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I had a really hard time with the birthday gala for President Nelson that took place on Friday. While I don’t always agree with him, I think he’s done some great things and is an amazing man. He’s made a lot of good changes and I think that his desire to keep learning and doing new things is admirable and deserving of celebration. On the other hand, it all seemed a bit idoliarous and the leader worship that I think is really problematic. I would have hoped for a response from him of appreciation for people wanting to celebrate for him but to use the money and energy for something more service oriented. I understand that it may not have been his idea or something he wanted, but it was hard not to see it as stroking a big ego. I like the Buddhist metaphor of the prophet being the finger pointing at the moon, let’s focus on the moon, not the finger. This bothered me too. should we celebrate the birthdays of the apostles or other general authorities? How about the bishop? Should we have an annual ward potluck to celebrate the bishop’s birthday? (And this is coming from a guy that loves a good potluck!) It bothers me even more that I have LDS friends on Facebook that share this. My non-LDS friends do not share messages about the passing birthday of their religious leaders. It just seems creepy and cultish to me.
I have to admit I found it really creepy doing leader worship !!! Really , no one celebrated my birthday !!! Count me in as one it bothers. I purposely avoided the whole thing because I think it’s just plain wrong, especially the money spent. The part that really bothers me most is the prophet worship, though. I can’t recall the last birthday party for the pope. I honestly hope I’m as healthy and with it if I make it to his age. I don’t dislike the guy and I love the changes, this was just too much IMO. I agree. He has made some great changes and I believe he is inspired but the party was too much. I watched a couple of the clips from it on YouTube and it does seem like we are idolizing him. He seems to enjoy the spotlight. He also has a camera follow him around a lot. From his ministering trips overseas to visiting the California fire. Where did the money come from? I can’t imagine how much it must cost to host something like that at the conference center. The money could have been spent in better ways.
I didn’t watch it. I have no interest whatsoever. After you check out of the lDS experience emotionally (I still attend though), things like this don’t seem to matter too much. I guess I’m indifferent. It’s kind of funny, but when President Hinckley turned 95, they had a similar celebration for him. I attended and saw nothing wrong with it. This was in 2005. I’m not sure why, but it really bugged me that we did the same thing for President Nelson. I guess I’m just getting old and cynical, because I now see the whole thing as hero-worship whereas I didn’t at all 14 years ago. Katzpur, you raise a good point. Now that you mention it, I remember the celebration for President Hinckley and I had similar feelings then. I’m not sure if it’s that I don’t jive as much with President Nelson’s personality or if since my faith has changed, I’m much more aware of the problem of leader worship in the Church. I really don’t care one way or the other. If I were in his place, I would want something quiet & low key. We live in the midwest with a low LDS population. There isn’t as big of a focus on the leadership of the church or
doesn’t seem to be.
I have to ask: what would Jesus do?
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