Glenn Beck's "Twelve Values": #3 Hope

Paul Derengowski, ThM

Hope. A lot of people say that I don't have a lot of hope. I do. The opposite of hope is death, destruction, despair, but hope is just a belief in the potential, just a belief in America's promise. But you have to know what that promise is. You have to know what America is. That goes back to the nine values -- the nine principles. Get the nine principles. You know who you are, you know what America. That's where your hope comes from. There will be a brighter tomorrow. It's what helps a single mom get up every day: Hope.—Glenn Beck

Beck's view of hope is as incoherent and misleading as his previous comments about honesty and reverence. And then when he tries to relate his "Nine Principles" to the subject of hope, which only makes things worse. True hope is not based upon human autonomy, which is a Mormon principle, or upon Beck's Mormon-influenced "Nine Principles" either. Hope is based upon that which is objectively real, and Mormonism, as already seen in previous posts, postulates a fictitious and/or contradictory approach to reality where honesty is based on relative convenience and reverence is based on a god who is not there. Therefore, whatever hope Beck is pontificating about is equally fictitious, relative, and non-existent as well.

Nevertheless, let me expand a bit on the Mormon idea of hope, since Glenn Beck is a Mormon. I will use the late Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine as a guide to demonstrate just how vacuous Beck's hope "value" truly is. McConkie states that hope "is the desire of faithful people to gain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God hereafter." Those familiar with Mormon tenets know that McConkie is saying that genuine hope pertains to the Mormon, who is "faithful" to the laws and ordinances of the church, and that through the process of obeying everything the Mormon Church has to say will "gain eternal salvation" (meaning Individual Salvation) as a god, and will live in the Celestial kingdom with God, as opposed to the rest of humanity that will live in either the Telestial or Terrestrial kingdoms due to their lack of faithfulness. Sounds hopefully inviting, doesn't it?

McConkie continues by stating that, "Hope is always centered in Christ." The problem here, though, is that the Mormon "Christ," as seen before when I discussed "Heavenly Father's" non-existence, due to the infinite regression of gods and goddesses leading back to nothing, is a part of the very same chain of beings. Hence, without a first god in the Mormon chain, then Jesus himself could not be a god either. Moreover, since the Mormon Christ is of the same essence as all the other "intelligences" (i.e., you and I), or "the same race" of being, then there is nothing that sets him apart as the special "anointed one." Factor in the diabolical element, that Jesus is Satan's brother, as Mormons believe, and the whole concept of centering one's hope in Christ is pure nonsense.

"There is only one true hope…and the saints are commanded to acquire it," states McConkie. And just how does a Mormon acquire hope? He acquires it through his legalistic efforts. Nothing is free in Mormonism. If anyone expects to have hope or a relationship with God, then it must be merited. The conflicting aspect of the endeavor, as nearly every former Mormon will tell you, is that one never really knows when/if one has done enough to merit anything, much less hope or a relationship. It is a never ending trek of constant failure to live up to the legalisms that the Mormon hierarchy places before its members, which in turn only leads to despair, depression, and hopelessness. It is one of the reasons why the State of Utah, which is heavily influenced by Mormon teaching, regularly leads the nation in mental illness and suicide. Yet, the Glenn Beck Mormon apologist-types want people to be hopeful, when their Mormon worldview is in reality hopeless.

McConkie then argues that "Hope is born of righteousness." Unfortunately, once again, due to the legalistic structure of Mormonism, which is devoid of a biblical understanding of God's grace, righteousness before God is a complete impossibility. Righteousness cannot be achieved through personal merit via the Law and good works, otherwise as the apostle Paul wrote, Christ died in vain (Gal. 2:21). But McConkie, Beck, and the rest of the Mormon faithful are under the delusion that self-righteousness breeds hope, when as already noted, it actually breeds just the opposite; it breeds despair.

Then McConkie tells us, "Faith and hope are inseparable." In a biblical sense he would be correct. But, Mormonism is not a biblical religion, and the Mormon concept of faith has nothing to do with complete and unfettered dependence upon God. It has to do with the complete and unfettered reliance upon one's efforts to "acquire" hope and approval from God through one's self-righteous acts. So, not only does the Mormon worldview demonstrate a totally flawed concept of hope, it demonstrates a distorted concept of faith as well.

Finally, McConkie turns to the Book of Mormon, and quotes the little demon, Moroni (the angel-tooting character adorning the tops of Mormon Temples), as his final source of authority. In essence the quote deals with faith and belief in God. Yet, as has already been explicated several times before, Mormonism's view of God is so foreign to the biblical understanding, that one might as well be placing their faith and belief in Alice in Wonderland than in "Heavenly Father."

So, Glenn Beck's idea of hope is incoherent, misleading, and ultimately meaningless. It fosters not only a counterfeit out of touch with reality, those who mindlessly subscribe to it without taking into account just where Beck gets his definition of hope are destined to fall into the same hopelessness and despair that is characteristic of just what Mormonism is all about. And even though Beck wants people to believe that he has hope, if Beck had the courage to actually sit down and have an honest and open discussion about just what it is that his hope is in, it would not be long before he had to confess that what he calls hope is nothing more than wishful thinking predicated on an autonomy that is going nowhere, except for maybe straight to hell.

NEXT: Glenn Beck on Thrift