A Faith Beyond: The Gospel's Least-Understood Principle (Part 14)

[Above: the Islamic Kaaba holy site in Mecca]

Previous: Part 13: A Faith Beyond

Two Practical Solutions

General Conference just passed.  I spent some time pondering upon our predicament.  I'd like to suggest two practical solutions that I think will increase faith in the Church.

(I will give my two suggestions at the end of this post.) 

If there was a bright spot during the Conference, it was Elder Kearon's talk.  Bless him.

Perhaps the most interesting talk (at least from my perspective) was Elder Bednar's.  He taught that the Church and its leaders (and not Jesus Christ) were our "foundation."  Yikes.

Anyway, the following graphic illustrates the number of times speakers in General Conference quoted Jesus, Joseph, or President Nelson.  But who's keeping track?

Kaabas and Temples

Few things inspire me as much as the stories of men and women who gave up their lives rather than compromise their integrity as free-thinkers.  People like Joan of Arc.  Like William Tyndale.

And like Persian preacher and poet al-Hallaj, another hero of mine.  He lived around 900 A.D.  Like most mystics, he was executed for blasphemy.

It's always baffled me why society is so quick to pick up stones against the visionaries of the world.  And no stone is sharper or heavier ― and deadlier ― than dogma.

What was al-Hallaj's capital crime, you ask?  Well, he took a famous phrase from the Quran ― "God is the Truth" (Hov-al-Haq) ― and he taught the next-level of enlightenment: An-al-Haq ("I am the Truth").

If that wasn't bad enough, al-Hallaj built a mini-Kaaba in his backyard.  If you're not familiar with the Kaaba, it's the most holy site in Islam, located in Mecca.  Pilgrims travel to it from across the world.

The closest thing I can compare the Kaaba to would be the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple (for Jews); or the Salt Lake Temple (for Latter-day Saints).

The Kaaba is the most sacred place on earth for Muslims.  And al-Hallaj?  He built a replica in his backyard.  He told others, "Why go on pilgrimage to Mecca to find what is in your own backyard?"  Building a mini-Kabba at home was al-Hallaj's way of showing God is not found "out there" but is found inside of us.

The mullahs and governors got together and complained.  Why?  Because the pilgrims who traveled to Mecca spent money; it was big business.  The Muslim pilgrimage was too important, commercially, to allow people to find God at home.  I am not making this up (it is just a coincidence that this might sound similar to the way the LDS Church conducted studies to correlate the payment of tithing to the proximity of Temples in an area).

Anyway, for nine years al-Hallaj languished in prison while they decided what to do with him.  He was ultimately condemned to death in 922 A.D. on the charge that he wished to "destroy the Kaaba."

Does that also sound familiar?  That was the charge brought against Jesus:

   And there arose
   false witnesses
   against him, saying,
   We heard him say,
   I will destroy this temple
   that is made with hands.

(Mark 14:57-58)

So when a building or a place becomes super-central to a people's religion, one of the worst things you can do is point out that the place or building has become an idol.

In Islam, Muslims who make the hajj (pilgrimage) are required to walk around the Kaaba counter-clockwise seven times.  It's a formal ritual.  Well, al-Hallaj's accusers reported hearing him say, "The important thing is to proceed seven times around the Kaaba of one's heart."

Thousands of people gathered on the banks of the Tigris River to witness al-Hallaj's execution to trumpets blaring.  There are conflicting accounts of the manner of his death; some say he was hanged, others say he was beheaded, and others say he was burned and they scattered his ashes in the river.

The final words al-Hallaj spoke were from the Quran: 

​يَسۡتَعۡجِلُ بِهَا الَّذِيۡنَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِهَا​ ۚ وَالَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا مُشۡفِقُوۡنَ مِنۡهَا ۙ وَيَعۡلَمُوۡنَ اَنَّهَا الۡحَقُّ ​ ؕ اَلَاۤ اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ يُمَارُوۡنَ فِى السَّاعَةِ لَفِىۡ ضَلٰلٍۢ بَعِيۡدٍ‏

"Only those wish to hasten it who believe not in it: those who believe hold it in awe, and know that it is the Truth" (Quran 42:18).

​"How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"

The problem with men like al-Hallaj and Jesus Christ is that their living faith is disruptive.  It is discomfiting to priests who have grown accustomed to a dead faith.  It threatens the establishment.

Catholic monk Richard Rohr said:

"The [Jewish] temple had become totally aligned with King Herod, with the collecting of taxes and money, and the selling of forgiveness.

"Whenever religion gets into the business of the 'buying and selling' of God, or of requiring sacrifices to earn God’s love, we have a problem.

"Jesus knew that his religion was not taking care of the poor; in fact, it’s stealing from the poor, and making them give even the little they have to feel they are right with God.  Jesus was angry about this."

(Richard Rohr, "Jesus' Anger", February 25, 2024.)

