We reap what we sow

In my very first blog post, I remember I was thinking about "how good do I need to be" to make it to everlasting life, to live with our Father in heaven... I eventually came to the realization that it is our task here on earth to be as good as we can possibly be.

This past Friday, I learned what can happen when my brethren fail to follow that principle...

I knew I would have a conversation with my parents about my conversion to the Mormon Church. I had mixed feelings about the conversation - I knew I needed to have it for a variety of reasons, but I also knew how strong their feelings were on the matter. I had read much of the Book of Mormon, and had sought out much more information beyond that, both in the Church and on the Internet, through the use of Google. I thought I was pretty well prepared to answer questions that they might have.

As it turns out, the most compelling arguments my parents had against the religion were ones for which I had no defense. These primarily concerned my parents' own experiences interacting with Mormons. I have apparently been very fortunate in the majority of Mormons I have encountered in my adult life. A surprising number of my friends are Mormon (and I certainly didn't seek out Mormons as friends - I just enjoy being around good, wholesome people). My Mormon friends have always treated me with respect and I have seen great virtue in their actions and the way they have treated others.

My parents, on the other hand, have seen an entirely different picture. And they seemingly haven't met ANY "good" Mormons.

Stories I heard ranged from the distant past, when my sister was young and babysitting. She had been babysitting for a family for some months when one day they asked her "What ward are you in?". She asked what a ward was. That was the last babysitting job she had from them. Clearly, these people had trusted my sister enough to have hired her many times over many months. Why then, would they apparently stop hiring her based on nothing more than her not being Mormon? I told my parents that I didn't think this was right, that the Church teaches us to treat others how we ourselves would want to be treated. I explained that I had seen NOTHING that indicated that we should seek out only those individuals in the Church for our goods and services. The fact is, however, nothing I could say would prevent my parents' having seen how this one Mormon family had treated my sister.

My Father told me of people at his work that had hired someone because they were Mormon, even though they were not qualified to do the work, and even though others that WERE qualified, had applied. Again, there was nothing I could say or do to prevent this experience in my Father's life. It went against everything I have learned in my reading of the scripture, but yet, a fellow brother in the Church apparently did this and my Father witnessed it.

My parents told me of businesses that had apparently been completely boycotted by Mormon people. These were apparently thriving businesses that had done well until it was discovered that the owners were not Mormon. Supposedly, the Church then requested that its' membership no longer go to those businesses. Again, this seemed completely counter to everything I had read in scripture and that I had seen from my own Mormon friends. No matter what I said, I could not erase or fix these experiences in my parents' lives.

My parents explained that they were confused as to how I could be seeing such a vastly different experience in the Mormon Church than they had seen of its membership. They asked if I had experienced good in the Church, why was it that they had not seen any.

To these questions, there are no true answers. I explained to them that not everyone in an organization follows the precepts of it. They knew the truth of this, even from their own Catholic Church. But that doesn't change the apparent fact that their experience with every Mormon they have encountered has been a bad one.

The best solution to this problem that I can see is for me to live as close to Jesus teachings as I can. I need to be the example of the Church that my parents haven't ever seen. I pray that they will encounter others in the Church that are also good people, but I have no direct control over that. I intend to bring them to Church functions when I can, but they are inherently cynical and will judge those people as being on their best behavior.

I cannot fault my parents for being judgemental of the actions of our Church's membership during the week (ie, not on Sunday). How better to know what people believe than to see how they act when they think no one is looking?

We must all remember that whether we think anyone is looking or not, we walk with Jesus always. He sees everything we do, he sees how we treat every soul we encounter, he knows our every thought. We owe it to ourselves to be honest in our actions - to do that which we know in our hearts is right.

If we treat others, Mormon or not, with kindness, we treat Jesus with kindness. We are ALL brothers and sisters, Mormon or not.

If we treat non Mormon people negatively, we treat Jesus negatively.

And... we reap what we sow.