I heard a wonderful little statement a while ago that I really like - more for it's shock value than anything else, since it really made me stop and think. It says:
I asked God to give me what I deserve - so he slapped me and sent me to Hell.
What I really love about "pure Mormonism" is that it posits that, in the end, there really is nothing that is required except your best effort to live according to the dictates of your own conscience and understanding - that mistakes are fine, as long as they are made in sincerity. (There's a lesson in there for how we view our leaders - past and present - at all levels.) If that's true of those who never heard the Gospel, it's true of those who did.
So, my answer to the title question is simple, but not easy:
I go with what seems like the right thing to me personally and trust that God will accept my best effort.
1 comment:
"I go with what seems like the right thing to me personally and trust that God will accept my best effort."
At the end of the day, barring a direct audience with God, this is the best any of us can do.
I love the doctrine of grace. Everything we ever might do is always going to be broken, inadequate, and clumsily executed. Grace makes up for our incompetence and allows us to be judged on our intentions and our desires.
Totally agree that that we ought to extend mercy towards our erring leaders. They will make mistakes and fail at their leadership roles simply by virtue of being human. It is important that we cut them some slack about such things.
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