I went to my first LDS funeral this week. My husband’s stepdad’s grandma passed away and the entire (and in LDS terms “entire” can result in staggering numbers) family came from all over to attend. While Grandma was a religious woman, she never pushed it down your throat. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about one of her sons. Uncle W got up to give the “spiritual” talk, only to launch into a sermon on the mount, and what made it worse was that a lot of what he said was said on behalf of Grandma. Who, incidentally, would have been mortified by his words. He addressed the “many people in the audience, both family and friends, who have either lost or are struggling with their testimonies” and encouraged them to “out aside their issues” and return to the one true church. He proceeded to bear his own testimony and made everyone feel, well, offended and uncomfortable.
It made me so mad that he could be so dismissive of people’s “issues”. By issues did he mean the lack of geographical, DNA, or archeological evidence for the validity of the church, or the historical inconsistencies and contradictions? Maybe he was referring to the revisionist practices of the modern day church, or the obvious fraud and polygamous practices of early church leaders? Yeah – those are definitely “issues” that need to be put aside. Don’t think, just jump.
