Divine Inspiration

Posted by: Andee / Category: , , , ,

Divine Inspiration.

I was taught as a little girl that if I believed in God and kept the commandments the holy spirit would guide me through life. This was made even clearer when I turned 8 and was baptized with the spirit of the Holy Ghost. I was afraid of ghosts, but this one was holy... so that was okay.

It goes even deeper than that, though...

When young men get "blessed" with the "powers" of the Priesthood, they are given a closer connection to God. This is one of millions of reasons why women don't hold positions of authority over men, we are not as good at getting revelation because we don't have penises.



The Priesthood holders (aka penis holders) have tons of "responsibilities." They have to give blessings to the sick (women can't do this... God only wants men to pray for the health of the church members), they bless and pass out the sacrament on Sundays (girls can't do that either... no good reason why, but we have to trust in Him) and pretty much get to rule the entire church while the women encourage and support them.

Bishops are chosen by Stake Presidents (if I remember correctly) and only after much prayer and thought on the issue. All callings are supposedly divinely inspired, including things like Mia Maid Secretaries and Chorus Directors. These are not jobs, oh no... these are things that God has asked of us through the power of some dude's priesthood.



From the time I was a fetus I was told that our church had a prophet who received direct revelation from God. He was chosen to lead us and he would receive divine inspiration on how to handle things in the church. We should all trust our prophet, as well as our apostles, the 70, our Stake presidency... all the way down to our bishop who leads us through the power of God. We shouldn't question them because that would be the equivalent of saying, "God, you sure? This doesn't sound right." We couldn't do that. God would be really really mad.

So, with these things in mind I want to share something I debated writing about... it's a story from Salt Lake City. Here is a clip from the Salt Lake Tribune:



An April trial has been set for former Lone Peak High School LDS seminary principal Michael Jay Pratt, who is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student earlier this year.

Pratt, 37, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 15 felonies: one count of rape, eight counts of forcible sodomy and five counts of object rape, all first-degree felonies, and one count of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse.

During an October preliminary hearing, the alleged victim, now 17, testified that her relationship with "Brother Pratt" started with chats about religion, school and "life in general."

But on May 1, Pratt, 37, professed his love for the girl, sparking a two-month sexual relationship the girl believed was prelude to marriage, even though Pratt had a wife and three children.

The girl testified about more than 30 sex acts, mostly fondling and oral sex. But on three occasions, she said, Pratt unsuccessfully attempted sexual intercourse.

She said the encounters occurred up Provo Canyon, on the roof of the seminary building, in a ravine near her Highland home, in an empty home, at a hot springs near Goshen and an abandoned mine near Eureka.


First, I want to mention that Michael Jay Pratt is innocent until proven guilty. I do tend to believe the girl and her statements about his actions, however.

So, here is the thing...

Somewhere along the line, God supposedly inspired someone with the super-priesthood-powers to give Michael Jay Pratt this calling. Right? Why would God do this? Why would God want this young girl to be taken advantage of in such a way?

This is not even close to being the first time something like this has happened. There has been abuse in nursery, boy scout troop leaders abusing children, you name it, it's happened.

Did God truly call these abusers to these positions around children? Do you think the abuse happened for some divine purpose?

I know what most members of the church would immediately say when this argument is thrown at them:

"We are human. We make mistakes. We are not perfect, only God is perfect."

I have to agree with you about people not being perfect... but what I don't understand is how you can tell when you are getting inspiration from God or if it's just some strange mind-fuck?

How do you tell if your inspiration is true or if you are messing it up?

How can you trust people just because they are men and therefore have this divine relationship with God?

What good is this Priesthood power if you can't tell if it's working?

I would like to point out that there are hundreds of examples of Priesthood holders in the Mormon Church that were flat out WRONG when they claimed to be speaking for the Lord. Brigham Young said quakers lived on the moon. He wasn't talking as a man... he was talking as the prophet... at general conference... and he would have been pissed as HELL if someone were to have challenged him on it.

It makes no sense to me.

Andee


3 comments:

  1. TGD Says:

    I would like to propose an answer to one of the questions you posed: "How do you tell if your inspiration is true or if you are messing it up?"

    My answer:
    If at any time you think or claim that you were inspired by God, your fucking messing it up.

  1. Becky Says:

    sweet jesus, I am SO glad you're back and blogging.

  1. Andee Says:

    TGD,

    Good answer.

    Anyone claiming to be speaking for God is full of shit and fooling themselves.

    Becky,

    Glad to be back!

    I needed the break, I was dealing with a lot stuff. I am happy to hear from all my blogger buddies.