A Satisfactory Explanation

I've often contemplated the reason why people who leave the Church are never just neutral after they leave. This is of course, a generalization, but most seem to be very anti-Mormon and even go so far as to fight against the church rather than adopting a "live and let live" attitude towards it. I've come up with my own various theories and feel I have a pretty good understanding of why that is, but I've never had a completely satisfactory answer; an answer that I could give to someone else if they wondered the same thing. Tonight, I came across something that seems to have nailed it on the head, at least for me.


The scripture reference comes from I Nephi 16:2 "...wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." And in verse 3, "And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us."


This all comes about after Nephi has explained his father's vision of the tree of life to his brothers. The brothers, as usual, "took the truth to be hard" and this was Nephi's response to their murmurings against their father, the Prophet.


Now, here's the satisfactory explanation: "The nature of men has ever been the same. Characteristically the righteous rejoice in the word of God, while the wicked are offended with it. Wickedness and truth are no more compatible than light and darkness. Those who leave the Church, clothed in deeds of darkness, find it difficult to leave the Church alone. All too often they are found attempting to expose the Church or demean its doctrines - activities necessitated by their guilt, for they realize that if the Church is true they are servants of darkness and must needs repent." (Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, pg. 122)


This is the part that really hit me: "...They realize that if the Church is true they are servants of darkness and must needs repent." There you have it.


It reminds me of a web site I stumbled upon while preparing a lesson last month. It was basically a blog for LDS people who feel like they don't really fit the mold, I guess, to find companionship or understanding. But to me, really it seemed like just a forum for people to air their griefs or complaints against the Church. It bothered me so much that these intelligent people were wasting so much time tearing apart doctrines and documents, looking for those little loopholes that would prove the Prophets were wrong this time or that; looking for a justification for their murmurings against the Prophets now. It seemed so very arrogant and proud of them to say basically "because this doesn't sit right with me, because this is a hard thing the Prophet has asked of us, it must be wrong."

I feel sad that they don't feel they fit in but at the same time I wondered how much a site like that is helping anyone's testimony to grow at all? Seems to me if the same effort were spent searching the scriptures (modern and ancient), for Gospel truths they would be so much more satisfied with what they found there than with any answers that a blog could offer them. And it really got under my skin for quite a while. I just couldn't understand why people who claim to love the Church and the Prophet would establish and support a blog dedicated to trying to discredit the servants of the Lord. What do they think it will profit them? Why do they seek to tear it down or disprove it? Here's the answer: "If the Church is true, they are servants of darkness and must needs repent." We never like being told we're in the wrong. Never. The wicked have always taken the truth to be hard. I hope I will always be able to recognize that my shortcomings in the Gospel are my own and not the fault of the Lord's servants. And I hope I will always be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost that testifies of truth.


It is such a blessing to live in a dispensation where I am able to hear the voice of the Lord through his servants. It is also a blessing to have the agency to choose whether or not to follow that council. I'm truly grateful for my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.