So I read an entertaining account of an American tourist getting lost in Iceland — because he did just what the GPS unit in his rented car told him to do, and he ended up in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure you’ve heard similar stories or even got GPS-lost yourself a time or two. You place your trust in some person or gadget, you obediently follow the directions the Voice of Authority gives you, but instead of the pleasant outcome you were promised, you get hopelessly lost. Maybe you can see where I’m going with this.
Here’s another way to get lost. You look at a good map, identifying your starting point, your destination, and a route to follow. You memorize a highway number or two and a couple of landmarks. You follow the mental map you now have in your head, but somehow get off course. Maybe you still have a sense of the general direction you’re headed, so you continue on. At some point you confess that your are lost. So you get out the map and recalibrate, backtracking if necessary. At some point you find a road or town or landmark that you recognize, figure out where you are, and continue on. With this method, you might get disoriented or turned around, but you never get hopelessly lost like the GPS navigator does. You’re picking up info and clues as you navigate. Your whole approach is based on acquiring reliable information about your route. If you do get lost, you are lost with a lot more information than the GPS guy.
So let’s analogize this tale to the case of Mormons dealing with LDS doctrine and history. The Church teaches members to navigate LDS doctrine and history by relying on the Voice of Authority in manuals, in talks, in the Handbook, and in counsel from local and senior leadership. Obtaining outside information is discouraged. Mainstream Mormons do fine with this most of the time — until they hit a doctrinal or historical glitch, when the Voice of Authority at some point becomes so disconnected from their circumstances or context that they know better than to continue but have no clue how to recover. Consider the reaction of mainstream Mormons to the Gospel Topics Essays as an example. It doesn’t take much, it seems, to disorientate a GPS Mormon.
I’d contrast that approach with the member who insists on constructing her own mental map of Mormonism based on all the reliable information she can acquire. If someone using the second approach becomes disorientated, it’s much easier to update the mental map one has been building and either carry on down the Mormon path or head off towards some other worthwhile destination.
So are you a GPS Mormon or a read-the-map Mormon? How do you navigate your Mormonism in the age of the Internet?
Oh the analogies you can add into this:
-You’re on a trip to a location that no one you’ve met has ever seen.
-You don’t know if it even exists.
-The map you’ve been given is old and has a different starting point.
-The guides that you listen to, you start to realize are just doing their own interpretation of the map (heck, I could have done that).
All the while:
-One group is telling you to listen to follow the map but you’re starting to see questionable parts of the map that don’t add up.
-The other group is telling you the map is fake and should be ignored
– but deep down you feel like the map is, for the most part, is correct.
I am just “recalculating” right now.
I find it kind of interesting , and maybe a little ironic, that after using GPS and maps analogously, as well as mentioning authority, manuals, and handbooks, nowhere in the post did I see the Holy Ghost mentioned.
If I’m being honest with myself, I think that’s how I navigate. I do encounter things that are hard to square away from time to time. Deep down I feel there is always a resolution that is satisfying (sometimes that resolution is “some men were stupid”). Sometimes I may not always know that resolution, or a may get a hint of many possible solutions. Sometimes I get the impression I just need to wait a while, but I’ve never had the feeling that pondering some of these things were completely off limits.
Is there anything that says the Holy Ghost can’t help us do a little of both? I couple the scriptures, authority, manuals, and handbooks with the Holy Ghost as I traverse other pretty diverse sources of information in the process. It’s lead me down some pretty interesting paths, but ones I still walk as an active member.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Don’t feed the troll.
Nice additions, Andy. How can anyone using The One True Map ever get lost?
Eli, I suppose I could add a third way of navigating, which I actually employ from time to time. “I’ve got a gut feeling we should go *that* way …” Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
We’re all happy Hans found his path, norton. Maybe at some point you’ll figure out your path ought to focus more on uplifting yourself and those around you rather than afflicting those who don’t quite share your beliefs.
And there’s a beam in your eye. Go read the statistics — Christian denominations are losing their youth at higher rates than the Mormons are. Mark Noll has published on the scandal of the Evangelical mind (they are anti-intellectuals who can’t deal with simple concepts like evolution and the Big Bang, which is why they are losing adherents). Go read Molly Worthen’s new book on the crisis of Evangelical authority. You need to deal with your own faith problems (and they are legion) before you try to deal with ours.
You really need to worry about the problems your own brand of faith presents to you and your fellow believers more than the problems that LDS face. Mormons have been practicing self-criticism (what Jesus directed his followers to engage in) since the Church was founded. We have to, because we take so much criticism from well-meaning but underinformed do-gooders like you. Take the advice of Jesus. Look at the beam in your own eye, not the mote in ours. Go visit a friend instead of attacking the beliefs of strangers.
Can there be an unbiased opinion where Mormonism is the subject? Sources that speak positively are suspect by some; ditto the negative ones. Thomas O’ Dea had nice things to say about the Book of Mormon in his publication, but not to the point of proclaiming the Church to be true.
I knew the history of the RLDS was attempting to prove itself the true successor church, but I didn’t question its validity until cross-referencing with LDS material.
When outside sources are used, some time must be devoted to checking their Reliability.
I’m sure you’re a real hit in your congregation, norton. Go rant on someone else’s forum.
norton, I deleted your last comment — your rude and offensive behavior here means you don’t get to leave any more comments. You would not believe the amount of crap that Mormons put up with from so-called Christians like you. If you want to be taken seriously as a Christian — or even as a decent person — you should start acting like one, online as well as in real life.