Jun

9

LDS = Politically Dormant or are we just not listening?

AuthorHelaman
TagsAtonement, Debt, Ezra Taft Benson, Faith, Food Storage, Government, Joseph Smith Jr., Preparedness, Prophets, Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings, Topics
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Signing the ConstitutionI know the title is a little bit of a generalization, and it’s probably due to my own lack of finding out, but I still wanted to talk about it.

With the Presidential elections coming up, political climates, and after listening to a few older talks by General Authorities and past Church Presidents, the question arises.

You listen to talks given by Ezra Taft Benson, and realize rather quickly that he had some very poignant words about the proper role of government 1, the divinity of the constitution 2, and various other quotes 3, that there was a different climate in the church.

What happened?

I sometimes lament to my wife that our church has taken a less active role in being proactive in politics. My wife of course who is the smarter of us explained that maybe it has to do with a bigger problem in our church.

By this I mean a listening problem. What were we told 50 years ago about food storage, 30 years ago, 10 years ago? I don’t know either, I would hazard a guess that it started at something like storing as much as possible, then worked it way down to 1 year of food, fuel, essentials to the current level of basically just get something stored, a 72 kit and like 1 month of food storage.

Do you know in the 70’s, Spencer W. Kimball said:

Recognizing that the family is the basic unit of both the Church and society generally, we call upon Latter-day Saints everywhere to strengthen and beautify the home with renewed effort in these specific areas: food production, preservation, storage; the production and storage of nonfood items; fixup and cleanup of homes and surroundings. We wish to say another word about this in the next meeting.

We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities.4

I was listening to a statement on NPR the other week that talked about how much can be saved by just growing tomatoes and other small vegetables over buying them from the store in the course of a year. It said that the average savings was ~$1500. That goes a long way in helping to reduce debt too. But don’t get thinking this was for home owners with large yards, if I remember correctly the woman they interviewed lived in a town home or apartment.

But why have we reached such a low level of storage? I’m sure some of it has to do with smaller living spaces, but I also think as a church, people just aren’t listening, and this is exactly what they [The Church] was running into in the 70’s. Quoting from the same talk by Spencer W. Kimball:

As I listened to their addresses, I kept thinking over and over of something the Savior said,“Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” It rolled over and over and over in my mind: “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Luke 6:46] 5

So why am I going in such a large circle to explain a point of political dormancy? Well it’s to put it into context. Why do our Prophets and General Authorities continually going over the same principles every conference?

Do we listen?

But back to politics.

I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose[D&C 101:80].

It would seem to me, that the Constitution is a rather important document to our church. I can’t find the article I read that explained the LDS church and the Constitution being intimately connected but suffice it to say - if it [The Constitution] fails the LDS church fails.

But knowing that the Lord brought about the Constitution, why aren’t we as members doing more to uphold it, to stand behind it, to defend it?

Are we caught up in the idea that a member will save it when it hangs by a thread therefore we don’t need to do anything? Are we content in just letting someone else do something to fix it (and how well is that working?)? Are we just too complacent?

I can’t answer the question wholly, and trust me I understand how hard it is to know what to do. But I think there are some basics we can do to start with.

Get to know the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. All three of these documents are the foundation of our country. Teach them to your children, right along with learning the Articles of Faith, help to them to understand our rights and freedoms. I feel the more you know, the more likely you are to take offense when they are violated.

Take some time to listen or read some of the older talks. Especially “The Proper Role of Government” by Ezra Taft Benson. He offers a lot of great talks that are politically charged. There are also some talks given by Cleon Skousen that are part of this subject too.

I’ll leave with one last thing…

Children should learn to work. Parents should not spend their nights and days trying to find something to interest their children. They should find something to occupy them and get them busy doing something that is worthwhile.6

  1. The Proper Role of Government - Ezra Taft Benson ↩
  2. Our Divine Constitution - Ezra Taft Benson ↩
  3. Various Quotes ↩
  4. Family Preparedness - Spencer W. Kimbal ↩
  5. Family Preparedness - Spencer W. Kimball ↩
  6. Family Preparedness - Spencer W. Kimball ↩

Last 5 posts by Helaman

Comments

7 Responses to “LDS = Politically Dormant or are we just not listening?”

  1. bkb on June 9th, 2008 9:52 am

    I do wonder if there are revelations or counsel that we are not given as we are so slow to heed what we have. However, I do not think that has to do with the limited role that the LDS leadership takes in government affairs in our nation. While they do not endorce a canidate or party, they will encourage members to be active in issues such as gambling. I will not say another of the issues that is very emotional. I support the leaders on the issue that I am not mentioning here and have written Senators in regard to it when requested to do so. I just have never seen any good come from hashing out that topic as it is very emotional.

