I have seen much rebellious blood within my own family amongst siblings, in extended family and very much on my wife's side of the family. It simply is bad breeding. If you look at things surgically (not emotionally), God's purpose has always been to exclude the "bad blood" amongst His children. Those simply who are too wild to be tamed, simply do not receive "an inheritance" with Him.
Jesus, who was quite loving and forgiving said the following:
46 ¶While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.In other words, the definition of family, simply are those who are bound together by common values (and therefore goals). We cannot move forward together if we are unequally yoked and pulling in opposite directions. We are to love all, but the true glue that holds us together is simply the value set that we hold in common. That is the very nature of Heaven - those who feel comfortable under the same tent of values, will co-habit. Others will be quite comfortable in some other location where they are not under the same obligations - (as they see it). I choose to call it under the same covenant.
47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
I just went out to the Flight Line to look at a sick 747 tonight and we took a company van since it was over 1/2 mile to get to it. As with any conversation, I did the D&C 88:81 thing and told this young mechanic that it was close to the coming of our Lord and that certain events were shortly on the horizon and that he needed to prepare. I felt as if he had some elect blood in him - being clearly from Judah judging by hair, complexion and facial characteristics. I probed about where he was from and he admitted from Sandy, UT. I asked him if he was LDS and said he had grown up in it and that his mother had divorced his dad in UT and she then joined the Church and then moved to FL and is apparently firm in the faith. He, on the other hand, is athiest and did not like being "forced" to go to church as a 12 year old. So, he does not have a good relationship with his mother because of her value set. He, on the other hand, would like to have the freedom to commit any specie of sin while not having that nagging little conscience eating away at him. Such are things with many youth today that fall because they are beset with sexual sin, greed, Word of Wisdom issues and so much more. Many simply have drunk the purple kool-aid that is being taught in the public screwels that all things must be fair and that marriage, as defined by God, is not fair. So, we have an entire generation of failures. It will be quite spectacular when DC and the centralized federal programs that have spawned such spiritual carnage amongst the youth, are brought to a fiery end.
Question: "What does it mean to kick against the pricks?"
Answer: “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks” was a Greek proverb, but it was also familiar to the Jews and anyone who made a living in agriculture. An ox goad was a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing. The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction. Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh. In essence, the more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered. Thus, Jesus’ words to Saul on the road to Damascus: “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.”
Of the better-known Bible translations, the actual phrase “kick against the pricks” is found only in the King James Version. It is mentioned only twice, in Acts 9:5 and Acts 26:14. The apostle Paul [then known as Saul] was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians when he had a blinding encounter with Jesus. Luke records the event: “And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 26:14 KJV). Modern translations have changed the word pricks to goads. All translations except the KJV and NKJV, omit the phrase altogether from Acts 9:5.
The conversion of Saul is quite significant as it was the turning point in his life. Paul later wrote nearly half of the books of the New Testament.
Jesus took control of Paul and let him know his rebellion against God was a losing battle. Paul’s actions were as senseless as an ox kicking “against the goads.” Paul had passion and sincerity in his fight against Christianity, but he was not heading in the direction God wanted him to go. Jesus was going to goad (“direct” or “steer”) Paul in the right direction.
There is a powerful lesson in the ancient Greek proverb. We, too, find it hard to kick against the goads. Solomon wrote, “Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path” (Proverbs 15:10). When we choose to disobey God, we become like the rebellious ox—driving the goad deeper and deeper. “The way of the unfaithful is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). How much better to heed God’s voice, to listen to the pangs of conscience! By resisting God’s authority we are only punishing ourselves.
Joseph Smith said the following which is surrounded by much good contemporary quotations in this article at the following link:
http://www.lifeongoldplates.com/2008/08/they-leave-church-but-cant-leave-it.html
August 25, 2008Seth R. Payne's 2008 Sunstone paper on the ex-Mormon narrative discusses three general "exit roles" and the types of organizations from which they spring. He places these roles in the context of people who leave the LDS Church. The "Defector," an inactive member uninterested in attacking, just uninterested in general, the "Whistleblower," a generally dissatisfied defector who makes some noise upon leaving, and the "Apostate," who "undertake[s] a total change of loyalties by allying with one or more elements of an oppositional coalition...[the narrative serving to document] the quintessentially evil essence of the apostate's former organization."1 It should be noted there are former members of the Church who are capable of "leaving it alone" who fill the "defector" role. Still, it seems there are others who cannot jettison their former faith. I believe some may have more difficulty due to family or friend relationships, or because of where they live. There is a very vocal group who would fill the "apostate" role, though I don't intend to use the word as a pejorative, but in the same way Payne uses it in his paper.2
I believe the statement regarding people leaving the Church and not being able to leave it alone is not universal, though I believe it does represent some former members with accuracy so I decided to discover where the statement originated. With help from Reed Russell, I believe the exact phrase itself originated with Elder Neal A. Maxwell, though the thought goes back to the early days of the restoration. From his 1979 book All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience:The Prophet Joseph spoke of how apostates often bring severe persecutions upon their former friends and associates. "When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors." (HC 2:23.)
