Science Fiction—especially the space-opera type—uses religion as a subtext quite often and mostly, it is not hard to miss. And while I do not think anyone related to the Star Trek franchise ever intended to model—favorably or derisively—the LDS church, someone has found a parallel in the Borg.
This is a derisive appellation and the many of the LDS people I know point to this as just another method of LDS persecution. Others think is humorous, but I wonder if they say so during Sacrament Meeting.
Poking fun at religion is easy and juvenile and not limited to the LDS. Holy Roller, Papist, Mackerel Snapper, God Squad, and so on. The LDS church also states that it is incorrect to say they are not Christian because their church is named after Jesus—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This one baffles me. A rose by any other name, Shakespeare said. If Satan himself wanted to start a church to deceive Christians, what would he name it? Besides, the LDS church is not alone in professing Christ while being called non-Christian. I am. NO, it does not feel good, but you get over it.
OK, to the Borg. The term used for the LDS is “Morg.” Undeniably, the most clever mushing together of two words I have ever seen. one which befits Sarah Palin’s “refudiate,” the difference being Sarah didn’t know what she was doing, the guy who coined “Morg” did.
There are two aspects to this: collective thinking and unrivaled growth.
The Borg, one of the more interesting “characters” in the Star Trek franchise, are cybernetically enhanced humanoid drones organized as an interconnected collective, linked by subspace radio frequencies in a hive-mind with no centralized decision making authority. They are incredibly aggressive in assimilating other entities, assimilating all they come in contact into the Borg. Seven of Nine was a Borg and Captain Picard was at least partially assimilated. A very interesting story line. Google it and read about them, or better, watch the shows. They and Q are two extremely interesting recurring “villains” in the franchise.
We are the Borg. . .We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
Captain Picard: We’ve made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back.
Ok, the LDS connections:
Assimilation into the collective hive mind:
From the Ward Teachers’ Message for June, 1945,“SUSTAINING THE GENERAL AUTHORITIES OF THE CHURCH” :
Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the “prophets, seers, and revelators” of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy. One cannot speak evil of the Lord’s anointed and retain the Holy Spirit in his heart.
It should be remembered that Lucifer has a very cunning way of convincing unsuspecting souls that the General Authorities of the Church are as likely to be wrong as they are to be right. This sort of game is Satan’s favorite pastime, and he has practiced it on believing souls since Adam. He wins a great victory when he can get members of the Church to speak against their leaders and to “do their own thinking.” He specializes in suggesting that our leaders are in error while he plays the blinding rays of apostasy in the eyes of those whom he thus beguiles. What cunning! And to think that some of our members are deceived by this trickery.
The following words of the Prophet Joseph Smith should be memorized by every Latter-day Saint and repeated often enough to insure their never being forgotten:
I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 156-157.) When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan–it is God’s plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God.
See the LDS web page here for more information.
Hive mind? I know a lot of independent LDS people, but this is the source of the comment. Not going to defend or rebut this.
Growth of the Church
We have heard the LDS say that theirs is the fastest growing church in the world and that this is evidence of the truthfulness of their godspell and that eventually all will be LDS. Hence the “resistance is futile” reference.
This aspect is probably mocking the LDS position because, while it claims it is the fastest growing church, the truth of the matter is that it is not. Maybe at one time, it was, but now, the Assemblies of God Church and the Seventh-Day Adventists are growing at two to three times the claimed growth rate of the LDS church. Further, most new churches are not in denominations, being proudly non-denominational. And lastly, the statistics of membership of churches in general are dubious at best. People tend to stay on the rolls when they quit attending. This is true of the LDS church especially because of the difficulties in having one’s name removed.
About 12 years after I left it, I got a call from the local bishop asking if I wanted my name off the rolls and when I said yes, he told me I would need to come in for a “Bishop’s Court” in order to effectuate the removal. I told him that was his problem, not mine, and I frankly do not know—nor do I care—what they did. The point is the process is time consuming and most just don’t bother.
The LDS church claims to have 14 million members worldwide, of which about 6 million are in the United States. Estimates are that about half are active in any sense of the word and half of those are not “Temple Worthy.”
Resistance is futile? Islam is at about the same level in the United States and is probably the fastest growing religion in the world, truth of which, or of any, to be determined by someone other than me.
petriesan 