Chapter 14

I’ve always had a sense of pride of my pilgrim heritage. Being one of the many millions of descendants of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, and having grown up in New England, I’ve felt an attachment to those early pioneers to the New World. I’ve read Elizabeth’s recollections and interviews, which I find fascinating and enlightening to that time period. While reading and listening to podcasts about the pilgrim’s puritanical background and their relationship to the Anglican church, I learned a lot about covenant theology, Calvinism, and the idea of religious conformity. The more I learned, the more I realized how deep the roots of the LDS faith are embedded into the puritan world of the early United States. That might the subject of another post someday. Today I want to focus on one specific trait of most religious institutions…conformity.

Joseph Smith and his family were certainly from that stock of early Americans and that belief system probably impressed Joseph’s mind quite a bit in regards to how a church should organize and behave. When he went to the woods to pray to know what religion was right, the answer he received was none of them. Not only were they not “right”, the Lord called them abominations. Ouch…these were religious groups that had separated from Catholicism, the mother church, and then again from the Anglican belief for seemingly good reasons and intentions. Indulgences, bad. Reading the bible, good. Priestly abuses, bad. Inner spiritual conversion, good. These groups broke away because they saw flaws, abuses, and incorrect traditions in the faith that needed reforming. They made attempts to make things right. Then we had splitting and more splitting and more splitting until you get a vast mishmash of religions all over the place. This is the situation Joseph found himself in that left him confused. And the result of all this reformation left us with “abominations”.

Why abominations? What made these sects all so bad? I tried to study several of them to look for a common thread and struggled to find anything…until I read an excerpt from an interview Tilley gave near the end of her life. When reminiscing on her childhood she said, “When I was seven years old, my dear parents moved us from Bedford to London, where father was a silk weaver. They joined a small religious group who did not believe in the teachings and formalities of the domineering Church of England, although it was then the law to attend that church. This was a daring and dangerous way for them to think, but it was very important to them. The group were nonconformists called Separatists – and very much later called Pilgrims.” She pointed out the “domineering” Church of England and that, I believe, is the problem with pretty much every religious sect. As I look at pretty much all sects, that is the common trait among them. They are domineering and demand conformity to their rules.

Every time something new forms, it seems it is immediately hijacked by men who desire power and authority. In the Doctrine & Covenants section 121 verse 39, it reads, “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” Shortly after that in verse 41 he continues that no power or influence ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood. It has been quite normal throughout the ages to make a single religious practice the official state religion. Freedom of worship and belief seems the exception, not the norm in the course of history. Once something is established, that freedom to believe in your own way as you navigate back to God is quickly hijacked, constrained, and eliminated as the belief system is correlated and ratified into a standardized system. The conversion experience that started out tasting like delicious chocolate has been trampled by men and now tastes like vanilla. God no longer leads you in your journey, but rather a single person or group of authority figures. It’s ironic that the church Joseph Smith restored, who believed that “Mormonism” meant accepting truth wherever it may come from, now discourages learning anything outside their approved and accepted portfolio.

While I do see abuses in authority, that’s not to say that I don’t believe there is a straight and narrow path to God. I do recognize and respect ordinances, commandments, and authority above my own…as long as it is actually instituted and directed by God. Abraham paid his tithes to Melchizedek. Jesus was baptized by John. There is an order and way to worship and participate in the Lord’s kingdom. I think my issue is the source of practical worship in institutions. When Joseph Smith instituted an ordinance or practice, it came with a clear claim of revelation directly from the Lord, recorded as such, and put forth to the church to accept it as such. He stood in the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ, translated the Book of Mormon, and had communion with Lord multiple times. I know he was a legit prophet, seer, and revelator in the truest sense. He stood behind every revelation and vision.

Since Joseph, most things are committee driven or are the whims of whomever is president of the church. While I actually believe Ezra Benson was a good leader and had many important and good things to teach us, I think he was dead wrong when he said a prophet doesn’t have to say “Thus saith the Lord” to make it revelation. Joseph taught that a prophet is only a prophet when delivering a message from God. I absolutely believe you have to qualify any revelation from God to be just that. To me, if it’s not clearly stated that you received it from God, then it’s only your opinion. This is important because if a man or woman claim a message is from God and it really isn’t, then they are taking the Lord’s name in vain and will be accountable to Him for that. That’s a grievous sin I wouldn’t want. It’s why I’ve stopped ending anything I testify of and teach with “…in the name of Jesus Christ…” unless I know with absolute certainty it’s true. Outside of a few key things like Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon is inspired, and Joseph Smith was His prophet, I don’t dare claim it in the Lord’s name. I have enough sins to work on without adding 10 commandment transgressions to the list.

This brings me to one of my hardest challenges today. Where do I worship and with whom? I was raised LDS and it’s what I know. My family is devoted that church, despite a few of them also seeing some of the apostasy growing in it. The Lord called most of the other churches around abominations so why would I search there for His church? I think the RLDS church went off the rails much earlier and has little left to offer. I’ll take a hard pass on Catholicism, Islam, or eastern practices. I’ve participated in some of the breakoff LDS “remnant” groups around the Utah area and enjoy some of it, but I haven’t felt impressed to join that with vigor. I want to be where my family is, not off on my own. I think the remnant groups have something more to offer than the LDS church does now, but that doesn’t make it the right place for me. I keep going to worship with my LDS congregation because they are my friends and neighbors and mostly good peeps. Tithing, which became very difficult to donate through the LDS church, has become easier for me since I started using my funds to directly help those around me in need and organizations that feed the hungry. I go right to the source of need now since I don’t know who my real priesthood authority is. I’ll still donate some to LDS fast offerings and humanitarian aid, but since they reserve the right to use it anywhere else, I keep the donations to a minimum there. I don’t believe the LDS church leaders have any authority over me in a Godly, priesthood sense. Perhaps in a simple procedural, Levitical way, but that’s all. It’s good for the sacrament, baptisms, and confirmations. I’m still looking for my Melchizedek to whom I can safely give my tithes. I’m done financing stock portfolios, real estate, and temples that aren’t necessary. Until then, I’m using it to make sure it feeds the hungry and clothes the naked, just as the scriptures clearly state they are for.

That was a lot of rambling to make a point of the dangers of conformity. The only “conformity” we should be seeking is being tapped into the spirit of God. We conform to God’s way simply by thinking and behaving like Him. He doesn’t force us into it, but invites us to be sinless and think and act in every way exactly like He would. Jesus came to show us how to be exactly like God by emulating Him in exactness. This makes us just like them and in turn, capable of being in their presence both in this life and the next. That’s the only conformity I’m interested in joining.