Strange, how often defectors leave the Church, but they cannot leave it alone!3
That same year the statement was made by Hugh Nibley in an essay he wrote for Dialogue:Apostates become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything--it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church- -they just don't believe the Gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it--that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it any more, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.4It's possible that Nibley or Maxwell coined the phrase, though it seems that Maxwell was the first to publish it, and it seems very Maxwellian. He used it in a conference address in October 1980:Newcomers, you may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his work. Meanwhile, be unsurprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek to chip away at it. 5Two other examples from Maxwell's conference addresses:[There are a] few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves, of course, they leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone.6In 2004 he coupled some instances of seemingly intellectual apostasy with behavioral lapses:In later years, I saw a few leave the Church who could then never leave it alone. They used often their intellectual reservations to cover their behavioral lapses...7I reiterate: I believe there are some who leave the Church over "behavioral lapses" which can lend into intellectual issues, etc.
Several Conference addresses by others have touched on the subject, for example, James E. Faust:Among the assaults on families are the attacks on our faith, for which parents should prepare their children. Some of it is coming from apostates who had testimonies and now seem unable to leave the Church alone. One, complaining of Church policy, was heard to say: “I am so mad: if I had been paying my tithing I would quit.” Persecution is not new to the devoted followers of Christ. More recently, however, the anger and venom of our enemies seems to be increasing.8Glen L. Pace:It seems that history continues to teach us: You can leave the Church, but you can’t leave it alone. The basic reason for this is simple. Once someone has received a witness of the Spirit and accepted it, he leaves neutral ground. One loses his testimony only by listening to the promptings of the evil one, and Satan’s goal is not complete when a person leaves the Church, but when he comes out in open rebellion against it.9
Pace discussed apostasy more in-depth than most of the addresses I found. Because of the extra detail, his address seemed more expressly aware of nuances.10
There is also some precedence in LDS scripture for the idea that "apostates" have sinned, though I believe taking the verses too literally is problematic (see Luke 11:24-26; Alma 24:30; D&C 93:38-39).
Maxwell's phrase is very similar in meaning to an 1892 account by Daniel Tyler on Joseph Smith:When the Prophet [Joseph Smith] had ended telling how he had been treated [by apostates], Brother Behunnin remarked: "If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of[,] settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it."The great Seer immediately replied: "Brother Behunnin, you don’t know what you would do. No doubt these men once thought as you do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant."
He emphasized the fact that a man or woman who had not taken sides either with Christ or belial could maintain a neutral position, but when they enlisted under either the one or the other they left the neutral ground forever.11This account was included in Pres. Mary Ellen Smoot's 2001 Relief Society meeting address:Even though we were instructed regarding the difficulties we would encounter on earth [in our premortal state], I doubt we understood or could have known how demanding and trying, how tiring and even sorrowful at times this mortal existence would be. We have no doubt all, at some point, felt that what we were experiencing was just too hard to bear. Yet the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “When [we] joined this Church [we] enlisted to serve God. When [we] did that [we] left … neutral ground, and [we] never can get back on to it. Should [we] forsake the Master [we] enlisted to serve it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and [we] will follow his dictation and be his servant."12Finally, the story has received a fair amount of notice in various LDS publications. For example, see Hyrum and Helen Andrus, ed., They Knew the Prophet, (1976) pp. 53-55; Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet, (1991) pp. 52-53; Book of Mormon Student Manual Religion 121 and 122, (1996), p.95.
FOOTNOTES
[1]
Seth R. Payne, "Purposeful strangers - A Study of the Ex-Mormon Narrative," Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 9, 2008. See p. 6.
[2]
Payne, pp. 3-4:Recent ex-Mormon narratives...focus on the description of a fundamental shift away from what is perceived as rigid literalism to an unbounded scientific rationality. In this sense, members of the emerging ex-Mormon movement should be sociologically considered apostates although I hesitate to employ this label due to the extremely negative connotations this word has within the LDS community...I use this word purely in a technical sense and in no way intend to attach inherent negative connotations to its meaning.[3]
Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, 108.
[4]
Hugh Nibley, "How Firm a Foundation! What Makes It So," Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 4, p.33 (Winter 1979).
