Guest Post: Mi casa es tu casa
by Elizabeth
We are fortunate to have grandchildren that live less than an hour from our home. Recently, while they were visiting, we went for a walk around our neighborhood.
Our almost 3-year-old grandson was delighted with all the lawn ornaments and rabbits in our neighborhood. When we neared our home, I pointed and asked, “Whose house is that?” He eagerly said, “That’s (my) house, and Nana’s house and Papa’s house and Mommy and Daddy’s house.” I hadn’t expected that response—that he would identify our home as his own home. I was humbled.
It got me wondering. At what point do we differentiate God’s home from our home? Do we intrinsically know that God’s home is our own, or do we feel outside of it, unable to claim it, or excluded from it?
In the April 2019 Conference Talk, Come Follow Me, President Nelson quotes D&C 132:7 as reference for his own statements about families being or not being together in eternity.
Do you believe D&C 132 is inspired of God? Emma Smith didn’t and threw a copy of it in the fireplace when Hyrum brought it to her.
If you want to know more about D&C 132 read v. 51. Do some research. What is it that Joseph was commanded to offer her that was then withdrawn? It just gets worse as you read on in 132. Women were treated as property. In verse 54 Emma is told she will be destroyed if she cannot abide this law. Where is the agency in that? Coercion and fear!
I use a yardstick to judge if something is of God or not. I look at scriptures or talks given in church or conference and ask myself, “Can I picture Jesus Christ saying these things? Can I see him standing in front of me staying these things?”
Jesus asked us to become as little children. Little children see everyone as belonging together in the same home, in the same family. I hold onto that, …and a little child shall lead them.
Thank you for speaking your truth so boldly, Elizabeth. I agree with you. And your grandson’s experience of your home speaks to the love and inclusion he must feel there. Thank you for taking the time to write a guest post!
There are so many problems with D&C 132. I certainly can’t find God in the verses that manipulate Emma into polygamy, telling her she’ll be destroyed if she doesn’t consent to it. If a verse of scripture or statement from leader violates core principles of kindness, respect, compassion, peace, tolerance, and charity, then I’m suspicious. It’s inevitable that people’s personal contexts and proclivities will shade their theological understandings, so I figure it’s up to me to try to tease these things apart. Thanks for this post, Elizabeth. I’m with you in your vision of what’s godly.
It’s so hard to be a believer in Joseph Smith as a real prophet (as I am), and square that with D&C 132/polygamy. It makes being a member of the church so so difficult. I don’t believe 132. It’s horrible. I don’t know what to do with all this, and the church is not helping me at all.