"25
Therefore, choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may
be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our
fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the
Lord.
26 Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything
contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of
the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye
observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the
people."
~Mosiah 29:25-26, The Book of Mormon
Ever
since I was born, I have loved attention. Throughout childhood, I loved
to talk, sing, dance, or do anything to get people to look at/ listen
to ME. Bossy was my middle name. As I got older and (maybe) more
mature, being listened to wasn't enough - I wanted to be right. Knowing
right and wrong was important to me. Everything should be black and
white. There's a line. A solid line. And it shouldn't be crossed. Right?
This
started to fall apart in my senior year of high school. I would credit
my parents and my LDS seminary teacher to trying, ever so gently, to
help me see a little more color. When I arrived at Brigham Young University, I was
suddenly among thousands of other smart, articulate, and genuinely good
people that made me start to question myself a little more and talk a
little less. Why did I believe and think the way I did? Could I really
back up my claims? What was my evidence? What were my credentials? When I
went on a Study Abroad in London, and there encountered many different
kinds of people, my motto became: Different isn't bad. Different is just
different. In case you were wondering, that motto is a color spectrum
pretty far off from black and white.
Now
in the middle of my senior year of college, I've gotten to a
crossroads: I think my voice is extremely important, just as I believe
all of ours are. However, there are still relatively few things that I'm
absolutely sure of. That brings me to the point of this blog: it is an
exploration of topics that I feel are important to discuss but that I
may not be absolutely sure of. I may bring up a problem without knowing
the answer. I may present a theory and later be proved wrong. Sometimes,
when it comes to central doctrines of the LDS Church and closely held
personal beliefs, I will defend them strongly - no one benefits when you
fudge what you really believe. And, always, I want my readers’ thoughts
and opinions, but I want them in a thoughtful, respectful, and
open-minded fashion.
This is why I chose Mosiah 29:25-26
as the theme for this blog. Through the voices of this people is how
new ideas will be brought out and vetted, it is how corruption will come to light, it is how change will occur. My sub-title of “the intersection
of LDS (Mormon) Doctrine, Politics, and Women's Issues” gives away the
main themes of the blog. Having said all this, I'll be putting up my second blog post tomorrow. I’m excited to have a discussion with you!
An additional resource:
The Voice of The People by Michael A. Neider
