“Beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3

There is something about studying the past that gives us the false notion that we are now better off than “they” were. We need to be humble enough to recognize, through literature from the past, that what was taught then could apply to us now.

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Our Mormon roots mirror those of the Reformation. Martin Luther found himself sincerely questioning the practices of the Catholic Church. His intentions did not come from a place of wanting to destroy the church, rather from a desire to free the people from the chains the priests had around them. Luther argued that because the Bible was the only source of religious truth, the people had a right to read and interpret it however they saw fit. It was, of course, with the help of the printing press that Luther managed to accrue followers.

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Martin Luther no doubt paved the way for Joseph Smith to do, in his way, the same thing that Luther did: dare to question the churches around him. Just like Martin Luther, Joseph Smith was sincere when he went to the Lord in prayer, asking which of the churches he should join. 

Both of these men had the simplicity of the gospel as a goal. Martin Luther took a stance against all the pageantry of the Catholic Church, and Joseph Smith restored a church that began in simplicity. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is set apart from most other churches because both the outward appearance of the church buildings and the outward appearance of our chapels are almost too simple. Many investigators of our church find this disturbing. 

 Hugh Latimer’s “Sermon on the Plowers” reminded me that although the Mormon Church is more outwardly simple than most, I believe we, who are members of it, are guilty of straying from the simplicity of the gospel in much the same way those believers in the past were. Are we, as Latter-day Saints, seeing the mote in our brother’s eye, all the while ignoring the beam that is in our eye? I’m sorry to say that I believe we are.

Could Latimer, if he were here today, write this about us:

            Down with crosses, up with expensive paintings of Christ;

            Down with the outward addictions of others, up with the inward judgments we
            possess;

            Down with the behaviors of the unbelievers, up with the actions of a Pharisee;

            Down with seeking worldly riches, up with accumulating pride in the name of
            success;

            Down with the pageantry of churches, up with the opulence of our homes;

            Down with lying, cheating, and sinning, up with saying we are honest in our
            dealings with our fellow man.

In Peter’s post on “Be Thou an example of the Believers,” he quotes the scripture by Paul that says, “Be ye not conformed to the world.” My observation and fear is that we, as Latter-day Saints, are indeed conforming to the world and sadly, we don’t seem to notice.

In his post on “The Plowman,” Carson asks, “Are we turning away from the plow?” Let us be very careful in assuming that we are not, and that Christ sees us as one of his plowmen. We may be wrong. 

Pageantry vs. Simplicity

In The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Martin Luther discusses Catholic mass. He accuses the church of taking something that was originally simple and adding devotions to men by way of vestments, ornaments, chants, prayers, organs, and candles. He calls it the pageantry of outward things; a pageantry that helps turn our eyes away from the word of Christ.

Luther makes a good point when he says that “the more closely our mass resembles that first mass of all, which Christ performed at the Last Supper, the more Christian it will be.” By this, he means to dispense with all the worldly pageantry that takes away from the focus on Christ as our redeemer.

Luther wasn’t looking to convince people to revile the church for the embellishments, rather he simply did not want them to be deceived by the glamour of the ceremonies; thereby losing the simplicity of the mass itself.

As I read Luther’s feelings about the pageantry of the Catholic church, I pictured myself sitting in a Catholic church for my first and only time. I was in my late teens, and had had no exposure to religion, nor had I ever stepped foot in any church before. I will never forget how uncomfortable I felt because of the display of pageantry. At that moment, I confirmed with myself that I was being smart by not being a religious person.

Fast forward about four years. I finally agree to attend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormon Church. The first thing I noticed as I entered the chapel, and for that matter, the building itself, was the lack of pageantry. There were no stained-glass windows, statues of Christ, crosses, nor men dressed in robes. I knew, right then and there, that this was the kind of church I could be a part of.

I dare say that Martin Luther paved the way for the simplicity and lack of pageantry in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I, for one, am so much more comfortable focusing only on Christ and not on outward displays of religion. 

A Return to Simplicity

I served my mission in Oklahoma City, and while serving I had many opportunities to do "church swaps."  This is where my companion and I would attend the different services of our investigators, and they would attend ours.  Doing this on my mission was the first time in my life visiting different denominations, and it was extremely eye opening to me.  

In many areas that I served in, we met for church in a trailer.  (Keep in mind, I was serving in tiny little towns in rural Oklahoma).  This was a large contrast from the other churches we would visit that were so much more beautifully designed and more eloquently decorated.  From the stained class, to the elaborate sermons, to the rich paintings, and tall ceilings, the other churches seemed to be much more put together than our little trailer that would hold 20 people max.  

Why do I bring this up?  Well, in reading Martin Luther’s, The Babylonian Captivity, I noted that one of Luther’s biggest hang-ups with the church was that it was too distracting from Christ.  He believed that the whole pageantry of outward things needed to be put away including ornaments, chants, prayers, organs, vestments, etc.  He called for a return to Christ, which was ultimately a return to simplicity.  When I read this, my mind went back to the days in my mission visiting churches that resembled this. 

As beautiful as the many churches that we visited were, they were lacking many key components of Christ’s church, that I believe are found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When it comes to following Christ, it is all about simplicity. 

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