[5]
Neal A. Maxwell, “The Net Gathers of Every Kind,” Ensign, Nov. 1980, 14. Maxwell was then in the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy. As Reed Russell discovered, the statement would appear in at least three more Maxwell books:Newcomers may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His work. (Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 84.)
Willful dissent ages ago produced yet other symptoms that are worthy of our pondering today as life confronts us with determined dissenters who leave the Church—but who then cannot leave the Church alone: [cites Alma 47:36] (Plain and Precious Things [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 72).
Then there are the dissenters who leave the Church, either formally or informally, but who cannot leave it alone. Usually anxious to please worldly galleries, they are critical or at least condescending towards the Brethren. They not only seek to steady the ark but also on occasion give it a hard shove! Often having been taught the same true doctrines as the faithful, they have nevertheless moved in the direction of dissent (see Alma 47:36). They have minds hardened by pride (see Daniel 5:20) (Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 4.)
[6]
Maxwell, "‘Becometh As a Child’,” Ensign, May 1996, 68.
[7]
Maxwell, “Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been,” Ensign, May 2004, 44).
[8]
James E. Faust, “Enriching Family Life,” Ensign, May 1983, 40.
[9]
Glenn L. Pace, “Follow the Prophet,” Ensign, May 1989, 25
[10]
Pace, ibid. For example, he said:Criticism always hurts most when we deserve it...We would eliminate the most painful criticism from responsible nonmembers by simply internalizing and living what the Church teaches. The second category of critics is former members who have become disenchanted with the Church but who are obsessed with making vicious and vile attacks upon it. Most members and nonmembers alike see these attacks for what they really are...Hopefully, however, they make us more sensitive and extra careful not to make light of the sacred beliefs of other denominations.[11]
Daniel Tyler, “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Juvenile Instructor, 15 Aug. 1892, p. 492.
[12]
Mary Ellen W. Smoot, “Steadfast and Immovable,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, 91.By Blair HodgesArdis Parshall said...It's always good to track the development of statements that become almost proverbial -- in part because that lets us go back to the context when their axiomatic use sometimes distorts the original meaning. Thanks for doing this.
Besides, anything that lets us revisit some paragraphs from Elder Maxwell is a good thing!LifeOnaPlate said...Agreed! I hope to find the statement in an earlier book by Maxwell in the future.Joseph Addison said...Thanks for this, I was wondering as to the origin of the phrase -- I wonder if Elder Maxwell in turn got it from someone.Hans said..."Secular spotlight" is so Maxwellian, but "departees" sounds very Oaks-ish. I wouldn't be surprised if Maxwell really was the first to coin the phrase, even if the idea originated so much earlier in our history.LifeOnaPlate said...If anyone finds an earlier incarnation of the quote you win a free cookie. I couldn't, but I think there might be one in an early Maxwell book.Reed Russell said...Found this from Nibley:
How Firm a Foundation!
What Makes It So
Hugh Nibley
Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 4, p.33 (Winter 1979)
Apostates become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything--it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church- -they just don't believe the Gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it--that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it any more, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.LifeOnaPlate said...Excellent find! Now I need to see if I can find an earlier quote by Maxwell.LifeOnaPlate said...Added.Bull said...Is this meant to represent your views on the question or just an investigation into its origins? I could give some insight into some other alternative explanations for the phenomenon that don't involve being a "defector", a sinner, or selling out to Belial.LifeOnaPlate said...This is mostly meant to be an investigation on the origin of the phrase and how it is used in higher channels of the Church.Bryce Haymond said...I found another scripture which relates:
"Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God" (Alma 47:36).Reed Russell said...Blair,
This is what I've found - in chronological order:
(Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 108.)
The Prophet Joseph spoke of how apostates often bring severe persecutions upon their former friends and associates. "When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors." (HC 2:23.)
Strange, how often defectors leave the Church, but they cannot leave it alone!
= = =
Neal A. Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 84.)
Newcomers may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His work. Meanwhile, let us not be surprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek in vain to chip away at it.
= = =
Neal A. Maxwell, Plain and Precious Things [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 72.)
Willful dissent ages ago produced yet other symptoms that are worthy of our pondering today as life confronts us with determined dissenters who leave the Church—but who then cannot leave the Church alone:
Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God. (Alma 47:36.)
= = =
(Neal A. Maxwell, Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 4.)
Some members maintain only cultural ties to the Church. Often these people have had valiant parents but they themselves live off the fruits of discipleship banked by those parents and grandparents. They make no fresh, spiritual investments; they have neither new earnings nor an inheritance to pass along to their own posterity.
