Black Robes of a False Priesthood

Mentors: two of the finest thyroidologists in the world.
 I'm honored to have both President and Past-President of ACE as friends. 

This month I got to participate in the Convocation of the American College of Endocrinology (ACE) for the first time since I was inducted as a Fellow many years ago. It was a great privilege to recognize 90 inductees that had spent more than a decade working for this honor. This time I got to put on some pretty sweet robes and march behind the other members of the Board of Directors  and the President of the College. He led us forth carrying an ornate ceremonial mace into the ballroom. While we marched a string quartet played classical music. It was all very official, and very stirring.

The august occasion reminded me a famous commencement speech delivered by Hugh Nibley at the 1983 graduation ceremony at BYU (I wasn't there, but read it here). In it, Nibley quoted himself from a prayer he gave at commencement 23 years earlier:

"We have met here today clothed in the black robes of a false priesthood."

False priesthoods come adorned in a wide array of robes and accoutrements. The robes of scholarship (we were commemorating those of the ACE) are one of the most disarming of these false priesthoods. Motivated by high ideals and a fervent search for truth, scholarship seems beyond reproach: like motherhood and apple pie. Scholarship--especially when dressed in it's fancy robes--strives to make our world safer, healthier, happier and more convenient. Nevertheless, the robes of scholarship represent a false priesthood that promises to change the world, but cannot save it. Nibley calls it "borrowed finery coming down to us through a long line of unauthorized imitators."   

Part of what makes a false priesthood such a convincing shill is how closely it resembles legitimate priesthood. Legitimate priesthood is conferred on those that are deemed worthy, by those in authority. The ACE grants Fellowship to its ranks in the same way. In both cases, the honor comes with rights and responsibilities. The critical difference is that the authority of legitimate priesthood comes from God. As the ACE attends to the matters of treating disease and promoting health to lengthen mortality, legitimate priesthood will continue to work "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It's good to be part of both efforts, but important to remember which matters most. 

Applehood and Mother Pie

What's Not To Love?

I attended a Strategic Planning meeting for our the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists a couple of months ago and spent a weekend with a group of very bright and opinionated endocrinologists. During this time  we tried to read the tea leaves and divine where the current health reform efforts would leave patients and their endocrinologists. A big goals was to try to keep patients healthy and still be able to earn a living. In all honesty it was very frightening and kind of discouraging. At one point in a very long day, one of the senior members of the Board of Directors took a moment to give an impassioned plea and encourage us to action. His words  perfectly captured the sentiments of the group. Sensing this, he said 'I'm talking about applehood and mother pie people.'

Astoundingly, nobody paused for a second at hearing this fantastic spoonerism.  The group, roused by his stirring speech, kept on task and we completed our work. But the concept of applehood and mother pie has got me thinking (here and here for related posts). My colleague had everyone's agreement. Both motherhood and apple pie were beyond awesome. But that's not what he said.  The energy of the moment and his fluency of speech made it easy to hear what he intended, and to miss what he actually said.

So it is in life.  Nuances, shrouded in lofty terms and ideals can change the substance of a message. So often they go unnoticed and unchallenged. We unwittingly agree--or remain silent--despite the absurdity. If it is bloviate (yet inspiring none-the-less) speech at a Board meeting it's harmless enough. Not so if it is part of Satan's carefully orchestrated counterfeiting system which "[has] a form of godliness, but [denies] the power thereof (JS-H 1:19)." Consider the advice of James E. Talmage:

Satan has shown himself to be an accomplished strategist and a skilful imitator; the most deplorable of his victories are due to his simulation of good, whereby the undiscerning have been led captive. Let no one be deluded with the thought that any act, the immediate result of which appears to be benign, is necessarily productive of permanent good. It may serve the dark purposes of Satan to play upon the human sense of goodness, even to the extent of healing the body and apparently of thwarting death. (James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, pg. 232)

To attempt to compile a list of spiritual spoonerisms belabors the point and probably also cheapens it. Suffice it to say that if we're not very careful, Satan will have us rallying behind him with pitchforks and torches as we rush in to defend applehood and mother pie.