Posted by:
runtu
(
)
Date: November 14, 2014 07:31AM
Reading the church's essays on controversial topics has filled my heart with gratitude. Yes, I stand before you today thankful that I no longer have to twist myself into knots to defend such things.
I'm thankful that I don't have to figure out a way to make the Book of Abraham a translation of Egyptian papyri that have nothing to do with Abraham.
My spirit is humbled that I no longer have to explain how it came to be that two large civilizations of Middle Eastern proto-Christians lived in the Americas for thousands of years and then disappeared without a trace.
I feel prompted to express my gratitude that I don't have to explain why the record of this civilization is riddled with anachronisms and reads like a frontier American fantasy mixing Moundbuilder mythology with restorationist Protestant doctine (which is exactly what it is).
And I feel like singing a song of joy that I don't feel obligated to justify a man's sneaking around behind his wife's back and "marrying" (read: having sex) with dozens of women, including teenagers and married women.
I rationalized all these things for many years, and it took a toll on my soul. Nine years ago I put away such things because I knew they weren't true and they weren't right, and I have never regretted it.