Recently
the local news featured a story about a toddler with a terminal
condition whose parents were seeking help to have her take an
alternative and unproven therapy that would cost them many thousands
of dollars.
They
believed it was her only hope. They believed that God had led them to
it.
But
it wasn’t any hope at all.
It
was fraud, slickly packaged and sensationalized like so many others
out there. This particular team is very good at it and are the
most reprehensible sort of charlatan — taking advantage of
people at the most difficult and vulnerable times of their mortal
lives.
Charlatans
know the language of faith and it is not sacred to them and
they will use it to lie to you.
If
there is any money involved in exchange for some product or service
or investment, and the person selling you the thing is dropping hints
that God led you to them or them to you; or how they have faith that
this will be successful; or that some secret was revealed to them by
some divine power so they could help others, then walk away.
Be
vigilant of those kinds of claims; they may be subtle.
When
Christ warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing, it wasn’t
just to the disciples of his day. This warning is to all of us.
And
they might not be nonbelievers trying to lead us away. They might be
trying to deceive us so they can have some of that worldly power.
They could even be believers who have been deceived themselves.
When
it comes to money, be skeptical.
When
it comes to health, be skeptical — especially if the provider
speaks only of positive results and doesn’t give you negative
possibilities. A true health care professional will tell you all the
possible outcomes of a treatment, good and bad, common or rare.
Medical
charlatans glom onto this “weakness.” They point out all
those possible negative outcomes and make the claim that no such
things happen with their “treatments.”
Skepticism
is a misunderstood attribute.
“Don’t
be so negative” is often a response to someone who says they
are skeptical about a thing. But skepticism is not an emotion, let
alone a negative emotion like anger or hatred or fear.
It’s
an attitude of questioning and requiring that claims have evidence to
back them up. And we are told to do that very thing.
Alma
32 gives us a beautiful sermon on experimenting on the words of the
scriptures, planting seeds to know if they are good or not.
“In
the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established.” D&C 6:28
“Wherefore,
by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:20
Skepticism
is not the antithesis to faith, even though many skeptics are
faithless antagonists to religion who would tell you otherwise.
Skepticism
is the opposite of blind and ignorant acceptance. And that is not
faith. Faith is “hope for things which are not seen, which
are true.”
Question
everything.
There
are things we can and should trust. If a thing is true, then serious
questioning will reveal it to be so.
Faith
is the belief in things hoped for though unseen, but not necessarily
unproven, and certainly not illogical.
For
instance, I have faith in exaltation as Joseph Smith described it
because a) I know there is a God b) I know the Book of Mormon is
true, which means that Jesus Christ is our savior, there are prophets
who receive revelation, and Joseph Smith is most certainly one of
them.
Plus,
the Plan of Salvation is a sound and logical description of what our
relationship must be to the God of this universe.
I
am a woman of faith.
But
I am also a skeptic. I question everything.
Faith
is not gullibility. Faith is trusting God, it’s trusting where
our study and obedience to gospel principles lead us. If we trust God
first and foremost in everything, we will be free from those who
would prey on our fear and despair.
There
are wolves among us, in their suits and in their dresses. I’m
not telling you to be suspicious of everyone. Just be wary of the
signs. If your argument against signs that someone is taking
advantage of you is, “They would never do that because they are
a Mormon (or a Christian, or so very nice),” then look harder.
People
will pretend to be things that they aren’t to get what they
want. Being pretenders, they may very well be more eloquent and sound
more spiritual than the slow of speech true believer in the middle
row.
We
must pray — not for our Father in Heaven give us what we want
(our child’s survival or our health or our financial
prosperity). He will not necessarily remove our stumbling blocks and
trials from us.
We
must pray to know God’s will and to give us the strength to do
those things he asks of us. Because I promise, I know, that we will
receive that strength we need to overcome.
Heavenly
Father will give us that strength through the grace of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ and through the peace and comfort of the Holy Ghost.
Not
through some strange thing found in the wilderness. If there will be
a medical miracle to be had, it will be through the priesthood. All
other cures are based on sound science — which is the honest
study of how God’s creations work.
The
scientific method has a proven record, just like honest religion
does. In the next column, we’ll explore what honest and sound
science look like.
Ami Chopine started out her mortal existence as a single cell. That cell divided into a collection
of cells that cooperated enough to do such things as eat, crawl, walk and eventually read a lot
and do grownuppy things.
When she was seven years old, hanging upside down on the monkey bars, she decided she
wanted to be a scientist when she grew up. Even though she studied molecular biology at the
University of Utah, that didn't quite come to pass. She became a writer instead. Still, her passion
for science and honest inquiry has remained and married itself to her love of the Gospel.
Ami is married to Vladimir and together they have four amazing children -- three in college and
one in elementary school, where Ami is president of the Family School Organization. Vladimir
is the better cook, but Ami is the better baker. She also knits, gardens, stares at clouds, and sings.
She can only do three of these at the same time.
Besides two published computer graphics books and several magazine tutorials, she writes
science fiction and has a couple of short stories published. You can find her blog at
www.amichopine.com.
Ami was surprised to not be given a calling as some kind of teacher the last time she was called
into the bishop's office. She currently serves as the Young Women Secretary -- somewhat
challenging for the girl whose grandmother used to call the absentminded professor.