Tearing Down, Rooting Out; Building and Planting

  Catalyzing Question:

From: ***
To: Sterling D. Allan <sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
Date: Friday, October 22, 1999 10:45 AM
Subject: Re: Canker; Ritualistic Abuse with more~!


See!?  I love a good discussion and that is what draws
me to your site and letters!  My quibbling with you is
HOW can you have the Holy Ghost by being destructive
to the part that President Hinkley is playing in this
plot?

I am so busy learning that I do not have time to pick
apart another's journey.   My suggestion is that we
all regroup and learn HOW to find Christ.  HOW to fast
40 days.  HOW to pray without ceasing.  HOW to love
unconditionally.  HOW HOW HOW do we do?  How did
Christ do it?   How do we kneel at the feet of Christ
and live?!   Silent eyes.

You are a great man and I can learn a lot from you.
But there is more....let's find it

  Response

From: Sterling D. Allan <sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
Cc: Davids_outcasts@listbot.com <Davids_outcasts@listbot.com>; SDA Friends list <SDA_friends@listbot.com>
Date: Saturday, October 23, 1999 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: Canker; Ritualistic Abuse with more~!


Yes, definitely, there is more, much more; and the quest for it is marvelous.

My parents are always on my case for the same reason you are.  "Why do you have to spend so much time tearing down when there is so much good that is being done?"

My answer is that the work of the Lord involves both tearing down, rooting out, as well as building and planting. (Jer. 1:10)

The worst branches are plucked off to make way for the grafting in of the new improvements.

The old garden has to be tilled under before a new one can be planted.

The tree looses its leaves before growing a new set in the spring.

The Lord destroys the nations of the wicked and establishes the nations of the righteous.

If we focus just on what is happy and light, then we open our backside to
Satan's cunning wiles.

You know full well that the scriptures, though filled with instruction of how to improve ourselves, are also filled almost proportionately with polemic about the error of foolish ways.

So yes, let's seek to learn beautiful things, but let's not forget about the need to eliminate the bad.

If you just ate good food but never went to the toilet, you would be one constipated (and eventually dead) person.

Sincerely,


Sterling D. Allan

  Feedback

Full of Crap

From: Randall Shortridge <rds@acsu.buffalo.edu>
To: sterlingda@greaterthings.com <sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
Date: Saturday, October 23, 1999 12:27 PM
Subject: private Re: Canker; Ritualistic Abuse with more~!

Sterling. 

<snip>
I liked your message.  Especially the last sentence.  It is a interesting allegory.

Such a person would be full of crap as well as dead.    ;-)

Randall

From: David W. Allan ***
To: Sterling D. Allan <Sterlingda@greaterthings.com>
Date: Sunday, October 24, 1999 7:57 AM
Subject: response

Dear Ster',

You said the following:

"My parents are always on my case for the same reason you are.  'Why do you have to spend so much time tearing down when there is so much good that is being done?'"

This is not a true statement.  You know that we believe very strongly in the importance of being watchmen on the tower, which requires making judgements about peoples actions.

The problem is tearing down when we don't have authority from the Lord to do it.

Even thought this is the Lord's Church, He knows that the inner vessel needs to be cleansed.  We can do a tremendous amount to open poeples eyes to see the day and time in which we live and to bring about repentance in our own lives as well as help others to come unto Christ and find His great redemptive powers.

Love,
dad

 

SUBJECT: The immune system of the body of Christ

Dad,

I respectfully disagree with your statement about requiring hierarchical authority to speak openly about inconsistencies in the Church, and that this responsibility is that of the Brethren who have been called to lead.

That is another one of the self-serving delusions that is engrained in LDS culture, which helps perpetuate the deception.  It is of the same ilk as, "Just follow the Prophet. The Lord will never allow him to lead the people astray."

What would our physical bodies be without an immune system fighting off the infections that come in and detecting and removing the cancers that constantly arise from within?  The immune system is an integral part of the body and has many facets.  I don't even know of (at least that I can recall from my graduate studies) any immune system functions that are controlled by the brain (analogous to the leadership), though I would presume that there is a harmonic role it plays.  The immune system is extant in every tissue of the body, and includes facets such as the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, bone marrow (producing white blood cells and antibodies), the nervous system, the thyroid gland.  Even the digestive system plays an important role by killing most of the ingested nasties before they can do any damage.

Contemplating the analogy between this and the body of Christ is very informative.

But there is also is scriptural verification for my assertion that the body of Christ is responsible for the well-being of the body.

D&C 64:38 states, "For it shall come to pass [a prophetic mandate statement, which is not being put in force as yet because the delusions such as you express below still hold such sway] that the inhabitants of Zion [the body] shall judge all things [no exclusions] pertaining to Zion.  And liars and hypocrites shall be proved by them, and they who are not apostles and prophets shall be known.  And even the bishop, who is a judge, and his counselors, if they are not faithful in their stewardships shall be condemned, and others shall be planted in their stead."

If the Lord was to be the one who is supposed to remove the president of the church if he misleads the people, why then does he spell out provisions for the body to do so in D&C 107?

This issue of proper authority has been a long-standing one between us.  I hope this analogy helps us come more to a unity.  It is one of the stumbling blocks that keeps people from realizing that each person can become a prophet.  If we're always leaning on Salt Lake, then how can we lean on the Lord?  They are not one and the same as you full well know.

Sincerely your son,

Sterling

  See also