Entry for December 31, 2007

Heart for the Lost: A true dialogue between a Mormon and a Christian

I just couldn't resist. This is an old post, granted.

This is taken from "On the Road with Joseph Smith" by Richard Lyman Bushman

This is taken from "On the Road with Joseph Smith" by Richard Lyman Bushman, page 15 - 16. An excerpt from a letter.

Quote:

I wish I could strike a responsive chord in Christians like you. Mormons wonder why all Christians don't understand that we believe in the Book of Mormon on the basis of a spiritual witness. It is very hard for a Mormon to believe that Christians accept the bible because of the scholarly evidence confirming the historical accuracy of the work. Surely there are uneducated believers whose convictions are not rooted in academic knowledge. Isn't there some kind of human, existential truth that resonates with one's desires for goodness and divinity? And isn't that ultimately why we read the bible as a devotional work? We don't have to read the latest issues of the journals to find out if the book is still true. We stick with it because we find God in its pages--or inspiration, or comfort, or scope. That is what religion is about in my opinion, and it is why I believe in the Book of Mormon. I can't really evaluate all the scholarship all the time; while I am waiting for it to settle out, I have to go on living. I need some good to hold on to and lift me up day by day. The Book of Mormon inspires me, and so I hold on. Reason is too frail to base a life on. You can be whipped about by all the authorities with no genuine basis for deciding for yourself. I think it is far better to go where goodness lies. I keep thinking other Christians are in a similar position, but they don't agree. The keep insisting their beliefs are based on reason and evidence. I can't buy that--the resurrection as rational fact? And so I am frankly as perplexed about Christian belief as you are about Mormons. Educated Christians claim to base their belief on reason when I thought faith was the teaching of the scriptures. You hear the Good Shepherd’s voice, and you follow it. I guess we could go on and on. I hope I am telling you the truth about myself. The fact is I am a believer and I can't help myself. I couldn't possibly give it up; it is too delicious.

Mormanity on stupidity.

http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-can-anyone-be-so-stupid.html

"How Can Anyone Be So Stupid?"

I get a lot of emails from strangers that begin with friendly greetings like, "How can anyone be so stupid as to believe in Mormonism?" These cheerful notes then go on to share important information about the errors of modern Church leaders ("the Church is building a mall!"), past Church leaders ("Joseph Smith was a womanizer"), objectionable doctrines ("you believe that Adam is God"), disasters of Church history (the Kirtland bank disaster and Mountain Meadows are favorites here), and other present or past problems in the Church ("you're a bunch of racists!"). And then we wrap up with a gentle reminder about how utterly stupid I must be. After all, how can anyone look at this litany of problems and possibly remain LDS? (Sometimes the writer states that they were once LDS and have now left -- the email from alleged ex-Mormons tends to be the nastiest.) It is beyond reason and a sign of monstrous idiocy that any human being could belong to such a Church. Sometimes these helpful souls are broadminded enough to recognize that there may be alternate explanations for my religious faith. Maybe it's not just stupidity - perhaps I am so ignorant and blind that I've never heard the facts they have shared, or else I'm a vile hypocrite knowingly leading souls astray. But utter stupidity is generally the normal assumption.

At that point, there is often a call to wake up, repent, and follow the only logical path, the only path that sane, non-stupid human beings could possibly accept, which happens to be the path chosen by the kind exhorter who has chosen to wake me from my delusion. That path varies, ranging from atheism, agnosticism, Protestantism, Catholicism, Amwayism, etc. (Notably, I don't think I've ever had this kind of treatment from Jews, who I have found to be among the most non-critical and accepting people on the planet.)

The attitudes of these correspondents represent classical anti-Mormonism. It is one thing to disagree with us, but to insult and revile, assuming that no intelligent person could possibly accept another belief system, displays true bigotry. This kind of bigotry is the fuel behind hate and many associated evils. But the outreach effort to shake me from my stupidity is, of course, always conducted in "love." It's not the gushing, sentimental kind of love that we see expressed between, say, hockey players of opposing teams during an intense match, or by fans of opposing World Cup soccer teams after a few beers and an ugly match, but a tougher love, sort of a bittersweet love but without the sweet, perhaps even a Ramboesque love, a love that requires body armor to appreciate.

A person lacks the refining benefits of basic education, in my opinion, if he or she cannot recognize that good and intelligent people can hold a wide variety of opinions and beliefs that may be sharply discordant with one's own views. Those other beliefs may seem illogical and absurd from our perspective, and we may be convinced that they are wrong, yet there is a need to recognize that those other beliefs may be intellectually or spiritually satisfying to their adherents, and may have value and richness that we do not appreciate. A Muslim believer may find Christianity to be hopelessly polytheistic with its belief in three gods - in spite of the seemingly desperate word-smithing attempts to define the three persons as one one Being or one Godhead, yet many Muslim believers I know kindly accept that Christians find great value, comfort, and even beauty in our beliefs, and recognize that one can be intelligent, educated, and Christian at the same time. (Of course, if we'd learn a little Arabic and dig into the majesty of the Koran, maybe we'd become even more intelligent. . . .)

