In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

You may have seen them walking door-to-door in your neighborhood, riding their bikes down the street, or have been approached by them in the parking lot of your local Walmart. They wear nice conservative clothing, like dark suits or nice blouses (for women) and have a black name tag prominently displayed. Only their last names are engraved on these tags, preceded by the title “Elder” or “Sister”. These are Mormon missionaries.

These young men and women (and some older women and couples) take time away from their normal lives to serve their church as missionaries, taking their beliefs to the far ends of the world. They are well trained, spending hundreds of hours in the classroom before setting foot on your door step. Their approach is based on proven methods of gaining the trust of those they talk to and then leading them to understand and accept their beliefs as being valid, and maybe even true.

One might think of them as ministers, as they themselves often do. However, the truth is that these missionaries are little more than sales representatives for a very large world wide corporation, and recieved little to no training in actually ministering to people. They are trained to find, teach, and baptize. Period.

How do I know this? Simple. I WAS a Mormon missionary.

There were many occasions where, as a missionary, I found myself in situations where people really needed guidance. They were seeking the will of God, and needed inspired counsel. I always did my best to lead them down what I thought was the right direction. I would, as a priesthood holder, bless them and seek inspiration myself to say the words that hopefully would help these people while giving the blessing. I always felt inadaquate. Ministering to people like this was not in the training manual for missionaries.

Why would members of the Mormon church seek out missionaries, knowing that the missionaries were not qualified, when they were in need of ministering? I’ve thought about this a good bit, and the only conclusion I’ve been able to reach is this: Missionaries do not have authority in the church to act as judges, and they are hesitant to cause any fiction with members who support missionaries by way of referrals and food. In other words, they are safe. Members attempt to use missionaries to bypass the authoritarian judgement of chuch leaders. Missionaries ought to be as, or more, spiritual than those leaders; right?

That, of course, is debatable.

Of course, with so much in life, and especially when religion is concerned; it’s all about perception. The eager missionary’s counsel is seriously considered and their blessing accepted as being inspired. It’s just sad that Mormons don’t have a real, safe ministry to seek comfort from.

You may have already read an AP article about a Florida man excommunicated for being gay writing his friends and family in California asking them to stand up and walk out of church services this past Sunday as leaders throughout the state read a statement from central church leadership in Salt Lake City asking Latter-day Saints throughout California to rally in support of a state marriage amendment in reaction to homosexuals being allowed to marry.

Today I joined a Facebook group called “Sign for Something” which is taking a stand against ecclesiastical encroachment in government, especially where gay marriage is concerned. There is also a website under construction at http://signforsomething.org/.

I believe strongly that no person should should be affected by the beliefs of any church unless that person submits themselves to the authority of that church by becoming a member.

And for members of a church that don’t agree with the actions of their church, they should respond by leaving. There is a growing movement of disaffected Latter-day Saints to do just this. A current thread at PostMormon.org is organizing such a movement, and believes they will see over one thousand current members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints submit their resignations in response to the church’s meddling in the politics of California. This group should also have a website up to facilitate this action soon.

No charges will be sought against the Mormon missionaries from the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission who posted pictures of themselves online disrespecting a Catholic shrine in Colorado. The local parish in San Luis responsible for the shrine had voted to seek charges, but reversed their decision after receiving an Easter letter from Bishop Tafoya urging forgiveness. He wrote,

“. . . we as Catholics, who believe in the forgiveness of Christ, will ourselves forgive, and pray for the young men who showed such a lack of tolerance and understanding.”

It should be noted that these missionaries, two of which were already home when the pictures were discovered, and one who was sent home upon the discovery, still face or have already faced discipline from The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

Link: Salt Lake Tribune

SAN LUIS, Colo. (AP) - An investigation into whether three Mormon missionaries defaced a Catholic shrine has been dropped after Roman Catholic Bishop Arthur Tafoya urged forgiveness.

Costilla County sheriff’s investigator Cpl. Scott Powell said Friday that the investigation had just gotten under way when Tafoya asked that charges not be pursued. [Read More]