Over the last few days I have heard/read about people about being offended by content here at this blog. I would like to respond by illustrating a significant event that contributed to my loss of respect for the Mormon church.
A non-Mormon relative came with us to church one Sunday morning because my children were going to be singing in the children's choir and saying cute little bits about God and such. At one point in the meeting the congregation were singing a hymn and I stopped cold as I registered the words that were coming out of my mouth.
"The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last"
and at the end of the next verse:
"While they who reject this glad message
Shall never such happiness know"
The name of this hymn is We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet. You can find the full text to the song here. (I think I now fit into that first category of 'wicked - to be smitten').
I was dumbfounded, embarrassed, shocked but most of all ashamed. Ashamed to be a part of this offensive display of conceit and disrespect. Here was a beloved family member being openly subjected to derision by a room full of religious zealots; and in song!!
"While they who reject this glad message
ReplyDeleteShall never such happiness know"
They were wrong about that, like they were wrong about everything else. I've known tremendous happiness since being out of the church. Oh, but I'm not counting the part where the Lord will laugh at me and have me in derision. He's probably going to expose my secret parts, too. Man, that's going to suck.
On the other hand, if you only sing the 3rd and 2nd to last syllables of that verse, it does give you a chance to sing 'penis' very loudly in church.
Yes, you've pointed out more of that fear and shame that started to become so obvious to me about 6 months ago. I now recognise that I lived in fear and that I regularly felt shame and guilt for not doing enough, for not being good enough... and afraid that if I looked elsewhere then I would be damned. I don't know why I couldn't see it before, I think I was too busy doing the daily stuff that I didn't have time to think about it.
ReplyDeleteOoh, it would be cool to go back for a bit just to sing the end part of that song really loud but I think I'm not welcome anymore.
You take the soprano part, and I'll do tenor!
ReplyDeleteOne of my BYU friends told me about a time they decided to sing this hymn at a devotional at the Jerusalem Center. Unfortunately, the special guests at the Center were some Palestinian dignitaries. And here comes the lyric,
"The wicked who fight against Zion
Will surely be smitten at last"
When they got to that part of the hymn, the chorister noticed too late. She stopped conducting, and everyone stopped singing as they realised how it must have appeared to the Palestinians.
My friend tells me they finished the hymn, but it was obvious to everyone that the implications of Mormons pretending to be Israelites are not easily disowned.