A great friend and I were discussing \u201cBig Tent\u201d Mormonism over the weekend and it was a great conversation. Alas the school year has begun and he\u2019s a teacher. So I am hoping we can continue the conversation here. Let me restate some of the discussion, and also carry it forward a bit.<\/p>\n
1. The Church is not the same as God\u2019s Family. We are all Children of God, and thus members of God\u2019s Family. The Church is a faith community (a community built on shared faith demonstrated in thoughts and action), and not everyone shares that faith. The Church is a subset of God\u2019s Family.<\/p>\n
2. Following on #1, it’s Big Tent Mormonism, not Open Range Mormonism. Even Big Tents have outer boundaries. This is beneficial for people inside and outside the church, as people inside who want to get outside can leave and vice versa, whereas there would be no option to come, stay, or leave within an open range.<\/p>\n
3. The challenge is in defining what those boundaries are. There is a lot of discussion on where the edge of the tent is or ought to be. I think 99% of the discussion on the blogs could be defined as discussion on this periphery. This is also why it is difficult to be on the periphery, because to some people you are outside of the tent, and to other people you are inside. Ultimately, I think we are all of the periphery in one way or another.<\/p>\n
4. To illustrate this point, my co-blogger Jeff G. is a great example. Jeff G. currently continually posts about how revelation trumps reason, and how divine vesture of authority in appointed leaders supersedes intellectualism. For many, this is out of bounds, and they debate him heavily on this. For others, this is wholly in bounds, and they laud him. Jeff himself is setting up a definition of what is and is not in bounds, and his interpretation of the boundaries creates a strong reaction in others to the boundaries.<\/p>\n
5. The boundaries of our faith are a sort of Venn diagram where there are millions of circles that overlap, but that do not perfectly fit one another.<\/p>\n
6. I think aligning these circles is part of creating Zion. I think the church is better served by acknowledging this diversity at the periphery and focusing on the common beliefs that form the part where the circles in the diagram overlap.<\/p>\n
7. Building on common beliefs is tricky though, because what\u2019s in bounds for one is not in bounds for another.<\/p>\n
8. My friend proposed Givens\u2019 5 things from \u201cGod Who Weeps\u201d as this center. I think that is a good list. I\u2019d propose that another good list is McConkie\u2019s Pillars (Jesus is the Christ, Joseph was a Prophet, The Book of Mormon is what it claims to be, Priesthood Power and Priesthood Authority is real). I\u2019d even propose Covey\u2019s 6 Events points.<\/p>\n
9. For many, the Church has become other because they feel like the talks coming from General Conference, the Ensign, the Prophets and Apostles and other General Authorities falls outside of the boundaries for them. This causes them stress. This stress can either be a check for them to realign their circle or a call to disregard the items out of their circle, a call to challenge the misalignment of the circles, or a push out of the tent altogether, via either inactivity, name removal or excommunication.<\/p>\n
10. So where does this leave me? It leaves me with my discussion over this weekend. When we say the church is true, we do not mean that the church is correct in all things. We do not mean the church is correct in any matter at all (Though I feel it is). What we mean is that the Church is God\u2019s. It belongs to God, it was established by God and it is directed by God through its human prophets. It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, fully being Christ\u2019s Church, but also fully being the church of latter-day saints, the people\u2019s church.<\/p>\n
11. This past Sunday we had a lesson on Job. In Job, I see two lessons that I can apply here. First is God\u2019s response to Job. God tells Job his ways are not Job\u2019s ways and that he is God. He does not explain himself to Job, he merely defines himself and defines Job\u2019s life as his will. I think this is how I understand the Church as well. Like Job\u2019s life, the Church has challenges and struggles, sufferings and agonies, but I believe it is God\u2019s will. The other lesson from Job is that of Job\u2019s friends. When God speaks to them, he condemns them and tells them Job has been more correct than they were all along. Job has spoken right as he attributed his struggles to God, where his friends attributed his struggles to himself. I think we can learn from this, as we work through our own struggles as well as interpreting the struggles of others. I like what Michael Austin says in re-reading Job, that we need to listen “compassionately to those who criticize, contradict, or seek justice from God or from the human institutions that claim to represent Him. God can take care of Himself; our responsibility is to take care of each other” (Re-reading Job, p. 132).