Dear Mormons,
Yes, I am one of you. Yes I am a sinner. Yes, I have probably been a hypocrite now and again. Over and over.
But the thing about God is, He lets you keep trying.
I think what Stephen O. Jordan wanted is to help people see they can be more. I'm not saying there's a better way to go about doing that, I'm saying that his way is just more aggressive than mine. I'm a really passive guy.
Yes, I believe if you aren't worthy to be blessing the sacrament, you shouldn't be doing so. I believe that there are standards for those of us who hold the holy Priesthood. Yes, I believe that we waste time and heavens me, I know we're not perfect, ladies and gentlemen. I know that better than I know myself.
But do I also know that nothing but you can keep you from where you want to be? Absolutely. I don't believe in a God who holds you back. I believe in a God who sets you free.
And you're never, ever going to be perfect.
There's a stigma about going to talk to the bishop about something. Because, as we all know, committing a serious sin is unpardonable. Yeah, where's that in the Bible? Whether it's serious or not, we all sin. And we can all be forgiven of sins. Even the serious ones. Talking to your bishop about something is looked at as a scary or dirty thing to do. It's really not. And that's the real problem. The problem is not the hypocrites, in my opinion. The problem is not that someone might do something that renders them unworthy to participate in the administration of the sacrament, but then they do it anyway. The God I know is not going to withhold blessings from faithful church members if the administrator of that blessing isn't worthy, because that reeks of collateral damage. And the God I know is a God who punishes according to your own direct actions and not the actions of another. Articles of Faith #2: we believe that man must be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
No, the problem is that we in our culture have taught young men and young women to fear coming clean. We've taught them that the pain of rejection from peers, ward members, sometimes even family, hurts worse than can be fixed by the beautiful feeling of forgiveness. Because being in trouble, especially for sexual things, is like wearing a scarlet letter. Everyone knows, but nobody sees your eyes pleading for forgiveness. All they see is what you've done, not who you are. But Jesus was the first to forgive the adulteress brought to His feet to be stoned. And everyone else? They weren't exactly understanding... stoned, remember?
And what about the sinner herself? How long did it take her to forgive herself? How long did she worry? Stress? About how far she was from perfect? And how many people knew it?
I feel like that's the worst pressure a young man can experience, the pressure to be perfect. But the thing is, we can't be. There is always room for improvement. And in some small way, we're all hypocrites.
So yes, get better. You can always, always improve something. No one is perfect. But the worst thing you can do for yourself in this church is to get so caught up in where you are currently that you can't see where you're going or how far you've come.
And remember this: no matter what you've done, whether you're worthy or not, whether you're a hypocrite or aren't, whether you left the church at 14 or you're the freaking first assistant, whether you're straight, closeted lesbian, or transgender, whether you're atheist, Catholic, Jew, gentile, Mormon, Hindu, have lost all your faith and all your hope, or haven't figured out what it is you believe, you are still a worthwhile human being. You still have valuable and credible thoughts. You still have a right to think and feel the way you want. You're amazing. And since I personally believe in God, I'll tell you that He loves you and wants the best for you. If you want, you don't have to take my word for it.
Just my thoughts.
Thanks for reading them.
Sincerely,
Aidan James Coral.
