Lawrence E. Corbridge is right: Mormon beliefs should resemble the truth

By Marty Zimmer

According to a recent article in the “Church News” section of the Deseret News, titled, “What to do with your questions, according to 1 General Authority who’s an expert on anti-Church materials,” prominent Mormon Lawrence E. Corbridge, who considers himself to be an “expert” on “anti-church [anti-Mormon] materials,” spoke to a mass of BYU college students and alumni at a gathering that the institution labels as a “devotional.”

Corbridge — who to my understanding is kind of a big deal in the Mormon organization, having himself placed in what is known as the “Quorum of the Seventy” — shared his thoughts on members of the Mormon church questioning their beliefs, as (I’m assuming) members of the Mormon church.

Often, I am left at a loss for words when it comes to prominent Mormons describing their insight regarding the validity of Mormonism, and this was not an exception. As a former born-and-raised member who has since left the Mormon church, my interest was peaked that a Mormon — who is kind of a big deal, remember — did some research on anti-Mormon materials. It was an interesting article, to say the least.

Take, for example, the following statement by Corbridge: “When you act badly, you may think you are bad when in truth you are usually mistaken. The challenge is not as much closing the gap between our actions and our beliefs. The challenge, rather, is closing the gap between our beliefs and the truth.”

Reading this statement made my head hurt. It was one of those migraine-inducing statements that caused a sharp pain in my forehead. It was one of those things I had to reread three or four times to fully grasp what it was the author was attempting to convey and why he would say it in the first place. It wasn’t like one of those inspirational fortune-cookie-ish statements a person may encounter thumbing through social media, as would be expected from someone giving what is known as a devotional; rather, it was so nonsensical and dripping in gaslighting gibberish that I had no choice but to assume that in order to fully grasp this comment a person had to be mentally trained to decipher it through possibly years of cognitive training or indoctrination.

Reading that statement, as a person who is no longer involved with the Mormon community, it was a bit much. Regardless, I attempted to decipher what it meant. Let’s break it down.

“When you act badly, you may think you are bad when in truth you are usually mistaken.”

So Corbridge is conveying the notion that when a person does a bad thing, they didn’t do the thing because they are bad. That seems like a dangerously liberal statement for a prominent member of the Mormon church. Let’s keep going.

“The challenge is not so much closing the gap between our actions and our beliefs.”

And here is where he really lost me. Closing the gaps between our actions and our beliefs? Aren’t our actions based on our beliefs? Is that why we act the way we do? Or is it a natural response to our basic needs and environment? I mean, we could go all sorts of places with this, but for me to really have the patience to discuss it, I would need Led Zeppelin’s second album on vinyl playing in the background while inhaling a leafy-green medicinal substance that Utah voters recently conveyed an interest in legalizing. I am all out of that medicinal aid, and if Mormon lawmakers have their way, I probably remain so despite the overwhelming will of the people. Which is shame, because it would make “devotionals” like this much more enjoyable.

Let’s move on to the climax of the statement.

“The challenge, rather, is closing the gap between our beliefs and the truth.”

If I understand this sentence correctly, what he’s saying is that our beliefs should align with the truth, which is interesting because I agree.

But I am leery because I’ve studied Mormonism and Mormon church history from both the public-relations perspective of the Mormon church as well as the perspective of historians outside of the church and cult experts. I’m having a hard time believing that had this gentleman studied the same research I have, he would still be promoting Mormonism to a massive group at a devotional at BYU. Of course, he could still be promoting Mormonism because he has some kind of financial, social, or political bias that would inspire him to be dishonest with his congregation, but I would hate to think that a man of Mormon God would do such a thing.

Corbridge goes on to say, “Truth enables us to see clearly because it is the knowledge of things as they really are, as they were … knowledge is crucial to avoid deception and discern between truth and error.”

Preach, brother! Preach!

Corbridge continues, “For instance, someone may believe in God and that pornography is wrong….”

Whoa. Wait. Huh? Easy cowboy. Why did you go there?

This fascinates me. Being anti-pornography and anti-masturbation seem to surface in the conversation regarding the validity of Mormonism constantly. It’s as if they are claiming that somewhere there is an all-knowing deity in the heavens who controls every aspect of the universe and all the destinies of all that was and ever will be, and here on Earth we are fortunate enough to have a Mormon prophet who speaks with this great and powerful deity who, when pressed with its infinite knowledge to help aid the suffering and confusion of humanity, responds with, “Don’t watch porn and rub your genitals, it really pisses me off!”

Pornography and masturbation really seem like a big deal to these people.

Instead of facing the criticism regarding Mormon teachings and Mormon history, kind-of-a-big-deal Mormons take part in a gaslighting and the straw man fallacy — taking attention away from an argument by attacking a position that their opponent doesn’t really hold. Corbridge doesn’t come right out and say, “If you are anti-Mormon, you are pro-pornography,” but he might as well. He is certainly attempting to paint that picture. Why else would he go there?

Instead of addressing pornography, Corbridge could address the idea that Mormonism was founded when Joseph Smith found a really neat rock, which he then placed in a hat and proceeded to recite to a buddy what is now The Book of Mormon. Why don’t kind-of-a-big-deal Mormons discuss that claim?

Corbridge could discuss Smith marrying wives as young as 14.

He could discuss Smith marrying wives of men he sent away on missions.

Corbridge could discuss the claims Sarah Miranda Bates Pratt made regarding Smith’s demands that a doctor abort the bastard children of said plural wives or random women.

And we don’t have to ask questions about Smith at all.

He could address the absurd claims the Book of Mormon makes regarding geography, wildlife, and technology that never existed in the Americas at the time that book claims to take place.

We could even address more recent concerns, like why there was a room in the basement of the Missionary Training Center with a mattress, and why the Mormon church chose to remain silent about what happened in that room for decades when they knew about it.

There is a literal library’s worth of claims regarding Mormonism that, for some reason, does not find its way at the forefront of anti-Mormon discussion. Instead, Corbridge brings up pornography.

I don’t know which stories are true and which are not. I’ll admit that. I will, however, acknowledge the use of misdirection, shame, and silence coming from Temple Square. If the Mormon church wants to discuss truth, I think that would be commendable. Let’s do it. Let’s have some actual responses to claims made by critics of the Mormon church. Please pick one. We can start anywhere you want. Let’s close that gap between our beliefs and the truth.

Marty Zimmer is an author, comedian, and award-winning slam poet who loves to travel across America, currently bouncing from Boise to southern Utah and everywhere in between.

The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.

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