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Julie Smith wrote a really interesting post on Times&Seasons today. It is a fascinating example of why I believe so passionately in parsing the words of others, including the scriptures. It deals with Jacob’s sermon in Jacob 2, and, honestly, as many times as I’ve read Jacob, I’ve never had the epiphany Julie describes in her post – and that isn’t even the best point in the post. I am providing the link and suggesting everyone read it, then come back here and comment on it:
http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/03/why-you-should-be-difficult/ Two comments… First, I never took Jacob’s hesitation as sexist. I’ve always read Jacob as an extremely sensitive soul who hated to have to discuss such hurtful wickedness instead of the beautiful, peaceable things of the kingdom. He had seen the Savior. He knew firsthand the love of God. He wanted to be able to talk about the “things of a better”. I sympathize with him.
Second, while I love Julie’s insight and think she makes a very valid point about the heartache that would be caused by “outing” these wicked desires, I don’t necessarily agree that hearts would be less troubled at hearing the prophet condemn a lifestyle already in practice. I’ve seen the anguish in the faces of my friends whose husband have committed adultery, become addicted to porn, or gone inactive as they sit through General Conference talks that reference faithfulness in marriage, avoiding pornography, or eternal families. I saw it a few months ago when a 15 year old teacher in our ward gave a talk about eternal families even though his father has left the church and his family isn’t sealed. I saw the tears in the eyes of his mother as he spoke. It’s tough to have to publicly face your private pain.
Poor Jacob, having to address this in front of those who would be victimized by their spouses’ offenses – a most unenviable position.
So glad you linked this Ray! I had already read it over there and loved it! So glad she was brave enough to post this. It encourages me that I am not crazy when I see things in the scriptures that others don’t seem to focus in on! Yes, some important points sometimes hide in plain sight and seem to only get picked up by fine-toothed combs. For example the part of Moses 4:32 that says “they are true even as I will.”
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