Faith

The Mormonizing of America: Mormon Beliefs in Plain Language – Part 3

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Photo by Wendy van Zyl on Pexels.com

Here is Part 3 of my clarification and expansion of the points made in The Mormonizing of America by Stephen Mansfield. The following points discuss eternal progression, the accuracy of the Book of Mormon, the priesthood, temple ceremonies, and the temple garments. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. You can buy the book here.

11 – In the same way that Heavenly Father was once a man, faithful members of the Church may one day become gods. This is called The Law of Eternal Progression and has been summarized in LDS history in these words: “As man is, God was; as God is, man may become.” Most Mormons expect to rule planets with their families once they achieve ultimate salvation.

Members don’t know exactly what will happen concerning the “Law of Eternal Progression” except that we will continue to learn and gain knowledge about our Heavenly Father and the universe. If you ask the missionaries if we’ll become gods with our own planets when we die, they’ll most likely tell you they don’t know, there’s no doctrine on it, and that it’s not our goal anyway. Our goal is just to return to live with our Heavenly Father and to be with our families for eternity.

12 – The Book of Mormon is the word of Heavenly Father. The Bible is also the word of Heavenly Father, but only after it is correctly translated. Mormons believe that the original Bible was corrupted through the centuries and that the Bible as it exists today is missing many “plain and precious parts”. Joseph Smith made a new version of the Bible by revising more than 3,400 verses on the basis of new revelation he had received. Some Mormons use Smith’s version of the Bible today, but the main LDS body uses the King James Version since Smith’s version was never finished.

I think most people would agree that what we have of the Bible today is incomplete and has had things changed throughout time and through hundreds of different translations. If you take Joseph Smith at his word that he used the plates to translate the Book of Mormon, that means he translated almost directly from the source (the records he translated were compiled by other records that were abridged and compiled by Mormon). The book would be pretty accurate. Although, the Book of Mormon has undergone many changes itself (most of them for grammar or spelling).

13 – Joseph Smith was first visited by John the Baptist and then by Peter, James, and John, among others. In these visitations, the authority of the true priesthood of God was imparted. Men, but never women, usually assume this priesthood at the age of fourteen if they qualify. Priesthood authority empowers men to receive revelations and to act in God’s name.

The visitation part of this point is correct as far as I was taught. John the Baptist gave Joseph Smith the Aaronic Priesthood and Peter, James, and John gave him the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood can be conferred upon males as young as 11 years old. The priesthood doesn’t flip a switch that lets you receive revelation like the point makes it sound, though. Everyone is entitled to receive personal revelation from the Lord. This isn’t like receiving some doomsday visions or anything earth-shattering. Just like prayer is how we speak to God, revelation is how He speaks back to us and answers those prayers.

14 – The Temple is a sacred place in which holy ceremonies, such as weddings, sealings, and endowments, are conducted. Gentiles, or non-Mormons, are not permitted in any of the LDS Temples around the world after the Temple is consecrated. Temple ceremonies are kept secret to preserve their sacredness.

I have never heard a member refer to a non-member as a Gentile. Members are weird but I think that’s kind of next-level. It almost seems like a slur. The term “non-member” is most often the one used to refer to non-members. It’s pretty straightforward. On my mission, we were told that’s sort of offensive too (just like everything these days) so we started referring to non-members as “friends of the church”. You’ll quickly discover that not everyone you come into contact with is a “friend” though. Technically, everyone is allowed in the temple after it’s consecrated, they just have to go through the proper ordinances (which includes being baptized into the Church). There’s nothing stopping them from doing that and experiencing all that the temple has to offer. And the “sacred vs. secret” conversation is one I’ve had with my missionaries. The things that happen in the temple are so sacred that you don’t want to spoil them by just blabbing about them to everyone. It’s kind of like in Saving Private Ryan when Tom Hanks wouldn’t tell the other soldiers about his wife because he wanted to keep those special memories for himself. When I was younger, I thought he was being selfish but I get it now.

15 – One of the Temple ceremonies grants the LDS faithful a “Temple garment.” This is never to be removed except for bathing and intercourse. When it wears out, it is to be burned. This garment reminds the Church members of vows to God and provides spiritual protection.

When I received my temple garments, I wasn’t told anything about not removing it except for bathing and intercourse. The “rule” is that you should wear them as often as you can and take them off when it makes sense to do so such as swimming, bathing, intercourse, and other activities. You don’t alter the garments to fit your fashion. They’re there to remind you of the covenants you made in the temple. They also have sacred symbols on them with meanings that are discussed in the temple. When the garments wear out, you cut the symbols off and can basically dispose of them however you want since they’re no longer garments. You’re basically wearing an American flag.

