Category: #LightTheWorld

Disney/Pixar’s new movie Soul was a perfect Christmas present to the world, debuting on Disney+ over the holiday. As is often the case with Pixar’s masterpieces, this movie was deeper and more poignant than those ostensibly made for adults only. Movies rarely consider the deepest questions of the “soul” such as where we come from, we why are in the world, and where we go after we die. But Pixar movies have never been afraid to ask these kinds of deep questions.

And what is even more remarkable is how many of the things that the movie showed were consistent with revealed truth.

Of course, not every aspect of the movie is consistent with what members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know about the plan of salvation. Indeed, the movie doesn’t feature God or include anything about a Savior. But the movie nevertheless touches on many aspects of eternal truth, particularly regarding the premortal existence.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I would highly recommend that you go and watch it. What follows will have at least some spoilers (though I think you would probably know all of this from watching the trailer.)

At the center of the film is an exploration of the true purpose of life. Main character Joe Gardner is a middle school music teacher who is down on his luck and feels that he has wasted his shot at life. He gets the opportunity of a lifetime to perform with a jazz quartet. But he suddenly falls into a manhole and his spirit leaves his body and prepares to enter the Great Beyond. But Joe refuses and as he tries to escape death he ends up going back to the Great Before which is the film’s depiction of the premortal existence.

The key conceit of the Great Before is that souls develop their personalities there and prepare to come to earth. But before they can come to earth the souls must gain their “spark” which provides a purpose of motivation for life. 

Souls are assigned mentors who will help them find their spark. These mentors are ordinarily illustrious people like Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln. The mentors help their mentees find their spark whether that spark is music or painting, politics or philanthropy. 

Joe pretends to be a mentor and is assigned to Soul 22, a very old soul who has either been unable or unwilling to find her spark. She enjoys her time in the Great Before and does not see a point in life on Earth. If you have ever seen another Pixar film, then you will not be surprised to hear that Joe and 22 end up inspiring and transforming each other.

There are so many parallels to the Plan of Salvation. In the premortal life we were tutored by God and developed our personality and prepared to come to earth. God designed our mortal experience to help us to develop traits and attributes that we could not develop in God’s presence. 

We knew that earth life would be difficult. We knew that we would face trials and challenges. We knew that at times we would feel disappointment, sorrow or pain. Maybe we were afraid of failing.

Indeed, many souls never came down to earth at all. They rebelled against God and refused to come. But we courageously embraced God’s plan and even shouted for joy at the opportunity.

One of my favorite things about the Plan of Salvation is that it properly contextualizes the purpose and significance of life. This life is just a part of our eternal journey. But it is the most important part. It is where we can develop ourselves and make critical choices that shape eternity. It is also where we develop eternally binding and lasting relationships.

The movie was such a beautiful exploration of that purpose of life. The movie shows that the purpose in life is not necessarily to do some great task, but rather to take advantage of all of our many opportunities to bless and enrich the lives of others. Our relationships matter a lot more than our worldly triumphs. At the end of this life we will not be measured by whether we played in one great gig, but whether we made a difference for those we care about. That vision is fully consistent with the plan of salvation

It is so easy to coast through life without fully thinking about these questions of eternity such as where we come from and where we are going. I love how this movie looks at these deep questions of the soul and offers a hopeful and optimistic vision, just as the Plan of Salvation does.

The doctrine of our pre-mortal existence is one of the first things that really drew me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More than 12 years ago I read about it in the book Mormonism for Dummies and I felt something stir within me. When I read about it I felt like I was rediscovering truth that I had always known about even though I had never learned about it before. That feeling led me to go to Church for the first time and to try to learn more.

Hopefully, this movie will help stir its viewers to explore these questions further and perhaps help them find the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although it is not intended to be a missionary tool, I suspect that there will be many who will feel the light of Christ when they learn about the preexistence.

