A Bad Name

Some people in this world continue to do everything they can to give Mormons a bad name. Take the HOA in my complex, for example...some member of this quaint, seemingly harmless community has started a petition to get a family KICKED OUT of the complex. This family smokes on their porch and their balcony and they dutifully follow the directions of the lease they signed - no smoking inside the unit. But someone has decided that because they haven't QUIT smoking or something, they should be kicked out to preserve the sheltered, close-minded, judgmental society that they live in (or have created in their mind). I am appalled and wishing this petition would come my way so that I could write my name AGAINST it or rip the thing to shreds. Are they kidding??? I just don't understand how that is a love-your-neighbor kind of attitude. Literally, love-your-neighbor next door, even if they chose to smoke or do something that you don't agree with or chose not to do yourself. Don't get me wrong, I think smoking is a disgusting, dirty habit and I hate walking past people who are smoking and YES, you can smell stale smoke when you walk past their house, but they chose that habit and follow the rules as they are stinking up their place. They have not broken any rules! I am almost speechless to think how these petition starters have started with something good (choosing to follow the Word of Wisdom and not pollute their own bodies with this habit) and have completely twisted the words of the prophets by now imposing their lifestyle on others who are clearly following the laws of the land. They are not remembering what they should have been taught all their Mormon lives from the words of the scriptures...

take the beam out of their own eye

love your neighbor (even the smokers)

judge that you be not judged

forgive all men and the Lord will forgive whom he will forgive

that if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

here is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you

feed my sheep (even the ones who SMOKE)

I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those..., lest ye become sinners like unto them


with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.


And then from the words of the prophets and leaders of the church...

We simply cannot criticize, gossip, or judge and keep the pure love of Christ

We tend to use ourselves and our experiences as a frame of reference for judging the behavior of others. Paul also reminded the Romans of this fact: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whoever thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”

And so on and so on...just found a few things on lds.org hoping to find a loophole. Nope, there's none. Just love your neighbor and don't sign a petition against them cause they smoke.

I just hope and pray that these MORMON people think twice before they become so self-righteous that they will judge another person's choices and lose the spirit of the Lord that should be directing them in how they treat others. If these tenants were breaking HOA rules or doing something seriously harmful that affected the community, I might rethink my offensive disagreement with them. But even Cam has noticed smokers in good ol' Lehi and it is an excellent life lesson to teach about free agency, choices, word of wisdom, unconditional love, family values and words of the prophet. Kicking these people out because of their lifestyle choice is teaching our children an entirely different lesson that I don't think MORMONS should be teaching. That's all I have to say about that....