It is important to help students understand that while
the church doctrinally is perfect, the individual
people within the church are not.
The classic case from church history is the story of
Symonds Ryder who left the church, partially because
his name was spelled wrong (see D&C 52:37).
As Susan Easton Black (Susan Easton Black et al.,
Doctrines for Exaltation: The 1989 Sperry Symposium
on the Doctrine and Covenants, p.271) relays this story:
"The Lord called Symonds Ryder on a mission.
Unfortunately Joseph Smith's scribe who wrote
the letter notifying him of the call misspelled
his name. Symonds Ryder complained about the Spirit
that called him on a mission. If it could not spell
his name correctly, then perhaps it erred in calling
him on a mission. And so he refused to go. His name
is still not spelled correctly in the Doctrine and
Covenants and other Church publications."
The "Encyclopedia of Latter-Day Saint History" provides
some additional details:
"After hearing the Prophet Joseph Smith bear his
testimony and following a prophecy by a Mormon girl
about an earthquake in China, Symonds was baptized
in early June 1831 and ordained an elder on 6 June
of that year. Shortly afterward, Symonds was called
to the ministry, replacing Heman Basset (D&C 52:37).
Upon receiving his letter of official commission to
preach, however, his name was spelled R-i-d-e-r
instead of R-y-d-e-r. Symonds concluded that those
who erred in spelling his name could also err in
spiritual matters. This and other misgivings about
the Church and its leadership led to his apostasy
after only three months."
The experience of Symonds Ryder was brought to my mind
last night -- as my wife and I were on a speaker phone
listening to our son, who's attending Brigham Young
University, open his mission call.
Somewhere between the online application process with
his bishop and stake president and his mission call
actually being printed and mailed to him from the
Missionary Department in Salt Lake City, someone
(or something) changed the "language" field from
English to French.
The mission call he opened last night and all of the
additional information telling him about his mission
-- were in French (a language he doesn't understand).
Instead of challenging the validity of his call and
questioning how something like this could happen,
it was gratifying to hear him take this surprise
in stride and work with his friends (some of whom
spoke smatterings of French) to try to decipher
where he was going to serve and when he was supposed
to report to the Missionary Training Center.
None of us are perfect, and the sooner our students
learn to distinguish between eternal truths and
imperfect people the better off they'll be in the
long run.
As Elder Neal A. Maxwell noted (Ensign, May 1975,
p. 101):
"...while the Church’s doctrines are constant
and perfect, its people are not... learn from
mistakes rather than brooding over them, and
... help others to do the same."
(And, by the way, our son has been called to serve
in the Fiji Suva Mission!)
Best wishes,
Ken
