Did you watch the PBS documentary on the Church? If not, you can watch the entire thing at the PBS.org website. (Had I known they were offering it online I wouldn't have stayed up so late the last couple of nights!)At first I thought it was a bit biased against the church, but then I realized that I was hardly the most impartial viewer! After thinking about it a bit more, I think it was fairly objective. It gave a decent look at the history, although I think it spent far too much time to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. (Considerably more time than on the early persecution of the church!) Of course polygamy was discussed (of course!) but it made it the church's stand on this very clear.
As I watched last night I realized that the main aspect they left out was that of personal testimony and free agency. In fact, I don't think the term "free agency" was used at all. Yes, the church asks a lot of its members - money, time, missions, faith, etc. - but members follow the teachings and commandments willingly. (And if you feel like you're being forced to follow the church's tenets, perhaps it's time to reevaluate your beliefs!) No one's forcing us to do anything. I think the documentary kind of made the church members look like they just blindly follow the church leaders like lemmings, no questions asked.
Yes, I was born and raised in the church. But I willingly follow it's teachings because I know that it is true - not because my husband or my parents or the church expects me to. I guess it all comes back to personal revelation, testimony, reading the scriptures, and praying - typical Sunday School answers. (As do most things in the church, right?)
Sorry for the lecture, but I dealt with this a lot in high school (people thinking I only went to church because my parents forced me to). Perhaps there's still a small chip on my shoulder?
So, what did you think of the program?
2 comments:
I didn't watch it because it wasn't on here until midnight, and i just couldn't stay up until 2 am two nights in a row. Even for me, that was a bit too late. I will try to watch it online...I really want to see it.
I thought that it was just OK. Of course if it was put out by the church it would have been more uplifting and I would have been moved. This was just more fair for both sides. Objective was a good word.
It's funny (weird funny) how the historians that talked about the history of the church on Monday night mostly turned out to be excommunicated members, or non-practicing members on Tuesday night. It made me feel really sad to see them and how they just don't get it. (Especially the woman who talked about how she was excommunicated in the court and how she thought she didn't have a right to speak. If she would have looked in the Doctine and Covenants she would have known the proceedure.)
I thought it was also a bit funny about what the Evanjelical (sp?)man said about Joseph Smith. How he didn't believe Joseph Smith was a fraud, he didn't quite believe that he had seen God and Jesus Christ, but that he thought something had happened in the grove, but he wasn't sure what.
All in all, I thought it was OK, and I'm sure that it will be a great missionary tool and will be able to clear a lot of wrong opinions of the church.
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