Learn more about the scared temple garments here and watch the video below:

Part 1

Part 2

Buy The Mormonizing of America here

-Jeston

Follow me: @DoHpodcast and @JestonTexeira or on Instagram: @Death.Of.Hemingway

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Faith

The Mormonizing of America: Mormon Beliefs in Plain Language – Part 1

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mormonizing bookI’ve recently started reading Stephen Mansfield’s The Mormonizing of America and I would recommend that all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints take a look at it. The book isn’t perfect but it gives an unbiased look at how the Church grew from a few humble farmers to being interwoven into the very fabric of America. There are some facts in there that Saints might not be familiar with. I know when I was investigating the Church, I brought up a few of them and was met with confusion. Towards the end of the book, there’s a list of 27 points titled Mormon Beliefs in Plain Language. After reading through them, there are a few things I’d like to either expand on or clarify.
1 – Not long after the Christian Church began, the pure teachings of Jesus Christ were lost or perverted. By the early 1800s, all Christian churches had become corrupt, had distorted the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and were an “abomination” to God.

This is accurate. Throughout time there have been multiple periods (called dispensations) where a prophet is called to Earth to teach people what God wants from them, the people listen to him for a while, the message is eventually rejected, the people go back to being wicked, and the whole process starts over again. The word choice (corrupt, distorted, abomination) sounds kind of harsh but it just means that the fulness and purity of the Gospel had been altered in some way, big or small, by the churches on Earth and needed to be restored.

2 – Beginning in 1820, the Prophet Joseph Smith experienced a series of spiritual visitations in which the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods were “restored” and through which the Book of Mormon was recovered and translated.

Members believe that the power of the priesthood (such as the ability to baptize) can only be used by someone with the proper keys or authority. And that authority can only be given to you by someone else who has the authority. Since there was no one on Earth with that authority, Joseph Smith was visited by John the Baptist and given the Aaronic (or lesser) priesthood. There’s not really a specific account that I can find and the Church website states “It is impossible to precisely date this heavenly manifestation from existing sources” but it’s commonly believed that Smith and Oliver Cowdery were visited by the Apostles Peter, James, and John and had the Melchizedek priesthood conferred upon them. It doesn’t seem that the priesthood was required for Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon, though. He started translating in April 1828 and wasn’t given the priesthood until May 1829. During this time, Smith had translated a majority of the Book of Mormon, including the 116 pages that Martin Harris lost.

3 – The Book of Mormon teaches that tribes of Jews settled in the New World first at the time of the Tower of Babel and then again at the time of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, around 600 BC. Jesus Christ visited the descendants of these tribes after his resurrection. His teachings as well as the history of these warring Jewish tribes were recorded on gold plates and buried around AD 400. Guided by the angel Moroni, Joseph Smith recovered these plates and translated them, thus producing the Book of Mormon in the early 1800s.

The Jaredites were the people that made it to the New World around the time of the Tower of Babel. They lived and built up their civilization but were ultimately destroyed as the second “tribe” (Lehi’s family) arrived. Over the years, Lehi’s descendants grew in numbers and split into two warring tribes called the Nephites and the Lamanites. Jesus visited the Nephites when He came to North America. Something this book gets right that most people get wrong is that Joseph Smith didn’t write the Book of Mormon, he translated it. The wording makes it sound like he did this with the help of Moroni, though. He helped Joseph find the plates but he wasn’t involved in the translation process.

4 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) was formed on April 6, 1830, with Joseph Smith as its First Elder. Mormons consider it “the only living and true Church” on earth. Today, it is led by a President who is regarded as “prophet, seer, and revelator.” He is aided by Twelve Apostles. There is also a Quorum of the Seventy who help govern the church. These together are called The General Authorities.

There isn’t really anything to add here. This is the basic structure of the church’s higher ups.

5 – All men have existed as spirits before assuming physical bodies on earth. During this “premortality”, families were already formed and destinies determined. The noble spirits in this preexistence become Mormons when they live on earth. The ignoble spirits of preexistence are non-Mormons on earth.

