"In the Mouths of Two or Three Witnesses": Part 1

My Great Awakening

I was 35 years old and had the cushiest calling the Church: Stake Sunday School President.

It was 2015.  I had made partner at my law firm and my wife was expecting our fifth child.

President Thomas S. Monson was leading the Church and the buzz-phrase at the time was "hastening the work."

Life was good.  Except . . . it wasn't.  Something troubled me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

(I suppose, looking back, I was experiencing years of bottled up cognitive dissonance bubbling to the surface.)

I thought I might have depression.  I thought it might be stress from work and fatherhood.  I thought it might be the fact that the Church ignored the Sermon on the Mount.

I began to search the scriptures for answers. 

I spent many-a-lunch-break at the Chinese buffet in American Fork, Utah pouring over the New Testament and Book of Mormon while eating kung pao.

   And then I met an angel.

The Greatest Sacrament Meeting Talk I Ever Heard

Relax, it wasn't that kind of angel.  

Angels come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing they have in common is they "speak by the power of the Holy Ghost" (2 Nephi 32:3).

In a way, an angel is anyone who "speaks the words of Christ" (2 Nephi 32:3), regardless of whether they wear skin or spirit.

Since I was serving as an auxillary officer at the time as the Stake Sunday School President, I was assigned to accompany members of the High Council who went around to different wards to speak on Sundays. 

As their junior companion, I would give a talk in Sacrament meeting before they delivered their high councilor remarks (I was the opening act, I guess, to warm up the crowd.)

And so it was, on a typical Sunday in February 2015, that I attended the Cranberry Farms 2nd Ward in Lehi, Utah, as the companion to Clark Burt, a member of our high council, to speak in Church.

I don't remember what I said that day to the congregation, but I will never forget the words spoken by Brother Burt.

Faith Cometh By Hearing, and Hearing by the Word of God

I wish you could have been there with me.  Sometimes hearing the word of God is better than reading it (Romans 10:17).

As Moroni lamented:

   Lord, thou hast made us mighty
   in word by faith, but thou hast
   not made us mighty in writing;
   for thou hast made all this people
   that they could speak much,
   because of the Holy Ghost
   which thou hast given them;

   And thou hast made us
   that we could write but little,
   because of the awkwardness
   of our hands.

(Ether 12:23-24)

The first thing I noticed as Clark spoke was that he was saying things I had never heard anyone say in Church before (which grabbed my attention).

The second thing I recognized was I knew the words he spoke were true, and that I had always known them ― as if I were re-learning something I had forgotten from a former life.

   But the Comforter,
   which is the Holy Ghost,
   whom the Father will send
   in my name, he shall teach you
   all things, and bring all things
   to your remembrance,
   whatsoever I have said unto you.

(John 14:26)

And finally, his words were an answer to prayer because they addressed some of my questions about why the Church operated more like a business than like Zion.

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

Clark's talk began:

I would like to compare two fictitious members of the Church.  One is Sister Bonnie Franklin and the other is Brother Robert Woodhead.

People would describe Sister Franklin as a very nice person.  She is married to a man who is a successful businessman.  They have raised five children and she is adored by her friends and family.  In her many callings and responsbilities in the Church she has always excelled, drawing praise from those she has served.

Brother Woodhead, on the other hand, comes from a troubled family.  The girl he wanted to marry wished to be sealed in the temple, so he worked to quit smoking in order to qualify.  They got sealed and his Church activity since then has been mixed.  Members of his ward are put off by his gruffness, and as a result he has no friends in the ward.

   ***

Clark paused, and then asked the congregation, "So who is the better Mormon?" (this was before the name-rebranding).

Now I was keenly interested, because he was asking the question that gets debated all the time in Ward Council (although we don't think of it that way).  

Anyone who has spent any time in a bishopric or Ward Council understands that the majority of gossip (excuse me: discussion of members' needs and who would be a good fit for which callings) is about evaluating, assessing and judging other members:

   - Do we agree with their opinions and beliefs? 
   - Are they good with youth?  
   - Are they regular Sunday attenders? 
   - Do they have good spouses and jobs?  
   - Are they dependable and hard working? 
   - Do they keep all the commandments?  
   - What did Sister So-and-So say last month about the police cars in their driveway?
   - I heard that they're having marital problems.  The husband yells at the kids.  Their yard's a mess, something must be going on.
   - Brother So-and-So's countenance isn't as bright lately.  I wonder if he's using drugs?
   - On Facebook I read that Sister So-and-So is going through a faith crisis. . .

Church government, I have observed, isn't run on revelation so much as it is on reputation. 

And heaven help you if you get the wrong reputation! 

Continuing with Clark's talk:

I think we can agree that Sister Franklin is a better member of the Church than Brother Woodhead.

By which I mean, her participation contributes more to the organization than his.  She does more.

We can see that Sister Franklin's output is greater than Brother Woodhead's because she produces more.  More casseroles, more lessons, fulfills more assignments, attends the temple more frequently, and keeps a cleaner house.

Now, some would even go so far as to say that Sister Franklin, because of her many talents and good works, will be judged more favorably than Brother Woodhead.

In fact, Sister Franklin may even believe it.

   ***

At this point in the talk I did a mental face-palm, realizing I was guilty of thinking this as much as anyone.

Clark's simple illustration revealed how we're trained in the Church to be high performers. 

​The culture of Church government shows the most important thing is works (or at least, to keep up appearances); which encourages us to market each other's activity-levels as a commodity in a capitalist context; to value high-achievers and promote the best producers because they are good for the organzation.

I understand there are good, practical reasons we'd want to run things this way.  After all, we don't want a bunch of lazy missionaries who never leave their apartment, eating Cheetos and surfing the internet all day (then we'd have the dorms at BYU).  Nothing would ever get done if we didn't have hard working members. 

But there's a downside:

We begin to view a person's "worth" in relation to our own self-righteousness.

"But is this the gospel of Jesus Christ?"

Clark continued:

But is this the gospel of Jesus Christ?  In God's eyes Sister Franklin needs saving every bit as much as Brother Woodhead.

We should not be surprised if we find among Latter-day Saints people who discount those who are "lesser-than," which is ironic since it is often the Brother Woodheads of the world who are more likely to turn unto Christ.

Christ seemed to attract such awful people.

The nice ones, the active ones, the successful ones ― the "good" ones ― often fail to realize their need for Christ in their lives.  Those with high credit card limits easily forget how indebted they truly are.

Because Sister Franklin is blessed with intelligence, and a good and generous disposition, and had opportunities for an education and had a good upbringing, she could easily take credit for these gifts from God.

But the lost sheep that Jesus so dearly loved ― the little, the low, the least, the timid, warped, lonely, sensual and unbalanced sheep ― they learn quickly they need Christ's help.  

Who do you think more easily heeds the Savior's call to repent?

The Punchline

Clark concluded:

A world of nice people, who are content in their own niceness, would be just as desparately in need of salvation as a miserable world ― and might even be more difficult to save.

For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people.  

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about improvement, but about redemption.

We have turned "the power of God unto salvation" into the power of ourselves unto improvment.

   ***

What a bunch of clean-cut, upstanding citizens we are, right?  Thank heavens we're not like that less-active bum over there! (Luke 18:9-14).