Colleen’s visit was really cool. It was also busy so a few highlights: going down to Provo where we stepped inside the Temple and Missionary Training Center (which felt an awful lot like the scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in which Harry, Ron and Hermione go inside the Ministry of Magic). Provo is located in Utah County, which has the highest population of LDS people (and places). It is a different world down there even than in Ogden (which is less than two hours away). It is home of Brigham Young University (where a white guy received the diversity scholarship because he wasn’t LDS), the temple and MTC already mentioned, a Missionary Mall and a great number of LDS churches and bookstores. We went to a used bookstore that was not LDS but about half of the books there were LDS publications.
Throughout her visit we met with Mormons and Christians and learned a lot. On the last day we brought a new friend, Patrick, from Intervarsity to go down to Salt Lake where we talked with missionaries at Temple Square, did research with a street evangelist (where we learned about a lot of debates about doctrine…I hope to put some research together and give a more informative entry in the near future), met Sandra Tanner (she and her husband basically started the current approach to ministering to Mormons and have done a great deal of research on the LDS Church), and went to an ex-Mormon meet-up where we got to meet people who have come to Christ and got to hear great testimonies. It was a very informative day. I’m afraid Patrick’s head may have exploded. J
I was convicted that I have had conversations with several LDS people at Temple Square and other places that I most likely will not meet again, but did not actually give them the gospel. I still have chances to talk with people at the ward, but I regret putting discussion over the gospel. I am considering a new approach in those conversations. Mormons have a deep sense of being persecuted people which is not incredibly accurate but is still there. They think that one of Christian’s greatest goals is producing anti-Mormon literature and they label Christians that want to talk to them as anti-Mormons (as if I would label myself according to them). Most Utah Mormons besides missionaries do not really know people who aren’t LDS so they can only assume that what their church teaches of these strange people is accurate. I don’t want to get into a conversation and have them retreat to bearing their testimonies (an ex-Mormon who worked in Temple Square for 14 years said that is where their brain clicks off and you lose the opportunity to talk with them). So here is my approach:
The center of both our religions (Christianity and LDS) is what we call the gospel. We are not the center of our systems, the gospel is, so we don’t need to bear our testimonies or say what it means to us or how it affects us, let’s just talk about the gospel itself. The word gospel means “good news” and both religions profess to have this good news. Let’s talk about what each are and see which (if any) is what is professes-good news. I also would like for each of us to pray, either to begin or close. Mormons don’t like how we pray-it is informal and conversational which is a stumbling block to them. This is the kind of stumbling block that does not cause them to sin, but causes them to stop and consider what we just did. Can we talk to God without using “thee” or “thou” and is it possible to be reverent and respectful? Let them think about it.
Here is the Mormon gospel (as far as I understand it-they may call a specific part of this the gospel but this is where their hope is placed): Heavenly Father (who was a man from a planet orbiting the star Kolob) and his wives had lots of spirit children in heaven not through creation but sexual union. I am one of them, and so are you, so let’s all praise…never mind. But there we all were, spirits living in paradise with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother(s). One day HF called a great council together and all of us showed up. He told us that he wanted us to become like him (gods vs spirits) and that to do that we would have to take on mortal bodies, forgetting all about our premortal lives, and would be tested and tried so that in the end we could be like him. The problem was that we would mess up because that’s what being human is, so how would he rescue us? His firstborn (literally our eldest brother) Jesus said that he would go to earth and be our example and atone for our sins. His second born (Jesus’ younger, our older brother) Lucifer said that he would force us all to follow HF. HF liked Jesus’ idea better so Lucifer and a third of the spirits rebelled. HF sent them to earth without bodies and those are what we call demons (our brothers and sisters). So that is our origin. Then we came to earth and started out alright (the Fall is a positive thing because that’s how we became truly mortal) but then each time we would lose the gospel and it would be restored through a prophet. There are seven dispensations of people who restored the full gospel after an apostasy. These are Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ and, finally, Joseph Smith. The LDS Church is the only True Church because it has modern revelation and looks more like the early church because it has Apostles, Prophets, Missionaries, and Elders and it has the authority of Israel because it has the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods and it has temples. All people will be saved because all will be resurrected. All will also have the chance to hear the gospel preached after death. There is 1000 years of hell for the worst sinners but after the resurrection they won’t be there anymore. There are three levels of heaven: the telestial which is for sinners and they will be visited by the Holy Ghost, the terrestrial which is for good people and bad Mormons and will be visited by the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ and the celestial which is for good Mormons who have completed their temple rites. The celestial is made up of three kingdoms also, the highest part being exaltation and the people in that kingdom become gods which is the original goal. In the celestial they get to be with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and Holy Ghost. There is also Outer Darkness for those who knew the fullness of the gospel and rejected it (apostates). What makes this all appealing is that you and your family get to go to the same place and be together. They want to be with their families more than they want to be with Heavenly Father.
This is getting long, so I’ll briefly go into our gospel. God decided to create a universe that would reflect his glory. He decided to make this little creatures that were not the greatest thing he made into his own image, so that everything about them would reflect something about him. He gave them rule over his creation and loved them and offered himself to them to be in relationship. They turned from his love to his wrath when they rebelled against him. They delivered up the authority he gave them to Satan, a long-time rebel of God and a hater of man. Though these little corrupted beasts kept running further from God’s love to his wrath and made themselves his enemies, he continued to reach out to them. He made them promise after promise that depended only on him. He came through for them again and again and they learned more and more about him. Finally, he sent his only Son, who was not a human like them to become like them (a huge step down) in order to show them who he really is. These wretched little creatures killed him, but that was his original plan. He took all of God’s wrath for their rebellion on himself so that they could be reconciled to the God that still loved them. He was resurrected and promised that those that followed him would have eternal life. He knew that these creatures that believed in him would need help and were still not fit to follow him because they had become children of wrath. He left them but did not leave them alone. He sent the Holy Spirit who was also like him to give them new life and guidance. He awakened them to the things of God that they had blinded themselves to. He promised that nothing would come against them, because they were now children of God. They had been adopted into his family, these little creatures that had already rebelled against him! Those that believe in his Son could become his sons and daughters. They still were not ready for glory completely, but he promised them he would resurrect them and they would be glorified in heaven, so that they could be with the God that is now their Father forever in heaven. Those that continued in rebellion, running towards God’s wrath, would meet their end and be forever in hell, separated from the love of God but always faced with his wrath.
Now which is good news? It is impossible to believe that the god of Mormonism is the same as the God of Christianity. So I do understand that if you believe them to be the same, our beliefs about God seem evil. If our Heavenly Father sent us out of heaven and erased our minds and then sent us to hell, then that would be evil. The difference is that we believe ourselves to be creatures adopted as children through faith. They believe themselves to be children disinherited and then put up for adoption into earthly households (not in so many words but I believe that is the idea, especially because each Mormon I have asked says the goal of their lives is to be with their families). Which is good news?
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