As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, service and “love thy neighbor” are emphasized repeatedly. While serving others is a great thing, sometimes as members of the church we can get prideful about it or other aspect of our religion. We can begin to think that we’re the only church that focuses on service and like that makes us better than others. Yet, we really don’t have a monopoly on “love thy neighbor.” It is important to remember that there is good in the world throughout almost every religion. That’s been emphasized to me over and over again recently.
Being in the Religious Majority
I currently live in Idaho Falls, which means that a large percentage of the people that I meet are LDS. There are probably a dozen or more LDS churches within a ten-minute drive of my house. Growing up, I was not in the religious majority. There were times when I was one of maybe three or four members in my grade at school. When I went to grad school, there was not another member of the church in any of my classes, and most of my classmates were not religious. Even though I’ve lived in this area longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, I find this adjustment from being a religious minority to being in the majority difficult at times.
The Story
My family moved to Idaho during my freshman year of college. While working on my undergraduate degree, I came “home” during the summer. One summer, they created a Young Single Adult Sunday School class in my parents’ ward. One of my first weeks there, two girls (ladies, I guess) shared a story. These women had just graduated from high school. A few weeks earlier, a classmate had asked them to clarify some confusion she had concerning two verses from the Book of Mormon that seemed to contradict each other. It seemed like a legitimate concern. Especially out of context, two verses may seem to contradict each other.
In a church magazine story, these two girls would have kindly asked this friend to point out the verses. If they were unable to help her, they would have directed her to the missionaries. She then would have been baptized, and everything would have ended happily ever after. It would have been the perfect story of “love thy neighbor.” Sadly, that’s not the direction this story took.
These two ladies asked their “friend” to show them in their own scriptures where these verses were. She said that she didn’t know but that she had them marked in scriptures that she had at home. She said that she’d bring them in the next day. Instead of agreeing to help her, these two ladies admitted that they’d laughed at her. They laughed at her in the class. I was surprised by how many people in the class also seemed to think that this was funny. This would have been the perfect opportunity for these two ladies to have lived the principle of “love thy neighbor.” Instead, they’d done the exact opposite.
How It Affected Me
I am embarrassed to admit that while I was horrified and angered by the story that these two ladies shared, I didn’t speak up at the time. I’m sure there were at least a few other people in the room who felt the same way as I felt, but they also didn’t say anything. Over time, I came to find that unfortunately there are members of the church who do not live the principle of “love thy neighbor.” Instead, they have the attitude that being a member of the church automatically makes them better than those who are not members of the church.
I will say that some of the best people I’ve met in my life are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Yet, I’ve also met some really great people who are not members of the LDS church. Sadly, many of the people I’ve met who do not follow the principle of loving their neighbor are members of the church.
Unfortunately, over time, I came to find more and more members of the church in Idaho Falls who seemed to have this superior attitude toward anyone who did not share their values. It got to the point that when I left for grad school in Michigan in 2010, I prayed that I’d never have to come back to this area and experience what I felt like at the time was a common attitude in the area. Yes, I realize now how hypocritical my attitude was. I was mad at them for judging others who didn’t share their religious views, and I was also lumping all Idaho members of the church into one group. You see how well the plan to not return to Idaho Falls worked for me.
Love Thy Neighbor As Demonstrated by Other Religions
I hadn’t planned to share that story above. When I started this post, I planned to simply include these stories. While a large percentage of people in the Idaho Falls area are LDS, there are other religions in the area. While I am sure there are other local churches that embody “love thy neighbor,” two specific examples come to mind.
One church in our local area provides lunches for anyone who shows up. They do this almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They also provide an assortment of food items donated by local stores and residents. This may include fresh pastries, bread, milk, fruit, vegetables, and other food. There are no strings attached. Show up, and they’ll give you food. Don’t want to get out of your car or can’t get out? They’ll bring it to your car. To me, this is a perfect example of how the Savior fed the hungry and loved others no matter their religion or cultural beliefs.
Another local church gives away pallets of food. They don’t have a schedule, but when they give it away, they are super generous. In the past, I know they’ve given away pantry staples, including meats, yogurt, and noodles. Sometimes, it’s a little more random. To give you a feel for how much they give away, they had a giveaway last Saturday. I went, and they loaded nine cases of candy into my vehicle. That included 25 pounds of Reese’s peanut butter chips! The beauty of their giving to us is that it then forces those who get to give to someone else. There’s no way for my family to use up that much candy by ourselves.
What Does it Mean to Love Thy Neighbor
While both of these examples are about giving food, “loving your neighbor” is of course about more than just feeding them. To go along with the example that gave away the candy, after the event, they posted a great message about forgiving a group of teens who took some of the candy and then kick down part of the church’s fence.
To me, the message of “love thy neighbor” is about a variety of things. Forgiveness is one of the top things. I also feel like it’s about treating someone as an equal (or even better) without regard to differences. This means not discriminating based on things such as religion, cultural background, age, maritial status, sexual orientation, or a number of other things which may divide rather than unite us.
While this does not mean that you should put yourself in an unsafe situation, it does mean treating people with respect even when you don’t agree with their choices or opinions. Yes, that’s sometimes easier said than done. The beauty of showing this love is that anyone can show love like the Savior did, and anyone can be the reciepent of that love. Loving thy neighbor transcends cultural and religious barriers.