When I was getting ready to leave on my mission, I asked the people who were participating in the Maxwell Institute Summer Scholars program with me for advice on books that I might consider taking with me to the mission field. I was worried that I would get bored with the approved missionary reading library and so I wanted some devotional material that I might find intellectually and spiritually stimulating. One of the books that were recommended to me was The Inexhaustible Gospel a collection of devotionals and speeches by Neal A. Maxwell. Most of those talks are available here. 

That book served me well so well as a missionary. I found Elder Maxwell’s teachings on discipleship so inspiring. In Elder Maxwell I saw a fellow traveler, someone who was committed to the life of the mind and also to diligently following the Savior. Reading Elder Maxwell provided me the reassurance that I needed as a still recent convert that it was possible to be intellectually curious, academically engaged, and fully invested in Church service.

When I read and decided to sign the Radical Orthodoxy Manifesto a few weeks ago, Elder Maxwell’s words were what came to my mind. More than anyone else, Elder Maxwell defined for me what it means to be radically orthodox. 

In a BYU Education Week talk entitled “The Inexhaustible Gospel,” Elder Maxwell spoke of “the vastness and preciousness of that enormous body of knowledge we call the gospel” as well as his “ever-growing excitement over it.” Elder Maxwell described the close relationship between “gaining knowledge and becoming more christlike.” These concepts were two sides of the same coin. “Thus, while we are saved no faster than we gain a certain type of knowledge, it is also the case, as Richard Bushman has observed, that we will gain knowledge no faster than we are saved.” The gospel was not only a course of knowledge but a pathway towards becoming like Christ. “So defined, the gospel is inexhaustible because there is not only so much to know, but also so much to become!”

Elder Maxwell explained that “Ultimate orthodoxy—and orthodoxy isn’t a popular word nowadays—is expressed in the Christlike life that involves both mind and behavior.” This type of orthodoxy involves both “perception and implementation” as “part of the same spiritual process.” Elder Maxwell put forward the example of the Savior. Even though the Savior had “the keenest of all intellects,” he nevertheless “leads by example and love” rather than “arrogance,” “vanity,” or “hypocrisy.”

We get into spiritual danger when we think we can “outgrow Christ’s example of knowing, behaving, and doing.” But “[b]rilliance, by itself, is not wholeness, nor happiness. Knowledge, if possessed for its own sake and unapplied, leaves one’s life unadorned.”

Elder Maxwell urged his listeners not to approach the Gospel narrowly or with a closed mind. Instead, members should seek learning both by study and by faith. And members should recognize that as we explore “this comprehensiveness and everlastingness, there will be some surprises. Our understanding of some things will be restructured and expanded, especially in the world to come[.]”

But Elder Maxwell nevertheless warned against study unmooored from Orthodox truth:

“How intellectually amazing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is! The gospel is truly inexhaustible! It is marvelous! It is a wonder!

Yet orthodoxy is required to keep all these truths in essential balance. In orthodoxy lies real safety and real felicity! Flowing from orthodoxy is not only correctness but happiness. Orthodoxy is especially vital in a time of raging relativism and belching sensualism. The world’s morality is constantly being improvised. Some views are politically correct one day, but not another.” 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives our intellect grounding by focusing and channeling it on Jesus of Nazareth the Savior. “Ultimate wisdom enables us to see Jesus as the Light of the World, but, further, we also come to realize that it is by his light that we are to see everything else! The gospel’s bright and illuminating light thereby helps us see God, ourselves, others, the world, and the universe more correctly and more deeply. Indeed, as Paul declared, ‘in [Christ] all things hold together’” (RSV, Colossians 1:17).”

On other occasions, Elder Maxwell further defined his conception of orthodxy. In a talk urging members to avoid intellectual extremes, Elder Maxwell explained that “Orthodoxy ensures balance between the gospel’s powerful and correct principles. In the body of gospel doctrine, not only are justice and mercy ‘fitly joined together [for] effectual working,’ but so is everything else! (Eph. 4:16.) But the gospel’s principles do require synchronization. When pulled apart from each other or isolated, men’s interpretations and implementations of these doctrines may be wild.”

