Religious Thoughts for the Day

My sister Sue had some great things to say recently about President Hinckley and the LDS Church lately, and I'm going to post here on my blog one of my comments, in response to her post Exercising My Religious Brain Muscles:

"I think you're everybody's hero this week (at least mine anyway), for saying a lot of stuff that needed to be said, and generally taking the time to discuss your beliefs. I'm kind of at a point where I'm kind of just hanging on, not super-valiant, just going to church every Sunday with my family and doing my calling. But my issues are with myself, not with the Church or any particular gospel principle, and I know when I get my head back on straight, Heavenly Father will be waiting for me with open arms.

I would never presume I know as much as He or the Savior do, let alone what church authorities with so much experience with people and church organization do. I don't have authority issues like some people inherently seem to. How can you say to a being who has organized worlds without end, who has perfect vision and understanding of people and eternity, "I know better than you!"?

To me, it's simple: Does God exist? (Yes) Does he have a particular church or organization he wants us to belong to, with particular ordinances and rituals (Yes, the LDS church) What does he expect of people? (See scriptures and living prophets). That's pretty much it guys. For me, everything else fits in that framework, and I don't have to keep revisiting that decision of which Church is right. I don't really get bogged down in the details. I appreciate and love studying the details, but I don't let them get in the way of my basic testimony in Jesus Christ and his gospel. If you love the Savior and Heavenly Father, you do what they want you to do. How can you show gratitude and please them, by bailing out on the plan they have set forth for us? It's their show, people, not ours. And they totally deserve to run their own show. Period.

And I love what you had to say about Joseph Smith, about how it doesn't matter whether or not he was a perfect guy. So what if he picked his nose, yelled at his kids, or whatever? (Don't know if he's particulary been accused of any of that, but you get the point.) Heavenly Father needed somebody strong enough to reveal true doctrine and stand behind it, someone willing to bend to His will, and do what was right for the Church. Besides, whether or not you believe he was a prophet called of God, what he accomplished in his lifetime is nothing short of amazing. The amount of people he organized, the cities he built, the things he suffered and still kept going, it's just incredible. He was a great man.

Might have to copy all this on my blog, just so I can remember down the road what I thought and felt.

Thanks, Sue"

And there it is. I know this is repetitive for those who read Sue's blog, but I wanted to put it here, for the sake of remembering my own thoughts sometime down the road.