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Is there a problem with ‘Heav’n and Nature’ singing, because if there is, I’d really like to know what it is. This has been bugging me since 1985, when some knucklehead in charge of updating the LDS hymnbook decided that just because that particular Christmas carol had been around for over 250 years was no reason not to unilaterally take it in hand for an overhaul. We
area peculiar people after all, so why should our Christmas carols be like everyone else’s? Is that what they were thinking, because if they were trying to clear up some subtle doctrinal misunderstanding by replacing the offending phrase with ‘Saints and Angels’, I certainly can’t fathom what it might have been. Why don’t we just rewrite all the Christmas carols to suit our fancy?
Other than the fact that I think the LDS version sounds dumb, I guess the reason it annoys me so much is that to me it provides a metaphor for all of the things about the church that bother me: opaque top-down decision making, sprinkled with arrogance, a tacit expectation of compliance, and tacit compliance. Grrr.
I, for one, refuse to go along with this abomination and will continue to sing the hymn as it was originally intended, in spite of the annoyed looks I will invariably get from my wife.
Correction: Apparently the knucklehead was W.W. Phelps. So much for my conspiracy theory. Now at least I know who to be mad at.
Away in a Manger: Quote:“Little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.”
REALLY?!?!My family laughs at that particular rant, and it’s not a Mormon-focused issue at all, but it also symbolizes to me everything that’s wrong with mainstream Christian theology and its horrible mutation of what “perfect” and “sinless” mean.
Jesus Once Was a Little Child: Quote:“He never got mad when the game went wrong.”
REALLY?!?!That one’s a Mormon rant – but it’s the exact same rant as for
Away in a Manager. I like it even less, because we should know better than to parrot such a terrible idea. I never really thought about it, but yes, I like the words ‘Heav’n and Nature’ singing, much better than the hymnal version. I guess I will start using the original version at church at as well. I have a post planned on my blog next week on the First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ. In it, Jesus kills a teacher for asking him to recite the alphabet. He kills many other children and parents who tick him off. It’s definitely a strange view of Jesus. Apparently, Jesus had quite a temper as a child…. 😈 😆
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