I think too much

I am working on a new project at work lately which is a bit more complicated than what I used to do, and it requires a lot more brain power than usual. Basically, I have to to think seriously about what to do with each case. So my brain has been getting a lot of exercise lately, and sometimes it goes off on tangents when I am not at work, or on a break. Here is something I thought about the other day that I wanted to share.

I was messing around on facebook, and I found a post where a friend of mine was in the newspaper in Pocatello, so I went to look at the article. On the bottom of the page was links to different news stories, and one of them was about some billboards that seemed to be attacking Mormon beliefs. I read the article, which basically states the billboards are aimed at people who feel like too much is expected of them. Then I read some of the comments, and that's when I got annoyed.

It was the whole "grace versus works" debate all over again. A bunch of people were getting on and making comments about how Mormons don't believe in grace and that they teach us that the only way to get to heaven is to be perfect, and how that doesn't make us Christian.

Now, first of all, there is no grace versus works, not if you read the Bible and try follow all it's teachings. The Bible teaches that we must be saved through grace, but it also teaches that faith without works is dead. So basically, we need both. We should do what we can to follow Christ's example, and then, since we cannot be perfect, Christ makes up the rest. Where is the debate? Just because two different apostles wrote on two different subjects does not mean they disagreed with each other, they were just writing to different audiences, who had different concerns.

Secondly, the LDS church does not teach that we make to heaven solely on our own merit. Our leaders do teach the concept that we need the grace of Jesus to get us there, that he will make up for our shortcomings after all we can do. A very specific teaching that I remember was taught by a video I showed on my mission. I can't find a reference for it online, but I remember the story. I think it was told by Elder Packer.

Basically, it told a parable of a debtor. A young man wanted to buy something really expensive, and decided to borrow the money. He had a good friend who counseled him against it, because he knew the man he wanted to borrow the money from, and that he was a hard man. But the young man went ahead and borrowed the money.

Well, eventually the money came due, and the young man worked and worked to earn the money to pay it back. But he couldn't do it. He realized that it was literally impossible for him to pay back the money in time. The man he borrowed the money come came with guards to take him away to jail since he couldn't pay it back.

The young man's friend came forward, and told the man that he would pay the young man's debts, since he was unable to do so, and saved him from prison. That friend is like Jesus. After the young man did all he could to pay back the debt, his friend made up the rest. And so it is with us. After we do all we can to make up for our sins, Jesus will do the rest if we accept it.

This video helped me to understand how grace works. And it clearly teaches the concept of the need for grace.

Now in writing this, I will acknowledge that people in the church, often women, feel like too much is expected of them, like they need to be perfect. I struggle with that myself sometimes, because I have the desire to be the best I can, and to do more than I can do sometimes. But that is because I am trying to run faster than I have strength, and I realize that. I need to remember that the Savior has taken on those burdens I can't handle, and be grateful for what I can do. It is not the church teaching me that I'm not doing enough, it is my own expectations and sometimes peer pressure making me feel that way. But that does not mean the church isn't teaching about grace, it just means we don't always understand how it works.

I have to say, I'm getting tired of people telling me what I believe and what my church teaches who don't know what they are talking about. I think one of my mission companions summed it up the best way for me. She joined the church when she was eighteen, and when she stated investigating the church, she had people come trying to tell her things about our beliefs to convince her not to join. She told them this, "I will come talk to you about what your church believes, and I will go to the Mormons to find out what their church believes. If you wanted to learn about the Catholic church, would you go to a Jew?"

I feel like I just ranted on and on, but I truly believe that half of the discord that comes between different religions is misunderstanding, and listening to the wrong people. There are people who try to destroy religions in general and there are people who focus on specific ones for whatever reason. And those people are not the ones who are going to give you an objective, truthful history of those religions. And like I said, I think too much.