Welcome to the “Waters of Mormon”—one of the newest voices in the world of LDS blogging, often termed the “Bloggernacle”.

Oftentimes, the average member’s first impression upon hearing about and visiting the Bloggernacle is negative:  (‘Why, it’s just a bunch of cynical, liberal members with one foot already out the door of the Church who gripe and whine about their bishops and Relief Society presidents, constantly criticize the Brethren, and present lame justifications for why they don’t follow this or that commandment anymore…‘)

In reality…well, okay, there’s some of that going on, but this vast oversimplification fails to recognize the full (and positive) picture that the Bloggernacle as a whole represents.   As part of the “Waters of Mormon” kick-off, let’s look at what purpose and benefit LDS blogging and online discussion brings to the Church and its members as a whole.

Broadening the scope of our Church experience.

As it happens, the majority of our understanding about ‘how things are done’ in the Church comes directly from our personal experiences in our own ward—and, beyond the occasional Ensign article about the Church in a different country, very few Church members get chances to experience other wards in other areas with any depth or regularity.  The world-wide Bloggernacle helps add to each individual members understanding of the world-wide church—and their understanding that the Church is the same…and different from place to place.

Example:  Someone will post or comment how “unfair” it is that women are never the closing speaker in sacrament meeting, whereupon 3-4 other people from different parts of the country will chime in, saying that women are the closing speakers in their sacrament meetings regularly.  (I’ve seen this happen online twice already…)

Sometimes, those things that seem to be not-written-anywhere-but-are-just-how-things-are can often be shown NOT to be ‘just-how-things-are’ when analyzed and discussed in the Bloggernacle.   By traveling-by-proxy online we can grow to understand that wards (and bishops) handle different elements of ward life drastically differently from place to place, due to culture, personality, and any number of other factors. 

The “Wow-I-didn’t-know-anyone-else-believed-the-same-thing-I-do” factor (along with the “Wow-I-didn’t-know-anyone-else-DIDN’T-believe-the-same-thing-I-do” factor).

The majority of Church members, I believe, hold one or more ‘unorthodox’ opinions on some element of Church doctrine or policy somewhere.  We should note that ‘unorthodox’ in this case does not mean something non-faith-promoting or ‘wicked’, but just different than the norm.  (Some believe, for example, Scouting has limited to no usefulness in the 21st century church and should be eliminated from the Young Men’s program.  Or that the electric guitar is just as ‘spiritual’ an instrument as a piano or violin.)

Due to lack of opportunity (and propriety as well), most Church members will not openly discuss such unorthodox opinions within their normal dealings in the ward.  The Bloggernacle provides a place for those opinions to be shared and discussed, and commonly member A will be amazed to discover that members B, C and D also share the same opinion, when previously member A had simply been feeling alone and ‘out-of-place’ within their own ward where everyone else seemed so orthodox.  (In actuality, it’s quite likely others in member A’s home ward DO share the same opinion, but, like member A, they just don’t talk about it…)

Likewise, some members have accepted the orthodox opinion of things without thinking much about it, until perhaps one day they come across that same discussion of members A,B,C and D above who don’t share the same opinion…yet are (seemingly) still normal, active, faithful Latter-Day Saints.  Perhaps this exposure to different viewpoints will change member E’s opinion, perhaps not.   But, at the very least, member E now knows that different opinions exist within the Church and will, most likely, ponder the issue to a greater extent than before.

The ‘faithful-yet-open’ angle on controversial subjects

There’s a reason polygamy (for example) is not discussed in Sunday School…and it’s a good reason.  Sunday School is for learning the gospel—in fact, for many members the 40 minutes of Sunday School is the only time they will open and study the scriptures all week.  Polygamy is not ‘the gospel’—and a full, comprehensive discussion of polygamy within a 40 minute Sunday School period (a) is impossible, (b) wouldn’t resolve anything anyway, and (c) wouldn’t leave students with any greater knowledge or testimony of the gospel than when they started the class.

Having said that, polygamy (and other ‘controversial’ topics) are key and unavoidable elements of Church policy, history, and culture.  The main complaint against this fundamental limitation of Sunday School discussion is that for many members, their exposure to “controversial” topics then comes exclusively from the ‘ex-’s and the ‘anti-’s…who then can shape the scope and terms of the debate however they’d like.  (Compare this to listening to the CEO of Burger King talk to you about the quality of food at McDonalds.  Or listening to Michael Moore talk about anything at all.   It may be ‘accurate’…somewhat, in a broad sense, but if you think you’re getting the full picture of how things really are, you’re sadly mistaken.)