Then there are the dissenters who leave the Church, either formally or informally, but who cannot leave it alone. Usually anxious to please worldly galleries, they are critical or at least condescending towards the Brethren. They not only seek to steady the ark but also on occasion give it a hard shove! Often having been taught the same true doctrines as the faithful, they have nevertheless moved in the direction of dissent (see Alma 47:36). They have minds hardened by pride (see Daniel 5:20).
= = =
(Cory H. Maxwell, ed., The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 68.)
Church members will live in this wheat-and-tares situation until the Millennium. Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves of course, they leave the Church but they cannot leave the Church alone. (Ensign, May 1996, p. 68.)
August 25, 2008
They leave the Church but can't leave it alone
Seth R. Payne's 2008 Sunstone paper on the ex-Mormon narrative discusses three general "exit roles" and the types of organizations from which they spring. He places these roles in the context of people who leave the LDS Church. The "Defector," an inactive member uninterested in attacking, just uninterested in general, the "Whistleblower," a generally dissatisfied defector who makes some noise upon leaving, and the "Apostate," who "undertake[s] a total change of loyalties by allying with one or more elements of an oppositional coalition...[the narrative serving to document] the quintessentially evil essence of the apostate's former organization."1 It should be noted there are former members of the Church who are capable of "leaving it alone" who fill the "defector" role. Still, it seems there are others who cannot jettison their former faith. I believe some may have more difficulty due to family or friend relationships, or because of where they live. There is a very vocal group who would fill the "apostate" role, though I don't intend to use the word as a pejorative, but in the same way Payne uses it in his paper.2
I believe the statement regarding people leaving the Church and not being able to leave it alone is not universal, though I believe it does represent some former members with accuracy so I decided to discover where the statement originated. With help from Reed Russell, I believe the exact phrase itself originated with Elder Neal A. Maxwell, though the thought goes back to the early days of the restoration. From his 1979 book All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience:
The Prophet Joseph spoke of how apostates often bring severe persecutions upon their former friends and associates. "When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors." (HC 2:23.)
Strange, how often defectors leave the Church, but they cannot leave it alone!3
That same year the statement was made by Hugh Nibley in an essay he wrote for Dialogue:
Apostates become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything--it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church- -they just don't believe the Gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it--that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it any more, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.4It's possible that Nibley or Maxwell coined the phrase, though it seems that Maxwell was the first to publish it, and it seems very Maxwellian. He used it in a conference address in October 1980:
Newcomers, you may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his work. Meanwhile, be unsurprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek to chip away at it. 5Two other examples from Maxwell's conference addresses:
[There are a] few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves, of course, they leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone.6In 2004 he coupled some instances of seemingly intellectual apostasy with behavioral lapses:
I reiterate: I believe there are some who leave the Church over "behavioral lapses" which can lend into intellectual issues, etc.In later years, I saw a few leave the Church who could then never leave it alone. They used often their intellectual reservations to cover their behavioral lapses...7
Several Conference addresses by others have touched on the subject, for example, James E. Faust:
Glen L. Pace:Among the assaults on families are the attacks on our faith, for which parents should prepare their children. Some of it is coming from apostates who had testimonies and now seem unable to leave the Church alone. One, complaining of Church policy, was heard to say: “I am so mad: if I had been paying my tithing I would quit.” Persecution is not new to the devoted followers of Christ. More recently, however, the anger and venom of our enemies seems to be increasing.8
It seems that history continues to teach us: You can leave the Church, but you can’t leave it alone. The basic reason for this is simple. Once someone has received a witness of the Spirit and accepted it, he leaves neutral ground. One loses his testimony only by listening to the promptings of the evil one, and Satan’s goal is not complete when a person leaves the Church, but when he comes out in open rebellion against it.9
Pace discussed apostasy more in-depth than most of the addresses I found. Because of the extra detail, his address seemed more expressly aware of nuances.10
There is also some precedence in LDS scripture for the idea that "apostates" have sinned, though I believe taking the verses too literally is problematic (see Luke 11:24-26; Alma 24:30; D&C 93:38-39).
Maxwell's phrase is very similar in meaning to an 1892 account by Daniel Tyler on Joseph Smith:
When the Prophet [Joseph Smith] had ended telling how he had been treated [by apostates], Brother Behunnin remarked: "If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of[,] settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it."This account was included in Pres. Mary Ellen Smoot's 2001 Relief Society meeting address:The great Seer immediately replied: "Brother Behunnin, you don’t know what you would do. No doubt these men once thought as you do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant."
