For those that haven't heard, Evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress sparked some controversy recently by referring to Mormonism as a cult while introducing Rick Perry at a political event. Since then he's been interviewed by all sorts of news people - here's the story on CNN and here's another site with links and videos. (I highly recommend the interview with Anderson Cooper from CNN.)
There's a post on CNN's "belief blog" that covers the story - I like it because it gives an awesome shout out to BYU (in fact, I took a great class from the professor they mentioned). The post has evoked thousands of responses by strong-minded people on both sides of the conversation, as any online religious discussion is wont to do. My entire purpose in writing this unexpected post was to share one of the responses I came across. It moved me and I value what its writer is trying to convey. He identifies himself as Adam; here's what he said:
Most mormons I know will tell you what they believe based on a spiritual experience that they have personally had, not because of what the theologist says. Honestly, with as much deception and dishonesty that is tied in with almost every religion I know, I think that is pretty admirable. I have a co-worker that is LDS that told me he is only Mormon because of the spiritual experiences that he has had while living its teachings. I can't vouch for that because I've never had those feelings, but we've had some long conversations on the subject, I can't argue with his experiences, even if the theoogy doesn't always make sense to me. Isn't that what religion is really about anyway, how it makes us feel? I think our feelings are about the only thing that we can honestly trust with way too much misinformation out there. My feelings don't have room to allow for a man-made organized religion, but the way my co-worker lives his religion on a day-to-day basis, if I had to choose a religion to follow, it would probably be mormonism. They are the only religion I know of where they are actually required to make serious social and spiritual sacrifices on a daily basis. I don't know if I could give up my social drinking, but if I were a part of a religion I would expect it to require more of me than most other religions I know that continue to slack more and more in their allowances in virtuous living and personal sacrifice. [sic]
Most mormons I know will tell you what they believe based on a spiritual experience that they have personally had, not because of what the theologist says. Honestly, with as much deception and dishonesty that is tied in with almost every religion I know, I think that is pretty admirable. I have a co-worker that is LDS that told me he is only Mormon because of the spiritual experiences that he has had while living its teachings. I can't vouch for that because I've never had those feelings, but we've had some long conversations on the subject, I can't argue with his experiences, even if the theoogy doesn't always make sense to me. Isn't that what religion is really about anyway, how it makes us feel? I think our feelings are about the only thing that we can honestly trust with way too much misinformation out there. My feelings don't have room to allow for a man-made organized religion, but the way my co-worker lives his religion on a day-to-day basis, if I had to choose a religion to follow, it would probably be mormonism. They are the only religion I know of where they are actually required to make serious social and spiritual sacrifices on a daily basis. I don't know if I could give up my social drinking, but if I were a part of a religion I would expect it to require more of me than most other religions I know that continue to slack more and more in their allowances in virtuous living and personal sacrifice. [sic]
I don't really understand what the big deal is about cults. Most religions, ours religion included, are cults, when considering the definition of it, is it not? The definition of a cult is "a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies." Does that not describe the church?
ReplyDeleteIt depends on how you define it. You quoted the first entry for 'cult' on dictionary.com, but another entry further down reads "a quasi-religious organization using devious psychological techniques to gain and control adherents". I think the definition they're talking about (and the way most people think about it) is the one with negative connotations - brainwashing, not open-minded, extreme devotion, etc. None of these things are nor should be encouraged by the LDS Church.
ReplyDelete