Pedestool

     You know it's bad when your college English professor butchers a word. This one in particular actually does this quite a bit, so it wasn't too surprising when he said "pedestool" instead of "pedestal." But it still drew my attention enough to write it down on my list of future blog posts, and it even beat out my many other, much older ideas, so this slip of the tongue must have really struck me.
     A pedestal is an elevated base on which something is mounted, like a statue, monument, or column. My favorite synonym of "pedestal" is "plinth," just so you know. And the phrase, "To put someone on a pedestal" means to hold them up, think highly of, respect, reverence, or even worship them. Obviously, we shouldn't worship anyone other than God the Father in the name of Christ, but we can certainly admire and emulate. We have been commanded to be examples of the believers and to let our light shine (1 Timothy 4:12, Matthew 5:16), and as part of that, we would do well to follow the examples of believers and find strength in the light of others. But sometimes we forget that we're all mortals, and none of us is perfect. So while God and Christ are perfect on their pedestals, us men and women often fall short. We try to be on pedestals in order to help those around us, but it becomes very easy to be scrutinized, criticized, and demonized for our human imperfections.
     When I hear "pedestool," it gives me the connotation of something not so elevated (like a stool). It feels low and demeaning. It feels cheap. It's where we put people when we think less of them because they failed us, or maybe simply because they're not perfect.
     I'm tempted to do this with an English teacher who messes up with English. I do, too, but they're professors. They went to college and got Ph.Ds. I would have thought I could expect more from them.
     But is it really fair to hold such high expectations over their heads? Can we demand perfection from anyone in this world, especially when we're so imperfect ourselves? Just because somebody lives in the spotlight doesn't mean we have the right to criticize every move they make. They will still always be imperfect humans. We don't have the right to people up to such imperfect standards of perfection.
     I've thought about this concept today in context of what we learned in the third and final hour of our church meetings: Joseph Smith. For those who think we worship Joseph Smith, we do not. I understand that it may be confusing, but we worship only God in the name of Christ. We don't devote much of our time talking about Joseph Smith, but when we do, we remember how instrumental he was in restoring Christ's Church to the earth in these latter days. Many people attack the prophet Joseph because of his imperfections, but to me, those very things endear me to him as the mouthpiece of the Lord. In a way, revering him as a prophet, we are placing him on a pedestal. And those who recognize (correctly) that Joseph was mortal and imperfect take those imperfections and demand that he be lowered onto a pedestool--a place where he can be reviled and shamed.

     We make no effort to hide Joseph Smith's flaws, and he is not the subject of our worship. He was no more than a man, but he was no less than the prophet of God. But we don't think that men have to be perfect to be prophets. Even anciently, prophets were just men trying to figure out how to lead God's people. They were incredibly spiritual and righteous, but they were imperfect and relied heavily on the Lord's grace. Moses killed a man; Paul (as Saul) ordered the executions of all Christians; and Peter cut off a guy's ear and was earned the rebuke, "Get thee behind me, Satan," from Christ Himself. Yet somehow, we expect Joseph Smith to uphold a level of perfection unprecedented by any other prophet in history.
     To that, I echo the words of an Apostle, Elder Neil L. Anderson: "For now, give Brother Joseph a break! In a future day, you will have 100 times more information than from all of today’s search engines combined, and it will come from our all-knowing Father in Heaven (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/faith-is-not-by-chance-but-by-choice?lang=eng).
     Thanks to the work restored by the prophet Joseph Smith, we have the promise that families can be together forever, we know about the doctrines of resurrection and our pre-mortal existence, and we know the steps God would have us take in order to reach His kingdom. Joseph was not perfect, but he was called of God to bring forth a mighty work, and that's exactly what he did. Thanks be to God for the prophet Joseph.
     Christ taught that we will know men by their fruits. One of the main fruits of Joseph Smith in The Book of Mormon, available for free from any missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and you can ask for one on mormon.org. Joseph Smith was no more than a man, but he was no less than a prophet of God. His teachings bring me closer to Christ, and for that, despite his imperfections, I will never disregard him by putting him on a pedestool.

The testimony of another Apostle, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, regarding The Book of Mormon: