Leaving the Church and the Gospel?

I recently read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune by Jana Riess about Jeff Strong's book Torn, which is about what people get wrong about people leaving the church. You can find the article here.

As I read the article I was immediately struck with the idea that it only addresses the leaving the church part of the equation. It said nothing about leaving the Gospel. They are separate, but for many as described in the article, perhaps leaving the church is the all they can focus on, because they do not see nor do they understand that the Gospel is not the church, and that the church is not the Gospel. They mistake religious activities and church culture as the gospel. They simply do not understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I've written extensively about the difference in this blog.

You may ask is it possible to leave the church and not leave the Gospel? Before we can answer, we must understand that there is a difference, and understand what Christ means when He says "This is my gospel..."

The article focused on a survey completed by 11,000 people of which about 60% considered themselves active members, and about 40% were those who had left the church. 

The survey’s current members skewed active, meaning they were more likely than average members to attend church regularly and consider themselves devout.

The data showed that it’s the most devout members who have the hardest time understanding and relating to family members and friends who have left.

But to me the issue between those who considered themselves devout and those who left, is the same. Neither group seemed to understand the difference between the organized Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My questions of those who had become inactive or had left the church, after teaching them His Gospel as He taught it, would be these:

1. Have you ever believed in Christ?
2. If yes, do you still believe in Christ?
3. Have you ever believed anything that Christ said?
4. If yes, can you give me an example?
5. Do you know what Christ taught about His and other churches? 
6. Do you feast upon the words of Christ?
7. Have you ever feasted upon the words of Christ?
8. Have you quit reading the words of Christ? 
9. Have you ever had faith in Christ?
10. If yes, do you still have faith in Christ? 
11. What does it mean to have faith in Christ? 
12. Were you aware that Christ has defined His gospel in the Book of Mormon?
13. Were you taught His Gospel at home, at church, by anyone? 
14. Were you ever taught to understand the doctrine of baptism and repentance? 
15. Were you taught that only those who are repenting are of His church, and that many members of record of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not of His church because they are not yet repenting? 
16. Were you taught that there are only two churches, the Church of God and the Church of the Devil?
17. Were you taught the difference between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and His Gospel?
18. Were you ever taught that the word of God is truth, and that you do not have to believe anything in the church that is not true? 
19. If God's words are truth, would you admit that your beliefs might be different than His truth?

Hopefully you can see that leaving the church is not the same as leaving His Gospel, but to most, who do or who do not leave the organization, they are not even aware that there is a difference! 

When we leave His Gospel, we leave Christ. We may even say that we still believe in Christ. But it is not enough just to believe in Him. We must move beyond mere belief, and actually repent, which means that we must believe Christ when He tells us that we must repent or suffer His justice. It is, afterall, not what we believe, but who we believe that matters.

My purpose in this post is not to expand on the difference, but simply to point out that there is a difference, and that many active and inactive members do not know of or understand the difference. I have linked a few posts at the end which will help you see and understand the difference.

Can you understand the consequences of not receiving and believing His words? Mormon said: 

"wo* be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore he will not receive them at the last day;

And it would be better for them if they had not been born" (3 Nephi 28:34-35 emphasis added).

And this: "Wo unto him that spurneth at the doings of the Lord; yea, wo unto him that shall deny the Christ and his works!

Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 29:5-6 emphasis added)!

"Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them" (Mormon 9:8 emphasis added).

*wo signifies a covenant curse and is used here to indicate that he is talking of those who have entered into His everlasting covenant (been baptized). He is, therefore, also writing of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who do not receive His words. At the same time it is a call to repentance, to turn to Christ and hearken unto His words. 

The paradox is that those who are repenting, have turned to, and have hearkened unto Christ, can be met with resistance by members and even leaders of the organized church.

"A comment was once made on a post that repentance as defined by Christ, is difficult for those who are part of the system which is the Organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The person commenting said that those who 'genuinely wish to reform and turn unto Christ, are likely to be cut off by the system,' or at least impeded by it. I would add that they find themselves turning away from the system of religious activities. They may even be criticized by members and/or leaders of the system who see them ‘leaving’ the church, or perhaps more accurately, as not being faithful or mainstream members.

But that is exactly what those who are repenting do--they are leaving behind their traditional religion, their old church life, and are turning and coming unto Christ to be “of His church.” They are leaving the system of justification by their works. It does not mean that they do not stay involved and attend church and activities, nor does it mean that they do stay involved, but it does mean that they will never see the organized church as they once did. But for those who decide to leave, as in become inactive, there is a danger. 

Christ as our Shepherd, invites us to leave the pen and follow Him to green pastures and clear waters, but those who leave without following the Shepherd are foolish and put themselves in a very precarious and dangerous environment. Neither are they led to green pastures and clear waters, but are left to their own devices in Babylon. 

Tim Merrill wrote the following in one of his posts, and it has occupied my thoughts for many months as I contemplate those family members that I am aware of who have left, and I am afraid that they may not have followed the Shepherd.

'Where will we go once we’ve left the pen? Who knows the way? Leaving the pen without the Shepherd to guide us is more than foolhardy; it is perilous.'

The name of a sheep home is called a sheep pen, sheepcote or sheepfold. It is an enclosure made up of local earth and the floor of mud, and also has a strong fence. When we repent and turn to our Shepherd to guide us, we are invited to follow the Shepherd and leave the enclosure" (Repentance: Only Those Who Repent are of My Church).

