The Rainbow Connection

Once upon a time, there was a young Protestant woman who had been studying the teachings of the Mormon church. This young woman had been fervently thinking about the matter and turning over in her mind whether or not the LDS church might really be what it claims to be. Finally, she reached a point where she was just going to pray to God and ask him, and if he told her to join the church, she would leave behind her current faith and do it.
She had been working at her own Protestant church that day, doing some research in the church library, and it was a nice day outside, so she decided it was time. She went outside, found a small grove of trees on the side of the church building, knelt down, and prayed. She asked God that if the LDS church were true, and he wanted her to join it, to give her some kind of sign.
When she opened her eyes, the very first thing she saw was a rainbow in the sky. It was one of the clearest, most beautiful rainbows she had ever seen. For a moment she was actually frightened at the thought that the God of the universe had just answered her so clearly, suddenly, and boldly.
Then she noticed the rainbow’s position. It was forming a nearly perfect arch—over the Roman Catholic Church across the street.
She shook her head, not knowing what to think of the entire thing and wondering if God was just, you know, messing with her.
From then on, whenever she drove to her Protestant church, she would always look to that part of the sky, and that’s when she began to notice that rainbows formed there rather frequently. It probably had something to do with the rainy town’s position at the edge of a valley slope.
So . . . did God speak to the young woman in my story?
(A) Yes, God spoke to her, and the rainbow was his way of telling her to join the Mormon church. Noting the Catholic church and the oft-recurring rainbows was just her way of dismissing a message from God that she didn’t want to hear.
(B) Yes, God spoke to her, and the rainbow was his way of telling her to join (or at least investigate) the Roman Catholic church. Noting the oft-recurring rainbows was just her way of dismissing a message from God that she didn’t want to hear.
(C) Yes, God spoke to her, but the rainbow was just his way of telling her that he has a sense of humor and he likes to tease her sometimes. God didn’t really want her to join any new church.
(D) The rainbow was just a coincidence.
What say ye?

Comments

The Rainbow Connection — 38 Comments

  2. (F) God spoke to her, and we really have no way of knowing what the heck he was trying to say.
    Why-in-the-heck can’t he be a little bit more CLEAR when he answers questions?
  4. I say I like cookie dough.
    Did you want to know what I had to say related to the post? I think it was coincidence, but that God does have a sense of humor and we have trouble figuring out what he has to say.
    And I want more cookie dough.
  8. God was telling her He’d never again destroy the Earth by flood. ;>
  9. For several years now, the only answer I get to prayers, regardless of the question the prayer is asking, is “I love you.” Seriously. Even if I am asking something decidedly specific and laying out a few possible courses of action and asking for a nudge one way or the other. Nuthin’ but “I love you.” It’s certainly nice to know, but it’s not useful in any practical sense (and I don’t question the fact.) So if this woman prayed and got a rainbow, well, that’s about as helpful as the answer I get, and likely to be pleasing to more people, being in public view and all. I’d tell her God loves her. It’s the only thing He’ll tell me.
  10. Thanks for the thoughtful responses so far. Thomas, you win the prize for making me laugh the most.
    I’m gonna give the post another day or so before responding with further thoughts.
  12. Like chanson, my instinct on this one would be (D), followed by (B) and (C), although I’m not certain in what order.
  15. The lesson here, I think, is that whenever someone tells you that they received a message from God, they had to go through the same guessing process that you mentioned above. This means that you (and they) should be careful before doing anything drastic because there is a lot of room for error in these revelations.
    By the way Ms. Jack, have you ever thought of publishing your essays about your experience as an Evangelical at BYU? Someone who did something similar to you has published a book and it has been widely praised. It is called “The Unlikely Disciple” by Kevin Roose. It is about a secular Quaker college student who isn’t sure whether he believes in God or not but who decides to spend a semester at Liberty University. Unlike you, he doesn’t tell people his religious beliefs and the other students just assume that he is a Fundamentalist. He gets a firsthand look at what life at Liberty U is really like and is able to give us his honest view after having spent several months getting to know the students. Beyond just finding out about this one Fundamentalist University, we get to see how a person from one worldview feels after spending so much time in a community of another worldview.
