I feel that there is more clarity needed in the story and that the whole picture isn’t shown. Just like when people pull partial verses or verses out of context of the Book of Mormon.

She may have had days where her faith waivered, I cannot say, but I’d like to know the truth not just an article where someone grabbed snippets supposedly written by her.

Listen — Lookit. Nothing is more important than promoting the three-fold mission of the church. Nothing. Not even being respectful to a charitable woman who committed her life to loving and serving others. Nothing. [insert satrical ‘boing sound’ here]Get it?

(especially about the “fake” part)

Mother Theresa is a hero of mine. I love to hear her speak and read her writings. I love to learn of her life. She is a beautiful person through and through and full of the Spirit of Christ.

If someone quoted you just now and posted it all over the internet as an example of a Mormon, what would they think?

Indeed you are right that the three-fold mission of the church is all-important. But you are no more helping ’spread the word’ than you would be if you cursed out those who you wish to preach to. Your manner is insulting and will in no way benefit the mission of the church. So I believe it is I not YOU who see are defending that mission from folks like you who hurt our cause with their manner.

I am a member of the Church, and I know it to be the only true Church on the face of the earth. It is our duty, as members, to spread that to the rest of the world, but we do not do so by destroying their faith or speaking evil of their leaders. Mother Theresa was not evil. Her actions and her faith, as shown even despite her doubts, demonstrate that she was faithful to God and Christ in all that she understood (those last 5 words are key), and for that we cannot fault her. It is inappropriate for you to do so in your article above, especially when you present yourself as a representative of our Church.

To cover the other topic, in your response, you stated “So you think it’s ok to doubt God?” Concerning doubting God, I believe that to some degree we all do. If this were not the case, we’d all have our calling and election made sure because our faith would be perfect. Doubting God is an obstacle we should all strive to overcome, and we should not condemn others because they still have doubts. Christ didn’t, but reminded even His Apostles that they must overcome their doubts or “unbelief.” Were His Apostles condemned by Him? No. They followed His counsel and kept improving and increasing their faith until their doubts were removed. So, while doubting God isn’t “ok,” it is a natural part of our growth process in this life.

Brother Knudsen, in keeping with the doctrines established in Scripture and to honor my duties as a holder of the Melchezidek Priesthood, I call you to repent of your pride. You stated: Every knee shall bow and every tounge confess that I AM RIGHT (emphasis added). I believe the correct quote goes: Every knee shall bow and every tounge confess that JESUS IS THE CHRIST (emphasis added). You also stated: “somehow, I …(should)… apologize?” This statement, in and of itself, shows a despicable amount of pride in your heart. I also call you to repentance for spreading false doctrine. Loving God and loving our fellow man are the most important things, the “first (two) and great commandments,” not the 3-fold mission of the Church. While it is very important to us, as members of the Church, and it is our calling to fulfill with that 3-fold mission, we cannot do so by destroying the faith of others we wish to spread the gospel to, or disrespecting the dead we seek to redeem, for this prevents us from perfecting the saints. It is contrary to our mission. I pray you will review your comments and listen to the Spirit. Repent, Brother, otherwise the Spirit we’ve discussed may depart from you.

While I recognize that I don’t know you from Adam, I still share the love of Christ for you, and that is my sole purpose in writing the above. I only seek the welfare of your soul, and I hope you will humbly continue on your journey to know our Savior. May God open your heart and bless you to understand my purpose in writing this; not to condemn you, but only to call you to repentance.

So many different ways I could respond to this, but let’s just go straight up — for the first (and possibly the last) time.

I, Stephen Erastus Knudsen III, am a fictitious character created for the sake of satire. I take ridiculous positions and go to absurd extremes in an attempt to skewer certain ridiculous, extreme points of view.

In other words, I (the man behind the mask) do not really think it is appropriate to use Mother Teresa’s admission of doubt as a missionary tool. Of course not. That is why Knudsen’s position is so monstrous. When this Mother Teresa story came out last August, I heard some people make comments like this at church — it was repulsive to me — so I took it to the extreme in this post.