    I have seen a talk by a General Authority in recent years talking about the dangers of legislating from the bench.

    I also think that the leaders expect us to take a lot of personal responsibility in politics. We are to study issues. We are to pray about the issues.

    I want to add that the Church does not endorse either party and recognizes that there is good as well as shortcomings in either party.

    I speak of America at the moment. The Church is worldwide and encourges members to be loyal to their governments where they live.

    [Reply]

    Helaman reply on June 9th, 2008 10:25 am:

    I believe blessings are withheld from a person when they are not faithful, so I bet the same could be said for a group.

    I’m not looking for the Church to endorse anyone, all I’m looking for is more activity.

    I guess it might just be a problem being a world wide church, that there’s so much out there for every country they can’t focus on one country.

    I don’t believe it’s loyalty to the government, but a respect for the laws of the country you reside in. There’s a difference there. Even I might be wrong with how it’s worded from the Church too.

    [Reply]
  2. bkb on June 9th, 2008 10:55 am

    I have thought that the worldwide aspect may also be a factor in limited involvment in government by leaders. As far as endorsing a specific canidate, I think that a Church would lose its tax exempt status were it to do that.

    While you may not find specific political direction in a lot of the General Conference talks, I do think we are giving directives from time to time on the important issues that face our day. As mentioned before, gambling is an issue that our Church leaders encourage members to take a stand on when the issue is at hand. We are to vote against legalized gambling.

    In regards to the emotional issue that I remain obscure about, I read recently that we as members are allowed to disagree with the Church’s stand on that issue as long as we do not cross the line into being apostate.

    [Reply]
  3. bkb on June 9th, 2008 11:02 am

    I would add that I hope that we are not in a state where we are not able to be warned by our Leaders. I have not heard anything to indicate that such protection has been withdrawn from talks by General Authorities.

    Because there is little involvement in political matters by Church leaders, I listen up when I hear them addressing anything political in talks and try to act according to their direction.

    [Reply]
  4. Craig on June 11th, 2008 11:32 pm

    I stumbled on your blog through LDS & Mormon Blogs, but I thought your comments were timely. I too wish that more members of the Church would educate themselves about the United States Constitution and the proper role of the Federal Government. Strong, yes. Superior in it’s enumerated powers, yes. But limited to that which the American people gave it.

    And what so many don’t realize is that the Government increases its reach, it robs us of those powers and liberties we didn’t give it.

    What will it take before we wake up?

    Craigs last blog post..Thirty Years Ago

    [Reply]

    Helaman reply on June 12th, 2008 6:48 am:

    If you’ve ever heard the story about the frong in boiling water, then you may realize that it’s going to take something big, very big all at once to wake people up - the other problem is, look at post 9/11, it isn’t hard to spin it the way a government wants.

    [Reply]
  5. Connor on June 27th, 2008 9:57 pm

    I can’t find the article I read that explained the LDS church and the Constitution being intimately connected but suffice it to say - if it [The Constitution] fails the LDS church fails.

    Perhaps it was this one?

    No greater immediate responsibility rests upon members of the Church, upon all citizens of this Republic and of neighboring Republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.
    –David O. McKay

    But knowing that the Lord brought about the Constitution, why aren’t we as members doing more to uphold it, to stand behind it, to defend it?

    We (collectively) are too busy going to soccer practice, watching So You Think You Can Dance, and playing on MySpace.

    To answer the question that the title of your post raises, I would suggest that the answer is both. It’s a chicken and egg scenario: we are politically dormant because we won’t listen, and we won’t listen because we’re politically dormant. Hence the reason, perhaps that there are so many calls in the scripture to “awake”. The Saints are sleeping…

    Connors last blog post..Affirmation, California, and the LDS Church

    [Reply]

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