This week's lesson is chapter 20 in the
Gordon B. Hinckley manual, called “Fellowship with Those Who Are Not of Our
Faith.” The lesson starts by talking
about how most people share the common desire to help others. Most people want to help the poor, lift the
distressed, give comfort, hope, and help to all those who are in trouble and
pain from whatever cause. It also talks
about when President Hinckley was interviewed by Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes. Part of the interview went as follows: Mr. Wallace asks: “How do you view
non-Mormons?” President Hinckley
responded: “With love and respect. I
have many non-Mormon friends. I respect
them. I have the greatest of admiration
for them.” Mr Wallace followed up by
asking, “Despite the fact that they haven’t really seen the light yet?” President Hinckley said: “Yes. To anybody who is not of this Church, I say
we recognize all of the virtues and the good that you have. Bring it with you
and see if we might add to it.”
One thing that often
helps me to better understand Heavenly Father’s point of view on things, is by
relating how He is our parent. If we
think like a parent, things seem to make more sense. If I were to ask all my
children to do their chores, and at the end of the day, a few of them did not
do them, I do not love them any less than I do the ones that did what I asked.
To take it even further, if I handed the list of chores to one child and asked
that (s)he share it with the others, would it be fair for me to hold those who
never knew about the list equally responsible when they didn't complete their
chores? Heavenly Father sees us the same way. Those who do not have a testimony
of the gospel, or any part of the gospel, are not held to the same level of
expectation as those who do have a testimony and have made covenants to live
the gospel. Heavenly Father does not love us
any more than He loves a Catholic, a Muslim, a Jew, a Wiccan, or even an
atheist. We are all equal, and just as I would be upset if one of my children,
even the one who was the best behaved, treated another one of my children with
unkindness, I am certain it hurts Heavenly Father when He sees us doing it to
each other.
In the eleventh Article
of Faith, we read, "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the
dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them
worship, how, where, or what they may. " This
means that while we may worship differently or have differing beliefs, that we
can not allow ourselves to become arrogant, self-righteous, or prideful. We need to allow others to worship how, where
and what they may. I love these words,
by the prophet Joseph Smith, back in 1843, “If it has been demonstrated that I have
been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am
just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a
good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample
upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the
Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination." We need to ensure that
we are not demonstrating a holier-than-thou attitude. We need to be open and friendly. We can do this without compromising our own
beliefs.
The church is often
involved in helping around the world. We
see stories of the work that is being done by the church every time we hear of
a disaster striking anywhere in the world.
Often, the church as a whole, and the individual members, are working
side by side with other churches and other good people. We are encouraged to be involved in good
community causes. What are some ways that we can reach out to those in our community that
are not of our faith? I know in our neighboring ward (our church is divided into wards, similar to how the Catholic church is divided into parishes), they regularly volunteer at the clothing closet run by another
church in their area.
If there is an
instance where serious moral issues are involved, we need to be sure not to bend
on matters of principles, but we can politely disagree without being
disagreeable. We can acknowledge the
sincerity of those whose positions we cannot accept and speak of principles
rather of people. President Hinckley has
said, “ There is a better
way than the way of the world. If it
means standing alone, we must do it. But
we shall not be alone. I am confident
that there are millions of people throughout the world who grieve over the evil
they see about them. They love the
virtuous, the good, and the uplifting.
They too will raise their voices and give their strength to the
preservation of those values which are worthy of maintenance and cultivation.”
When we are treating
others with love, respect, and kindness, we are showing that we are true
disciples of Jesus Christ. We bear testimony and witness of Him, through our
actions. I think of how Christ was when
He was still on the earth. When the
adulterous woman was brought before Him or when those who were sick and
afflicted reached out to touch his robes, He reacted with love and
kindness. He did not recoil or act as
though He was better than they were. Why
would we? Our kindness may be the most
persuasive argument for that which we believe.
President Hinckley encourages us to live the Golden Rule, treating
others as we would want to be treated.
This reminded me of when my oldest girls were little. Chloe was a bit on the mean side and Yasmin
would give it right back to her, even though it was not her typical
nature. I talked to her about it one day
and asked if she knew the Golden Rule.
She responded by saying, “Yes!
That is why I am so mean to Chloe.
She is mean to me, so she must want me to treat her the same way.” I quickly re-explained the Golden Rule, to
say that we should treat others as we want them to treat us, regardless of how
they actually treat us. Being friendly
does not mean we need to be friends, but we do need to be kind.
There is a poem in the
lesson that I really like that also reminded me of the Chloe and Yasmin
story. It is by Edwin Markham and it
goes like this. (I drew 2 stick figures on the board).
He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. (draw
circle around one man)
But Love and I
had the wit to win:
We drew a circle
that took him in!” (draw circle around both men)
This poem reminds me that it is important that
we make a conscientious effort to not be excluding people from our circle, even
if they have excluded us from theirs. An
example of this can be seen in the church’s response to the Broadway musical Book of Mormon. Those who wrote the musical, and in many ways
those who act in it, and in some ways, those who see it, are drawing a circle
around themselves, with the church on the outside. The church responded by taking out ads in the
billfolds encouraging viewers to now read the book. Missionaries were often
found outside the theaters when they let out, handing out copies of the Book of
Mormon. They were drawing that bigger
circle and inviting all of them in, and I personally know people who have
joined the church as a result of the musical and the church’s reaction to it.
I want to take this
lesson one step further, to say we need to love each other with ALL our
differences, not just religious ones.
The world is full of diversity and we need to cultivate tolerance and
appreciation and respect one another. Have
any of you watched the movie, “My Big Fat
Greek Wedding”? For those who have not seen it, it is
about a Greek girl who meets a non-Greek man who she falls in love with and
decides to marry. Her father has a very
hard time accepting the man since he is not Greek. However, at the end of the movie, during the
wedding reception, the father makes a speech about how the two families have
come together. He had discovered a
commonality to build on: one of their last names was derived from the Greek
word of orange and the other last name was derived from the Greek word for
apple. His realization was that in the
end, they are all fruit.
I challenge you to look
for opportunities like these on the board, to work side by side with others who
are different than us. Whether someone
be Catholic, Jewish, black, white, Hispanic, male, female, transgender, gay, straight, old, or
young, in the end, we are all children of God.
It is my prayer that all of us will be a little more aware of how we are
treating those who are different than us.
Your world will be much richer when you do and you will be treating them
the way our Heavenly Father would want us to be treating our fellow brothers
and sisters.