He emphasized the fact that a man or woman who had not taken sides either with Christ or belial could maintain a neutral position, but when they enlisted under either the one or the other they left the neutral ground forever.11
Finally, the story has received a fair amount of notice in various LDS publications. For example, see Hyrum and Helen Andrus, ed., They Knew the Prophet, (1976) pp. 53-55; Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet, (1991) pp. 52-53; Book of Mormon Student Manual Religion 121 and 122, (1996), p.95.Even though we were instructed regarding the difficulties we would encounter on earth [in our premortal state], I doubt we understood or could have known how demanding and trying, how tiring and even sorrowful at times this mortal existence would be. We have no doubt all, at some point, felt that what we were experiencing was just too hard to bear. Yet the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “When [we] joined this Church [we] enlisted to serve God. When [we] did that [we] left … neutral ground, and [we] never can get back on to it. Should [we] forsake the Master [we] enlisted to serve it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and [we] will follow his dictation and be his servant."12
FOOTNOTES
[1]
Seth R. Payne, "Purposeful strangers - A Study of the Ex-Mormon Narrative," Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 9, 2008. See p. 6.
[2]
Payne, pp. 3-4:
Recent ex-Mormon narratives...focus on the description of a fundamental shift away from what is perceived as rigid literalism to an unbounded scientific rationality. In this sense, members of the emerging ex-Mormon movement should be sociologically considered apostates although I hesitate to employ this label due to the extremely negative connotations this word has within the LDS community...I use this word purely in a technical sense and in no way intend to attach inherent negative connotations to its meaning.[3]
Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, 108.
[4]
Hugh Nibley, "How Firm a Foundation! What Makes It So," Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 4, p.33 (Winter 1979).
[5]
Neal A. Maxwell, “The Net Gathers of Every Kind,” Ensign, Nov. 1980, 14. Maxwell was then in the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy. As Reed Russell discovered, the statement would appear in at least three more Maxwell books:
Newcomers may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His work. (Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 84.)
Willful dissent ages ago produced yet other symptoms that are worthy of our pondering today as life confronts us with determined dissenters who leave the Church—but who then cannot leave the Church alone: [cites Alma 47:36] (Plain and Precious Things [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 72).
Then there are the dissenters who leave the Church, either formally or informally, but who cannot leave it alone. Usually anxious to please worldly galleries, they are critical or at least condescending towards the Brethren. They not only seek to steady the ark but also on occasion give it a hard shove! Often having been taught the same true doctrines as the faithful, they have nevertheless moved in the direction of dissent (see Alma 47:36). They have minds hardened by pride (see Daniel 5:20) (Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 4.)
[6]
Maxwell, "‘Becometh As a Child’,” Ensign, May 1996, 68.
[7]
Maxwell, “Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been,” Ensign, May 2004, 44).
[8]
James E. Faust, “Enriching Family Life,” Ensign, May 1983, 40.
[9]
Glenn L. Pace, “Follow the Prophet,” Ensign, May 1989, 25
[10]
Pace, ibid. For example, he said:
[11]Criticism always hurts most when we deserve it...We would eliminate the most painful criticism from responsible nonmembers by simply internalizing and living what the Church teaches. The second category of critics is former members who have become disenchanted with the Church but who are obsessed with making vicious and vile attacks upon it. Most members and nonmembers alike see these attacks for what they really are...Hopefully, however, they make us more sensitive and extra careful not to make light of the sacred beliefs of other denominations.
Daniel Tyler, “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Juvenile Instructor, 15 Aug. 1892, p. 492.
[12]
Mary Ellen W. Smoot, “Steadfast and Immovable,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, 91.By Blair Hodges14 comments:
- It's always good to track the development of statements that become almost proverbial -- in part because that lets us go back to the context when their axiomatic use sometimes distorts the original meaning. Thanks for doing this.
Besides, anything that lets us revisit some paragraphs from Elder Maxwell is a good thing!- August 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM
- Agreed! I hope to find the statement in an earlier book by Maxwell in the future.
- August 25, 2008 at 11:39 AM
- Thanks for this, I was wondering as to the origin of the phrase -- I wonder if Elder Maxwell in turn got it from someone.
- August 25, 2008 at 12:15 PM
- "Secular spotlight" is so Maxwellian, but "departees" sounds very Oaks-ish. I wouldn't be surprised if Maxwell really was the first to coin the phrase, even if the idea originated so much earlier in our history.
- August 25, 2008 at 12:32 PM
- If anyone finds an earlier incarnation of the quote you win a free cookie. I couldn't, but I think there might be one in an early Maxwell book.
- August 25, 2008 at 4:15 PM
- Found this from Nibley:
How Firm a Foundation!
What Makes It So
Hugh Nibley
Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 4, p.33 (Winter 1979)
Apostates become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything--it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church- -they just don't believe the Gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it--that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it any more, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.- August 25, 2008 at 5:48 PM
- Excellent find! Now I need to see if I can find an earlier quote by Maxwell.
