We watched all 4 hours of "The Mormons" shown on PBS this week. The first 2 hours (shown on Monday) I thought was a little slanted and one sided. I say one-sided in terms of who was being interviewed, not the topics. I didn't have any problem with any of the topics discussed. Some have said they dwelled on polygamy too much, but we are the only church in modern times to preach polygamy...what do we expect?
I didn't have a problem with the Mountain Meadows Massacre discussion, either. I think Dallin H. Oaks summed it up well, when he closed the discussion with a "We have no doubt members of our church were involved and I pray that Heavenly Father comforts those affected by this barbaric act" (paraphrased).
I was particularly drawn in by two of the people interviewed: Teryl Givens and Marlin K. Jensen. Bro. Givens' command of the English language always brought a smile to my face as I listened and he always seemed like a voice of logic sprinkled in among the "historians" who seem to know everything. And I loved (!) Marlin K. Jensen's testimony on the second day about his missionary experience. There was an obvious spiritual difference in listening to these guys speak versus the apostates and non-believers.
I thought it was an intriguing 4 hours of television and I'm glad I watched. The church even said it was a "welcomed change" from typical coverage of the LDS faith.
What did you all think?
3 comments:
I agree with all the above. There were some things that really made me uncomfortable (and Mike). I didn't like the part where they said Joseph committed adultery or when they said that the massacre was Brigham Young's fault. I have read the church history handbook and it is much different in that book. Although, I do believe there were some Mormons that were to blame. I enjoyed the second day much better and felt it was a little more balanced.
Oh, and we didn't like how they kept saying that we believed Polygamy was the the way to achieve the Celestial Kingdom. If that were the case then most of the Mormons would never acheive it because the majority of the people living polygamy were the leaders, if I remember correctly. That would make us be like Jehovah hitnesses. Gasp!
We also watched the documentary. It was interesting to say the least. Overall, I felt an overwhelming responsibility to live my life in such a way that my example to others will be what speaks of the gospel -- not the things like the massacre and polygamy. The feeling of the spirit, like Jess mentioned, are not things that can be easily felt or conveyed to someone who doesn't want to feel it. I think that there will be those that watched the show who wanted to hate mormons and will now do so even more. On the other hand, those that know good mormons and were interested in our faith , will be touched to perhaps investigate it further. I would be curious to see what some of my nonmormon friends thought. Jason, did you guys have anyone in IA that watched and commented to you about it?
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