  16. Like chanson, my instinct on this one would be (D), followed by (B) and (C), although I’m not certain in what order.
    I reject the notion that (D) is incompatible with (B) or (C). Or even (A) if that’s what her gut’s telling her.
    This means that you (and they) should be careful before doing anything drastic because there is a lot of room for error in these revelations.
    At least you need to ask yourself “what if I’m wrong?” Ideally that should usually stop you from, say, mudering people based on a sign from God.
  17. I generally don’t believe in signs like that, so I say D. Though it could maybe be F. Mostly because that’s what Katy said, and I agree with basically everything Katy says. ;-)
  18. Jack,
    The answer is obviously “B,” and that person is sinning by not immediately becoming a catechumen in the RCC. Dude, it was a rainbow! How much more evidence do you need?
  20. 16 – I reject the notion that (D) is incompatible with (B) or (C). Or even (A) if that’s what her gut’s telling her.
    Agreed in terms of the phrasing itself, but I suspect the intended sense of (D) is that the appearance of the rainbow was not an attempt by God to communicate any particular message to the individual in question (save, of course, for any general message communicated by all rainbows, as per Thomas’ remark).
    19 – Hard to say… until you see the double rainbow.
    But even then, we must always ask, what does it mean?
  22. Agreed in terms of the phrasing itself, but I suspect the intended sense of (D) is that the appearance of the rainbow was not an attempt by God to communicate any particular message to the individual in question (save, of course, for any general message communicated by all rainbows, as per Thomas’ remark).
    No, I’m actually saying that it can be both a message from the divine and also no such thing at the same time.
  23. 22 – No, I’m actually saying that it can be both a message from the divine and also no such thing at the same time.
    That is a proposal I would have to reject, then, I think. On such an understanding of (D), I could not regard (B^D) or (C^D) to be possible.
  24. That is a proposal I would have to reject, then, I think. On such an understanding of (D), I could not regard (B^D) or (C^D) to be possible.
    Be my guest.
  26. The rainbow is obviously a sign that you are to join a church that gives full rights (and rites) and blessings to GLBTQI persons and relationships, which likely rules out the LDS Church, the RC Church and, I assume(?), your present church. :)
  27. God already stated in the OT the meaning of the rainbow. It was a sign that He would never again do what he had done to the people of the earth in a flood. So, likely God was saying that whatever the mormons were doing, God didn’t want any part of it. :)
  29. I’ll make the case for (A). To do that, I’ll start by arguing against D – B, in reverse order, just for the heck of it.
    D. – I think that this explanation has been used, and could conceivably be used, to explain away most “miracles” or “signs” from God. God uses natural means to create miracles, so people have explained away many miracles as “coincidences” and when they can’t explain them away, they just chalk them up to the devil. What more could Christ have done to prove that He was who He said? The protagonist in your story asked for a sign and received what clearly has been used by God as a sign. Coincidence? I think not.
    C. – God does have a sense of humor, for sure. But, is He in the habit of messing with us, particularly when we ask Him very sincere questions that could affect our eternal progression? No.
    B. – Not likely. The girl did not ask about the Catholic Church. She asked for a sign if God wanted her to join the Mormon Church. If He had wanted to send the message that she should investigate the Catholic Church, why wouldn’t He just have been silent when she asked about the Mormon Church, to avoid confusion? Plus, rainbows can be pretty big and depending on where you’re standing, or kneeling, they could form over just about any building.
