I am involved with some members who are struggling with some sort of faith crisis, and I point out to them regularly that they can't ask of others what they aren't willing to give those others first - without being hypocrites. Particularly, they can't ask more orthodox members to accept their heterodoxy as legitimate unless they are able and willing to accept those members' orthodoxy as legitimate.
That's not an easy balance, especially since I'm NOT advocating a totally relativistic view of truth. What I'm saying is that "loving someone" often involves accepting their differences in thought and perspective and realizing that ALL of us see through our glass, darkly - and extending charity by not judging and being narrow-minded.
It helps if everyone has some sort of orthopraxy around which they can rally (which is one of the geniuses of Mormonism, in my opinion), but it can't apply in some areas of heteropraxy - since there are some actions which simply cannot be tolerated. I just believe the list of intolerable actions is a lot smaller than many people are willing to accept.
The Party Crasher
5 days ago
1 comment:
This is so true and took me so long to learn (well, still struggling in the application). We have to practice charity above and beyond all else - even when its hard - and even when we're not getting it from other people.
I may cause my Republican and conservatively religious (I don't like the word "orthodox") friends at church some head-scratching, but they generally know I care about them. They also see me occasionally at ward work assignments of various types.
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