- August 25, 2008 at 5:50 PM
- Added.
- August 25, 2008 at 5:57 PM
- Is this meant to represent your views on the question or just an investigation into its origins? I could give some insight into some other alternative explanations for the phenomenon that don't involve being a "defector", a sinner, or selling out to Belial.
- August 26, 2008 at 1:57 PM
- This is mostly meant to be an investigation on the origin of the phrase and how it is used in higher channels of the Church.
- August 26, 2008 at 1:59 PM
- I found another scripture which relates:
"Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God" (Alma 47:36).- August 27, 2008 at 7:23 PM
- Blair,
This is what I've found - in chronological order:
(Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 108.)
The Prophet Joseph spoke of how apostates often bring severe persecutions upon their former friends and associates. "When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors." (HC 2:23.)
Strange, how often defectors leave the Church, but they cannot leave it alone!
= = =
Neal A. Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 84.)
Newcomers may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His work. Meanwhile, let us not be surprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek in vain to chip away at it.
= = =
Neal A. Maxwell, Plain and Precious Things [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 72.)
Willful dissent ages ago produced yet other symptoms that are worthy of our pondering today as life confronts us with determined dissenters who leave the Church—but who then cannot leave the Church alone:
Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God. (Alma 47:36.)
= = =
(Neal A. Maxwell, Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 4.)
Some members maintain only cultural ties to the Church. Often these people have had valiant parents but they themselves live off the fruits of discipleship banked by those parents and grandparents. They make no fresh, spiritual investments; they have neither new earnings nor an inheritance to pass along to their own posterity.
Then there are the dissenters who leave the Church, either formally or informally, but who cannot leave it alone. Usually anxious to please worldly galleries, they are critical or at least condescending towards the Brethren. They not only seek to steady the ark but also on occasion give it a hard shove! Often having been taught the same true doctrines as the faithful, they have nevertheless moved in the direction of dissent (see Alma 47:36). They have minds hardened by pride (see Daniel 5:20).
= = =
(Cory H. Maxwell, ed., The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 68.)
Church members will live in this wheat-and-tares situation until the Millennium. Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves of course, they leave the Church but they cannot leave the Church alone. (Ensign, May 1996, p. 68.)August 25, 2008
They leave the Church but can't leave it alone
Seth R. Payne's 2008 Sunstone paper on the ex-Mormon narrative discusses three general "exit roles" and the types of organizations from which they spring. He places these roles in the context of people who leave the LDS Church. The "Defector," an inactive member uninterested in attacking, just uninterested in general, the "Whistleblower," a generally dissatisfied defector who makes some noise upon leaving, and the "Apostate," who "undertake[s] a total change of loyalties by allying with one or more elements of an oppositional coalition...[the narrative serving to document] the quintessentially evil essence of the apostate's former organization."1 It should be noted there are former members of the Church who are capable of "leaving it alone" who fill the "defector" role. Still, it seems there are others who cannot jettison their former faith. I believe some may have more difficulty due to family or friend relationships, or because of where they live. There is a very vocal group who would fill the "apostate" role, though I don't intend to use the word as a pejorative, but in the same way Payne uses it in his paper.2
I believe the statement regarding people leaving the Church and not being able to leave it alone is not universal, though I believe it does represent some former members with accuracy so I decided to discover where the statement originated. With help from Reed Russell, I believe the exact phrase itself originated with Elder Neal A. Maxwell, though the thought goes back to the early days of the restoration. From his 1979 book All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience:
The Prophet Joseph spoke of how apostates often bring severe persecutions upon their former friends and associates. "When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors." (HC 2:23.)
