Sunday, July 19, 2009
Palmyra
This afternoon I picked The Boy up from his trip with the Ward to Palmyra for the pageant. I got him packed up Friday night and took him up to the church to drop him off bright and early yesterday complete with a lunch box full of snacks. I figured he'd have a good time hanging out with the other Young Men and families from the ward in New York and when I picked him up today I thought it all had gone just as I expected until we got in the car and I asked him about his trip. He loved the pageant, loved sleeping in the bunk beds in the cabin, and loved being in New York. What he didn't love was being called a "murderer" or reading signs that our church "is founded by the Devil" or that "astrology authenticated the Bible, not the Book of Mormon". Really... Does it make a person feel better about themselves to yell at a 12 year old boy and call him a murderer? And whom did we murder? How can someone claim that astrology authenticated the Bible and not the Book of Mormon? Last I checked (and I can certainly be wrong on this one, but last I checked) astrology was not condoned by any church, so...to me it's like saying "my Ouija board said the Bible was authentic but not the Book of Mormon"...of course it's not going to tell you that the Book of Mormon (the most correct book of scripture today) is correct. The adversary doesn't want that! And as for our church being "founded by the Devil", well the Bible says to turn the other cheek and to be Christ-like in our treatment of others. It doesn't tell us to yell at children through bullhorns and put terrible things on picket signs and threaten people. Our Bishop told one of the children (young adult really) who got very angry about it to calm down, and told everyone "just smile". That's the real Christian way. And what did my son get for smiling at his accusers? He got a grown man yelling at him "don't you smile at me." I guess those protesters really showed us who were the real Christians...
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2 comments:
I didn't realize until Sunday morning when a few people bore their testimonies how much the protesters had upset the kids. When I was in Young Women's I went to an Easter pageant at the Mesa temple and one of our leaders (a very immature man) chose to engage them and they got into a shouting match. That just makes everyone look bad.
I don't know if this will help at all, but all you can really do is laugh at them. Some people feel bad for them and pray for them and that's good too, but, honestly, the things they're saying are so absolutely ludicrous that it is laughable.
After we found our seats, I came back to the car alone to get something and while I was digging through the car I actually listened to what the guy near me with the bullhorn was saying and realized it didn't even make sense. Seriously. Complete non sequiturs about the Bible and the Book of Mormon and Jews and Mormons. There were maybe 15 protesters, 2 guys with microphones or bullhorns, some of them holding signs, and none of them making a lick of sense.
I'm sorry Dante was so upset and I hope that if he is in that situation again, he realizes how little the things they are saying really matter. They are just misinformed, angry people, who probably have a screw or two loose, and obviously have no idea what our religion is about. Plus, really? They have nothing better to do on a Saturday night?
Give Dante a hug and tell him even though words can hurt, the things these people are saying just don't matter.
Thank you Kelly :) I think we both feel better about it today, and I did laugh about it with a friend, especially the "astrology" portion.
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