Molly Mormon — Part 3

One member is examining the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from a biblical perspective viewpoint when Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism research ministry since 1979 Mormonism research ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect.

And now, your host for today's viewpoint on Mormonism are thanks Adams Road bear for that musical introduction welcome to this edition of 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 we continue our look at a book written by Alana K.

Shelley titled confessions of a Molly Mormon trading perfectionism for peace fear for faith judging for joy.

And as we been mentioning in this series the inconsistencies that we are discovering in this book are really glaring Eric I mean I understand the desire for a Mormon woman or a Mormon member.

In general, wanting to find peace, faith and joy. But somehow Alana Shelley feels that you can have both Mormonism and still attain that in your life.

Many of the things that she finds troubling in her Mormon faith are things that you can't easily dismiss. I think that's what she's trying to do in order to achieve those attributes that she mentions on the cover again when we look at the cover.

It says on the back. How can the gospel be the plan of happiness if I feel so miserable trying to live it and again as we mentioned several times Alana debunks many of the faulty beliefs that led her down a path of deepening despair I feel for her. In reading this book, you can't help but have compassion and empathy for an individual that's going through the struggles I just feel that her solution is not consistent with the very faith. Perhaps she's trying to protect. I think she would be better off getting rid of all the baggage that would cause those feelings in the first place. You're making a really good point because you can't have Mormonism and the kind of grace that the Bible talks about that we as evangelical Christians do believe in so by the way this book review is on our website MRM.org/Molly Mormon review with hyphens between that if you like to see the quotes because we do have those quotes for the most part that were reading here this week on this website page so I go there and check out more, but I am with you, Bill. I feel very sorry that this is the mindset of not only miss Shelley, but I meant to say.

Probably the vast majority of LDS women who are trying to live their faith as well as they can, and they're not able to do it will let's look at chapter 2 in your book. It's titled the iron rod as a weapon of self-destruction, and she talks about how reading the very Scriptures and I'm assuming the unique Scriptures of Mormonism caused her a lot of despair. Let me read you what she says on page 24 because I continue to view Scripture stories and teachings through my distorted lens of fear.

I was adeptly wielding the iron rod is a weapon of self-destruction long before I reached adulthood. Each commandment provided me with another opportunity to notice that I was falling pathetically short of perfection instead of allowing the words of God to bring heavenly comfort to my earthly existence. I use them to create my own living hell. That's an interesting statement coming from a latter-day St. I would argue that perhaps the reason why she was feeling that way is because one she's reading her unique Scripture that are found only in Mormonism, which would be of course the book of Mormon, the doctrine and covenants in program price and certainly those books do say things that should cause a lot of Mormons distress. It could also be she's not practicing a good model of hermeneutics and I would say that maybe if she understood how we are to interpret Scripture that maybe that could've brought her some comfort as well. I don't know because I don't know her. I'm just going by what's on the pages of the book. I may go to the next page on page 25.

This is what she says and it's very honest in her reporting. She says one Sunday afternoon after yet another lesson in relief Society about the importance of Scripture study I turned my husband and flatly declared. I'm never going to make it to the celestial kingdom.

I might as well give up and accept it right now, so my life doesn't have to be so miserable and stressful.

I'm always trying to change, but I can't make myself do everything I'm supposed to. There is absolutely no way I'm ever going to make it stop you there because what she says in that paragraph certainly sounds like the same anxiety that Janet Robinson had, and is described by her husband, Stephen Robinson was a professor at Brigham Young University. He talks about his wife Janet who one day, the lights just went out.

That's how he describes her anxiety.

She says, and this is found on page 15 of the book believing Christ, the parable of the bicycle and other good news, written by Stephen E. Robinson. He says finally, after almost 2 weeks I made her mad with my nagging one night as we lay in bed and she said all right. Do you want to know what's wrong. I'll tell you what's wrong, I can't do it anymore.

I can't lifted my load is just too heavy.

I can't do all the things I'm supposed to do.

I can't get up at 530 and bake bread and so close and help the kids with their homework and do my own homework and make their lunches and do the housework and do my relief Society stuff and have Scripture study and do my genealogy and write my Congressman and go to PTA meeting and get our year supply organized and go to my stake meetings and write the missionaries try not to yell at the kid she continue but I can't seem to help it I get mad and I yell.

So then I try not to get mad, but eventually I do I try not to have hard feelings towards this person and that person but I do. I'm just not very Christlike. No matter how hard I try to love everyone. I fail what's sad is Stephen Robinson basically in his book explains that the reason why his wife was feeling this way is because she didn't really understand, whereas we would counter and say no, it sounds like she does seem to understand Mormonism and I would assume that at this point of distress in the life of Alana Shelley on page 25 when she says I'm not going to change. I can't do it myself that she understands. Also, what's being asked of her, but what's interesting is she talks about this 30 minutes of study and her husband asked her about this at the bottom of page 25. My husband looked at me in amusement and then thoughtfully replied show me where it says in the Scriptures or anywhere else for that matter that you can't get into the celestial kingdom if you haven't read the Scriptures for 30 minutes a day.