Strange, how often defectors leave the Church, but they cannot leave it alone!3
That same year the statement was made by Hugh Nibley in an essay he wrote for Dialogue:
Apostates become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything--it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church- -they just don't believe the Gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it--that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it any more, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.4It's possible that Nibley or Maxwell coined the phrase, though it seems that Maxwell was the first to publish it, and it seems very Maxwellian. He used it in a conference address in October 1980:
Newcomers, you may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his work. Meanwhile, be unsurprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek to chip away at it. 5Two other examples from Maxwell's conference addresses:
[There are a] few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves, of course, they leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone.6In 2004 he coupled some instances of seemingly intellectual apostasy with behavioral lapses:
I reiterate: I believe there are some who leave the Church over "behavioral lapses" which can lend into intellectual issues, etc.In later years, I saw a few leave the Church who could then never leave it alone. They used often their intellectual reservations to cover their behavioral lapses...7
Several Conference addresses by others have touched on the subject, for example, James E. Faust:
Glen L. Pace:Among the assaults on families are the attacks on our faith, for which parents should prepare their children. Some of it is coming from apostates who had testimonies and now seem unable to leave the Church alone. One, complaining of Church policy, was heard to say: “I am so mad: if I had been paying my tithing I would quit.” Persecution is not new to the devoted followers of Christ. More recently, however, the anger and venom of our enemies seems to be increasing.8
It seems that history continues to teach us: You can leave the Church, but you can’t leave it alone. The basic reason for this is simple. Once someone has received a witness of the Spirit and accepted it, he leaves neutral ground. One loses his testimony only by listening to the promptings of the evil one, and Satan’s goal is not complete when a person leaves the Church, but when he comes out in open rebellion against it.9
Pace discussed apostasy more in-depth than most of the addresses I found. Because of the extra detail, his address seemed more expressly aware of nuances.10
There is also some precedence in LDS scripture for the idea that "apostates" have sinned, though I believe taking the verses too literally is problematic (see Luke 11:24-26; Alma 24:30; D&C 93:38-39).
Maxwell's phrase is very similar in meaning to an 1892 account by Daniel Tyler on Joseph Smith:
When the Prophet [Joseph Smith] had ended telling how he had been treated [by apostates], Brother Behunnin remarked: "If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of[,] settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it."This account was included in Pres. Mary Ellen Smoot's 2001 Relief Society meeting address:The great Seer immediately replied: "Brother Behunnin, you don’t know what you would do. No doubt these men once thought as you do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant."
He emphasized the fact that a man or woman who had not taken sides either with Christ or belial could maintain a neutral position, but when they enlisted under either the one or the other they left the neutral ground forever.11
Finally, the story has received a fair amount of notice in various LDS publications. For example, see Hyrum and Helen Andrus, ed., They Knew the Prophet, (1976) pp. 53-55; Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet, (1991) pp. 52-53; Book of Mormon Student Manual Religion 121 and 122, (1996), p.95.Even though we were instructed regarding the difficulties we would encounter on earth [in our premortal state], I doubt we understood or could have known how demanding and trying, how tiring and even sorrowful at times this mortal existence would be. We have no doubt all, at some point, felt that what we were experiencing was just too hard to bear. Yet the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “When [we] joined this Church [we] enlisted to serve God. When [we] did that [we] left … neutral ground, and [we] never can get back on to it. Should [we] forsake the Master [we] enlisted to serve it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and [we] will follow his dictation and be his servant."12
FOOTNOTES
[1]
Seth R. Payne, "Purposeful strangers - A Study of the Ex-Mormon Narrative," Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 9, 2008. See p. 6.
[2]
Payne, pp. 3-4:
Recent ex-Mormon narratives...focus on the description of a fundamental shift away from what is perceived as rigid literalism to an unbounded scientific rationality. In this sense, members of the emerging ex-Mormon movement should be sociologically considered apostates although I hesitate to employ this label due to the extremely negative connotations this word has within the LDS community...I use this word purely in a technical sense and in no way intend to attach inherent negative connotations to its meaning.[3]
Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, 108.
[4]
Hugh Nibley, "How Firm a Foundation! What Makes It So," Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 4, p.33 (Winter 1979).
[5]
Neal A. Maxwell, “The Net Gathers of Every Kind,” Ensign, Nov. 1980, 14. Maxwell was then in the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy. As Reed Russell discovered, the statement would appear in at least three more Maxwell books:
Newcomers may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His work. (Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 84.)
Willful dissent ages ago produced yet other symptoms that are worthy of our pondering today as life confronts us with determined dissenters who leave the Church—but who then cannot leave the Church alone: [cites Alma 47:36] (Plain and Precious Things [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 72).
Then there are the dissenters who leave the Church, either formally or informally, but who cannot leave it alone. Usually anxious to please worldly galleries, they are critical or at least condescending towards the Brethren. They not only seek to steady the ark but also on occasion give it a hard shove! Often having been taught the same true doctrines as the faithful, they have nevertheless moved in the direction of dissent (see Alma 47:36). They have minds hardened by pride (see Daniel 5:20) (Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 4.)
[6]
Maxwell, "‘Becometh As a Child’,” Ensign, May 1996, 68.
[7]
Maxwell, “Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been,” Ensign, May 2004, 44).
[8]
James E. Faust, “Enriching Family Life,” Ensign, May 1983, 40.