Elder Maxwll also linked the concept of orthodoxy closely to the need to be “settled” in the Gospel. In this respect he described orthodoxy as “emancipating and discovering.” 

For me that is what the concept of “radical orthodoxy” ultimately stands for. It means being “settled” and firmly rooted in the Savior and in his eternal doctrines. Being firmly settled in the things that are not negotiable frees one up to engage in further intellectual exploration with confidence and conviction. It means that one is not tossed to and fro by trends and popular opinion. It is a firm foundation. 

This kind of orthodoxy is not intellectually self-absorbed. It is not primarily concerned with boundary maintenance or seeking to tell others they are wrong. It is not defensive. Rather, it is humble and meek. It is focused on becoming more Christlike and in engaging others with charity, patience, temperance, and other Christlike virtues. These are the things that Elder Maxwell taught me through his sermons with such clarity and conviction while I served a mission. And those lessons are what led me to sign the Radical Orthodoxy Manifesto. 

The last few times I’ve read the traditional nativity account in Luke 2, I’ve been struck by the stories of Simeon and Anna the Prophetess. It’s an interesting juxtaposition between these two extremely elderly individuals and the 8 day old newborn Jesus. We don’t know how old Simeon was, but he was expecting to die anytime (“now let thy servant depart in peace”). Anna was at least a hundred years old.

It strikes me because I turned fifty earlier this year, and as this half century mark, my admiration for people who can remain faithful for a very long time impress me more and more. These two individuals exemplify “waiting upon the Lord.” I don’t know if they had moments of doubt, questioning if these promises would really be fulfilled after so much time had passed. This resonates as well, because here we are nearly two thousand years after Christ’s death, it seems like we can be forgiven for questioning just how soon Christ’s promised return really is. I love these stories because they suggest our patience will be rewarded, just as their was, if we stay faithful to our promises.

I also love these stories because of what they were hoping for, because of what hope kept them going, day after day. Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” and Anna associated herself with those who “looked for redemption in Jerusalem”.

Have you been waiting for consolation? I have. Simeon’s joy when he finally gets to lay his eyes upon the Source of that consolation fills me with joy and comfort.

Have you looked for redemption from oppression and the reestablishment of holiness in what should be a holy city? I have. Anna’s gratitude fills me with gratitude and hope, and also the desire to serve the Lord faithfully night and day.

This is the darkest time of year, but in that manager lays the source of brightest light. I want my heart to have the newness and life that Jesus can bring (as He has before), and also the faithfulness to the promises that have been made to me, even if they seem far off and impossibly distant.

#LightTheWorld

As a kind of follow-up to my friend Dan’s touching post about President Kimball, I had a couple of additional thoughts and stories. The first is a story similar to Dan’s Bolivia story. My High Priest Instructor told us the story a few years ago, back when the High Priests still met. His father was mission president of the Washington, DC Mission, and his father got word that President Kimball had a brief layover in Dulles Airport. President Kimball didn’t have enough time on his layover to leave the airport, but he wondered if he could meet with all the missionaries there. So the mission president quickly assembled all the missionaries at the airport (obviously this was before security would prevent such things) and President Kimball came to meet with them. He shared some brief words, and then said, “now I would like to greet each of you and shake your hand.” He went around the room, looked each one of them in the eyes, and shook their hands, telling them he loved them. When he got to the end of the room, he said, “I’m worried I may have missed someone. I’m going to go around again.” So he went around the room a second time, repeating the same gestures, but this time with even more sincerity. Our instructor said no one in the room doubted that President Kimball loved them.

As I recount that story, it occurs to me that such experiences are legion, and not limited to President Kimball. I have stories about President Monson, President Hinckley, Elder Maxwell, and Elder Ashton.