Many people don’t get satire. Many people don’t even appreciate it when they do get it. But just to be very clear here — pretty much everything that comes from Elder Stephen Erastus Knudsen III is intended to be way way way over the top. It is meant to be ridiculous. Some people spot that immediately and join in with the gag. Others do not.

Some people say that satire like this is dangerous, because people might come across it on the internet, and not understand it, and go away thinking that if this is how mormons are, then they don’t want to have anything to do with the mormon church. I’m not worried about that. I trust people’s ability to look and say ‘that Knudsen guy is an idiot’ without casting a stain on the entire face of the church. And when it comes down to it, I guess I just don’t really take myself all that seriously. I don’t have any noble illusions that I am changing the world in one way or another. I’m just having fun with satire — taking shots at certain points of view that make me nuts (and I do make a distinction between the points of view and the people who hold them). I have really liked it when people have come on this blog and had fun with it, too. Even in your message — while I didn’t get the sense that you were “having fun with satire” — you certainly got the message (as did Heather and Davescaped and maybe others who didn’t comments) that this kind of attitude is repugnant. That gives me a certain degree of satisfaction.

My first instinct when I read your message was to reply in Stephen’s voice to show how closely Stephen would agree with you on certain points (I could have had a lot of fun with the gift of the holy ghost difference between members and non-members and the ability of non-members to feel the spirit so they can eventually join us and be the only true ones, too) — especially the fine line you took between “condemning” and “calling to repentance” (stephen loves doing that) and your bold declaration that you know that this is “the only true Church on the face of the earth” — a very Knudsen-esque statement. He would definitely agree.

Statements like “only true church” — to my ears at least — have the potential to put down too many sincere people all over the world. I’m pretty sure you don’t intend it that way. Most people I know in the church don’t. They are just stating how incredibly important the church is to them, and this is the most meaningful way they know to do that.

I recognize that it is not very kind of me to imply that such statements are ridiculous, or absurd (i.e. worthy of satire). But it seems like such an incredibly elitist and exclusive position to take — that we are the only true church on the face of the earth (we might as well continue that thought by saying that all other chruches are an abomination before God — oh, hang on, that’s already been done). It just makes me embarrassed to be a faithful, believing Mormon every time I hear it.

(Of course Stephen would respond that if I really WAS a faithful believing Mormon, I wouldn’t feel embarrassed — he would imply there is something wrong with me. No, strike that. He wouldn’t imply. He would come right out and say it — accuse me of pretending to be faithful like a wolf in sheep’s clothing).

I too am a member of the church, and it is very meaningful to me. However, I do not know that it is the only true Church. I don’t even know if the basic claims of the church are true. A lot of things are problematic to me, and I have some legitimate doubts. But I move forward in faith and I believe that the teachings and the intentions of the church are right and good. But I don’t know anything for sure, and I really wish that people in the church would change their rhetoric to a more faith-based testimony than a knowledge-based testimony. You made a move in this direction with your “calling and election made sure” statement, but then it was right back to knowledge.

Personally, I think there is much more tolerance and humilty in not knowing — in the flawed and imperfect desire for things hoped for but not seen, and while I think we pay lip service to the idea of faith, hope, and belief, if we all stood up at fast and testimony meeting and said “I hope the church is true” we would think it sounded very wishy-washy, and others who think they “know” would “tsk tsk’ that the person who “only hopes” is just in the primary stages of a great journey that they themselves have nearly perfected. The pride you see in Knudsen is the pride I associate with the rhetoric of knowledge — which, unfortunately, is the dominant traditional rhetoric in the church.

There is more I could say, but let me just end by thanking you — sincerely — for taking the time to write and share what you did. It’s why I decided to just respond straight up instead of skewering some of your messages as I normally would have done. I want to quote one of your statements that really sums up nicely the core of my testimony and what is — believe it or not — ultimately behind this Knudsen satire:

Loving God and loving our fellow man are the most important things… not the 3-fold mission of the Church.

Amen. I am admitedly not very good at this, but I couldn’t agree more.

while I can’t say I am at the same place in regards to my faith/belief in the LDS church, I wholeheartedly agree that such “denominational pride” is awful.

Thanks for highlighting this.