But it does not follow that those who are repenting become inactive. In fact they are more likely to stay involved and teach the few others who may listen, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They desire that all receive the mercy of God, and know that mercy claims only those who are repenting. 

But for those who have only focused on the church, its policies, its history, its flaws, its culture, its values, the flaws of its leaders past and present, its teachings of men, and have not feasted upon the words of Christ, and who do not know the difference between the words of God and the words of men, are easily deceived. Their reliance on men has caught up with them, and they foolishly leave the pen without the Good Shepherd to guide them. They've thrown the bucket out with the bath water. These are they who leave His words by the wayside, and become ever more captive in Babylon. They are not His very elect and have been deceived.

While there exist beliefs we have in common that unite us, many other beliefs exist that divide us. The ten virgins in Jesus’ parable were evidently united in their common beliefs. But when it came to the truth of God and his Holy Spirit, five were not only lacking but were actually “deceived” (Doctrine & Covenants 45:56–57). Indeed, not believing and being deceived are two halves of the same coin. When a person’s reality or life’s view isn’t based entirely on God’s truth, then what isn’t based on God's truth must be grounded in things that aren’t true, even though they may be believed and substituted for God’s truth.

I would also ask those who leave whom did they follow? To say that they “followed the prophet” implies that they subscribed to all that implies— that they were willing to follow a man rather than Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, to say that they “followed Jesus Christ,” not the prophet, might suggest to ecclesiastical authorities that they were disloyal to the church, perhaps causing them to feel like they did not belong. 

An eminent danger in following a man rather than Jesus Christ is that people so habituated, who become disillusioned with one leader will simply transfer their allegiance to another, or may leave the church when a leader says or does something that causes them to doubt the church and question their 'faith'.

Instead of sending sinners to the authorities to be “cast out of the synagogue,” Christ said, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Even to the prophet Joseph Smith the Lord responded, “Thou art not excusable in thy transgressions; nevertheless, go thy way and sin no more” (D&C 24:2). Because persons who judge others can’t progress spiritually until they love God’s children for who they are, can they truly love without first learning forgiveness? If some grow alienated because of flaws in the church, would they not do better by performing their own part more perfectly? And by that I mean obtaining and teaching His words to strengthen the faith in Christ of those we love?

Persons who feel compelled to subordinate their wills to the dictates of an institution, employer, or ecclesiastical leader can never know the empowerment that comes from answering solely to God.

Ultimately, no one is beholden to anyone but God although he accepts the ecclesiastical guidelines God has ordained to get him started on heaven’s quest. In the end, however, that quest, too, must take him to where he walks solely with God—“independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world” (D&C 78:14).

I wrote this in a post for my grandchildren:

"I worry that you, like me, may have been taught only the traditional gospel, rather than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of you may be struggling with the organized church, with religion in general, perhaps going through a destruction of what you have been taught. There is a lot to struggle with. 

Others of you may believe that all you have to do is "live the Gospel." Some may think that Conference talks are the word of God, but to assume so, without knowing the word of God could find you on the wrong side of God's words. And some of you may be questioning the Book of Mormon. 

There is so much noise out there that it is impossible not to hear it, read about it or see it. Some of it is valid, but it is usually delivered without any remedy, and it is the remedy that I want to emphasize.

Some of you may have already left the church because you no longer believe some or all of its teachings. Remember that belief is irrelevant. It is not what we believe or do not believe that matters, but whether something is true or not true. That is always the question--the only question. Do not assume that just because you believe something, that it is true. On the other hand do not assume that just because you do not believe something, that it is not true! Remember it is not what we believe that matters, but who we believe.

Christ does, however, invite us to leave the fold and follow Him to living waters and green pastures. And by 'leaving the fold' I mean leaving behind religion and coming to Christ, looking to Him and relying totally upon His merits and not upon any of our own merits. It will be because of His righteousness that you will be redeemed, not your own." 

There is another condition that is in play when someone leaves the church. Keeping in mind that apostasy is not a falling away from, but a perversion of the truth, those who leave the church are more than likely, by this definition, already in apostasy when they leave, having perverted His gospel, or having lived a perverted gospel. This can be either intentionally or through ignorance, but more likely the latter, and it goes hand in hand with not recognizing that His Gospel has been perverted. Ignorance, however, is no excuse.

But for those who do not leave the church, in the last days, the falling away of those who claim to be the Lord’s covenant people sets the stage for the world’s final tumultuous events. Isaiah helps us understand that their materialism, apostasy, and rebellion serve as a forewarning of the judgments that follow. Isaiah defines apostates as those who have gone “astray,” who are “weighed down by sin,” “wrongdoers,” “perverse children,” who “have forsaken Jehovah,” “spurned the Holy One of Israel,” and “lapsed into apostasy” (see Isaiah 1:4 emphasis added). Note apostasy is not leaving the organized church, but the failure of the Lord's people to repent. 

"Behold, this is my doctrine—whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church.

Whosoever is of my church, and endureth of my church to the end, him will I establish upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them” (D&C 10:67-68 emphasis added; cf. 1 Nephi 14:10–14).

If you want you to explore the difference between the Gospel and the church see the following.

Do We Really Understand Christ's Gospel?

I Know Your Doing

Obstacles to Hearing the Word of God

But We Have The Book! - Introduction 

Repentance: Bondage of Sin

Repentance: Only Those Who Repent are of My Church

Neither Do They Understand

Much Should Be Done Because of the Hardness of Their Hearts