Real Life Answers

By guest blogger Jen P.

Mormons:

• Can’t drink alcohol.
• Can’t have sex before marriage.
• Can’t lie, cheat, or steal.
• Can’t drink coffee.
• Can’t wear revealing clothes.
• Can’t consume sexual or violent media.

If your experience is anything like mine, the list above sums up the population’s view of Mormons. Friends of Mormons define Mormons as people–albeit happy people–who can’t do lots of things.

And they are right.

Take a list of the commandments in our scriptures and you will find that most of them are “can’t”s. Of the Ten Commandments, eight are “shalt nots” (Exodus 20:1-17). Even in the Word of Wisdom (the Mormon health code, see D&C 89), more than half of the guidance consists of warnings or constraints. Ask a Mormon Sunday School class of any age to list all of the commandments they can think of, and you will find the “don’t column” of a far longer length than the “do” (believe me, I’ve tried it). (Note: Mormons hold high the principle of agency–any person is free to choose, so “don’t” is generally more accurate than “can’t.”) Whichever angle you take, the list of commandments the LDS church doctrine teaches is heavily weighted towards the “no’s.”

But why?

Our church holds high a point of doctrinal differentiation that God is not the rigid dictator, the “loathsome insects over a fire” entity of John Edwards’ hell-fire sermons. We espouse God to be a divine, loving, paternal figure, whose mission is to help all of his “have joy,” and to receive “immortality and eternal life” (2 Nephi 2:21, Moses 1:39). Does God’s lengthy list of constraining commandments contradict our view of God as a loving, empowering Father?

The Power of Negative Thinking

Imagine yourself given an assignment at work to paint a mural on the side of a building. You are then charged with the following instructions:

• Paint the horizon line ⅓ of the way up the wall
• Create an outdoors backdrop, including three trees, one pond, and four small animals
• Paint sun rays coming in from the upper right-hand side of the wall
• Use blue for the sky, green for the grass, and red for park benches
• Include three people—two women, one man—conversing in the lower-left hand side of the painting
• The assignment is clear, the directions are exact, and you set off on your assignment.

Imagine, however, that for the same assignment, you are given the following instructions instead:

• Don’t extend your painting beyond the wall
• Don’t use more than eight cans of paint
• Don’t use creatures, plants, or other items not native to our area
• With which set of rules could you be more creative? Which set of rules is easier to follow?

The mural anecdote illustrates the management principle of “The Power of Negative Thinking,” explained by Robert Simons:

“Ask yourself the question, If I want my employees to be creative and entrepreneurial, am I better off telling them what to do or telling them what not to do? The answer is the latter. Telling people what to do by establishing standard operating procedures and rule books discourages the initiative and creativity unleashed by empowered, entrepreneurial employees. Telling them what not to do allows innovation, but within clearly defined limits.” (Simons, R. 1995. Control in an age of empowerment. Harvard Business Review (March-April): 80-88.)

In other words, a person can express more creativity— can push their own limits further—when given stark boundaries and complete freedom within those boundaries. Perhaps, then, God is following the principle of negative thinking: by giving us clear boundaries and then freedom within those boundaries, he is actually allowing us to express more creativity, and more individualism than he would by giving us exact instructions.

The Instructions

This pattern is evident throughout the scriptures. God gives us broad instructions (e.g. paint a mural) coupled with specific commandments to not do bad things (do not paint outside the lines). We are then set free to create, do, and live however we choose within those boundaries.

Our broad instructions are found in the other two of the Ten Commandments, the other half of the Word of Wisdom and the other column in our Sunday School class. God provides a host of positive, directional commandments:

• Honor your father and mother
• Keep the Sabbath day holy
• Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
• Love thy neighbor as thyself
• Have faith, hope, and charity
• Grain is good for the food of man

Contrast, however, the nature of these commandments with the list at the beginning of this piece. “Do not drink alcohol” is undeniably specific, while “keep the sabbath day holy” has room for personal interpretation, for experimentation, and—I would submit—a chance for individual creativity.

