Crucible of Doubt

A kind and well-intentioned couple, Terry and Fiona Givens, both scholars and both active, believing members of the LDS Church, has written a book for me. It comes several years too late, but I'm still a little bit interested. Mormonism is so completely shattered, in my opinion, that when I hear a claim that I can once again fit all the pieces together again my morbid curiosity is piqued. Additionally I've heard enough positive things about the Givens that I felt it only polite to listen to their 3 hour and 15 minute sales pitch.

Unfortunately I couldn't buy the Givens' arguments and won't be buying the book, which was the result of a recent fireside tour, which was the result of reasonable success from a previous book they had written.

After having listened to the entire Mormon Stories interview my main questions are:

1. If prophets are just like the rest of us then why should we look to them for answers concerning God's will? (I love how they insist on ignoring John Dehlin's question about whether or not it's okay to criticize our upper management.)

2. How do we have any trust in the Gospel text as being valid Jesus material? If we're going to undermine the spoken and written words of imperfect prophets what are we to do with the teachings of Mr. Perfect? Do we take them with a grain of salt because they were written by a bunch of assholes and corrupted over time? Do we only accept the teachings and events described by at least two of the Gospel writers (you know, that whole "by the mouth of two or three witnesses" thing)?

3. In all Fiona's admonishing against hero worship she fails to mention even once our worship of a heroic character named Jesus. How is she so sure that we haven't overblown the case for Jesus the same way we have for our various prophets, especially in light of the fact that our basis for turning Jesus into a mighty hero worthy of our worship are the less than reliable words of prophets, who are pretty much just like us?

4. Why should anyone take the Givens' approach seriously when it directly contradicts our Mormon canon?

5. Terryl Givens bases his entire argument on some kind of bizarre dichotomy between "the heart" and "the intellect". How is anyone supposed to take that seriously? We are not divided up between this mysterious heart and a non-mysterious, logical brain. "The heart" works for Terry the same way the sky worked for early belief in God. It's the only place to hide (as long as you continue to ignore science).

So the book comes out soon. Maybe it has answers to all of these questions, but admittedly I have my doubts.

The Bible! The Bible! Who assembled the Bible?

A common pet peeve among Mormons is when someone assumes the Book of Mormon is the Mormon version of the Bible. Fuck's sake, people, "we believe the Bible to be the word of God" (Article of Faith 1:8)! We just have another book of scripture to help straighten things out. See, it's like a pair of glasses - one corrective lens isn't going to be enough to get your vision into focus...

So if Mormons are cool with the extra books found in The Book of Mormon how do Mormons feel about the Apocrypha? Well, quite frankly, Mormons never touch it. Here's what God told Joseph Smith:

"Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha—There are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly; There are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men. Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha should be translated. Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth" (D&C 91:1-4).

In other words, there's too much shit to wade through; don't waste your time. Oh, and don't read the Songs of Solomon either - they're not inspired. Those Old Testament apocrypha are the worst! (But the Book of Judith seems to have inspired the Book of Mormon somehow.) But the New Testament apocryphal gospels are a little trickier. Some of those darn Gnostic gospels actually predate the gospels included in the final cut. It seems as though their exclusion from the Greatest Hits compilation was more a matter of politics than unbiased research.

What if, in addition to pseudopigrypha, there were a huge absence of authentic and essential texts in the Bible? Why aren't the LDS Church and Mormons at large more interested and involved in a revision of the canonical Bible texts? Does corrective power of The Book of Mormon really justify having the wrong prescription in the other lens?

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Mormons leaders love to sing the praises of good literature and encourage members to read quality books. The admonition is even scriptural!

"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." (D&C 88:118, D&C 109:7)

Isn't that wonderful? A religion whose revealed scripture admonishes literacy and book learning! How truly inspired! There are so many awesome books out there! Maybe I'll catch up on some philosophy, I've heard a lot about some fellow named Nietzsche... Or maybe some poetry, I've heard wonderful things about Sylvia Plath... Or some quality fiction, maybe American Psycho, a lot of people say it's a great read... Or I wouldn't mind some non-fiction, like that Holocaust trilogy by Elie Wiesel... Or maybe I should read some science-oriented stuff, like Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene... Or perhaps something biographical, maybe something about Joseph Smith like No Man Knows My History, I hear that's an amazing read! I could revisit that really long reading list I got way back in high school or that even longer list I got in that one Literature class I took in college. I could even check out what's on the New York Times Best Seller list or the top selling books on Amazon. Maybe I should join a book club. This is going to be so fun!

Hang on a second. Maybe we should see if the Church has any recommendations...

"What kind of wisdom could best strengthen faith? If we are specifically talking about faith in Jesus Christ, the wisdom we must seek is the word of the prophets. The best books containing the words of the prophets are the standard works and the conference addresses."

The scriptures and conference addresses. I guess the scriptures really are the "best books." I guess I'll just keep reading the Book of Mormon on repeat then and play some old Conference talks while I'm going about the house or driving in the car. That should really make me a well-rounded person...

But what if I get tired of reading about sin and Jesus and testimony? Can I read anything that's not coming directly from the Church or Deseret Book?

Sure! Books written by Christians that eventually point you to Christ as the Savior of the world.

Is there anything I need to particularly look out for?

Absolutely! Anything that makes you question the Church. Make up excuses not to look at it! It's all dangerous lies! There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Church or its leaders. Never trust anything that makes you think or question. Avoid such literature at all costs!

Last question. Why would I want to trust an organization that doesn't trust me? Does the Church even trust in God to protect me and help me discern the lies and evil in the world? How is censorship contribute to my agency? How does it aid my learning and education? Putting limits on what I can and cannot read reminds me of...