On the topic of religious
authoritarianism I find myself conceptually somewhat divided. I have met plenty
of people who don’t think organized religion has the best answers, or all of
the answers. My best friend, in fact, feels exactly this way. I can remember
him coming to church with me so many times, and so many LDS core doctrines
resonated within him. And yet, he was never baptized, and I couldn’t figure out
why. During my mission, I wrote to him often, seeking to see some sort of
change in him, that if somehow I could ask the right questions, or provide the
right answers, he would have that lightbulb moment and come around to my way of
seeing the world. It never happened, and a year after being home from my
mission, I recall we had the conversation again. I just wanted to know,
honestly and sincerely why he couldn’t accept baptism into the LDS faith. He
explained to me, clearly and plainly, “I find so much truth with LDS people,
but I don’t see all of it. I don’t think it’s untrue, necessarily, I just don’t
think it’s all of the truth.” I was dumbfounded. I had nothing else to say but
that I respected his views on it, and would seek to understand it better in the
future.
I relate this experience
because I feel like it was all I could think about while reading Erasmus and
Luther. Truth is a difficult concept to capture in these rhetorical terms. As I
read Erasmus, I found myself nodding my head, feeling some form of wisdom in
his words. Then, reading Luther I thought, wow what was Erasmus, and myself by
association, thinking?! I find truth to be whatever resonates within one’s own
soul, and I think the contradiction of interpretation in the scriptural proofs
to be evident of that, just as I found in my discussions with this old friend.
I think that is a large part of what I have felt in the Renaissance and the
Reformation. Man, being unwilling to follow a course in which his soul finds no
comfort, reaches out for something else. Some would use the term, he is
reaching higher, but I can’t willingly associate this with a vertical plane. It
is not higher or lower, simply different.
I think your respect of your friend's opinion is a perfect demonstration of the humanistic and in this case the gospel's respect of will. I too have many good friends who don't see any point of organized religion. Honestly it's really rough. It's frustrating too because we see how much more they can gain and learn if they accept, but it depends on them. It's the respect of their choice that I feel demonstrates the most love to them and simply keeping the invitation constant and warm. Everyone has their own time :)
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