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The following will post on my personal blog on the 4th of July, and, as I was scheduling it for that forum, I had the distinct thought that I ought to post it here now.
There is a fine line between righteous zealotry and fanaticism. I think charity is the delineator of the two – and, unfortunately,
people do many things “out of love” that aren’t at all charitable. I look at the Golden Rule, and I can’t help but wonder how (the collective) we would feel if our non-Mormon acquaintances acted toward us the way we sometimes act towards them – or if we learned that they talk about us the way we sometimes talk about them. I look at how some people interact with their “wayward” children and wonder how they would react if their parents weren’t members and interacted that same way with them (their own “wayward children”).
I believe in zealotry when it is manifested in a righteous manner, but I also have to be able to look at my own actions (and the actions of others as examples) and see the difference between righteous zealotry and something else. For example, I am concerned whenever I hear or read anything like the following – which I read in a comment a couple of years ago:
Quote:(In order to be zealous,) we have to stop worrying about “the other guy” and worry about how God views us.
Frankly, I think we have to be concerned both about the other guy and about how God sees us, specifically because
if there is one lesson in all of our scriptures I believe it is that “concern for the other” is absolutely central to the Gospel and mission of Jesus Christ. I agree completely that concern for how others see us can’t get in the way of doing the right thing, but I also believe that “doing the right thing” without regard for “the other guy” often (and I mean very often) leads to doing the wrong thing in the name of righteousness. I don’t need to use extreme examples of that principle; regular, daily examples are all around us. I believe that being righteously zealous is not a simple thing that can be measured by a universal checklist. I need to be concerned with my own zealotry and whether my own zealotry is acceptable to God – and,
for me, that absolutely must include a deep, central, strong element of how my actions in the name of God impact “the other guy”– since charity is the heart of my own measure of my own righteous zealotry. One example to illustrate my point:
I love and admire Captain Moroni, but he was wrong – 100% dead wrong – in his chastisement of Pahoran during the war he was fighting. He didn’t write that letter out of righteous zealotry; he wrote it out of frustration over seeing his soldiers die unnecessarily. (
Those are his own words, not my assumption.) He wrote it in anger – and the condemnation in it of Pahoran was unfounded. Captain Moroni was described by Mormon in the abridgment as a “perfect man”, but he erred in that instance when he wrote that letter (which does not contradict Mormon’s assessment of him). The letter was not charitable; it was not accurate; it was not in line with the standard articulated in D&C 121; it was not sensitive to the plight of a friend, supporter and fully righteous man; it was not a righteous judgment; it was not an example of “being moved upon by the Holy Ghost”; it was not an example of righteous zealotry. Again, I admire Captain Moroni deeply, but I admire Pahoran even more deeply in that example – since he easily could have reacted very differently. It was Pahoran, not Captain Moroni, in that situation who “saved the day” – and he did it explicitly by remembering, in a time of great stress and distress, to “think of the other guy” and not return threat for threat. He did it by remembering the pure heart behind the mistaken accusations and not holding Moroni’s mistake against him. He did it by loving the man even though the man’s words must have cut him deeply.
He did it by not being zealous in the traditional, stereotypical manner but by being zealous in love and meekness.Again, I believe in zealotry, but I also believe it is manifested differently in different situations and that, for me, at the very core, it absolutely involves “worrying about the other guy” in a very real and important way. I believe charity is the balancing agent between righteous zealotry and unrighteous fanaticism – and, if I have to choose between one extreme or the other, I try to choose to be overly charitable rather than overly fanatical.
Ah, and then as if things weren’t complicated enough, Zeniff teaches us its Possible to be overzealous! I find it offensive sometimes when church leaders feel it is ok to be boarish about things because it’s not them, it’s their authority, their acting that way on behalf of Christ (which theoretically makes it worse). There’s a fine line between zealous and abuse of authority sometimes I think. But that’s kind of your point really, tough to have charity and boarish feelings at the same time.
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Ray, I really like this. While taking care of ourselves and our families may require only worrying about what the Lord thinks in regards to situations that are becoming unbearable, we do need to realize how we come across to others. As a convert, I guess I will always hear things through convert ears and I have been embarrassed many times by the things that come out of our mouths on Sundays. Many times, I have been so grateful someone of another faith did not come to that particular meeting with me. Other times, someone has been with me and I had to do damage control. Caring about others is always a good thing!
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