Thomas S. Monson is the new President of the Church, with Henry B. Eyring as First Counselor and Dieter F. Uchtdorf as Second Counselor. (Wow, they're sure moving the new apostles up the ladder quick, aren't they? It's obvious they're trying to get some younger faces in the top slots.)
Let's get to know our buddy Thomas S. Monson a little better, shall we?
The Peril of Hidden Wedges
Author Of Article: Iosepa
This month President Monson titled his article, "The Peril of Hidden Wedges". It is a good article encouraging us to forgive, to change, and to repair our lives so that we will be strong enough to weather the storms of life. For the most part I think he gives good advice.
But it makes me upset that he can say this while he leaves hidden wedges in the church. Does he not realize that it is difficult for everyone who has a hidden wedge to remove it? He seems to imply that for others it should be simple. I am reminded of the Japanese following WWII the emperor, as part of the treaty agreement, had to announce to all of his people that he was not deity. It was absolutely devastating to his people. They had fought a war for him, and lost. And now they learned that it was in vain. Ultimately, for the Japanese this became an opportunity that they were able to grow from. And they did until they became one the strongest economic capitals of the world.
I am sure that among those who read this post others will have other experiences that they have personally been a part of or witnessed where someone had to admit fault and it was very challenging.
The LDS church has the papyrus scrolls. They have had many educated scholars look at these and verify each others translations of them. And from this they know that Joseph Smith did not translate the Book of Abraham from them as he claimed.
This is one of the hidden wedges that the church should try to remove and be honest with. It is much easier for President Monson to teach that someone else should remove theirs, than it is for him to lead by example and do it for himself and the church.
Does he not realize that the process for anyone to forgive someone who hurt them is very difficult? And in some cases near impossible.
He sits there writing this article telling others to fix their life by doing the near impossible to forgive, to change, and to repair the damage done by having this wedge in their life (and I feel he is correct in encouraging this kind of action) but he is not taking the initiative to set things right in the church where it has been wrong in the past. Thus leaving a wedge in the church that will ultimately compromise its strength to the point of collapse.
It would be terrifically difficult to admit a fault of this magnitude. It would compromise the church in ways never before seen in the existence of this church. But there is good to be found in the church and from this it could grow to become an excellent institution. It would start a change in the church that would be enormous and painful for most of its active members but in the end it could evolve into a far greater church that doesn’t suppress its people and has a better outreach of help to those in need.
As in most situations they will have to eventually either remove this wedge as well as others or be destroyed by the storms in life. If they are eventually forced to do it the damage already done may be too great to ever recover from. So it is my hope that a leader will eventually have the moral courage to take this and other problems on even with the knowledge that it could destroy the very existence of the church.
Hmm... Another lying hypocrite!
Just another evil apostate...
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