Trivial Pursuit

I got a question which I'm going to interrupt and answer.  The question included the following:

[After describing some personal stuff that's mentioned in passing on the blog, it continues] "they are things that I would have steered away from because I truly believed that is what would please the Lord...I am seriously asking myself what is it that I am not understanding. I thought I was being obedient to what the Lord would want me to be doing. But am I actually like a Pharisee about these things? Are they not as important as I make them? Does the Lord really not care that I try to be really careful about what I see or listen do...even though I am doing it because I believed it to be offensive to MY spirit and THE spirit? Are these important things? Are you trying to give us a message to open our eyes that we get caught up in the wrong things?"

First, I have tried to be invisible in what I write, other than to point out failings. I think the only things about myself which are important are: 1) flaws; 2) my witness of Christ. Everything else is distracting and moving focus from the real subject (Jesus Christ and His teachings), to a distraction and non-issue (myself).

In The Second Comforter I mention what I called the "Pharisee Phase" in which the endless rules of conduct are followed by a Latter-day Saint in an attempt to be good.  I've said this was useful and probably everyone goes through it. But it isn't going to work.

Most of the stuff we concern ourselves with is meaningless and time wasting. What matters are the principles and ordinances of the Gospel; and more important still, the underlying charity or pure love of Christ. Everything is attempting to get you to love your fellow man. Not in the sappy sentimental way we associate with "loving" someone.  Because sometimes the most charitable thing you can do is rebuke someone, as we see from Nephi. Sometimes a sharp word comes from being moved upon by the Holy Ghost. (D&C 121: 43.) But in the end the person rebuked should still feel they are loved and the reason for the rebuke was the concern held for them.

I know the church advises against R-rated movies. I think that's good advice. But there are some movies that are important works, but have an R-rating. Schindler's List was rated R. So was Braveheart. We are related to Robert the Bruce, and this movie has been seen by my children as part of understanding what it means to descend from the Scotts.  My father landed on Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. Saving Private Ryan is, for me, a personal story about what my father went through. I have watched it and own a copy of it, and my children have seen it in an attempt to have them understand their grandfather's sacrifices. So I do not always follow that advice given us. But others may, and I have respect for them. Your question said you "believe it to be offensive to your spirit" which is so important a statement that I would always defer to your decision on such matters. It simply is not my place to tell you to do something which offends your spirit. You should trust it as a guide.

Paul's teachings in Romans Chapter 14 (which I posted about earlier), is the only way we can become "one" as a people.  I respect your motivation more than your actions, because they are pure. But we err when we judge another's actions and attribute to them motive. Pure motive cannot be known by observing actions. If we could judge motive from acts, then we would condemn Nephi for murdering Laban and stealing the brass plates. We would condemn Abraham for lying about the status of his wife Sarah, claiming her to be a sister. We would condemn Jesus for violating a clearly understood teaching about the Sabbath and not doing any labor upon the Sabbath. We would be wrong. Nephi was constrained to implement God's judgment, Abraham was acting on the direction of the Lord, and Jesus was honoring the Sabbath by keeping it holy, even if that came at the expense of performing labor.

We are told to refrain from judging one another precisely because we cannot judge motive from actions.

I would rather laugh than be stern. In fact, when Joseph refers to his "native cheery temperament" I would go a little further. I am prone to sarcasm and irreverence, because Mark Twain influenced my sense of humor while a child and I've never recovered. To me most of our problems are so stupid they compel us to mock them. But people wouldn't understand that if I adopted that approach, so I do not. When, however, I see Elijah mocking the priests of Baal and I identify with Elijah's conduct in that undignified scene. (1 Kings 18: 27.) But most people would find that troubling and mistake the conduct and misjudge motive. 

The Lord was gregarious, but we've turned Him into a caricature. The leaders of the church have themselves become imprisoned by an image which requires them to be holy from birth and never stray from a sort of "plastic-fantastic" single, dimensional, cardboard persona. Inside this trap you see them living as if on constant display (which they are), wearing the uniform of a white shirt, dark suit and power tie to see a movie, (should they ever attend a movie). The Saints want it, the Brethren deliver, and everyone moves about judging motive from conduct when it is utter rubbish.

Don't think I am important or spend any time trying to understand me. It is less than worthless, it is a distraction. I'm simply not important. About me there are only two things which matter: 1) I am flawed and error prone and anything but perfect. I watch inappropriate movies, laugh out loud at stupidity, have a highly acute bullshit-detector and tend to use it at the wrong times. I do not seek for, nor want anyone's admiration. It would be better for me if people readily accepted that my errors are many, and therefore, they ought not depend upon me. They will more quickly look to the Lord if they do not look to me. 2)  I have seen the Lord and He has ministered to me.  The details are only set forth to the extent I have been required to set them forth. They appear in 9 words in The Second Comforter, and in two chapters in Come, Let Us Adore Him. I can tell you that when I said on this blog: "I have never won an argument with the Lord" that I was referring to what appears in Come, Let Us Adore Him. Long before anyone leveled any criticism at me for publishing something which I should have kept to myself, I made the same (and better) arguments with the Lord against putting it into print. He has "strong reasoning" which I am unable to overcome. (D&C 45: 10.) I am no volunteer. I do as I am required. And I understand Joseph's comment that if he hadn't lived it he wouldn't have believed it. I doubt I would believe me if I were anyone else. What I have written is, nevertheless, true.