[9]
Glenn L. Pace, “Follow the Prophet,” Ensign, May 1989, 25
[10]
Pace, ibid. For example, he said:
[11]Criticism always hurts most when we deserve it...We would eliminate the most painful criticism from responsible nonmembers by simply internalizing and living what the Church teaches. The second category of critics is former members who have become disenchanted with the Church but who are obsessed with making vicious and vile attacks upon it. Most members and nonmembers alike see these attacks for what they really are...Hopefully, however, they make us more sensitive and extra careful not to make light of the sacred beliefs of other denominations.
Daniel Tyler, “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” Juvenile Instructor, 15 Aug. 1892, p. 492.
[12]
Mary Ellen W. Smoot, “Steadfast and Immovable,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, 91.By Blair Hodges14 comments:
- It's always good to track the development of statements that become almost proverbial -- in part because that lets us go back to the context when their axiomatic use sometimes distorts the original meaning. Thanks for doing this.
Besides, anything that lets us revisit some paragraphs from Elder Maxwell is a good thing!- August 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM
- Agreed! I hope to find the statement in an earlier book by Maxwell in the future.
- August 25, 2008 at 11:39 AM
- Thanks for this, I was wondering as to the origin of the phrase -- I wonder if Elder Maxwell in turn got it from someone.
- August 25, 2008 at 12:15 PM
- "Secular spotlight" is so Maxwellian, but "departees" sounds very Oaks-ish. I wouldn't be surprised if Maxwell really was the first to coin the phrase, even if the idea originated so much earlier in our history.
- August 25, 2008 at 12:32 PM
- If anyone finds an earlier incarnation of the quote you win a free cookie. I couldn't, but I think there might be one in an early Maxwell book.
- August 25, 2008 at 4:15 PM
- Found this from Nibley:
How Firm a Foundation!
What Makes It So
Hugh Nibley
Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 4, p.33 (Winter 1979)
Apostates become sometimes feverishly active, determined to prove to the world and themselves that it is a fraud after all. What is that to them? Apparently it is everything--it will not let them alone. At the other end of the scale are those who hold no rancor and even retain a sentimental affection for the Church- -they just don't believe the Gospel. I know quite a few of them. But how many of them can leave it alone? It haunts them all the days of their life. No one who has ever had a testimony ever forgets or denies that he once did have it--that it was something that really happened to him. Even for such people who do not have it any more, a testimony cannot be reduced to an illusion.- August 25, 2008 at 5:48 PM
- Excellent find! Now I need to see if I can find an earlier quote by Maxwell.
- August 25, 2008 at 5:50 PM
- Added.
- August 25, 2008 at 5:57 PM
- Is this meant to represent your views on the question or just an investigation into its origins? I could give some insight into some other alternative explanations for the phenomenon that don't involve being a "defector", a sinner, or selling out to Belial.
- August 26, 2008 at 1:57 PM
- This is mostly meant to be an investigation on the origin of the phrase and how it is used in higher channels of the Church.
- August 26, 2008 at 1:59 PM
- I found another scripture which relates:
"Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God" (Alma 47:36).- August 27, 2008 at 7:23 PM
- Blair,
This is what I've found - in chronological order:
(Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 108.)
The Prophet Joseph spoke of how apostates often bring severe persecutions upon their former friends and associates. "When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened, and then, no marvel, if all their power should be enlisted against the truth, and they, Judas like, seek the destruction of those who were their greatest benefactors." (HC 2:23.)
Strange, how often defectors leave the Church, but they cannot leave it alone!
= = =
Neal A. Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 84.)
Newcomers may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His work. Meanwhile, let us not be surprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek in vain to chip away at it.
= = =
Neal A. Maxwell, Plain and Precious Things [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 72.)
Willful dissent ages ago produced yet other symptoms that are worthy of our pondering today as life confronts us with determined dissenters who leave the Church—but who then cannot leave the Church alone:
Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God. (Alma 47:36.)
= = =
(Neal A. Maxwell, Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 4.)
Some members maintain only cultural ties to the Church. Often these people have had valiant parents but they themselves live off the fruits of discipleship banked by those parents and grandparents. They make no fresh, spiritual investments; they have neither new earnings nor an inheritance to pass along to their own posterity.
Then there are the dissenters who leave the Church, either formally or informally, but who cannot leave it alone. Usually anxious to please worldly galleries, they are critical or at least condescending towards the Brethren. They not only seek to steady the ark but also on occasion give it a hard shove! Often having been taught the same true doctrines as the faithful, they have nevertheless moved in the direction of dissent (see Alma 47:36). They have minds hardened by pride (see Daniel 5:20).
= = =
(Cory H. Maxwell, ed., The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 68.)
Church members will live in this wheat-and-tares situation until the Millennium. Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves of course, they leave the Church but they cannot leave the Church alone. (Ensign, May 1996, p. 68.)
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