You Like Money, Doncha?

I have thought for two days about posting this, and weighed both why I should and why I shouldn't, but I think the thought has incubated enough now that I can tell it in condemnatory yet un-hateful language.

After the below-mentioned race, I threw my new (dry) race shirt on and Emily and I walked a rectangle to a watch the parade. I'm not one for decrying our modern times (<--- lie), but man, parades are not like I remember... or at least the start of parades are not what I remember. We turned North on University and encountered every other person reading the back of a dollar bill. As I could presently see the front of each bill, I noticed a replacement where Washington's face should be: the face of Joseph Smith. Being that my current state of residence is Utah County (oft called Happy Valley for its assumed rose-tinged, idealistic/lackadaisical outlook on life, speaking collectively), I immediately knew that this was anti-. No (active) member of the Church would do something so irreverent. Someone here was trying to make a statement.

There's a section on University where the sidewalk will shortly be destroyed to facilitate the building of, at my conjecture, some three-story parking facility. A temporary wooden sidewalk, complete with roof and side rail, has been installed, and this juts out where a turn lane should be. As we watched some more floats from inside this, I noticed a bill on the railing. It wasn't a one dollar bill, it was a million dollar bill. It looked in image and size very much like money, with accompanying color and border art. The "1,000,000" was in the right place; so was the image slightly off-center, like newer notes. I flipped it over, and it began: "If you're like most Mormons, you have no idea where you are going after this life. You don't know whether you are saved or not." And then I stopped. I've read the drivel before, and had my own battle with it. My answer lies in the fact that there is nothing biblical stating that one must have assurance of future salvation here on earth for salvation; also that often, the parties involved here are facing a semantic turnaround. What for a non- Latter-day Saint probably means "returning to the presence of God", Latter-day Saints have a different word, yet still use the former word. Having a sense of, as Brigham Young put it, "present salvation", is important as it can guide one's daily actions, but the lack of the sense- not its outcome; that's necessary- is not grounds for God's wrath in this life or the next.

Continuing our walk, I stewed about all this. It did not upset me that people were reading this tract; what upset me was the false pretenses under which it was given. This bill was a calculated attack on those who were not anticipating what they were handed. It was deceptive; no quid pro quo here. What these men were attempting to do was knock down someone's wall of faith by tricking them into paying attention to something that they thought was altogether something else. I am not implying that parade-goers assumed some money-endowed stranger was playing the money tree, but I do not think they got what they thought would be received. While serving as a missionary, I learned that it was my purpose to invite others to come unto Christ, not attempt to impel them or even prove to them what I was saying was true. We bore simple testimony and said "come and hear, and then find out for yourself. Ask God, not us." If these antagonists wish to sent out anti- missionaries who take a similar tone, that's fine by me. Let me state clearly I would be kind to them and seek to invite them myself, but that I would not spend much time listening to them. I have my own heaven-given witness, and they could too. But it disturbs me that one claiming to be an advocate for Christ missed the whole part about "do unto others", or"be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves". Even if I had no testimony of the Restoration or Joseph Smith, I hope I'd be enlightened enough to know that a just and merciful God wants me to act of my own accord, not be tricked into hearing what he has to say so that He alone may benefit.

It was a testimony to me that the Church is not only true, but good, too. Our missionaries do not act this way, or should not; if they do they act without authority. The Church has one of the largest humanitarian outreaches in the world. The amount of content freely available on the Church website to believer and otherwise is staggering to me. The goal of the Church is for us to improve our lives by recognizing there is One who can improve us, our families, our communities, and not through empty rhetorical preaching, but through practical principles. The disconnect between what these few were doing and these noble objectives were clear and distinct to me, and I hope they were to others.

As we walked home, Emily actually saw the two men: bills in hand, broad smiles on faces, saying to a young boy "You like money, doncha?" as they handed him a million dollars. I felt but resisted the urge to say anything to them, because contention will not solve anything. But I hope those men will take another look and the practices and principles they espouse as they seek to speak in the name of God.