Which Commandment is it That You Don’t Want to Keep?

Photo courtsey of Flickr user Marshall Astor

It’s the stuff of family legend. My uncle was on the road when he spotted a VW Bus with big “Ex-Mormons for Jesus” signs on it. Intrigued, when the Ex-Mormons stopped at a rest stop, he pulled in after them.

They were easy to spot in the rest stop so being either brave or stupid he walked up and asked if they were the “Ex-Mormons for Jesus.” They loudly proclaimed that they were, indeed, those people.

He chatted with them for a few minutes and they animatedly and proudly proclaimed their beliefs (or lack thereof). Then he said he just had one more question: Which commandment is it that you don’t want to keep?

<crickets>

I’ve always been amused by that story and yesterday in Relief Society I got prophetic confirmation that that story could, in fact, be true. No, it wasn’t an endorsement of my Uncle himself (who is a trustworthy guy as well as being someone who would ask that type of question), but a quote from George Albert Smith:

I have known thousands of the rank and file of this great Church, men and women of many nations who in humility and faithfulness have accepted the gospel to become identified with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. … [They] have prayed for and sustained their leaders … , and during my experience in the Church I have yet to know of one person who has been observing the commandments of the Lord who has raised his or her voice against those who were called to preside over this Church. That is really remarkable.

It is remarkable. It also demonstrates to me that when you choose to break a “little” commandment it becomes easier to break the next one and the next one until suddenly you’re riding around in a van proclaiming your own sins from the rooftops.

In addition, to this principle, the Relief Society teacher also brought up that prior to President Hinckley’s death she never saw President Monson as “prophetic.” He was always “just an apostle.” This, of course, is not a bad label. She then said when he spoke in that first general conference after being sustained and set apart as the Prophet and President of the church she noticed a distinct change in him.

This kind of surprised me because I felt the same way. President Monson had never been my favorite speaker. I prefer a good President Uchtdorf or Elder Oaks talk. But I distinctly remember that first talk. My family had become somewhat restless as we all have the attention spans of fleas and had started throwing paper airplanes at each other. (The hazards of watching conference at home on the internet.) When President Monson began speaking we kind of stopped and stared at each other.

When the talk was over my husband and I both said, “Wow. Something’s changed.” Of course that something was that he was now the Lord’s voice on the earth. It was such a strong feeling, and absolute knowledge that President Monson was the prophet. So, I don’t know why it surprised me with the teacher said she had the same experience and several other women in the room concurred with her.

I shudder to think how my experience might have been different had we not been keeping the commandments in the first place.

Given, of course, that there’s no actual commandment against paper airplanes during General Conference.