Believing in religion/God, Does it mean ignoring truth or understanding more?

In the Book of Mormon musical, apparently there's a point where the actor playing a Mormon missionary is having trouble believing. The play then has the actor try to ignore his doubts and "just believe." In an article on CNN Richard Bushman (a Mormon professor and writer of several books about Joseph Smith) explains that for him and those that he knows in the church, just believe meant searching harder for truth, not ignoring truth. Below is his take on this subject - it's very good, particularly the last line:

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/27/richard-bushman-the-book-of-mormon-is-like-looking-into-a-fun-house-mirror-the-reflection-is-hilarious-but-not-really-you/

The main characters in the musical travel to a mission in Uganda and you did interrupt your studies at Harvard to serve as a missionary in New England and Canada. You have also held a number of positions within the LDS Church . Are you concerned that “The Book of Mormon” may be sending a mixed message to the general public about what Mormons believe?

Yes, I did leave college to serve a mission, and my experience then bears on my reaction to Price’s song. Specific doctrines aside, the lines that will most distress Mormons in the Price lyrics are the repeated phrase “just believe.”

Poor Elder Price has had his confidence shaken and doesn’t know how to react to his dawning disbelief. All he can do is repeat over and over “just believe.” To prove himself valiant, he must turn off the lights and shut the door on his doubts.

Price’s response to uncertainty leaves the impression that Mormons may be happy on the outside, but are hollow at the core. They recognize their beliefs are preposterous but stubbornly hold on.

I suppose it seems obvious to many people that a moment’s reflection about personal planets, Kolob, and the Garden of Eden in Missouri will plant doubts. Any rational person in the modern world who thinks about such outlandish ideas for one second will see they are preposterous. Mormons can’t think about their faith; they must “just believe.”

But for Mormons themselves, the process of just believing is not so simple.

I had my Elder Price moment, as many Mormons do, but during my sophomore year at Harvard. Writing a paper on Nietzsche and Freud had raised lots of questions about religion in general.

When I went off to Halifax to preach the gospel, I was pretty shaky in my belief. For three months I wrestled with questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Was it a hoax, a bold, fraudulent effort to create a myth? Had Joseph Smith hoodwinked his friends—and the rest of his followers including me?

I studied everything and prayed hard for some kind of light. In time I arrived at a rational explanation that allowed for a miracle in the book’s production, but along the way I experienced something more important than the book itself. I caught a glimpse of a higher form of human flourishing, something forceful and ennobling which I can only call sacred. It was this encounter with a kind of elevated goodness in the book that won me over.

For me “just believing” meant turning the light on, not turning it off.

My experience is that when I have questions, I think harder, not less, pray more, not less, study more, not less, and as a result, I find a good answer for my question. This process has happened enough, that I'm very trusting of it. God always comes through in one way or another.

I believe :)

Very good article in the Washington Post - why I'm not going to see the "Book of Mormon" broadway play

I really enjoyed the article written by the public affairs head of the church in the Washington Post (he's a semi-regular blogger).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/why-i-wont-be-seeing-the-book-of-mormon-musical/2011/04/14/AFiEn1fD_blog.html

I think his point about making fun of religion in the way it did is pretty insightful. It continues to make those invested in religion seem as if they just don't get the world or the situations around them. I believe this truly does exist as a thought about many Mormons. However, his point is that this couldn't be further from the truth. He gives some excellent examples, but the one that touched me the most is this because it's true for me (at least I hope so):

Meanwhile, what of those thousands of remarkable and selfless Mormon missionaries who opted to pay their own expenses during the past seven years to serve in Africa while their peers were focused on careers or getting on with life? They have returned home, bringing with them a connection with the African people that will last a lifetime. Many will keep up their Swahili language or their Igbo

dialect. They will keep in their bedrooms the flags of the nations where they served. They will look up every time they hear Africa mentioned on the evening news. Their associations with the people whose lives they touched will become lifetime friendships. And in a hundred ways they will become unofficial ambassadors for the nations they served.

I love the Guatemalans very much and know African elders love those people very much.

The quote I love most about love is the following (used in Elder Hafen's terrific book, "Believing Heart") - "Love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less." by a Jewish Rabbi.

Elder Hafen talks about this in his book by saying roughly the following (it's been several years since I read it - like at least 6), "many times people say that the wife who has a bad husband or a bad child is blinded by love. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, that wife or mother knows the bad in their loved one better than anyone else. However, it is because of the love that she has that she chooses to see less of their faults and weaknesses for the greater good. Surely it's true that 'love is not blind - it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less."

I love that attitude because it's certainly correct in so many ways. Well, missionaries get to know the people in foreign countries better than anyone, and a lot of times those people are very, very poor and have many problems. However, as you get to know them well, you also get to know all the great things about them, and this causes great love. African missionaries believe that those people are the greatest on the planet, but of course they're wrong because my Guatemalan friends are the greatest on the planet :)

We're busy for a couple of days, so I probably won't post for a while.

Have a great day!

LaDon