Forcing our will on God

I’d really like to read or hear Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk in full context. From the article (and the similar one in Deseret News) DFU is apparently talking about faith. On the surface I agree with what he’s saying. There are at least two things faith can’t do – change the actions of another person and make God do what we want Him to do. I think that’s all he’s saying.

FWIW, I like the other thing the article says DFU about waiting for a witness and how two people can read the same scripture and one get a witness and one not. Our missionaries need to be taught that – just because they got a witness the BoM is true doesn’t mean everyone has. Perhaps this something endemic to my area or mission, but our missionaries frequently talk about how they got a witness right away and they have repeatedly asked the same question and gotten the same answer with the expectation it works the same for everyone. For whatever reason, it doesn’t work that way.

And, again I’ll have to see it in context but I’m not sure about Sr. Oscarson’s comments in the beginning of the article.

We were out of town at a wedding yesterday and my wife missed the conference session. She plans to watch it today, so I will get a chance to hear it. And of course they have been very fast at getting stuff online of late anyway.

He meant God isn’t bound by what you do in any way that makes him do exactly what you believe he will or should do.

He meant you can’t dictate to God.

I think we all agree witht that. Believing the opposite has been one reaoson for faith crisis for some people here.

…many a faith crisis has begun with believing God will do things because we want Him to.

Or because he is bound when we do what he says?

Sometimes we need to lean on something being reliable to lend stability to our emotional state. It’s understandable when people have a faith crisis because they discover that the sure foundation isn’t as sure as what it was perceived to be.

SilentDawning wrote:

“I don’t get the last part — “force our will on God”. I don’t thinK I can make God do anything he doesn’t want to do. Struck me as a very odd comment, unless Uchdorft is conflating God with the church…”

When my oldest daughter was so sick, the blessing she recieved didn’t feel uplifting in any way. I didn’t know if that meant death, or long Illness, or just what. It wasn’t good.

A sister of prominence in the ward told me two things that have stuck with me: First, that she thought WE lacked appropriate priesthood authority. Her husband was the Stake Patriarch and she thought his blessings held more power. She sent him to give our daughter a “proper” blessing. Second: She stated that as righteous members, we should do as the earliest members of the church did: Pray in a circle around her continually and “Command the Spirit” to heal her. That sister taught that as members we had the right to demand a healing.

Her comments stuck with me because I think she was wrong on all accounts.

Unfortunately, many members and CES lessons teach that if one lives according to the precepts of the church, God is bound to deliver on certain things. When people don’t get the “righteous desires of their hearts,” they feel tricked, robbed, and angry. It is part of the Prosperity Gospel teaching that I despise. We are not promised that obedience is going to make us healthy, wealthy, and/or wise.

The irony of this comment during the Women’s session is amazing to me. I know each talk is individual but over the past years the Women’s Session has always had a theme. All the talks addressed the theme. Sticking with that – Sister Oscarson’s talk set the theme. Get them Girls Married, Procreating, and Loving it. Elder Uchtdorf’s – Forcing Our Will On God.

All my life there have been many unmarried, infertile, and painfully married women in our church. Many of the unmarried women are amazing. It wasn’t their looks or lack of attractiveness that left them single. It appears it was Gods Will. For reason’s no one can fully answer – a partner never came for them. We’ve even had General Board Women who never married. Likewise infertility. For married LDS women, this bites. Again it appears to be Gods Will. Infertility can’t be fixed with more practice. Infertility knows no religious boundaries. So you can as virtuous as you want and still no babies.

So which is it. Does a sister go home, fast, pray, do extra sessions at the temple to fulfill Sister Oscarson’s talk? Or do they just go about their lives and follow Elder Uchtdorf’s request? I don’t have the answer.

That’s a no brainer for me, Mom. I don’t even have to tell you the answer, you already know. 🙂

I don’t believe, generally, in an either/or approach to these questions. Rather, I believe in a both/and approach.

I don’t believe in competing approaches but in a blended approach.

The individual part is figuring out the proper personal balance of the otherwise competing options.

I hear what you are saying Ray. And I get it. This just hit home to me because I know quite a few wonderful single women who do carry this burden and frustration. And it could have been spared with just a simple word change or left out all together. So I plan to be grumpy for a day or so. Then I will move along and love them triple when I see them.