This is why, in so many ways, Jesus was a disaster ― for His Elders Quorum President, I mean.  The leaders had no idea what to do with this, Joseph's son; here was a young man of such promise (so gifted!), and yet utterly unsuited for the priesthood ― what with all of His wild sayings and strange beliefs.

After all, it's one thing to calmly discuss Moses parting the Red Sea in Sunday School (a thousand years later) from the safety of a yeshiva, and to parse Isaiah's words in an appropriately academic setting ― but then Jesus shows up on the Sabbath and starts applying Isaiah's words to Himself, as if He were the fulfilment of prophecy (Luke 4:16-29).  The gall.

What do you do with someone who turns water-to-wine and who walks on water?  Not okay.  Sure, it's fine for Elijah to raise the widow's son from the dead, but who is this guy bringing Lazarus back to life?  "Oh no, you don't.  Such things belong in the past."
 
The fact that Jesus was cast out of the synagogue and forbidden from preaching in church is a lush irony; it demonstrates, above all else, that religions simply don’t know what to do with a LIVING God.

That's right ― religions get on so much better when God is dead, after having given His authority to men.  This is why religions prefer a silent God, one who is done speaking thank-you-very-much, so the rulers can get on with business (2 Nephi 28:5-6).
 
Not just dead Gods, but dead prophets are far less troublesome, too.  As Jesus pointed out:
 
   Woe unto you,
   scribes and Pharisees,
   hypocrites! because ye build
   the tombs of the prophets,
   and garnish the sepulchres
   of the righteous,
   And say, If we had been
   in the days of our fathers,
   we would not have been
   partakers with them
   in the blood of the prophets.
 
(Matt. 23:29-30)
 
Are we so different today?  Today, do we act like wet blankets when someone comes along with new ideas?  "Stop flinging that faith around here as if it were Moses’ staff!  No purview!"

Nobody wants to be burned by placing their hands on a hot engine that’s going somewhere.  Better to turn off the ignition and let the engine cool.  As in olden times, our institutions are not crafted to withstand the refining fire, preferring instead the cool-to-the-touch pale bone of whited sepulchers.

I like what I read in the newspaper last week from James Jones, an LDS theologian, who said:

"If you look at Matthew 25, for example, with the parable of the sheep and the goats, there is nothing in it about how often you go to church.  Instead it asks: Did you feed the hungry?  Did you give water to the thirsty?  Did you visit people in prison or in the hospital?  Did you welcome the foreigner?

​"So worship, for me, is ultimately not an act of ecclesiastical fealty but an act of right living, right relationship with the community and people around you."

("Stop Confusing Uniformity with Unity," Salt Lake Tribune, April 2, 2024)

Sodom > Jerusalem?

We tend to gloss over some of Jesus's weirder sayings, preferring the lilies of the valley and letting our light shine.  We mostly ignore the part of Christ's ministry that eviscerated the corruption of religious systems.

But it's difficult to grasp the significance of Jesus's message if we cherry-pick the faith-flattering parts.  For example, here's a whopper:

   Verily I say unto you,
   It shall be more tolerable
   for the land of Sodom
   and Gomorrah
   in the day of judgment
   than for that city.

(Matthew 10:15)

Sodom and Gomorrah?  Really?  Jesus is holding them up as examples?

   Verily I say unto you,
   It shall be more tolerable
   for the land of San Francisco
   and Rio de Janeiro
   in the day of judgment
   than for Salt Lake City.

(Matt. 10:15; Tim’s 2024 ed.)

Listen, I heard as a youngster (yes, little ones have ears) that God was going to cause California to plummet into the Pacific Ocean in a massive earthquake because of its sins.

But now I realize that if God is going to do that ― breaking California like a Kit Kat bar along the San Andreas fault as punishment for all those tie-dyed, hippie-loving, promiscuous partiers in Los Angeles ― then how much worse will it be for us!

Because if God starts shaking San Bernardino, I cannot imagine how awful His judgments will be upon those who have professed His name, beginning at His house (D&C 112:25-26).

   And thou, Capernaum,
   which art exalted
   unto heaven,
   shalt be brought down to hell:
   for if the mighty works
   which have been done in thee
   had been done in Sodom,
   it would have remained
   until this day.

   But I say unto you,
   That it shall be more tolerable
   for the land of Sodom
   in the day of judgment
   than for thee.

(Matt. 11:23-24)

​Even heathens get a shout-out (D&C 75:22).  Prostitutes receive priority seating and publicans are upgraded like VIPs (Matt. 21:31) ― while those of us flying in heaven’s economy class are stuck in the back rows measuring mint and cummin.  Aren't we the good guys?

How is that fair?
​
​Well, let me tell you something about the justice of God.  The greatest-indictment of religion that God ever gave, in my opinion, was in His Parable of the Watchtower.

