Glenn Beck's "Twelve Values": # 7 Sincerity

Paul Derengowski, ThM

Sincerity. Just live what you believe. Obama wants us to be more charitable. Joe Biden wants us to be more charitable. Joe Biden's never paid more than .8% of his income to charity. Obama just started to do it when he was running for president, and he's giving, what, 7% of his salary? Good for him. Now when nobody's watching Barack Obama, when you're long past the time that you were president, will you still be giving? I'm going to—I'll say yes. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that, yes, you'll still be giving. But that's what sincerity really truly is all about. Be sincere. Live what you believe.—Glenn Beck

Given all the recent comments about honesty, reverence, hope, and humility, all of which were discussed by Beck, yet with the convenience of failing to mention the Mormon foundation from which he speaks, does it not seem that when Beck turns to sincerity that his "value" rings shallow? Please note he wants everyone else to be sincere, which requires, among other things, an upfront disclosure of what one believes, and a purity of motives when discussing them, yet he continues to be covert in what he really believes and his lack of full disclosure casts an appearance of ulterior motive. In other words, he is less than sincere in what he really believes, because he has other ideas about what he is trying to accomplish. Remember, milk before meat.

Nevertheless, sincerity in Mormonism is a major tenet. One should be sincere in forgiving others, repentance over one's sins, and in one's prayers. Spiritual discipline must be sincere. The Mormon must be sincere in keeping the commandments of the Lord, as well as sincere in his profession of faith. Parents are to be sincere in upholding God's laws and the priesthood in the family. Conversation is to be sincere, and sincerity is to be strived for in one's attitude toward God. Sincerity is regularly appealed to by Mormon missionaries as they attempt to get people to pray over the Book of Mormon. In fact, a BoM passage that a Mormon missionary will allude to which he sees as justification for his appeal is Moroni 10:4. "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." And the result of such a sincere petition is manifest by a "burning in the bosom" (D&C 9:8).

Now, some might ask, "Shouldn't we be sincere in what we think, say, and believe?" Absolutely; we should be sincere. The problem, though, is that with the Glenn Beck-types, who are under the delusion of Mormon teachings, sincerity is optional as well. Sincerity doesn't mean, to a Mormon, to bear the truth of what one believes if he feels it isn't convenient to his cause. It means masking or avoiding the truth when necessary, or when excessive criticism which exposes what he truly believes, or what his true "intent" is all about. That's why one will not hear amid all of Glenn Beck's ramblings about his "Nine Principles" or "Twelve Values" that it is his Mormon beliefs that are driving them. Because if Beck were to divulge the source of those principles and values, and "sincerely" stated his allegiance to the Mormon ideal as the real answer to America's problems, then people would begin to distance themselves from him. No one wants to be associated with a nutcase, and as has already been seen, Mormon beliefs about an exalted god and his goddess wives living near Kolob, Jesus being the brother of Satan, baptizing the dead by proxy to open the way for Mormon missionaries to preach to lost in "spirit-prison hell," among a host of other eccentric beliefs, are all about as nutty as they get when it comes to equating them with real, true, sincere Christian beliefs.

Another problem with Beck's sincerity, though, is that he assumes it to be a substitute for the truth. In other words, so long as a person, like Beck, feels sincere about something, it must be true. It's the subjective aspect of Mormonism, which has its roots in relativistic philosophy. Truth is not objectively true because it comports with what God has revealed in Scripture, or with what is real. Truth is a gut feeling, or that "burning in the bosom." Hence, what is true for me may not be true for Beck. Or what I believe to be true is partial, according Beck, and it is up to him and his Mormon ideals to fill in the alleged void. Of course, Beck cannot possibly be wrong, unless he has a "bad" feeling, in which case all he has to do is sincerely pray about it, get a new warm fuzzy, and he's back in the Mormon saddle again. The point is, Beck believes that so long as one perceives he is being sincere about his feelings, then that sincerity is to be interpreted as the absolute truth. Ever wonder why Glenn Beck regularly appeals to emotively driven histrionics on his programs? Now you know why.

The fact is Beck's sincerity value does not promote a value that is beneficial to anyone when looked at according to its religious basis, its philosophical meaning, and its logical end. Religiously speaking Beck's sincerity is rooted in Mormon thought, and Mormonism is a poor counterfeit for biblical Christianity and the truth. Philosophically speaking Beck's sincerity is rooted in relativism (meaning there is no absolute right or wrong), and subjectively put into practice (meaning that one arbitrarily chooses a specific course of action, but then bases truth upon one's self). Logically speaking Beck's sincerity moves from relativism to nihilism, and from nihilism to despair, and from despair to chaos, and the eventual invitation of societal rule by force. Clearly, when Glenn Beck talks about sincerity, he is being insincere. His religious ties will not allow him to be otherwise. Therefore, he should be ignored, and forgotten about, until he has something to offer that is sincerely valuable, it comports with the truth, and he doesn't feel compelled to have to incorporate the bait-n-switch method to deliver what it is that he wants those listening to him to swallow.

NEXT: Glenn Beck on Moderation