Turn pain into faith

Really didn't know there was this documentary, and it's available on YouTube. I don't know too much about Imagine Dragons. I've only listened to one or two albums. Of course, I don't know the lead singer Dan Reynolds very well. I don't know that he comes from a devout Mormon family. These kinds of things that I know a little bit about, linked together by gay issues, aroused my interest.

Dan Reynolds is the seventh of nine children. The family is Mormons for several generations, and their daily life is based on this. Brothers and sisters all go to Mormon colleges. Many people in Provo know. And he's a different kind of rock singer. Dan knew a girl, Aja, and everyone was very close, but the girl was not a Mormon, and they also understood that they should not continue to develop, and they had already agreed that everyone was just friends. However, the world cannot be controlled at will, and everyone's love for each other is growing day by day.

Love will find a way out, Aja and Dan go back to his church, understand the teaching, feel that they can accept it, and eventually they can be married. This was the first time Dan had questioned his church, and what followed was even more frustrating. Aja's close friends include a pair of lesbian couples who have known each other for years, and Dan is also very close to them. But the wedding he and Aja held, the two of them could not attend, and they were quite reticent about Aja marrying the church. Dan and Aja were disappointed, and Dan didn't understand why his church was so strict with gays.

Or let's talk about the church first. Mormonism has a large number of followers in Utah and is well organized. Before reaching adulthood, believers will be sent to various places (which may be foreign countries) to do missionary work. I believe many people will have the impression of this part, even in Asian regions such as Hong Kong, it was common before, and it is fluent in Cantonese. They have their own university, BYU, and many believers will continue to study at BYU after graduating from high school, and it has a variety of degrees to cater for students' different needs and life goals. Churches and universities have special rules, unlike other universities, such as no premarital sex, if found, you can be expelled from school, or even expelled from the church! Their attitude towards homosexuality is acceptable, but they must remain single, not have a partner, and absolutely must not have sexual relations with others, otherwise, they will also be excommunicated.

And being excommunicated, they call it excommunication, they want you to sever all ties with the church, maybe even your own family, unless your family also chooses to quit the church and stand by your side. There are many cases where Because one's own family chose the church between the church and the family, it was an unimaginable blow to a young man. As a result, the suicide rate of young Mormons is higher than that of other groups of young people.

But what hurts Dan the most is his fans. Since he is one of the few Mormons who play rock music, and he is not well-known, some young Christians will regard him as a role model. In addition to liking his music, they will also email him or even tell their thoughts. Due to the large number of letters, although he tried his best to read the letters, he had no time to reply. Some hinted that he was overwhelmed and felt hopeless, and Dan was especially apologetic and didn't know what to do.

During Dan's action, he knew two comrades in arms, Tyler Glenn, a Mormon rock singer, and his self-composed band Neon Tree also has many supporters in the district. He later came out to his manager and still received support for him to sing candidly about his story. The other is Mormon John Dehlin, who moved to Los Angeles to work in technology after graduating from BYU University. Once in the office, he made a stereotyped comment about gay people. A colleague next to him was a little surprised and asked him if he knew a gay person. John answered irritably of course not, his boss stood up on the other side and said slowly to him, of course you do, you have known me for seven years! In addition to being shocked, John was also ashamed of his ignorance, and began to understand the gay community with a positive attitude.

He made a podcast online, talking about life as a Mormon, detailing misunderstandings about them, and questioning some of the rules of the church. The program has quite a lot of followers. He once read a report that young Mormons had a particularly high suicide rate. He mentioned it on the show and later followed it up several times, and mentioned the plight of young gay Mormons. Unexpectedly, not long after the program aired, he received a letter from the church, correcting and investigating whether his words and deeds violated the church regulations. About a year later, he was told that he had been excommunicated. As mentioned above, this is the ultimate punishment for a believer, and it is a heavy blow to him and his family. He was shocked and angry, but he chose not to compromise. Instead, he devoted himself to researching the reasons for the high suicide rate of young Mormons. Publish reports and speak through the network. His belief is: "The only thing required for the evil to persist is for good men to do nothing."

Dan communicated with the two, also participated in some activities of organizations that support young comrades, and also contacted some families with gay members, including some parents who lost their children because of this, and finally decided to use the concert method he is good at in his own city. A music festival that promotes information. With his band Imagine Dragons and Tyler Glenn's Neon Tree hanging out, plus some local singers and bands, as well as gay members of Christian families, the show is named LoveLoud. Imagine Dragons' earlier concert in Salt Lake City sold out 20,000 tickets in an instant, so they were hopeful. However, being linked to gay issues has become a hindrance, and ticket sales are not ideal. Fearing that the event might be canceled and everyone was depressed, Tyler Glenn's family had an accident. His younger brother was suspended for five years at university for having sex with his girlfriend. He couldn't bear the blow and committed suicide.

Just when everyone felt that the event should be put on hold, Tyler refused, and he and his family dealt with the aftermath for a few days before returning to work. He was even more determined, because the number of suicides was too high, and he didn't want anyone else, like his mother, to suffer the pain of bereavement. They reset their minds and will, but the small town where they grew up has always been the center of the church, and everyone is still quite conservative. In the end they went to the church and asked them to support the meaning behind the concert. A week before the concert, the church finally gave a public and decent reply to verbally support this love-centered event, which also proved the church's influence in the region. The concert was full on the day.

While everyone was happy, they also hoped that the church would take action to change its attitude towards homosexuality. Unfortunately, after the year-end annual meeting, the church reiterated its position on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, which disappointed everyone.

Many people will ask Dan, why not leave the church. He believes that the church is so important to him personally and to his family that he will not abandon the church and his family and friends. Moreover, he learned the spirit of perseverance from the activities of the missionary and promotion activities of the Church. He kept knocking on the door. It might take a hundred times before one door would open, but he would not be discouraged and kept knocking. He was going to deal with the church in the same way, and he believed that one day, that door would be knocked on.

Faith begins with healing pain and continues with persistence.

Personally, what Dan Reynolds shows is a compassionate heart, able to learn from the pain of others, and even see room for improvement, and be compassionate. Shouldn't a church be more like this?