If the Sunday School policy is correct--and I believe it is--how do you handle ‘controversial’ topics, then?  Having faithful, believing members discuss them honestly and openly in the Bloggernacle, of course—doing our part to shape the scope and terms of the debate for our benefit…or at the very least share the other sides of the story the ‘ex-‘s and ‘anti-‘s don’t get around to adding.  Being ‘within’ the Church, but not officially part of the Church, gives us more freedom to discuss things that are important, but not necessarily directly relevant to the true Spirit of the gospel studied in the three-hour block.

Some questions I’d never discuss in Sunday School, but do in the Bloggernacle:

• What was polygamous life really like for the early men and women of the Church?  Is polygamy unfair to women, or men, or both, and why?  Do men want polygamy?  (Hint: No)
• Is the Church position on abortion too conservative?  Too liberal?  How do we interpret the ‘beginning of life’ in light of spirits and the pre-existence?
• How and why did the black priesthood ban start?  How were early black Saints treated in the Church?  If the ban never existed, what are the chances the LDS Church instead would have eventually become segregated (like every other church in the 19th/early 20th century)?
• Why should we be opposed to gay marriage (if at all)?  How does gay marriage hurt families (or ‘The Family’ in the abstract sense)?   How are gays treated in the Church today? Can same-sex-attraction and a temple-worthy active life in the Church be reconciled?  If so, how?
  

I believe any topic can be discussed among faithful members in a dispassionate and analytical manner, and such discussions can have many benefits, including allowing ‘virgin’ members to have their initial exposure to controversial topics from a faithful side first.

Other things the LDS Bloggernacle has to offer:

Unique and interesting insights on all areas of life in the gospel:

There are many elements of the gospel which, as above, you’d never discuss in Sunday School—not because of controversy, but because of narrowness.  Much of Church is spent discussing doctrine and general application—specific application is often left for the student to ponder on their own, yet discussion of specific application within a group setting can be enormously enlightening.   See, for example, this recent—and excellent—article on what being ‘inspired’ means in terms of callings.

Open questions about gospel topics:  (“’Blessing the food’?  Like…what’s up with that?"  Or, "Are we EVER supposed to raise our hands in 'opposition' to a calling?  If so, when?")

Wild speculation on gospel topics of near-no importance…but are still interesting:  (“So, if cloning were real, and I cloned my wife, would that make me a polygamist?  What are the Law of Chastity implications?  If my wife then strangled the clone when I wasn’t looking, would that be classified as 'murder' or 'suicide'?”)

Sharing funny or interesting anecdotes and stories from Church:  Although after this thread, this category may need to be retired.

Sympathy and support for trials and challenges:  Sometimes, those people who complain about their bishop or RS president just feel alone and neglected, and need someone to ‘listen’ to their story online and offer emotional support and guidance.  While sometimes the logic doesn’t quite add up (“My husband was an active church member with a temple recommend and he physically and verbally abused me, therefore the Church must not be true…”) in the end, it’s not about logic, but about compassion and support.

Genuine calls for help and guidance (‘blegs’) regarding upcoming, important decisions: proper ways to raise and teach children, for example, or whether you should join in with that member of the bishopric who’s been asking you for months to join his MLM.

Forum for sharing personal insights into recent scriptures or lessons:  Why live just by your own insights to scripture or last week’s Gospel Doctrine lesson, when you can learn from everyone else’s as well?

Historical insights into Church history:  Very few common members have the time or resources to adequately explore historical topics—thus the scholars and historians who do have the time and experience and post on LDS topics can be very helpful towards allowing us common members a greater foundation for understanding historical issues.

The beauty of the Bloggernacle is that since LDS activity influences every area of our lives, virtually any element of spiritual and secular life can be (and is) fair game for discussion.  As the (partial) list above shows, the scope and benefit of the Bloggernacle as an Internet community is much wider than the simple ‘discussion of LDS issues’ moniker implies.  And, certainly has many, many positive aspects for members and the Church as a whole.

Our hope is that “Waters of Mormon” becomes a useful and enlightening voice in the months ahead for just these same reasons.