When we might be in a critical or doubtful spirit, we can sometimes wonder if the Church leaders are in on the fraud, or if they genuinely believe what they are saying. It’s easy to assume others are thinking and feeling the same thing we are, they just aren’t saying so. But in this case, that would be wrong. The latest example of this is from Elder Holland’s testimony, released just a week ago. I can’t really do it justice, but here is a snippet on this point:

This is not a fairytale. This is not something that I get up every morning and ask myself, ‘How can I go fool another group of people today? How can I go pretend that something is true? How can I go and work a great fiction on the public?’

I would not do that, and my life is worth more to me than that, and my witness to my children and my children’s children is worth more than that. [He gets emotional at this point.] It means more than that. My integrity is more than that. I get up every morning saying, not, “God, how can I pretend, how can I act that this is true…” [instead], my plea every morning of my life is, ‘How can I convey what I know to be more true than anything on the face of this earth? How can I convey to some person or persons the reality of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact that God lives, that the heavens are open, I have a commission to stand by the Savior of the Lord, to defend Him, and defend the rock that He is?

Joseph Smith and Hyrum did not sit in Carthage Jail, ready to be executed by a mob. They did not pull out the Book of Mormon, and say, let’s tell some jokes from this book we made up. No one would do that. No one would do that! They read from that book because they knew it was true, and they knew it would be their salvation… Every day I am giving my life for the church, because I know it’s true.

Do you see a common theme in the ministry of President Nelson?

January 2017:

Commence tonight to consecrate a portion of your time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the Old Testament, for He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Study His laws as recorded in the New Testament, for He is its Christ. Study His doctrine as recorded in the Book of Mormon, for there is no book of scripture in which His mission and His ministry are more clearly revealed. And study His words as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, for He continues to teach His people in this dispensation.

Continue reading “President Russell M. Nelson and Identity”

Since the launch of the Radical Orthodoxy Manifesto, I have been following the reactions with some interest. One common criticism I have seen is the suggestion that it is presumptuous to issue a manifesto that attempts to dictate what is orthodoxy. The suggestion is that this manifesto is an effort to set what are the acceptable boundaries of discourse. While I understand the concern over attempts to set the boundaries of orthodoxy above and beyond those set by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would argue that this criticism fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of a manifesto generally and this manifesto in particular.

Merriam Webster defines a manifesto as “a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.” According to this definition, the primary purpose of a manifesto is the expression of the views, motivates and intentions of those that issue it. In other words a manifesto first and foremost serves as a platform to allow those issuing the statement a platform to voice their aspirations and goals. Put yet another way, a manifesto serves to articulate ideals and to hold the issuers accountable for living up to those ideals. While it is possible for a manifesto or any article of faith to become used as a weapon to exclude others or impose conformity, that is not the primary purpose of such a document.

I know that is certainly not why I signed on to the Radical Orthodoxy Manifesto. Instead, my purpose for joining is to express publicly my commitment to the values and principles that the manifesto articulates. The manifesto speaks of key virtues that I aspire to embody: Truth, Humility, Integrity, Fidelity, Seeking, Revelation, Faith, Hope, and Charity. I know that I fall short of those virtues. We all do. Signing onto such a public document does not mean that I think I am perfectly living all of these principles. Rather, it is an expression of my desire to do better and more fully strive to live up to these ideals. It is a way to hold myself accountable for trying to better embody these principles in my actions, my conversations, and my thoughts.

What is striking is that this Manifesto actually makes all of this explicit. The Manifesto explains that it is “not a faction, nor a label intended to set forth boundaries for any particular group or organization.” Instead, it is a “a rallying point, and invitation to embrace conviction and fidelity.”

If you feel moved by the principles of the Manifesto as I do, then I invite you to embrace it either as a signatory or simply by trying a little bit harder to embody these principles as you strive to live the Gospel, debate with those you disagree with, and try to follow the example of the Savior.

