Brigham Young Advocates Shunning

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” Matthew 5:11

 February 13 — Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 316 “If a child or relative of mine forsakes the Gospel, the holy Priesthood, his God, and the Kingdom of God, farewell to that child or relative, whether near or distant. I own none as relatives, only those who love and serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All that belong to my Father’s house I own. I love them, I delight in their society, no matter whether they are poor or rich, learned or unlearned, if they observe the laws of the Kingdom of God and live according to it.” — January 19, 1862

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1 John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

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Matthew 5:44, 46 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you ⁴⁶ For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”

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Shunning someone because they don’t agree with you about the god you worship isn’t exhibiting godly behavior.

Thinking that you own someone as a friend or relative because they agree with you isn’t godly either. Brigham was exhibiting a totalitarian behavior that has no place in the life of a Christian. Why wasn’t he doing what Jesus said to do?

Sadly, this is what happens even today.

Two families I know lost jobs, homes and loved ones because of this.

For me personally it was a mixed bag. I experienced shunning by many family members.

There were a few people who tolerated me but the deeper they were in the Church the less likely it was they’d associate with me. My grandfather never spoke to me again when I left. My mother only calls if someone in the family has died. I had an uncle who told me he’d miss seeing me at the yearly family reunions but knew it wouldn’t be safe for me to attend.

At times it felt like I being treated like an axe murderer – good grief…

One thing stuck out for me during my exodus that I’ll never forget.

Not long after I became a Christian someone in my Sunday school class handed me a slip of paper when the class had been talking about making fun of others and shunning. The only thing it said was ‘Memorize Acts 15:41. I turned around to see who it was, and he just nodded and smiled.

Acts 5:41 ‘And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.’

Pray for those who go through this and if you know someone who has please come alongside them to support them!

With Love in Christ —

Michelle ✟

1 Corinthians 1:18