Lavina Fielding Anderson — Part 1

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Welcome to this additional viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director Mormonism research ministry with me today is Eric Johnson. My colleague at MRM there was an article in fact it was front page news Salt Lake Tribune on September 5, 2019.

The title was writer excommunicated during quote September 6 purge" loses her bid to rejoin the LDS church.

I was fascinating about this article, Eric is. I remember when this happened. This was big news when this took place back in the 1990s when there were a group of intellectuals who were all excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and what I find interesting about this article is when you go back to the 1990s. Would you agree with me and saying that was kind of a different Mormon church. Back then it was in fact you could call it Mormon church and nobody raised an eyebrow at that time and now of course that always be screaming now you're being disrespectful but back then you really weren't allowed to criticize openly the leadership of the church and I think what got this group into trouble was because they did vocalize some of their disagreements and as a result they were kicked out of the church and you have to understand if you're not a latter-day St., this is something you have to get when you're kicked out of the Mormon church that has everything to do with your eternal salvation.

But what you do with an individual who claims that they believe, like every other latter-day say they been kicked out of the church and want to get back into the church and the church says no. What that's what this article is about deals with the story of Levine Fielding Anderson and I guess to show you a little bit of her Mormon background. Just look at her middle name Fielding.

That's the same middle name for Joseph F. Smith. The six president of the church and also the 10th president of the church. Joseph Fielding Smith, so she has a Mormon background should not like she was just a brand-new fresh convert. She has a history behind her relationship with the LDS church. What is this article sayer as written by Peggy Fletcher stack of the Salt Lake Tribune in and it says Levine Fielding Anderson one of the fame. September 6. Writers and scholars discipline by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1993 got a big no last week to her request for re-baptism from the man who matter most.

The face governing first presidency quote. I was not surprised or angry about the outcome," Anderson said Wednesday and she has no plans to try to open that door again quote I have My covenants remain close to the church and have felt that what I have done is accepted by the Lord. If there is unfinished business.

It's the first presidency's, not mine. This goes back to what I was saying earlier. Here's an individual who felt in her heart she was a faithful latter-day say before she was excommunicated in the 1990s.

She said some things that certainly did not go well with the leadership she was kicked out of the church. Now she wants to get back into the church and now it's a different group of men for the most part, definitely in there saying that she can't know what is that mean for her well in Mormonism.

If you don't qualify for the celestial kingdom.

You end up being damned one unconfessed sin. One unrepented of sin will bring damnation to you.

According to the teachings of Mormonism. You will not enjoy celestial exultation. You cannot be with your spouse for eternity. You will have to spend eternity in a lower level of Mormon heaven: quote either the terrestrial kingdom or the celestial kingdom.

So by the church saying no to Ms. Anderson wanting to come back into the church means that she's basically doomed to spend eternity in either that terrestrial or two celestial kingdom.

She will not be with her husband who died as a faithful latter-day say and were going to find as we go through this article, even though she shared his beliefs. She's not going to die as a faithful Mormon unless she's allowed back into the church, which apparently that's not going to happen a lot of Latter Day Saints Ave. talk to us about the unfairness of hell. Typical version that their separation from God for eternity.

They say that's not fair, but this doesn't seem fair for somebody who seems like she has repented. Who wants to get back in and the church is going to say no to her appeal to rejoin the church after they felt 20+ years ago that what she had done was I guess it's unforgivable is what they're basically saying what she did in the 1990s was unforgivable that that's an interesting word that you use and I hadn't thought about it until you said it, because in Mormonism. Really the only unforgivable sin is murder and even some Mormons question that but technically that's the unforgivable sin. And yet, here's a woman who merely wrote an article criticizing her ecclesiastical leaders and because of that.

At least this is what were led to believe. In this article because of what she did. She's not allowed back and so you might be correct about that.

Erica is considered, I guess I'm unforgivable, at least in these men's eyes and they're not telling her why they're not going allow her back and, in fact, the article talks about her faithfulness in the past quarter-century. This is what it says.

This is why she was excommunicated she was excommunicated for an article she wrote in dialogue, a journal of Mormon thought, stop either because dialogue Journal of Mormon thought is a publication that is produced is not produced by the church, but it is a more scholarly type of publication were a lot of the intellectuals and scholars did contribute to this publication and I remember back in the 90s to contribute an article to dialogue or even Sunstone could sometimes raise the eyebrows of your ecclesiastical leaders because dialogue in Sunstone, at least in my opinion, I think, in the opinion of a lot of Latter Day Saints was a little more edgy when it came to Mormon theology and Mormon history. In other words, in my opinion I think there were much more honest about their theology and history then let's see an article that would be published in & I'm going to use the term unforgivable sin. What was Anderson's unforgivable sin according to the article.