An acquaintance recently attempted to argue against Originalism as a doctrine of constitutional interpretation by arguing that Latter-days Saints who believe in continuing revelation through a living prophet are bound to reject originalsm. I found his argument extremely unconvincing because there are some pretty fundamental differences between the role of judges in a democratic republic and the role of prophets and apostles in the Kingdom of God. But as I delved deeper onto the topic, I found that highlighting these differences was illuminating as it shed light on both the proper role of judges and on the nature of decision making in God’s Church.

We often refer to church leaders including and especially Bishops as judges in Israel. Accordingly, it is important to understand what we mean when we refer to church leaders as judges and how this might differ from member of the bench.

Before I begin, a working definition of Originalism is also in order. I define originalism as a theory of textual interpretation which is predicated on the belief that legal texts (constitutions, statutes, and regulations) have a fixed meaning at the moment of enactment and that the role of the judiciary is to faithful determine and apply that meaning rather than to attempt to expand or abrogate the meaning. There are a lot of nuances in how originalists try to determine what the original meaning is (does one look to the intentions of those who wrote the law or to what the public would have understood those words to mean?), but the thrust of originalism is that the role of a judge is as an interpreter rather than lawmaker.

The Word of Wisdom and Originalism

Gospel doctrine and interpretation is decidedly not originalist in nature. A good example of this would be interpretations of the Word of Wisdom. An originalist interpretation of the word of wisdom would find that beer and other mild alcoholic drinks were permitted, while meat was allowed only in extreme circumstances like famine. And the whole revelation would be seen as a recommendation rather than a mandate.

So why do we not read the Word of Wisdom in that way? In the Church, we believe in continuing revelation through Prophets and Apostles. This process of continuing revelation sometimes takes the form of formal canonized revelations like the revelation lifting the priesthood ban. But more often than not, it this is an iterative process where Church leaders over time gain additional insight and knowledge. That is the case with the Word of Wisdom over time church leaders better defined the terms of the revelation and expanded it into a requirement for temple worthiness.

It is also significant that while certain changes are sustained by Church members in general conference, many of these changes regarding the Word of Wisdom do not appear to have been.

Yet we accept the shift from advice to mandatory temple recommend requirement, and do not by and large question the legitimacy of this shift.

In contrast, it would be absolutely outrageous if federal judges began to enforce severe penalties on people for not complying with a health guidance that had never contained penalties and that had vague and ambiguous requirements. And this practice would still remain problematic even if the passage of time had normalized the practice.

So what gives enforcement of the Word of Wisdom legitimacy even though the text of the revelation is unchanged and there appears to have been no formal process of common consent on the changes?

Divine Authority and Civic Authority

The simplest answer is that the basis of authority in the Kingdom of God is decidedly different form that in a democratic-republic.  With the interpretation of Gospel principles and commandments we believe in continuing revelation from divine sources. This means that the prophet and apostles are fully empowered to receive interpretive guidance from God and even to completely alter or change a principle. There is no need for a vote or any other deliberative process. God speaks through his chosen prophet and the law is changed. If President Nelson declares the word of wisdom does not allow for drinking beer (or green tea, or recreational marijuana) that is the will of God regardless of what the original meaning was. That’s because God is the ultimate sovereign and when he speaks through a prophet that word is authoritative.  (I recognize that this is simplified and glosses over the long standing question of when a prophet is in fact speaking as a prophet).

With legal interpretation the situation is quite different. The ultimate sovereigns are the people. Governments are given power only through the consent of the governed. There is a formal structure or process for creating law. When that process is followed the law has legitimacy. When it is ignored the product cannot truly be called law because it lacks any legitimacy.

The separation of powers

This separation of powers is integral to the Constitution’s design of government. Laws must originate from the legislature which is seen as the most democratically accountable branch of government. The lawmaking process is quite difficult requiring both the House of Representatives and the Senate to agree to identical language for a law and then for either the president to sign the law or for a veto proof majority to emerge.

