just nate – code is poetry, life is code

On April 5, 2009, as a part of the LDS General Conference which I referenced in my last post, Elder Neil L. Andersen, a newly ordained member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the LDS church, spoke in the Sunday morning session in his first address as an apostle.

Before I say any more about this, let me first explain a little bit to you about the LDS church. The church was founded by a young man named Joseph Smith. Joseph had been seeking truth, and claimed that in his search he had received a vision of God the Father and the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Joseph says that Jesus told him none of the churches on the earth at the time were true, and he (Joseph) become a prophet and the Lord’s instrument for the true church’s “restoration” to the earth. Following in that vein, the church has since had a prophet and twelve apostles. The church claims that the main calling of an apostle is to stand as a “special witness of Christ.” Digging deeper, one comes to understand that what this actually means is that the church claims that the apostles are like the apostles of old: they can be a witness of Christ because they have actually seen him and actually spoken with him face to face.

I do not mean to question the sincerity of these men. My purpose is to analyze what they said and see if it is in keeping with reason.

From Elder Andersen’s address (I am transcribing from a video [see it - he spoke Sunday AM] of the proceedings, any transcription errors are my own):

Just after my call as a general authority sixteen years ago, in a stake conference where I accompanied President Packer, he said something I have not forgotten. As he addressed the congregation, he said: “I know who I am.” Then after a pause he added, “I’m a nobody.” He then turned to me, sitting on the stand behind him, and he said, “and Brother Andersen, you are a nobody, too.” Then he added these words: “If you ever forget it, the Lord will remind you of it instantly, and it won’t be pleasant.”

These are stunning words. I can’t believe they came from a man who claims to be inspirational and enlightened. They reek of a barbaric, ugly, medieval thinking. It seems to me that any intelligent person, on reading these words, should feel a strong sense of indignation and outrage.

From my last post you should be able to tell that I had no plans to watch conference. However, a friend of mine was watching conference with his family, and was sending me occasional texts about what he was hearing, and so I went back to see parts of it that I had missed. When I met with this and other mystical, revolting concepts, I was surprised to know that so many of my peers and family members are so very taken with such an egregious doctrine. I was even more surprised to know that I once was caught in the trap myself.

Some of my close associates at work were talking about conference on Monday morning, only 24 hours after these pernicious words had been delivered to the world for mass consumption. And, to my surprise, they were talking about this exact talk – and praising Elder Andersen for his humility and wisdom. I told them that I am a “somebody” and that nothing any of them ever says will ever make me believe that I am a nobody. That certainly didn’t stop them from trying!

“When you’re out in the middle of the ocean, doesn’t it make you feel small and insignificant?” I was asked. Of course not! It makes me feel triumphant. It makes me rejoice in the power of a man’s mind. Man, who has not evolved to exist at sea, can exist at sea nonetheless, by reason of his mind. “My son could pull out a small weed, but I could pull out an entire tree. Don’t you think that, by comparison, my son is nothing?” No! I think it is amazing that man can build a machine that can carry hundreds of trees and create wooden planks out of them to build our houses. I think that the age of brute force work is ending, all because of man’s capacity of thought. This surely doesn’t say to me that man is nothing, that I am a nobody, or anything of the sort. “In the scope of the entire galaxy, compared to all that space, and all the stuff we don’t even know about yet, don’t you think it makes man look pretty insignificant?” No, no, no, NO. It makes each one of us so much MORE significant and so much MORE of a somebody. We haven’t yet found any life as intelligent as we. Every human life is incredibly precious. The faculty of the human brain is astounding! Look around you! Look at your world and tell me I’m insignificant. I don’t believe it. Look at the formless void of space through my eyes, and you will not see an engulfing, dark abyss. You will see potential, development, prosperity, and the future. “God can move a mountain just by thinking about it. Don’t you think that by comparison to God we are all nothing?” First, prove that God can do that. Second, if you want to see how to move mountains, do some research on the Kennecott copper mine. Third, LDS doctrine states that we are supposed to become like God. If I am to be a god, when do I stop believing I’m a “nobody” and start to be “significant” like God? Or is God also a nobody? What did God do that is so great, according to you guys? Well, create the earth, create us, and put us on the earth. It’s an argument in my favor. Man creates and innovates, just like your God.

I am not a nobody. If you really believe that you are a nobody, well, I guess that probably makes it true.

“You’ve never felt how small you were when looking at the ocean.”
“Never. Nor looking at the planets. Nor at mountain peaks. Nor at the Grand Canyon. Why should I? When I look at the ocean, I feel the greatness of man. I think of man’s magnificent capacity that created this ship to conquer all that senseless space. When I look at mountain peaks, I think of tunnels and dynamite. When I look at the planets, I think of airplanes.” -Gail Wynand speaking to Dominique Francon in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, written before the space program had been created.

“It’s interesting to speculate on the reasons that make men so anxious to debase themselves. As in that idea of feeling small before nature. It’s not a bromide, it’s practically an institution. Have you noticed how self-righteous a man sounds when he tells you about it? Look, he seems to say, I’m so glad to be a pygmy, that’s how virtuous I am. Have you heard with what delight people quote some great celebrity who’s proclaimed that he’s not so great when he looks at Niagara Falls? It’s as if they were smacking their lips in sheer glee that their best is dust before the brute force of an earthquake. As if they were sprawling on all fours, rubbing their foreheads in the mud to the majesty of a hurricane. But that’s not the spirit that leashed fire, steam, electricity, that crossed oceans in sailing sloops, that built airplanes and dams . . . and skyscrapers. What is it they fear? What is it they hate so much, those who love to crawl? And why?”