She described ecclesiastical abuse of latter-day St. intellectuals and so she criticized the church leadership is what she did.

That is probably just as they had as murder or adultery or whatever other unforgivable sins. There are in Mormonism and she was concerned about how these intellectuals were being treated in and it goes back to what I said at the beginning of the show. That was a different Mormonism back then. I really do think that I think the church has a much more permissive attitude when it comes to criticism is not that they've refrained from excommunicating people who were vocally critical, but you usually have to get a lot of press and caused the church a lot of embarrassment before that happens. Now Levine Fielding Anderson this other group back in 1993 they did that they did cause the church some embarrassment and they were quick to be excommunicated. I think the church is much slower nowadays. To do that and why is that I'm going to suggest the possibility that the church was growing by 4% back in the 1990s and now they're growing by about 1% so I think there might be an issue of you start the wrong people out there might be a lineup of people you're going to have to toss out for whatever the reasons were back in the 1990s that were sufficient to be able to get them excommunicated and today. Why would you do that yourself makes you wonder if 17th president Russell Nelson had a say in this decision because Russell and Nelson was around when this all happened. He was no doubt good friends with a lot of the apostles at the time who were involved in this decision to kick these members out and it could be that he's probably still stinging from some of the things they may have said back then. Who knows maybe it was Russell Nelson who was the final authority on the sin the witnesses and happen that the article doesn't say that, but the article does say the church declined to comment on the decision so we don't know if Russell and Nelson had a say in this decision, but I would not be surprised if he did according to the Salt Lake Tribune article it says in the quarter-century since her ouster. Anderson consistently has attended weekly services at her latter-day St. congregation, the Whittier Ward. She has sat quietly in the same pew as the emblems of the sacrament or communion have passed by her more than 1200 times without being able to partake. She has participated as much as she was able playing the piano and singing in the choir and watched as seven lay bishops have come and gone. That's quite a story in that paragraph, and a lot of people not being a member of the LDS church may not really understand the significance of that but once you're excommunicated from the church. You're certainly allowed to attend or not going to say you can't come back and sit on a pew during the service, but you are not allowed to partake of the sacrament. This would be the bread in the water since Mormons don't use grape juice or wine. These water and bread as the elements for the sacrament service of the communion as we would understand it. Can you imagine 1200 times she's added him up and so she's got her case.

I think all ready to go as to the suffering she feels that she has gone through. As a result of being kicked out.

But the fact is with when it says that she is participated as much as she was able, I would not be surprised if she is probably done more in her local ward and maybe some average members who were there in good standing. They pay their time.

If they do with their supposed to. They don't rock the boat. They show their loyalty. Maybe they're doing far less than what Ms. Anderson has done over the past several years were talks about her playing the piano, singing in the choir and then have this little dig watched as seven lay bishops have come and gone. Just see still there. Those bishops are gone because they're only there for a short period of time. Anyways, not a lifelong position.

What was the reason for her to want to come back according to the article on March 23, 2018. Anderson's husband Paul died of heart failure. It was his death and funeral that prompted the couple's current Bishop to bring up the possibility of her rejoining the church while preparing for the retired Brigham Young University artist Memorial service Bishop Mahal Rye Madrigal read Paul's written testimony or statements of faith that the ward had compiled in 2000, right next to Paul's was Levine's description of her beliefs in Jesus Christ Mormon founder Joseph Smith. The scriptural text he produced the book of Mormon and the role of prophets. Her testimony was that of a believer. Eat later told her he wept as he read it aloud to others and we should say that that phrase, that of a believer. Testimony was that of a believer that little believers in quotations and so here's the dilemma at least the dilemma that I see here you have a woman who claims to believe exactly the way her husband believe right. Her husband passes away. He is buried with honor right say as a faithful member of the LDS church. She believes exactly the same, according to what were reading here but yet she isn't allowed to come back into the fold. Not only that but the husband is sitting in his grave, hoping that when he does come back again he will be able to call her from the grave. Using her new name from the temple, but if she's not allowed back in the church. She won't be able to join him tomorrow were going to continue looking at this story that was found in the Salt Lake Tribune on September 5. Writer excommunicated during September 6 purge loses her bid to rejoin the LDS church. Thank you for listening you would like more information regarding his research ministry. We encourage you to visit our website www.mrm.org you can request a free newsletter Mormonism research. We hope you join us again as we look at another viewpoint is