Judges do not play a role in this lawmaking process and this is by design. Their purpose is to interpret the laws that are enacted through the proper channels not to create them. In doing so, they must necessarily ask what the law meant at the time when it was enacted, because to do anything else would be a form of judicial lawmaking.  Put another way, judges are not empowered to sit as prophets and apostles. They do not receive divine revelation to alter or change the meaning of the law.

There is no similar separation of powers in the Kingdom of God. Legislative, executive, and judicial power is combined into a single channel. That power may be vertically distributed down to local units, but at the highest levels of governance it remains concentrated in First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. These same bodies are responsible for promulgating policy, interpreting policy, and adjudicating disputes. This concentration in power makes sense when we have leaders who are called of God and expected to implement God’s will rather than their own.  

Other Significant Differences

There are some other significant differences between judges and prophets/apostles. Judges are appointed through political appointments (in the federal government and in many states) or through partisan elections (in some other states). Judges are not selected because they are expected to have preternatural acuity or insight. By contrast, the appointment of a prophet/apostle comes through a divine calling from God. They are expected to exercise spiritual gifts and to have revelatory insight even on topics outside of their earthly expertise. As President Ezra Taft Benson put it, “The prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or diplomas to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time.” This divine commission gives a prophet/apostle a different type of legitimacy.

Furthermore, while members of the judiciary are expected to impartially apply the law, that does not mean that personal political persuasion or opinion will never enter into the decision making calculus. Judges need methodological constraints in order to avoid imposing their own political and social biases. Originalism is one example of a methodology which serves to constrain unbridled judicial decision making and to improve the objectivity of the judicial process.

Of course, Prophets are also fallible and subject to their own weaknesses. There are processes in the Church that help to contain this tendency such as having the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve operate based on a principle of unanimity. But because we believe that direct revelation can flow from heaven, there is not the same need to impose the methodological constraints of originalism

Indeed, when the Prophet and Apostles set policy, the whole tenor and purpose of that decision is fundamentally different. They are not asking what is the most faithful interpretation and application of prior revelations. Rather, they are seeking the will of God for present circumstances.

Further, there is a difference between the purpose of a judicial opinion and a prophetic declaration. Judicial opinions are primarily intended to persuade or convince. Since higher courts or subsequent panels can overturn, there is a premium placed on cogent and logical decisions. Stare decisis or the need to align decisions with past ones always plays a powerful role. Deviations from the past must be especially persuasive.

In contrast, fidelity to divine commands rather than logic or consistency with the past is the primary goal of divine revelation. The revelatory process may result in sudden and dramatic shifts such as the priesthood ban being lifted overnight or the Church shifting from using the nickname “Mormon” to aggressively pushing the full name of the Church. There is no expectation that this reversal be accompanied by a compelling case for reversal or an apology for past policy. It is enough to a say that the Lord has spoken.

Conclusion

In short, the purpose of judicial decision making is fidelity to the text of the law. Originalism is a valuable and needed methodological tool. On the other hand, the purpose of divine revelation is fidelity to the will of God regardless of what may have come before. God’s will is what counts and so slavish obedience to the texts of the past is not only unnecessary but is actively contrary to the nature of the kingdom of God.

Here is a chart summarizing some of the key differences described above:

Differences between Judges and Prophets/Apostles	Judges	Prophets and Apostles
Basis of Authority	Power derived from the people	Authority derived from God
Appointment	Through political appointments or partisan elections (in some states)	Through a divine calling from God
Mode of decision making	Can result in divergent opinions and disagreements	Unanimity is sought
Sources of Change	Lawmaking or constitutional amendments	Continuing revelation from God
Scope of authority	Limited	Unlimited as revealed by God.
Accuracy	Flawed	Perfect though mediated through imperfect individuals
Division of Authority	Separation of Powers limits the judicial role	Ultimate undivided authority resides in the Prophet and Apostles