Take a doctrinal example: Charity. God has two options. He could give us the command to “have charity” and then provide a descriptive list:

• Take cookies to your neighbors twice monthly
• Visit the widows in your town once monthly, listen to their stories and record them
• Say two prayers for anyone that insults you
• Do a chore for a family member (without asking for one in return) once weekly
• Give a hug to your mother every day

God, however, does not choose to give us such a list (as much as we might want one). Instead, he gives us the following direction regarding charity (1 Corinthians 3:4-6, Moroni 7:45):

• Charity suffereth long, and is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
• Charity doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, isn’t easily provoked, thinketh no evil
• Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
• Charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

To learn to feel and demonstrate charity requires more than following a checklist. For the person who wants to have charity, he or she must pray to God to feel charity, must seek opportunities to demonstrate charity, must seek to draw closer to God to have his or her heart purified.

The pattern of specific no’s and broad directions is common throughout God’s doctrine: keeping the Sabbath day holy (see Isaiah 58), having faith (see Alma 32), and others.

Becoming like Our Creative God

While clear that the “power of negative thinking”—that is, setting clear boundaries and allowing freedom within those boundaries–will encourage more creativity, is that applicable in a divine sense? In other words, does God want us to be creative? Or, does he just want us to be obedient—to follow his “don’ts” without question? Consider this scriptural thought:

“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:26-28, emphasis added).

All of God’s commandments are constructed to allow us to become more like Him. Because we are “children of God” (Romans 8:16), we were created in his image, and we achieve our greatest potential by living up to that ideal. Taking the charity example cited earlier, which effort will help a person draw closer to God: following a predefined checklist, or spending time in prayer and experimentation trying to feel and demonstrate to others the great power of God’s love? As Jesus Christ said:

“For behold, manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.” (3 Nephi 27:27)

Mormons believe that by following God’s commandments—by doing and by NOT doing—we are empowered by God to learn for ourselves to become like Him.

In other words, paint your mural. Use your creativity. And stay inside the lines.

Today’s guest post comes from Rachael, a pediatric RN who lives in and loves Boston with her husband, who is studying violin performance in graduate school.

It being the New Year, I, like 40-50% of Americans (according to “the internet”), made resolutions. Now, also according to “the internet,” 93-95% of diet plans fail, so I wanted something to help me continue to eat healthy and feel my best without failing miserably the next month. Enter the Word of Wisdom (Doctrine and Covenants 89).

I think one of the first things people notice about members of our church is the fact that we abstain from certain substances, such as coffee and tea (“What, you aren’t partaking in the glorious Dunkin’ Donuts coffee drink?!”). Along with the things we “do not” there are things we should “do.” Things like eating lots of whole grains, getting plenty of fruits and vegetables, eating meat sparingly, getting enough sleep, and others. To me, this sounds like a pretty great diet plan; no smoking or drinking, eat a balanced diet rich in whole grains and produce — done.

But beyond the physical blessings that come from living life this way there are spiritual and emotional blessings that come into my life from following it. And that is how I keep this “diet plan” from failing on me. I won’t let it fail, because this is a commandment from God for me to follow. It is also a promise I make to him and to my husband and family that I will take care of the body I was given. And it has served me well as I follow it. I enjoy health and strength that I know comes from God blessing me (that is not to say people do not get sick and suffer ailments during life. They certainly do, even if they follow this commandment. It is part of God’s plan. But that is another discussion).

I think faith in God’s commandments and the promise to Him to follow the Word of Wisdom are essential because if I just did it because it is “healthy” I would likely stray and become confused as I daily read in health magazines and on the internet that “a glass of red wine a day helps your heart,” or “coffee several times a day helps prevent cancer.” I even read once that a glass of beer a day can be “healthy.” So if I tell people I follow this plan because it is the absolute healthiest way to live, someone might argue me on that position. But the the Word of Wisdom will not fail me as a diet plan because it is much more than a diet plan or a healthy way to live. It is a promise, it is a way of life, it is a commandment. It brings a lot of spiritual strength, along with the physical blessings.

So my simple health goal this New Year is to renew my faith and dedication to following the Word of Wisdom. I think I can be one of those successful 5%, how about you?