Is Anyone Else Tired of P.D.H?

I, like Nephi was born of goodly parents. Not a day went by when we didn’t gather together in family prayer. Often as a family we studied the scriptures and we were so consistent in our church attendance that to even this day the back left pew is known as ours. Maybe we didn’t regularly hold Family Home Evening on Mondays, but we were always together anyways. I guess you could say that I am the typical Mormon male; a twenty-two year old return missionary who, with my mother’s help, earned his eagle scout at 14, and now finds himself at the Mecca for Mormon youth, Brigham Young University. As a sophomore, I haven’t spent as much time here as some, but during the past two years something about this campus has become clear. It’s suffering from a bad case of P.D.H. Yes you read that correctly, P.D.H. as in “Public Displays of Holiness”.

Now let me explain, P.D.H is a term I coined to refer to what I feel are unnecessary acts of religious devotion in the public domain. Not only do I feel that such displays are not needed, but I also believe that true worship is a personal and private matter and not for the wooing of the opposite sex. Christ the Lord explained it this way in Matthew 6:1, “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven.” I am not advocating that we remove religious devotion from this campus because that would defeat the purpose of this institution. What I am saying is that there are those among us who may offer their alms before men for their praise, and more specifically to single students for dates. This must change.

As I mentioned before, my family gathered in daily prayer. I can’t ever remember sitting down around the table and not saying a blessing on a carefully prepared meal. Growing up I figured we prayed over our food so that it would “bless and strengthen us and do us the good that we need”-don’t even get me started on that overused phrase-, but as I matured I realized that more importantly we prayed around the table to give thanks for the food that was before us, for the time and energy it took to make it possible, the care of the cook, the nutritional value of the meal and the energy it would give us to continue to experience the life that God gave us.

So why is it then that I have seen students pull hot pockets out of the microwave, get ready to take a bite and then notice the eyes around them and before beginning to eat, half bow their heads, partially close their eyes and say a quick prayer standing in the middle of a crowded room? I thankfully cannot tell what such a student’s true intentions are, but I can imagine that they’re not giving thanks for the nutritional value of a hot pocket assembled at some factory in the mid-west by a guy wearing a hairnet. Sure we all want to make and keep friends that are spiritually uplifting and nobody at BYU wants to date a spiritual slob, but I wonder if even the good Lord can make maltodextrin or thiamin mononitrate “bless and strengthen our bodies and do us the good that we need”. So I ask, is this P.D.H justifiable?

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have the privilege to publicly share our beliefs in front of a large body of like believers once a month. Let’s keep it that way. A testimony is vital in our personal conversion and in the conversion of others. It is a gift that God gives us through His holy spirit after we have studied and prayed hard enough to receive it. If used properly a testimony can help and inspire others, and ourselves, but if misused the opposite can be achieved. Much too often I have found myself in the middle of a classroom discussion about the secular side of education and have been interrupted by a well meaning student who, for personal religious reasons, -reasons most of us, including the teacher, agree with- argues with the professor on gospel grounds.

Allow me to illustrate. Last week in my mass media class we were talking about the “7 Truths of Media” that state everything has been done before and that nothing is completely “new”. That’s when some clean cut kid, probably a month removed from the mission field gets up and says he disagrees because prophets and apostles can receive new revelations from God. Anyone disagree with that? I didn’t think so. But how does that help the class understand mass media and prepare for the final exam? I’m sure this student meant well, but the cynic in me can’t help but wonder if he got up and said what he said to impress the unsuspecting freshman girl at his side who would decide that a man with such a fervent testimony would make a great father to her future children.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love being a Mormon. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be living in Provo and studying at BYU, but I think that at times we get carried away in our beliefs because we live in such a predominate LDS environment. Because there is little religious opposition, we can become overly comfortable bringing religion where it might not belong for reasons other than the edifying of our fellow saints. Remember the Lord’s words to Joseph Smith found in Doctrine and Covenants 63:64? He said, “Remember, that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit . . .” If the gospel teachings are truly in our hearts, then we don’t need to wear them flamboyantly across our chests for all those around us to see. Not only does P.D.H make some students uncomfortable, but it also goes against the Lord’s counsel. Let us be the saints that God knows we can become, but let us not lose sight of common sense and misuse our beliefs in order to secure plans for Friday night.