Ripstop Belief

I am driven to identify the false and impure belief systems in our culture. My eager interest is to expose them and their evil author for what they are, and then try to replace those weak beliefs with something doctrinally solid.

I see two common belief systems damning people (and organizations) in their spiritual progression. These pervasive beliefs are like thorns attempting to rip the fabric of our spiritual progress and development.

Blanket Belief
The first is what I call blanket belief, or chain belief. The reason people do it is because it requires little to no mental or spiritual effort. It's when someone says something like "I know this is true, so therefore that is true, and by extension that is also true". In the process, they cast a blanket over an entire set of beliefs, whether they've really been tested or not, and call them all true; or they link one belief to another, and then to another, and say in effect, "because the first link is true we can therefore assume that every link in the chain following is also true." The result of blanket belief can be a core set of beliefs based on tradition and culture rather than actual truth and doctrine. These non-scriptural views have been rehearsed so frequently in our culture that for me to counter them as impure could make me a heretic to many.

The most popular blanket belief I've heard begins with Joseph Smith as having been called of God - Who translated the Book of Mormon, and because he was a true prophet, therefore everything he said is true; and therefore the church is true; and therefore everything that has been said by prophets and apostles in the church since that time are true. This belief system casts a blanket over an entire chain of events or people without evaluating individual truths one at a time.

Blanket beliefs are not inherently wrong, but have a tendency to generate laziness in the pursuit of truth. An inherent belief in these statements, and our culture in general, is this: "I don't need to apply effort or ask questions toward certain ends, because I already know they're true."

It isn't wrong to say because Joseph Smith was a prophet, the Book of Mormon is true; but if we leave it there and never test the principles contained in that sacred book we have lost so many growth opportunities. If we say "I know President Nelson is a true prophet of God" and fail to study his ministry and apply his teachings, then we have lost opportunities to grow and gain truth. A more powerful testimony at church pulpits, than stating a knowledge of the truthfulness of the church for example, might be to state a witness of a true concept that has come through the church, or a leader, or better still, the Holy Ghost.

There is an inherent danger in blanket belief. If we assume everything under the blanket is perfectly true; the day will surely come when an uninspired leader says something contradictory to something under the same blanket. The result is confusion, and a tendency to question the entire, once highly revered, chain of truth, and possibly even apostasy.

A few years ago I discovered ripstop fabric. It is a remarkable material that is sown in a grid-like pattern to prevent ripping. Each little square stands on its own so if it gets a snag the hole will be limited to that square alone and cannot extend into the next square, thus protecting the article of clothing as a whole.

Likewise, if we protect each tried and tested belief by the power of the Holy Ghost (rather than the easy path of daisy-chaining) our testimony of truth will stand stronger when we find out we harbored a false belief as a true one. These discoveries don't need to tear into our adjacent beliefs and affect everything under the blanket. I believe this is why many leave their faith.

Hundred Percent Club
People and organizations don't need to be perfectly infallible in order to find or teach truth. I've learned to be okay with church talks that teach false or incomplete concepts. I've also learned to look outside the box of my religion for additional witnesses of truth from people on the internet that share their beliefs about a particular thing. I often hear false precepts but the spirit helps me find truth nuggets that I really cherish. This concept leads me into the second scripturally unsupported belief in our culture. I have come to think of it as The Hundred Percent Club.

Members of this group have one perception of truth, and when a package of information comes along that does not look and act like their box of truth they throw the entire thing out. Even if the information is true, as long as the source of it doesn't agree with them they cast it out, and like the Pharisees of old who rejected Truth when he walked among them, they miss the mark and fail to see the forest through the trees.

The tendency for the 100% club then is to only subscribe to a single organization, person, or belief system. It is the most damning attitude I have observed and it is rampant. It is damning because the Lord is purposely sending truths in unfamiliar packages to see if the elect will hear his voice and harden not their hearts (Doctrine and Covenants 29:7).

I know people who will only read literature that has their church's logo on it; or for the liberal hundred-percenter who might include literature from that church's official print-press. Why? They daisy-chained the belief that because the church is true, and it's leaders and appointed representatives of all its commercial enterprises are all 100% inspired, therefore everything that comes off that press is also completely true.

The Hundred Percent Club would never believe something in their box could be false or incomplete. In this line of thinking, there is an inherently damning view that anything outside their box is uninspired and not worth engaging. This mindset presents the simplest war strategy for the adversary against us - Simply sneak a few subtle false beliefs into the box, let it fester for a hundred years or more and by virtue of their culture and traditions they become your prisoner.

The Hundred Percent Club wants its leaders to speak truth 100% of the time. Earlier in church history it was often taught that church leaders were infirm. Consider this statement by Joseph Smith:

a prophet [is] a prophet only when he [is] acting as such" (Joseph Smith, in History of the Church, 5:265). 

Or this statement by Brigham Young:

I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. … Let every man and woman know, by the whisperings of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.” (JD, vol. 9, p. 150. cited here).

My point in sharing those quotes is to say that it is possible to whole-heartedly sustain someone as a prophet of God, (or somewhere else in the priesthood line of authority) while believing they can speak uninspired words on occasion. If you only stay in your faith because its leaders are one hundred percent correct, one hundred percent of the time, well... there wouldn't be much of a church left.

Quorums are an inspired way to ensure the channeling of truth to the people. Any individual can have false or incomplete beliefs. Like the spiritual ripstop fabric metaphor, a quorum is a way to ensure a single person's false beliefs in church leadership won't tear into the greater whole of the fabric of the church. It seems to be for this reason Joseph Smith was reported to have said:

I will give you a key that will never rust, if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray." (Quoted in Young Woman’s Journal, Dec. 1906, p. 543; see also Ensign, June 1994, p. 15)

I have learned for myself this will become a real obstacle in the future, and a prophetic utterance by our dear prophet Joseph Smith.

There is an expectation for church members to sustain their leaders. I recently heard of a Bishop who had been involved in human trafficking and other deplorable activities that would hardly be sustainable by his congregants. At what point does it become okay to stop sustaining a priesthood leader? Although it isn't spoken or even really implied, when raising my arm to sustain any man or woman, I must mentally add the phrase "...as long as they hearken to the voice of Father".

One of the coolest things I've learned about Truth, and the Fountain of all Truth (Father), is that He loves to scatter truths all over the place, knowing His Truth seeking children will find them regardless of their source; meanwhile those who limit His ability to do so will never find those truths. The scattered truth system created by Father is evidence to me of His remarkable intellect, wisdom, and constant giving and lifting. I often feel His smile upon me for being open to more than the contents of the box.

Jesus tried to encourage Palestinians to expand from the prevailing belief box of their day. Using the hundred-percenter approach, He could have said, "Just follow Peter when I'm gone", giving them a perfect box to climb into and requiring little faith. Or, using a daisy-chain approach He could have said "Because I am the true Messiah and appointed Peter to lead my church, he will therefore always be right. Because I gave authority to my apostles, they and their successors will always be right." He didn't speak like that. The Savior was The Way, The Truth, and The Life, and therefore recognizing the source of all Truth would soon be removed from them, He gave this simple universal key to finding truth: "by their fruits ye shall know them".

The simplicity of His direction is profound. There are no belief blankets, no belief chains, no specific hundred-percenter guarantee's. His direction suggests we need to do the work to examine the fruits of our information sources. Then as other prophets have taught, "By the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:5).

The greatest rewards of truth and knowledge come by concerted effort. When we put our trust in God (2 Ne. 4:34) we avoid being ripped apart by the philosophies of men. By evaluating truths individually, and confidently standing upon our witness given by the Holy Ghost, our spiritual ripstop fabric will prevail when the shafts in the whirlwind are strong (Helaman 5:12). By avoiding hundred percent philosophies and being open to truth from any source, we will find hidden treasures of knowledge and find ourselves closer to heaven than we would be otherwise. (D and C 89:19).