"Done by Common Consent": Part 2

Come, Come Ye Saints

What kind of Church do we want to belong to? 

It's up to us, isn't it? 

What if we made the Church into Joseph's vision:

    It was my endeavor
    to so organize the Church
    that the brethren
    might eventually
    be [brought into]
    the celestial kingdom
    by bonds and covenants
    of mutual friendship
    and mutual love.

(Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol 1, p. 269)

Or . . . we could continue with things as they are.

Common Consent is the Cure

Common consent is the cure for what ails us!  And we need some good medicine for our symptoms of:

   Nanny State:  A government regarded as overprotective or as interfering unduly with personal choice.

   Elitism:  A small number of persons who hold power independent of democratic elections.

   Big Brother:  From the novel 1984, a symbol of governmental abuse of power, particularly in respect to violations of civil liberties related to mass surveillance.

   Censorship:  The suppression of ideas considered by an authority to be wrong, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the authority.

   Oligarchy:  A power structure in which power resets with a small number of people.

   Disenfranchisement:  Being deprived of a right or privilege, especially to vote or to influence policy.

Instead of Common Consent . . .

Or . . . instead of taking the Lord's prescription of common consent, we could settle for:

   The Strengthening Church Members Committee:  A committee of leaders who monitor and surveille church members for unorthodoxy and criticism of church leaders, often resulting in disciplinary action. 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strengthening_Church_Members_Committee)

40 Years in the Wilderness

   Would you like someone else to talk to God for you?

   Are you tired of receiving revelation for yourself?

   Do you want others to decide where and how you should serve?

   Wouldn't it be nice to have leaders manage your relationship with God?

   Then you must be looking for someone to preach religion to you!

Call 1-800-GLD-CALF for your free in-home consultation.  We will arrange all of your spiritual affairs in exchange for . . . your agency.

Common Consent

Maybe we don't really want to practice common consent.  It seems like a hassle, doesn't it? 

It would be so much work!  It would mean we actually had to love each other.  Common consent would require us to talk to each other, listen to each other, honor each other, care about each other, be equal, pray together . . . 

It's easier to just have leadership tell us what they want. 

​Discussion over.

Getting a Church Calling

Executive Secretary:  Hi Brother Merrill, we'd like you to meet with the bishop this Sunday.

Me:  Okay.  What about?

Executive Secretary:  I'm not supposed to tell you.

Me:  The suspense will kill me.  Am I getting a calling?  

Executive Secretary:  I can't say.

Me:  Don't you know?

Executive Secretary:  Yes.  Fine, it is about a calling.

Me:  Well, I'd like time to ponder and pray about it before I meet with the Bishop.  Can you tell me what the calling is?

Executive Secretary:  No.
___________________
  
Bishop's Counselor:  Brother Merrill, nice to meet you.  We'd like you to serve as a primary teacher.  We think you will do a great job in this calling.

Me:  Umm.  I just moved into the ward last week.  I have never talked to you or anyone in the bishopric before.  How can you issue a calling to me without knowing me?  Don't we need to counsel together first?  Don't you want to know what my spiritual desires are, and then shouldn't we seek the Lord's will together?  

Bishop's Counselor:  No.  We just need someone to teach the 6-year-olds.

Actually Heard in Church

Female Primary Teacher to Primary President:  I will be fine teaching by myself today since my co-teacher is not here.

Primary President:  No, you have to have two adults in each class.  It's the Stake's policy.

Primary Teacher:  You can check in periodically, if you'd like.  But I don't need another adult to just 'sit in.'

Primary President:  That's the rule!  You can take it up with the Prophet if you disagree.

Worth Fighting For?

Is Common Consent worth fighting for?  ​

   The degree of liberty or tyranny
   in any government is in large degree
   a reflection of the relative
   determination of the subjects
   to be free and their willingness
   and ability to resist efforts
   to enslave them.

(Gene Sharp, From Dictatorship to Democracy)

Let's become Freedom Fighters for Common Consent!