I over ate at Thanksgiving. Again. (insert groan here) Even in the moment, I knew I shouldn’t. But somehow I found myself awake in bed at 1:51 am, readjusting from stomach pain, with the faint taste of partially digested cranberry and pumpkin rising in my throat.
Why Did I do it?
Was it because the food was so irresistibly good? While the food was delicious, I don’t know if the frozen cranberry mandarine fruit salad really merited fourths. Was it because every other person at the dinner table was doing it? Partially. I listened, as my niece and two nephews were told that at Thanksgiving we eat as much as we possibly can, and then eat some more. Was it because, for as long as I can remember, I too have bought into the belief that feasting at Thanksgiving really means overeating? Absolutely. It’s a hard thing to change our conditioning, especially when it means being different from everyone around us.
I Shouldn’t Have Done It
Stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea and indigestion are common immediate side effects of overeating. I nailed three out of four.
Diabetes, heart disease and arthritis are often the longer-term side effects of chronic overeating. While a single Thanksgiving meal may not have done me in, the habit of overeating under social pressure just might. If I’m being real with myself, I should not have overeaten. Even if it was in the spirit of the Thanksgiving feast.
Sacred Cows
There’s a saying, “It’s not what we do but why we do it that counts.” I’ve always loved this quote, but am realizing it isn’t completely true. While our “why” is of great importance, the reality is, “what” we do does count.”Sacred cow” is the term used to describe someone or something that has been accepted or respected for a long time and that people are afraid or unwilling to criticize or question.
To avoid these sacred cows, I ask myself questions like, “Am I doing this just because people around me are doing it?” and, “Am I believing something here that may not be completely accurate?” As Latter Day Saints, we sometimes veer away from doctrine and get stuck in cultural habit or misunderstanding. This begins to happen as we follow the herd without asking where we are going or why we are doing what we are doing. Mixed in with truth is often misunderstanding that has been passed down for generations.
3 Ways to Test Truth
Here are three standards to which we can hold any truth:
1. Is it found within the scriptures?
2. Has it been reechoed or revealed as truth by a prophet of God?
3. Have you received a personal confirmation of its truthfulness from the Spirit?
We can cross check every supposed truth. Even if we think it passes numbers one and two, we should check with number three to make sure that our understanding of the truth is not off base.
For most of my life, I didn’t understand what it meant to be “meek and lowly in heart”. I thought meekness meant weakness, and lowly in heart meant sad or depressed. This clearly contradicts a “Plan of Happiness”. I thought that being humble meant I couldn’t accept compliments, and that to repent I must first hate myself for what I had done. This is clearly not the design of a merciful and loving Father in Heaven.
I then read President Harold B. Lee’s, “The Constitution For A Perfect Life” and matched my findings with scriptures found in the Book of Mormon and New Testament. I prayed for confirmation of the truths and searched my heart to see what I now believed and how I now felt. It was amazing.
The fruits of the Spirit are peace, love, joy, and freedom. If we hear something, see something, or believe something and it creates in us a sense of fear, unrest, disappointment, or bondage, that is a giant red flag of untruth.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gives us insight and clarity into the commonly misunderstood concept of repentance in his recent talk, “You Can Do It Now!” He says:
Godly sorrow inspires change and hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Worldly sorrow pulls us down, extinguishes hope, and persuades us to give in to further temptation. True repentance is about transformation, not torture or torment. Yes, heartfelt regret and true remorse for disobedience are often painful and very important steps in the sacred process of repentance. But when guilt leads to self-loathing or prevents us from rising up again, it is impeding rather than promoting our repentance.
If you find yourself avoiding repentance or have a lot of fear or anxiety wrapped up in repentance, I invite you to re-read President Uchtdorf’s talk. Match the teachings with those found in other forms of scripture. Pray for your own confirmation and further understanding of these truths. As you do this, the Spirit will become your greatest mentor, opening your spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear “things you never had supposed.” As you realign your beliefs with truth, you will be filled with peace, love, joy, and freedom.
A Promise to Seekers of Truth
The promise given to sincere seekers of truth can be found in Alma 26:22:
“Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing – unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things that never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.”
As we free ourselves from the mental, spiritual, and sometimes physical bondage of sacred cows (insert belly ache here), we will begin to free those around us as well.
Stacie Proctor (2 Posts)Stacie Proctor was raised in the LDS church, but only recently experienced what she calls “true conversion” to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The thoughts and ideas expressed in her writing stem from her belief in one great truth: God’s love.
First of all, thanks for a thoughtful post. I’m new to this site, and I think I just ran into a comment that quoted from your 6 Things “Repentance” does not Mean.
I really enjoyed your thoughts about sacred cows. I’ve ran into a few sacred cows, and I’m always a little exasperated by the way they hinder our progress, and drain our resources.
For some reason, even people, who have the restored gospel, like Latter-Day Saints do, fall for avoiding-or worshipping, depending on how they’re presented-these social taboos, that have nothing to do with the gospel, but are just things that people absorb from social pressure, without giving thought to the background.
To avoid contentious debate, let’s just say, that the world is full of examples. One obvious thing is how some social conventions are presented, and often breaking them is presented as sinful, in our Church environment.
During my mission in London in the early 1980′s, I saw something quite different than what I was used to. A new convert, I realised quickly that some things that the members had been telling me during my two years in the Church before my mission were simply social conventions. I’ve never been impressed by them; perhaps I’m anti-social?
But I have to mention one particular, that is my pet peeve: Patriotism, or actually nationalist pride. Is it patriotic or righteous to think we’re better than others, just because we happened to be born in a certain place? Or contrary, is it sinful to refuse to bow down before nationalist pride. See, nationalist pride is the one that says, “right or wrong, my country.”
Both ancient and modern scriptures tell us (at least the Bible, BofM and D&C) that all earthly governments will pass in the end. And when Jesus Christ comes to take his own, isn’t that going to be a “one world” government, with no flag, no military, and no police?
I take a long way around, to get into the point, but I try to be clear, nonetheless. It might not, for example, be appropriate for a young woman to show her navel in public, but it’s not a sin. Wearing a white shirt to church on Sunday is recommended for men, but a different colour shirt isn’t a sin, is it.
We need to relax.