter. David had problems with lust and conspired in murder. Judah knocking up his daughter in law. Even in Christ’s own time, He chose an apostle who betrayed Him. Paul was complicit in the murder of Stephen and was as sexist a dude as you can find based on modern standard.
Then you have the history of Christianity since the events in the Bible. The papacy has a documented history of murder and lechery. Martin Luther made some profane woodcuttings involving various interactions between the pope and poop. And even recently we have seen Martin Luther King, Jr. make the world a better place despite serous sexual weaknesses. And don’t get me started on some modern evangelistic preachers who commit adultery only to later be embraced by the same followers that they betrayed.
If misconduct is a disqualification for the truth of Mormonism, then Christianity has to be tossed out the window. Those guys mentioned above make Brigham Young look woke.
If miracles performed by Joseph Smith are just old wives’ tales, then what do you do with the guy who talked to a bush and turned a staff into a snake? Or God dwelling among us as a man? Or the miracles performed by His disciples (like raising the dead)? Or that talking donkey in the Old Testament? (One of my favorite stories, even if my discussion of “talking asses” as a Gospel Doctrine teacher was not very well received). If miracles are presumptive nonsense, then the Bible is something akin to Aesop’s fables.
If the Lord would not choose a young boy as a prophet, then Samual and David were frauds. And what do we do with Christ teaching in the synagogue in His tweens?
Other examples are legion. But the simple fact is that if you embrace the criticisms leveled against Mormonism, you have to reject Christianity as well.
I’m not prepared to do that. So how do we reconcile the disturbing (or worse, in my view) acts of people revered by Christianity?
I can think of two answers. The first is to accept that God is able to accomplish His agenda through the “weak things” of the world. Aside from Christ, all of us are sinners, but God works with us even as we work through our issues. One of the great pieces of evidence of the redemptive power of Christ is His patience with His servants, and His ability to transform us into something better. It is only His grace that allows us to claim discipleship.
David slayed Goliath with mere stones, and the Lord works with us despite our obvious inadequacies. We are His pebbles, not swords.
The second reconciliation is simply the exercise of faith. We choose to believe that Moses, Noah, and Peter were servants of God and partakers of His spirit. We choose to believe that Son of God walked out of a hovel in Nazareth to redeem us from sin. We choose to believe that He was raised from the dead and announced that miracle with a single word to a nearly anonymous friend: “Mary.”
For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we choose to believe that Christ Himself called upon an unremarkable farm boy to restore His gospel and reestablish His priesthood. We choose to accept the authority of the prophets to followed him. We make those choices even when the evidence gives us pause.
That is faith.
We choose to embrace it.
Mormonism: Really Want to Know? 