Jesus described a vineyard which was leased to some farmers (the religious rulers); when the Master of the vineyard sent His servants to collect the harvest, the farmers killed the servants so they could keep the fruits themselves.

Then the Master sent His own Son, and the wicked leaseholders killed the Son, thinking that they would gain His inheritance (the vineyard), if the Master had no heir (Matt. 21:33-44).

Jesus said:

   I tell you that
   the kingdom of God
   will be taken away from you
   and given to a people 
   who will produce its fruit.  

(Matt. 21:43, NIV)

​Jesus Was a T-Rex

Just how disruptive was Christ to the religious traditions of His day?  Why did the Elders and builders reject Him and His faith?

Let's ask the money changers who were minding their business, trying to make a living at the Temple.

Jesus was unpopular because He prophesied God was going to give the Kingdom to another people.  Nobody liked the sound of that.

No, the priests simply couldn't have Jesus preaching without a permit, untethered from the reigns of their leadership, like some unlicensed hooligan.  Decorum!  Proper procedure!  Priesthood keys!

   Then answered the Pharisees
   Are ye also deceived?
 
These words were spoken by the leaders to the crowd of believers.  The Pharisees were claiming that those who followed Christ had been deceived.  The Pharisees continued:

   Have any of the rulers
   or of the Pharisees
   believed on him?

(John 7:47-48)
 
This is really rich: they were saying, "If this Christ-fellow were legit, don't you think we'd know it?  We're God's spokespeople!  Follow our example."

Challenge accepted.  So what caused the Jewish authorities to recruit folks from off-the-street to bear false witness against Christ?  What made the priests slap Jesus and spit in His face?  Why did the leaders demand that Pilate kill Jesus?  Is this the example we are to follow?

You see, the sad thing was, for all their zealousness for God, they betrayed Him.  For what?  Did they really think they did God a great service by sacrificing His Son?

Ironically, the story of the Bible shows that religious centers are, as a rule, some of worst places on earth to find a living faith.  How curious it is that religious capitals are always building shrines to the dead prophets instead of wondering why they cast the living ones out of their cities.

I make this observation to point out that we, too, are prone to treating faith as a fossil ― and religion like an archeological dig.  Forgetting, of course, that we've been called unto a living faith.

Churches have a tendency to set up stakes, cordoning-off with ropes where we can dig and how deep.  Faith becomes a fossil.  We count ourselves lucky if we catch a hint of femur among the creeds and keys.  On hands-and-knees we bow hypnotically as leaders parade a bit of metatarsal bone before our eyes.

(Am I the only one who finds it gross, the way we spend so much time fussing over coprolites?)

​And thus we see the fate of faith among the religions of this world, who deem it better to study and catalogue the remains of a dead T-Rex, like paleontologists, rather than risk a Living King barging through camp.​

Two Suggestions

A generation ago, in 1978, President N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency announced a new policy in which General Authority Seventies would become emeritus at the age of 70.

At that time, there had been internal discussion about whether the same practice should apply to the apostles and First Presidency, too (but you know how it goes).

Suggestion No. 1:  Emeritus Status for Apostles and Presidents at the Age of 72

The time has come for all General Authorities, including the Twelve and First Presidency, to be given a dignified and honorable emeritus status at the age of 72.

Let them return to their most important duties: being a husband, father, and grandfather to their families.

Why 72?  Well, in 3rd Nephi we're told that was the retirement age that Christ established for the Nephite Twelve.  So we've got good precedent.

   And Jesus said unto them:
   Blessed are ye
   because ye desired
   this thing of me; therefore,
   after that ye are
   seventy and two years old
   ye shall come unto me
   in my kingdom;
   and with me ye shall find rest.

(3 Nephi 28:3)

Let the Twelve find rest.

Suggestion No. 2: General Authorities Should Mind their Priesthood Duty to Preach the Gospel and Not Be Involved in Church Finances
​
While women are not given priesthood responsibility in the Church, there is no doctrinal, historical or scriptural reason preventing us from divesting the Brethren of the management of Church finances.  They have more important things to do, right?

Allow the women of the Relief Society to oversee all Church investments, holdings, budgets and expenditures.  Not just on a general level, but also at the Stake and Ward level.

Why is this important?  Well, for one thing, it is what Jesus commanded!  Christ did not call apostles to hold the purse (Judas showed what evil comes of that).

   Therefore, let no man
   among you . . .
   who are called . . . 
   unto this ministry,
   from this hour
   take purse or scrip.

(D&C 84:86)

If the men of the priesthood are to fulfill their priesthood duty, then they certainly can't become entangled in financial matters.

​The time has come for Special (and especial) Witnesses of Christ in all the world to be just that: missionaries.  That is far more important than having the Brethren bogged down in the daily administrative tasks of overseeing money.

Let's hand over the purse strings to the Relief Society, and the women of the Church can decide what sort of stipend the General Authorities deserve.