    A. – And here we are. The girl requested a sign if the Mormon Church was true and if she should join. The girl received a sign. An immediate sign. And not just any sign; one of the clearest, most beautiful rainbows she had ever seen. Clear? Yes. Sudden? Yes. Bold? Yes. But don’t you think God knows the girl and knew her question before she asked it? And if He wanted her to join the Mormon Church because it would bring her closer to Him, wouldn’t He want to answer her suddenly, clearly and boldly? Of course some would not want the girl to get closer to God, so they might offer alternative explanations – it’s just a coincidence, or it doesn’t mean what you think it means. And of course, God won’t force the girl to do anything she doesn’t want to do. So, He did what the girl asked and gave her a beautiful sign in answer to her question, and then He let her make her own decision.
  31. @Ryan: When Elizabeth Smart was called up to tell her story at her kidnapper’s trial, she said that when she was kidnapped from her house, her kidnapper was soon faced with the task of getting her across an open road so as to climb the mountain. As they were about to cross, a police car came into view. Elizabeth Smart was dragged behind a bush by her kidnapper. He prayed aloud to God that if it was His will that Elizabeth Smart be kidnapped that He let the police are pass by without finding them.
    The police car passed by without seeing either of them. Elizabeth Smart was taken into the mountains, help prisoner, and raped every day for nine months.
    That’s why people need to be careful about interpreting signs. Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper was sure at the time that God was giving His go ahead with the plan. How else would the police officer have missed them, he though? He’s probably still convinced to this day that his time in jail is just a test from God and that he will be vindicated in the end. He is a lesson in why it is important not to view these issues only from the direction that we want, but to consider all angles.
  32. Rollingforest,
    Your example is similar to someone asking God to strike them down if what they’re about to do isn’t OK. The person asking that usually knows that what they’re about to do is wrong but wants some justification. Clearly rape and kidnapping are wrong and contrary to God’s will. But God will normally let people exercise their agency even if they know what they’re doing is wrong. And let’s be fair, Smart’s kidnapper was a mentally deranged individual. His complete misinterpretation of God’s will does not mean that God cannot answer a sincere woman’s prayer to know the truth of the Mormon Church. I think you’re comparing to things that cannot fairly be compared.
  33. We can have a discussion about his mental health, but I think it is important to point out that insanity is not required in order to use Biblical text for evil purposes. Christians used quotes from the Bible to support slavery, laws against inter-racial marriage,and culture against women in the workplace, not to mention the inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the butchery during the Crusades, and the bloody religious wars of the 17th century. The vast majority of these people were perfectly sane and believed they were following God’s orders. And that was from people reading actual books of the Bible. Think of how much more likely that these kind of brutal situations could arise from people who take guesses at the meaning of stimuli in the environment and make major life choices by them like in the original post. The diversity of opinion on this thread alone should queue us in to the danger.
  34. Rollingforest,
    Again, you’re comparing bloody religious crusades to one woman asking to know which Church God wants her to join. Of course people have used religion to “justify” their own evil agendas. That does not mean that God cannot answer a sincere prayer from someone wanting to know the truth. Your comparison really doesn’t make a lot of sense.
  35. If people can use religion to “justify” their own evil agendas, then why can’t they use events (such as the rainbow) to “justify” joining whatever religion they personally want to? Why is a rainbow a more reliable at providing truth than Bible verses? If 19th Century Christians can be honestly confused over whether to allow slavery after reading the Bible, why should we expect people to agree about what a rainbow means?
  36. I thought this was over but I think the dead horse is still twitching so…
    Rollingforest,
    Smart’s kidnapper was insane. People have always and will always use religion to justify atrocities. That doesn’t change the fact that God can still answer sincere prayers. Your argument seems to be that because some people use religion to justify evil, we can never know whether an answer to our prayer is from God. That is false. And my guess is the woman in the story knows whether the rainbow was an answer to her prayer.
    But the real question was what did the woman in the story do? Can you enlighten us Ms. Jack?
  37. Yeah, I know you’ve been vacationing and all that, and don’t want to push you if you still need space, but it’s been half of forever here. How can I ever move on with my tiny little life if I don’t know the end of this story?
  38. I think she’s been divinely inspired that it doesn’t matter which church she chooses. God is above all of them and comes first and foremost. Maybe she’s been invited to follow Him instead of a church!
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