Is everything that comes out of a church leader’s mouth special and inspired? Of course not, and they will be the first to tell you. But we always hear members say what an inspired change some leader made, or what an inspired program that is.
For example, building small temples, lowering missionary age to 18, combining HP and Elders, all inspired changes. Changing mission length in the 1980’s from 24 to 18 month, inspired, until two years later when it was no longer such a great idea, and the length was moved back to 24 months.
When a Mission President moves sister missionaries to remote islands in the Caribbean so that it is easier for him to do inappropriate things to them, it is obviously not inspired. Yet a senior missionary, writing a blog at the time, said the move was inspired. Now obviously in hind sight even this missionary will say today it was not inspired. But why did he write in his blog that it was inspired? Was it just a knee jerk reaction that everything the MP does is inspired? Or did this missionary really get a spiritual confirmation that it was inspired and if so where did the confirmation come from?
I’m going to make an educated guess that this senior missionary was just doing what most members do; assume everything that a MP says is inspired. There was no spiritual confirmation that moving the sister missionaries to these islands was what the Lord wanted. There was no warm and fuzzy feelings. It was an automatic response.
I knew a Stake President once that refused to call former bishops to the high council. He said they were all “yes men” and always agreed with everything he said. So he called men that would give their honest opinions, and challenge him on his decisions. This is not the norm. My own father was released as a high councilman because he was not a yes man.
Why do you think members of the church use the “inspired” word so much? What is the danger of having this automatic response that everything is inspired? What I have seen as the result is that nothing is ever questioned, and evil people get away with horrific acts. On a lesser scale, uninformed people get away with stupid programs, tithing money is wasted, and people are taken away from their families for senseless meetings.
What have you seen as the downside of this “inspired” mentality?
“Now obviously in hind sight even this missionary will say today it was not inspired”
You’d think, but the missionary actually says something different in the comments. It sounds like he’s having a hard time coming to terms with the events and is defaulting to … the mission president was inspired. And how concerning… I haven’t read his whole blog and don’t know if there are other discussions elsewhere, but he defends the mission president and expresses no concern for the victims. Would he prefer that the young women had just kept quiet?
The point of the blog is missed if one believes that the plight of the victim was overlooked. That was not the central point. Rather, it appears the point is that we humanoids tend to seek out what we want and then pronounce Heavenly Father’s blessings upon such as if we use no self-made manipulations in the process and it is simply our being called. The author is entirely correct. As a former church leader and employee, I can attest to that.
My dad was called to a bishopric to tell the bishop no from time to time.
I agree with the disadvantages OP mentions. I would also add that automatically can’t everything inspired minimizes the role information seeking plays in good decision making. There’s no need to ask the affected group(s) erfasst would serve them best if whatever you say is going to be rubber stamped as inspired anyway.
I think you are correct, Bishop Bill: it’s an automatic response that doesn’t really correspond to the words used. Consider how the average mainstream member views the opposite statement: “I don’t believe that decision was inspired.” Even if one adds, “… but I do believe that so-and-so is a good person doing their best to make a responsible decision with the information he or she has,” the average Mormon is likely to view that statement as a rejection of the whole range of standard Mormon truth claims. It’s all or nothing to most Mormons, although we also regularly quote GA statements rejecting that all-or-nothing view.
When someone uses the term ‘inspired’ as an adjective but has limited to no direct experience/ information on the background of the decision, I see the expression being more about virtue and loyalty signalling than truth.
“What have you seen as the downside of this “inspired” mentality?”
Polygamy – break up of the family with wives and children left destitute, apostate offshoots
Willy Marting handcart disaster – needless loss life and considerable suffering in survivors
Iron, lead, silk, sugar missions – waste of money and other valuable resources
Kirtland Bank – loss of money and membership
claim that zion was in Missouri – loss of life, persecution
priesthood ban to blacks – permanent stain of racism on church and past leadership
Denial of ordinances to children of same sex couples – loss of membership, persistent anger, distrust of leadership
Attempt to move Ricks College to Idaho Falls in the 60’s – Near revolt of stakes in the upper snake river valley, loss of trust
Dissolution of church history division and demotion of Leonard Arrington – loss of faith and trust in honesty of leadership
Advice of gay/lesbians to marry to opposite sex – divorce, damage to all concerned including offspring
Advice to spouses to remain in physically and emotionally abusive marriages – death, depression, divorce, suicide, damage to children of union
Etc.
GBSmith is right, fake or manufactured inspiration can cause loss, injury, destruction, and even death. But even if it isn’t leading us off some cliff, it simply makes us fake. If we’re fake, we lose what we claim- revelation and truth- we stop seeking the right way and true seekers rightly see the falseness. We essentially Apostacize.
So even if someone isn’t trying to convince me to do something dangerous, even if it is some kid trying to act all mormon-y while reporting on youth camp, or some well intending senior missionary supporting a mission president in a blog by parroting big and misplaced words like “inspired”, I still bristle.
I sometimes wonder how accurate my spiritual Geiger-counter is and how often what I perceive to be “fake” is just me not catching the spirit or needing to be a witness to that experience and how often I’m right and that it’s a show.
It seems like in the church we have a lot of pretty klunky spiritual Geiger-counters or what more accurately is probably called “discernment”.
“What have you seen as the downside of this “inspired” mentality?”
The Prop 8 campaign in our stake. When stake leaders made the decision to present “Six Consequences if Prop 8 Fails,” during the 3rd hour meeting block. From bishopric level on up—nobody could/would see the problems with the material—passing the buck—because someone higher up was “inspired.”
(My husband ended up resigning him from his position in the bishopric)
I’ve come to use the word “inspired” and its variations often in non-LDS and secular contexts, so it doesn’t bother me too much anymore when Church leaders and members use the word to describe the latest flavor-of-the-month program coming out of SLC. I could spend hours listing non-LDS artists, poets, authors, playwrights, composers and filmmakers who’s works I believe are inspired. When a new untested policy or directive comes from the Brethren and is unleashed upon the general membership, often it is met with choruses of praise from the members who treat it as though it was carved in stone tablets by the Almighty himself and delivered to the Prophet for dissemination. Many members still treat the Family Proclamation this way, despite the years of unintended consequences since it was first delivered. For me, claiming the proclamation as “inspired” is no different that me being “inspired” to have spaghetti for dinner instead of lasagne.
Love your writing Bishop Bill. I had to laugh this morning, in that last week I received the formal, written invitation from our Stake Presidency for our upcoming Stake Conference. Within the letter, I was informed that the theme of the conference was “Preparing Ourselves for Personal Inspiration and Revelation”. I’ve become so disgusted with the “over-use” of some of our commonly used nomenclature i.e. Inspiration and Revelation, I wrote a personal note on the letter and returned it to the Stake Presidency. The note I wrote, said the following: “Inspiration and Revelation my ass. I’ll find more of both by taking my wife and family out to a good movie and then for ice cream afterwards. Please stop wasting our time”. What can’t we simply talk about how we can be better friends and neighbors – and focus on the teachings of Christ in the NT!
Let me continue GBSmith’s list with input concerning the RLDS(Community of Christ)
Ordaining Women to Priesthood-Loss of membership
Granting Priesthood/Marriages to homosexuals-Loss of membership
Disciplinary actions against Priesthood/Members who object to the policy changes-Loss of Faith and trust in Leadership.