I Would Do Anything for God (But I Won’t Do That)

Remember when Meatloaf famously teased us with the addictive lyric, “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that”? For years, the common question of this earworm chorus remained, “But what won’t he do? Meatloaf won’t do what for love?!”

In a 1993 VH1 Storytellers, Meatloaf solved the riddle for fans. Apparently the answer was there all along, hiding in the syntax. The line before each repeating chorus lays out what the committed lover will never do. That is ultimately:

Lie to youForget the way you feel right nowForgive myself if we don’t go all the way tonightDo it better than I do it with youStop dreaming of you every night of my lifeSee that it’s time to move onBe screwing around

The song is ultimately one of commitment between one lover promising fidelity to another who’s clearly been scorned. The promise of the song declares that love won’t require cheating, lying, being unfaithful, or leaving (mentally, emotionally, or physically). That isn’t real love and he won’t require her to endure those things in the name of love.

It seems fitting, then, that I’ve lately heard the lyric, “I would do anything for God, but I won’t do that” repeating in my head. This began after seeing the new children’s D&C curriculum released by the LDS Church, which explains how the story of polygamy is a beautiful lesson of obedience. In this story, God commands through a modern-day prophet and his followers obey. You see, they would do anything for God.

These lessons, accompanied by child-friendly drawings, absolve Latter-day Saints of any issues, questions, or lingering ick they may feel regarding polygamy. Faithful members can continue to separate themselves from that unsavory practice and ignore its sordid history. They can even act offended when comedians rely on it for an easy laugh, calling it a low, cheap joke that is irrelevant to Mormonism (ahem – I mean The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) today. Except, the LDS Church isn’t that old. And they are using polygamous stories of a man considered a modern-day prophet to teach about blind obedience in 2025.

This raises an important question most mainstream Latter-day Saints would like to side-step: If God commanded his followers to practice polygamy through a prophet today, would you obey?

The common response: That part of the restoration is fulfilled. He would never do that. Yet, people place themselves in the shoes of scripture characters, asking:

Would I decapitate Laban?Would I sacrifice Isaac?Would I have sex with my wife’s handmaiden to conceive a child?

The scriptures repeatedly require us to participate in moral bargaining sanctioned by a God who requires proof of our love and devotion. We are told of moral absolutes in one moment, then given morally ambiguous stories that require giving up those absolutes in favor of higher laws of faith and obedience. Perhaps this is why I’ve never found their stories particularly comforting or their lessons clear-cut.

Even at my most conservative and believing moments, I know this: I would do anything for God, but I won’t practice polygamy. And God should never ask me – or anyone else – to practice it.

Frankly, I don’t want to follow a God who places such high value on obedience over conscience, love, fidelity, and honesty. The polygamous stories are messy because the practice is not of God and it will never be of God. I sincerely hope my children never view polygamy as anything but an ugly blight on Mormonism. From my perspective, polygamy (practiced by my forbearers) is a strange obsession and desire for dominance over women that a few men presented as God’s command. You can’t clean it up. You can’t ignore how it negatively impacts the character of men such as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

As I’ve wrestled with real-life dilemmas without clear-cut answers from simple scripture stories or sanitized versions of LDS history, I feel as if I’ve had a call-out with God similar to the lovers in this song. We, of course, know that moral choices are not always as clear as they appear in this song. But I think it can still work.

While there is comfort and security in simple obedience and unwavering faith, doesn’t God want us to mature and grow in our faith? Shouldn’t faith help us truly move through the complexities of life, the moral ambiguity, and the conflicting choices by building a robust conscience, learning to think by the spirit, and by constantly developing compassion, empathy, and love?

How can we evolve in our faith if we swallow these lessons of obedience without question? Why won’t we wrestle with our history? Why won’t we disavow, even apologize for, some of it? If we allowed this, then the fear and resistance around substantial change and new questions might lesson. Perhaps, then, we’d be ready for new revelation.

I would do anything for God, but I won’t:

Ignore my conscienceGive up my integritySacrifice the mental, physical, or or emotional well-being of my childrenAccept inequality in God’s nameGo along with practices that are racist, sexist, or homophobic in God’s nameMake “The Church” synonymous with “God”Ignore Heavenly MotherDo whatever a prophet/priesthood leaders says God commandsLose the ability to hear my own conscience and moral compass because someone else says their word is God’sStop asking questionsPlace any other commandment above “love”

I would do anything for God (but I won’t do that). And He shouldn’t ask me to.