Comments on: Should we apply the 11th article of faith internally? http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/ A Mormon Blog Tue, 29 May 2012 03:50:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: mullingandmusing http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108945 Sun, 27 Aug 2006 06:41:49 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108945 If it doesn’t, what does that mean for the many things we often consider orthodox beliefs that don’t make the list?

What kinds of things do you think are “considered orthodox” but don’t “make the list”? I’m trying to get a feel for what you are thinking about. In the meantime, I’ll mull over your questions a bit. :) I gotta get some sleep.

]]> By: HP/JDC http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108944 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 18:40:26 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108944 m&m,
I am interested in your thoughts. I agree that the church does need to be unified on certain topics, which topics would include, at first glance, those mentioned by Elder Wood. I happily consider all of that to be necessary knowledge for salvation. My question is, in part, does orthodoxy stretch very far beyond those 4 or five things that Elder Wood mentioned? If it does, where should it end? If it doesn’t, what does that mean for the many things we often consider orthodox beliefs that don’t make the list?

]]> By: J. Stapley http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108943 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:51:54 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108943 Total tangent, but this item by the Church for World AIDS day that discusses the Church’s efforts was very inspiring to me.

]]> By: rleonard http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108871 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:49:07 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108871 I actually have a pretty good first hand view of AIDS in Africa having served there in 1993-1995. In 1993 we never ran into people with AIDS. By the time I left in 1995 I was running into people with AIDS on a weekly basis. There are some LDS women I know who caught HIV/AIDS from unfaithful husbands. They were MAD…….

(LOC will never work so yes I was kidding) The cat is out of the bag on LOC from a global perspective but it will protect individuals/couples who believe in it.

I am very pessimistic about stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa based on my mission experience.

]]> By: mullingandmusing http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108942 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 07:09:16 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108942 I think it goes without saying that we should be tolerant of each other’s points of view. However, there is also a lot we do to try to unify our thinking and to strengthen each other in the faith (whatever that may mean). After all, each week we gather together to “nourish each other in the good word of God” and to bear testimony to each other (presumably about relatively constant (orthodox?) things). Perhaps that is part of the reason we are asked to stick with the basics at church — because it we branch out too much there would be too much variation in discussion, and very little opportunity for bearing and sharing (experiencing together) the power of testimony.

In short, I don’t think respecting each other’s privilege to worship in their own way completely negates our responsibility to strengthen each other in our faith of the Savior, the Restoration, etc. There’s a balance, and I think there is plenty to support both sides of the fence.

I was particularly moved by Elder Wood’s talk in Conference, where I felt much of what he said applied here in the ‘nacle.

Have we who have taken upon us the name of Christ slipped unknowingly into patterns of slander, evil speaking, and bitter stereotyping? Have personal or partisan or business or religious differences been translated into a kind of demonizing of those of different views? Do we pause to understand the seemingly different positions of others and seek, where possible, common ground?

But then, I hear him talking to us as a people about how we have a special mission to reach out as messengers of peace to the world, which, to me, implies that we should be united at some level, seeing truth in a unifed way to some degree (but also that we should be nice!). Otherwise, how could we go forth and bear testimony to the world if we don’t know what we are supposed to be bearing testimony about and aren’t unified to that end?

The Lord has constituted us as a people for a special mission. … Wherever we live in the world, we have been molded as a people to be the instruments of the Lord’s peace. In the words of Peter, we have been claimed by God for His own, to proclaim the triumph of Him “who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.” We cannot afford to be caught up in a world prone to give and to take offense. Rather, as the Lord revealed to both Paul and Mormon, we must neither envy nor be puffed up in pride. We are not easily provoked, nor do we behave unseemly. We rejoice not in iniquity but in the truth. Surely this is the pure love of Christ which we represent….
As true witnesses of Christ in the latter days, let us not fall into the darkness so that, in the words of Peter, we “cannot see afar off,” but let us be fruitful in the testimony of Christ and His restored gospel, in thought, in speech, in deed.23 God lives. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Joseph Smith, the great prophet of the Restoration, was the instrument by which we have been constituted as a people, led even today by a prophet of God, President Gordon B. Hinckley. Let us daily renew in our hearts the pure love of Christ and overcome with our Master the darkness of the world.

I think his words really can address “both sides” — we can maybe start with those in our midst in the Church and work to foster a spirit of peace, even as we may disagree on things. But we also need to have a sense of what we as a Church should be sharing with the world and be unified in the message we share. I think we need to have a spirit of testimony as a people if we want to share our message with the world.

]]> By: Marc http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108941 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 05:55:54 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108941 I haven’t read the entire string of comments, but I would answer you yes, I believe that we need a spectrum of believing approaches to Mormonism. To quote the late Hugh B. Brown, “We must preserve freedom of the mind in the church and resist all efforts to suppress it. The church is not so much concerned with whether the thoughts of its members are orthodox or heterodox as it is that they shall have thoughts.”

]]> By: Jothegrill http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108940 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 03:22:48 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108940 Re:70
They screen donated blood really carefully nowdays at least in developed countries, so getting HIV through blood transfusions is almost unheard of. So Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom (not using illegal drugs) would go a long way toward stopping the spread. Even HIV positive parents are sometimes giving birth to HIV free babies. (Not always, but sometimes.)

]]> By: HP/JDC http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108939 Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:33:40 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108939 rleonard,
I think you’re right. Let all those hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients die off! (;) on the off chance you’re kidding)

]]> By: rleonard http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108938 Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:24:18 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108938 #68,

Law of Chastity?

]]> By: Amri http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/22/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108937 Thu, 24 Aug 2006 18:13:20 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/08/should-we-apply-the-11th-article-of-faith-internally/#comment-108937 I say we solve the HIV endemic!

Man, y’all are good. And so diplomatic.

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