Thousands of people have left the FLDS religion over the last 10 years. The young people generally let everything go and start over in life.
But all the older people want to go back to the old days. The days of John Barlow , Uncle Roy, Uncle Fred. But to me that is foolishness and I want to explain why.
“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality.” -Socrates
The Lie
Anytime we believe something that pulls us away from reality, we are in for trouble.
What lie were the FLDS living in those days? Where did they go away from reality?
If you really understood what happened in the mind of Warren Jeffs over the last 20 years, you would also understand that Warren Jeffs was the continuation of what every leader before him had started.
Suppose a more calm leader would have taken over. It still would have been a disaster. But the truth is, the way the five previous leaders talked and preached was setting up a leader like my dad. If it took 30 more years it was still going to happen.
Reality Of Those Days
Uncle Roy, John Barlow, and Rulon Jeffs may have been good men, probably great. But they did set up the culture and system for this to happen.
Uncle Roy often preached the significance of the year 2000 and would often encourage more strictness in the group. He brought about a tighter control than anyone before him had. After all, the split happened in those days so we shouldn’t assume they were all glorious. Half the people left in those days.
Rulon Jeffs kept everything Uncle Roy did going. Including making it stricter. As we got closer to 2000, everything got more serious.
This was a self fulfilling prophecy. Uncle Roy preached that serious times were coming around 2000. So did Rulon Jeffs.
And Warren Jeffs absolutely believed them. When he took over, after striving for years to become a man deeply in tune with the spiritual power that Joseph Smith, Roy Johnson and Rulon Jeffs preached, that guided him into fulfilling every prophecy that the FLDS group believed.
No Lie Can’t Become Reality
When a group of people believe something seriously enough, they will make it happen.
If everyone for years believes something will happen and work towards it, the universe will ensure that those peoples yearnings will become a reality.
When Warren Jeffs took over the FLDS, that is exactly the point that the entire group was at. Everyone believed God was coming and things were going to happen. Certainly all the leaders before him had sincerely believed it.
And God was not coming to the FLDS in reality. Warren Jeffs is the closest thing the FLDS were ever going to come to getting what they all believed in.
Because in reality, God was not coming. But Warren Jeffs brought that lie as close as he could to being reality.
And that continues in his mind today.
Good Old Days
So were those the good old days? No. Just because disaster had not hit, there was a lie that was setting up disaster.
Why couldn’t such a down to earth man like my Grandpa, Merril Jessop, question my dad more? Because of the whole 1987 split deal. It was too hard wired, it was too bad to question the Prophet.
This is why I don’t want to go back to the “good old days.” To set it all up again?
How about we learn from it and try to get a little closer to reality.
Looking back is always easy. We can reminisce on the good and forget the bad. The truth is it set us up for disaster.
If we want a better future, we must face reality.
Real men look at reality. They create a good future. If you want a community that loves you then make that. And make it in a way that there is no lie about it. That is probably harder than it seems.
When Are The Good Old Days?
Only in our future. Only in the present. We have the opportunity to look at this in 2 ways. We can pout and reminisce on the past.
Or we can look at the brutal and ugly truths of reality.
Not acknowledging the reality of those days is hurting ourselves, our legacy, and our children.
So reality is our best friend even if it hurts. Living within it as close as possible is the greatest possible love we can exert.
So I will put the quote again:
“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality.” -Socrates
Thank you for reading! You would also enjoy this article titled Inside The Fascinating Mind Of Warren Jeffs
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