Okay, don't get all religiously weirded out on me,
okay? I just have a few thoughts and was
wondering if anyone else felt the same way.
Please, no religious righteous indignation just because you don't agree
with me. So. Behave.
So anyway, I've been fairly interested in this whole
business of getting a new pope. I think
learning about the traditions and the history and such is pretty
interesting.
But what I find the most interesting is the fact that God
seems to be left out of the whole process.
Every morning for the past couple of weeks, and especially yesterday
morning, I have been watching the Today Show, with special attention on their
coverage of the new pope. They have
reported over and over again about how the Cardinal college chooses the pope. And they've exhausted the personal history of
the new pope. (Who seems like a very
humble, good man.) And they've
interviewed a ton of people, all of whom have lots of opinions on what the
church should do in the future.
Seriously, in all of their coverage this morning God was not
mentioned once. It was all about what
the people running the church and the members of the church thought would be
best for God's church. It was politics
and speculation. It was odd.
(Now, don't get me wrong.
I suspect the College of Cardinals is full of good, righteous men, who
probably prayed a lot about this decision and the other decisions made for the
church. But it's just so strange to me
that praying and God's will wasn't mentioned once in all the coverage I watched/read. Also, I realize that the coverage by the
media could have greatly influenced my perception of this; they chose what I
got to see. (Hello, Comms Theory 101! I still use my major!) But if revelation from God were really a big part
in this I suspect it would have been mentioned.)
I find this fascinating mainly because my religious views
are so very different.
In the Mormon faith men
do not elect our prophets. We are The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - we let Him do the choosing! There's no campaigning, no questioning of who
would be best, no scrambling to gather the church leaders to decide what to do
next, no burning things for white or black smoke.
How does this work?
Mormons believe in personal revelation - we can receive personal
revelation directly from our Father in Heaven.
He cares about us, knows about our problems and fears, and wants to help
us. When we pray and live worthily, we
can receive this revelation. And we
believe that our church leaders receive revelation for the entire church. Thus, when a prophet dies (that's the only way they can retire!), things are taken care of with little fanfare.
Not that I just blindly accept the new prophet (or any new
church policy/stance/etc.). I always
pray about it and learn for myself whether or not it is true.
I find this faith and doctrine comforting. Perhaps this is because I was born into the
church and it's all I've ever known. But
I suspect that even if I wasn't Mormon, part of me would still take issue with
the idea of men (as in mankind, not the gender) running a religion.
What do you think?
1 comment:
Maren, I have been having these same thoughts lately as I have been catching snippets of the coverage on NPR. I would find myself thinking that it sounds almost like a Presidential Campaign (where only certain people could vote) and not an act of God on any accounts. If anything it has strengthened my testimony of our Prophet and in how they are called. What a blessing it is in our lives that we sometimes don't think about often enough.
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