If I Were God
Updated: May 18, 2020
I wonder...
With The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) October session of General Conference coming up and the inevitable pain that it will bring, I thought it would be interesting to write out what god would reveal if the god I believed in existed. Here’s one version of how it could go:
Family,
We have been wrong. So very wrong. We got caught in our own vision of the world and have made violent decisions that hurt many of those we claimed to love. Lost sight of our work to love each other; to search for the lost one, “the least of these”. We got scared and lashed out at those who looked to us for safety and guidance. It is clear that a simple course correction is no longer possible. We truly believe in agency and that god does love all of us. We trust you to search your hearts and reach out for personal confirmation. God loves you. You have nothing to prove. As such,
All church owned properties throughout the world are immediately public property. Open to anyone in their vicinity. We understand that there may be some who would vandalize or destroy a building or artistry our members feel sacred. We want to remind our members that people are more important than buildings and there is a lot of ill will that we have sown. Property damage is minuscule in scale to the harm that has been done. We have the funds to repair any damage many times over. In some cases the destruction of a property may be the first step in healing the community. Catharsis. We are not concerned about property but we are concerned about people. Please be safe with each other.
This is the first step in ultimately returning any land the church “owns” to the local indigenous people. As we know this is going to be a complex legal process we want to meet immediate community needs that our buildings and food stores can provide. Most buildings in the U.S. have kitchens, bathrooms, gyms, community rooms, etc. We believe that no one should be without shelter or food while our temples, churches, office buildings, pantries, and housing units, etc. sit in the same community space.
The “Church” as a national and worldwide organization is disbanded. We have not adequately safeguarded our choices and the damage done is different depending on the communities we’ve interacted with. Your tithing and fast offerings have been multiplying and growing with our investments. That money is not ours. We have calculated the highest lifetime donations ever received by the church and are returning that amount to every current living member or ex member, no matter the reason for record removal or amount of donations made. That money is available to you immediately. We never should have taught you that paying tithing was linked to your worthiness. You are loved. You are worthy.
The rest of the church’s assets are to be equitably split with the indigenous peoples in every land the church has set foot, past and present. Those assets are theirs to do as they see fit.
None of this will repair the generations of damage done in some places. We ask those who have put their faith in us to keep their faith in god and do the work to repair the damage that has been done. Put away proselytizing and bringing new members to the fold and focus on loving one another and listen to the people who’s land you reside on. We have work to do.
This is going to be a monumental shift with many moving parts. The rest of the meeting is going to be filled with testimonies from the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and every leader as they were present as these revelations were received. Breathe in the peace, joy, and hope this weekend brings for Monday we get to work with love. We’re in this together.
Amen
What would you add? What revelations would you give if you were god? What do you wish god would reveal?
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