As you may have guessed, I'm a Mormon, which means that I am a Christian but there are some who don't want to admit it. But being a Mormon means that I read the Book of Mormon (BoM) as well as the Bible. And I happened to be reading it today...
I've been thinking lately about our world and what the future holds for my young family. The Stock Market is tanking, there's terrorism threatening our world, I can go online and see where the nearest pedophile lives, the upcoming election promises to be a choice between the lesser of two evils...
I could go on, but I'm sure I've started to panic somebody out there. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Now let it out. Good, now let's put it all in perspective, hm?
Life is about challenges. Fear and panic are things everyone must confront and some people brush it off like a light flurry of snow while others wander into huge drifts and have to have toes removed. I think most people are like me: some times I make snow balls, other times I play with hypothermia. And lately, I've lost feeling in my metaphorical fingers...
My brother B has decided to join the military. Not just the military, but the Marines. "We'll make a MAN out of him!" (Says the strangely intense recruiter.) The trouble is, B is not a man, er, mentally. I got a birthday card from him two weeks ago wishing me "Lots of making out with your wife."
I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how babies are made - and the Marines are getting their hands on him! Well, actually that's not true. He's clutching at the Marines like a shipwrecked man discovering the other side of the island is a resort for Parisian models.
We've talked to him about this decision:
- "You don't have a college education: you'll end up a grunt."
- "Yes, ice cream for breakfast is a great idea, but recruiter's make a lot of promises they can't keep."
- "Join the Air Force! They don't catch bullets for a living."
- "How are you going to start a family? No, there is no LDSMatch in Iraq."
- "You do know this isn't going to be like your mission, right?"
Of course, my father is the old hippie who was fighting Nixon and my grandmother 40 years ago (he only beat Nixon). He called me like it was the end of the world and I can't say I didn't agree with him. The Iraqi War looks like a quagmire and the Russians already proved Afghanistan is no easy cookie. We all know the usual arguments, so I won't rehash them for you.
Talking to B about this, he drops the bombshell: "I prayed about enlisting, and this is what I should do."
Stop, and hold the phone.
For those of you unfamiliar with the LDS faith, let me hit you with some knowledge: prayer - personal, intimate, sacred prayer is direct
two-way communication with God! There is no higher authority, not even the leader of our church, who we believe to be a prophet of God can trump personal revelation through the Holy Spirit! That's it and that's all there is to it.
Now if you're not a member of my faith, this may seem as a huge dilemma. You're saying to yourself "Either there is absolute chaos in this church because everyone is got their own guidance or there is some mass hysteria that keeps everyone constantly fooling themselves into getting answers that conform to the societal norms of the Church." (Well, maybe you didn't think that last one, but I know those Anthropology majors are sitting there with a sly grin! :) )
Remarkably, there is not a lot of chaos in the Church and there are not answers that always conform to the expectations of the recipient. I've been surprised a number of times to answers that were in exact opposition to what I wanted OR what I thought I should do. And that's were the challenge comes in: you've just found out what the Lord wants, but it's not what you want.
Dun, Dun, DuuuuuNNNNNNN! So I've been there. And I know that you get through it by being humble.
You remember that you aren't the god of the universe.
You remember that you can't be, because you already asked Him, and if you were just talking to yourself, you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
And then you do what you were told. Or you don't do what you were told and end up in more trouble than you started with. (It's true!)
So B is doing what he's been told to do. So why does that bother me? Why do I have to blog about B doing what he's supposed to do? The reason is that if that is the answer that he has received, then I am in opposition to God. Say what!?!
Here's the reasoning: a compass, pointing along the magnetic field, doesn't know why it points that direction, but it agrees with the field. I am like the compass: I don't know why B is supposed to join up, but that's not knowledge I need. That's not even knowledge B may need! The difference between B and I is that he's pointing north, if you will, and I'm trying to point south. Completely different attitudes to the same stimulus.
So I've been studying about the military and how the Church operates with it. Questions like: will B have the opportunity to associate with other members on ships or stations. We don't have a paid clergy, so it is a legitimate concern.
While I was studying, I was reminded that the purpose of these wars is to protect our liberty and freedom. (True, some corrupt men are in it for oil, opium, or graft but that's not the purpose. It is a side effect of corruption, not of war.) And freedom is why I can sit here are write this blog, why I can go to Church on Sunday (or not, if that's your belief), why my family doesn't wake up every morning worried that we could be killed because of our belief in God.
Captain Moroni was a great military commander in the BoM. He was also a great Christian and he rallied his people with a flag called the "Title of Liberty." It had written on it:
"In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children."
That's what these wars are really about. Nazism, Communism, and Extremism all attempt to limit or destroy these things. So even though my brother still thinks that "kissing for a long time" is third base, he's doing what's right. He's defending my family from those who would kill us based only on our beliefs and that kind of tyranny can never be allowed to prevail on this earth.