Our critics seem to think that a serious apparent mistake from a Church leader should convince me to abandon my faith. My appreciation of LDS teachings and practices is not based on the assumption that every act and statement of Church leaders has been infallibly guided by God. If Joseph Smith made huge mistakes, if a Stake President made huge mistakes, if modern General Authorities make poor decisions on some matters, if hundreds of Mormons have had various personal problems, and if some popular LDS doctrines today turn out to be incomplete and in need of future correction, one does not have to be a moron to remain LDS. My faith is not based on the absurd notion that Church leaders are infallible or even that they are nearly always right. It is not based on an error-free Book of Mormon, or on the selection of construction projects that I agree with. I'm not a Mormon because I think we have perfect leaders or even mostly right leaders. My religious faith does not depend on whether I like polygamy or think Joseph Smith implemented it in the right way. It does not depend on what went wrong and who was to blame for the Kirtland Bank failure or the other problems the Church has faced.

My testimony is based on the divinity of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Bible and in the powerful, Christ-centered, divine record we have in the Book of Mormon. Having found for myself that the Book of Mormon is true, and since that first discovery, having repeatedly found it to be majestic scripture beyond anything that a man could have fabricated - especially Joseph Smith in 1830, then I must conclude that there is something divine that happened with Joseph Smith. Indeed, in addition to my experiences with the Book of Mormon, my experiences with the fruits of the Restoration - the priesthood, the Temple, the teachings of the Church and the blessings and joy of the living the Restored Gospel - further convince me there is a divine source of these things, pointing to the reality of the Restoration. And on top of all that, there is a remarkable intellectual and spiritual satisfaction that comes from the theology and doctrines of the Church. Understanding the justice of God (the whole issue of theodicy), especially as expressed through the work of preaching of the Gospel to the dead and making the blessings of the Gospel available to all the world from all generations who are willing to accept it, is remarkably beautiful intellectually. Understanding the nature of God and Jesus Christ as taught in the Restored Gospel resolves centuries of miasma and brings clarity and beauty to our view. Understanding the nature of mankind and the free agency that we have, all intricately tied to knowledge of our premortal existence as spirit children of our Heavenly Father, helps resolve some of the most troubling and confused issues of modern Christianity (see When Souls Had Wings: What the Western Tradition Has to teach Us About Pre-Existence by Terryl Givens). And then there is the intellectual satisfaction of seeing that the LDS doctrines that other Christians use to condemn us as somehow being "non-Christian" actually are much more at home in the earliest days of Christianity than in the modern era, providing intellectual satisfaction about the reality of this remarkable process we are in, the process of Restoration of ancient truth. That process is not over and we still have a lot to learn, including from other religions and from science and other sources, for we do not have all truth and certainly do not have a monopoly on what truth there is on this diverse planet. In fact, we understand that that there was much truth anciently that has been handed down, sometimes distorted and corrupted, sometimes preserved, and knowing this, we can look upon other religious viewpoints not with the attitude of "How can anyone be so stupid?" but perhaps even with the attitude of "How can we be less stupid by learning from you?"

There is so much of value in the beliefs of others. We may disagree with much, but we can recognize that they, too, find value and beauty in what they have, and that if take of our own blinders, we may find gems of wisdom that can help us grow as well.

That's just my opinion, of course. But I can't see how anyone could be so stupid as to disagree with it.

More wisdom from Kirby

This is too good to pass up.

Kirby: No one is fair when it comes to religion
Robert Kirby
Tribune columnist
Article Last Updated: 12/14/2007 07:10:42 PM MST


During a recent interview, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (R-Baptist) talked about fellow candidate Mitt Romney (R-Mormon).
Huckabee posed the question: "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
The question was perceived by some as an opportunity to hold an element of Mormon theology up for ridicule. As a Mormon, I wasn't bothered because, well, it's true.
It gets weirder. Not only is Satan our brother as well, he looks exactly like KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank, only redder.
OK, I made that part up. But Mormons do believe a lot of things that seem pretty strange, if not downright crazy.
So do you.
Imagine that the average presidential candidate rings your doorbell tomorrow. Male, affluent and not visibly deranged, the candidate offers some really cool ideas about running the country. He wants your vote.
Before you can answer, the candidate casually mentions that the driving force in his life is a profound belief in a cosmic walrus that sets the world spinning each new day with the force of its benevolent flatulence.
As the average American voter (Christian), your response would be laughter followed by incredulity. In parts of the country, you might even be legally entitled to assault the candidate.
After all, the real god is a shape-shifting entity, born of a virgin, who cured blindness with spit and busted out of his tomb after being lynched - a god you periodically honor by ritualistically eating him so that he won't kill you when he comes back.
Well, that wasn't really fair, was it? I hope not. Since when did religious belief ever have anything to do with fair?
Muslim, Pagan, Christian, Jew, Buddhist - one of the great ironies of all spiritual belief is that cold, brutal logic should be applied to every version but yours.
If you're Hindu, for example, you might find the idea of Christian communion ludicrous. Why would anyone even pretend to eat a god? Conversely, Christians find the notion of God having the head of an elephant completely ridiculous. Extra arms? Ha! We don't even want to talk about one with multiple sex organs.
What's going on here isn't real logic. It's not even insight. It's simply comparing your beliefs against those of others and egotistically concluding that you are the only one who can't be dismissed as an idiot.
Incidentally, this is a human condition that affects secularists as well. The absence of religion doesn't make people moral anymore than its presence guarantees morality.
Is religious belief bad? It damn sure can be. People are certainly bad when they become contemptuous of others, and religion far too often provides us with the place to do just that.