Now I don't know of any general authority or where it says specifically in Mormon scriptures that you have to read the Scriptures. 30 minutes a day, but Mormons have said that while it she certainly thought that the general authorities had says somewhere.

She says well all of the general authority say it's important to read the Scriptures for 30 minutes a day and I simply cannot do it. There's absolutely no way I'm ever going to make it so she got the impression whether or not a general authority set it I don't know of a case, I wouldn't look that hard but as you say. Others have use that the number 30 minutes as something of as a benchmark to use for reading your Scriptures low back in July 1982, the unsigned magazine published an article written by Barbara Stockwell, who taught in the relief Society in Oregon and there was an article titled, it takes only 30 minutes a day and she said a few weeks ago I read an article about the importance of studying Scripture, so I set my alarm for 30 minutes earlier every day that I remembered I should write in my journal every day so I stayed up a half-hour later each night. So here's where that 30 minutes could have come from, or perhaps she got it from the July 2009 addition of new era, an article written by Andy Jorgensen titled. I changed my life in just 30 minutes a day.

His conclusion is a response to what Ezra Taft Benson had written this trip and some in the 13th president of the church when it came to the reading of the book of Mormon and the sweaty righty says I changed a portion of my day just half an hour and it changed my entire life. And then he goes on his has helped Pres. Benson was right there is something more. The book of Mormon so he woke up in the morning and cheerfully greeted my heavenly Father in prayer and my family at the breakfast table and he goes on and says that he goes to his book of Mormon study and he says the power of which Pres. Benson spoke was with me and I was finding life in greater abundance. I was happy. Well, we would admit that Barbara Stockwell and Andy Jorgensen are not general authorities in the Mormon church. It probably wouldn't carry a whole lot of weight with many latter-day Saints, but I have to assume that what they were saying in these articles probably were repeated in local meetings and maybe that's probably how it finally came down to miss Shelley hearing about this, but then we have a message that was given and this is very interesting. This message was given by a 70 by the name of Jay Thomas fans and this gentleman was the same 70, who announced the sustaining of Russell M. Nelson and Dallen Oaks in general conference in April 1984. This was the same guy that made that announcement well on that day. He also gave a talk cold cruise on the Lord's team and this is what he said my companions and the priesthood. I love you with all my heart. The general authorities all love you we would invite you to spiritually exercise each day. This you would do with the level of your choosing. For example, read the book of Mormon a few verses a day or a chapter a day. 15 minutes a day or 30 minutes a day you will know the amount of spiritual tone that you need to gain. You can accept this challenge.

Can't you well if you want to be on the Lord's team. Eric wouldn't you want to go with the maximum I went he gave there. You don't want to settle for 15 for 15 when you go 30 and again he's not at all implying that if you don't do it you're not can it end up in the celestial kingdom, but you can see how this can be interpreted by some Latter Day Saints including Elana Kate Shelley and this is the danger of a works oriented religion like Mormonism because maybe he wasn't saying 30 minutes a day, but she's taking it that way because the local leaders are pounding into the local Mormons telling them this is what you need to do and then there listening to Gen. conference.

The old kick in the tail talks that are given twice a year and then it just continues on and on and on. And so it naturally is going to be taken to. If I'm not doing it that I must not be worthy enough to go the celestial kingdom in the On page 26. She uses the typical Tupelo Quay logical fallacy, which is the pointing to other people and their hypocrisy in order to justify yourself. Later I admitted to myself that there was probably no one in the whole world, not even the prophet who had actually read the Scriptures for 30 minutes every single day that man according to my logic that the celestial kingdom was destined to be empty. Of course I didn't believe that would be the case but debunking my faulty logic didn't change my despair over the matter. And she's right on that because the leaders make it sound like they're doing everything when they get up at Gen. conference and everybody's assuming they do it. They never tell you they're not doing it, but they're not doing what they make it sound like everybody else should be doing and I said that many times, even when it comes to the book the miracle of forgiveness. I doubted Spencer W.

Kimball did everything that he was telling other people to do in that book. But let me just finish with this. She writes on page 26. Finally I was able to view them. Speaking of their Scriptures as words of encouragement, rather than words of condemnation their warnings became words of love rather than angry threats. I realized that the Scriptures were designed to help me avoid pain and suffering, and to show me how to joyfully receive the companionship of the spirit. The question I have though is how you get that from a lot of the verses found in unique Mormon scriptures. They do seem to be very condemning.

They do say that you're not going to get certain things unless you do certain things. So how did she come to that conclusion where she can write on page 27 today I rejoice and rejoice in the gift of the Scriptures, but yet those verses read the very same as they've always read. So how do you come to that kind of a conclusion. Thank you for listening you would like more information when guarding this research ministry. We encourage you to visit our website www.mrm.org you can request a free newsletter Mormonism research.

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