Comments on: A Happy Ending

By: Silus Grok

Silus Grok — Sat, 07 May 2005 21:40:32 +0000

43: Jenn… just that one part?

FWIW, I’m of the opinion that Job is a metaphor/fable.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Sat, 07 May 2005 01:59:17 +0000

I’m certain that the Church leaders know exactly what they’re doing. The question, of course, is whether they know that they’re doing precisely what the Lord would do if He were here.

I am inclined to believe Paul when he confessed to seeing through a glass darkly. I believe that the Lord allows those who lead in the Church to struggle to understand His will, and to use their best efforts as they try to conform to that will–but I also think that He allows room for growth, which occurs in the struggle to understand and conform.

This in no way suggests that the leaders are uninspired, or not worthy of our sustaining–I sustain them wholeheartedly in the overwhelming challenges that they face. That does not mean, however, that I think they see as clearly now as they will then, when, as Paul says, they are face to face with God.

By: SeptimusH

SeptimusH — Fri, 06 May 2005 11:34:41 +0000

I never had one of those office elders send me home the wrong way, but the last two months of my mission the financial secretary must have done something wrong because I got twice as much money as I normally got. I thought about giving it back, but instead I bought a bunch of souvenirs. I’ve felt pretty crappy about that ever since…I guess it wasn’t so much of a happy ending…

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 05 May 2005 20:41:57 +0000

Isn’t that part of Job considered apocryphal, Nate?

By: Nate Oman

Nate Oman — Thu, 05 May 2005 20:41:13 +0000

“I don’t think the Lord is playing games with us.”

There are scriptural precedents. See, e.g., Job 1.

By: Christian Y. Cardall (TSM)

Christian Y. Cardall (TSM) — Thu, 05 May 2005 20:29:40 +0000

Aaron, lighten up a bit. In participating in Church government, we’re like little children that are just learning—like Cub Scouts who are actually allowed to make a mess of their pinewood derby cars, instead of their fathers doing it all for them. Allegedly, that’s the way we’re learning. Just as we might chuckle at our children’s foibles, so might Heavenly Father chuckle at us sometimes too.

By: Aaron B. Cox

Aaron B. Cox — Thu, 05 May 2005 20:17:02 +0000

I don’t think the Lord is playing games with us. We’re not here for his amusement. Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies, says Pres. Monson. That applies at every level.

By: Nate Oman

Nate Oman — Thu, 05 May 2005 19:54:27 +0000

Jenn: I don’t think that I am leading or going down the path that you seem to fear. I have a great deal of respect for my local leaders and believe that they are inspired. However, I think that one of the consequences of having a lay clergy is a certain amount of amateurness in how things get run, particularlly as one pushes down the org chart. I see nothing wrong with this — sometimes it is even funy and amusing. Indeed, I suspect that this is one of the reasons that the Lord has structured the church as he has.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 05 May 2005 19:23:07 +0000

Sorry Nate! (I didn’t think you’d respond to unknowns like me…)

But let me ask you — doesn’t this comment of yours (‘humanizing’) our leaders lead us down a path of not giving our local leaders proper respect? And isn’t it weird somehow to establish different standards for respecting Church authority?

By: Nate Oman

Nate Oman — Thu, 05 May 2005 19:16:08 +0000

Aaron & Jenn: I was referring to the elder in the mission office, and the rest of us who slog it out in the trenches of Mormonism. I have faith and trust in the prophets, but generally speaking it is not they who are running the ward but me and thee, and while I don’t know much about thee, I am pretty sure that I am clueless…