This point is sort of disconnected from what I’ve come to understand about the premortal life. The first sentence is correct in that we all existed before this life as spirits. We lived with our Heavenly Father but couldn’t progress because our world was perfect. So we were sent here to Earth and given physical bodies to experience all the joys and trials of life. To my knowledge, we weren’t already sectioned into families and we don’t subscribe to the belief of “predestination” so I don’t believe that our destinies were already determined. Maybe they were up to the part where we were destined to come to Earth and will return to our Heavenly Father but whatever happens here is up to us. We were given agency or free will.

I don’t think there’s any doctrine to back up the last two sentences but I have heard members make mention of those thoughts. In my understanding, noble spirits would be the ones who sided with Jesus and ignoble spirits would be the ones who didn’t. The ones who didn’t join with Jesus weren’t given the opportunity to come to Earth and gain physical bodies. They will remain spirits. It’s believed that everyone on Earth chose to side with Jesus and come here. So technically we should all be noble which, going by the book entry, means we’d all be Mormons but we know that isn’t true.

-Jeston

Follow me: @DoHpodcast and @JestonTexeira or on Instagram: @Death.Of.Hemingway

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Letters to J, Public Speaking

Speaking at Church

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Dear J,

This past Sunday night, our church had a Fireside where three people were chosen to speak about why they believe in God and how they came to the church. Originally, I was supposed to be a backup for one of those three people. I was going to be like the 12th Man: suit up, show up, stand on the sidelines in case they need me. But I guess they needed me in the game instead because last Wednesday they asked me to be one of the ACTUAL speakers. With no backup.

I was a telecommunications major and had to do a lot of presentations in college and I also ran for state representative but I don’t like public speaking. It’s nerve-wracking and I’m not sure why. I know that all if I’m having to talk in front of a lot of people, it’s not a punishment. Those people are there to hear what I have to say. But that didn’t stop me from being extremely nervous even thinking about talking in front of everyone on Sunday.

Practice Makes Perfect (Almost)

It didn’t make it any better that the elders said that my talk had to be around ten minutes long! How was I supposed to ramble on for that long? I figured I needed to practice what I was going to say so for a few hours a night I shaped my talk. I timed myself and I started off with a speech that lasted fifteen minutes. I was pretty surprised because it didn’t feel like that took that long. My new problem was trying not to bore everyone to death by rambling on too long about my story. I figured I was solid after that as long as I could cut out some of the fluff.

I trimmed the speech down to about eight minutes after I took out some unnecessary parts to the story. They still got the idea but weren’t bogged down by the details. I also thought that it was going to be mostly young people at the Fireside but there were a lot of older people and kids so I modified the semi-polygamy joke I had planned and cut out some other stuff they might not have liked that much. I still made a polygamy joke though because I had to. It wasn’t that bad. I just said that growing up, the only two words that came to my mind when anyone brought up Mormons was “sister wives”. Originally I was going to say “weird” and “polygamy”.

The Main Event

After days of hoping that by some miracle, they’d find somebody else to give the talk in my place, Sunday came and I was still a go. I was already nervous but I found out when I got there that two of my old missionaries (the ones I visited about two weeks ago) were going to be there! I was happy to see them, though. I wish they would get sent back here but I don’t think they will. To make me even more nervous, just about every missionary in Texas was sitting behind us on the stage (or whatever the front of the church is called). I hate when people sit behind me. That’s why I was always in the back of the class.

I had to speak after one of the elders played a song on the violin. I hoped it would be a long song. Once he hit that last note, it was go time. I got up to the mic and was immediately overcome with nerves, but I powered through it and introduced myself. Right before I got on a roll, a guy came up and tapped me on the shoulder. I thought Oh wow I’m already getting kicked off the stage. He was just asking me to stand closer to the mic.

After the introduction, I didn’t really feel nervous anymore. Maybe it was that brief distraction or the fact that the church laughed at the first thing I said and put me at ease. Either way I rolled through that speech and didn’t think too much of it. If I felt myself starting to get nervous or my voice started to get shaky, I’d just look at one of my good friends sitting in the front row and pretend like I was talking straight to her like I usually do. It felt natural. I also don’t like when people doing church talks set up a joke and pause afterwards and then people think Oh I’m supposed to laugh now and then there are bunch of pity laughs. I avoided that by not pausing at all UNLESS the people were laughing and wouldn’t be able to hear the rest of what I was saying.

I really only sprinkled in two actual jokes I wanted to say but I had them laughing the whole time so I guess it was alright. I just talked how I usually do and I’m normally pretty good at making people laugh even unintentionally. I know I was scared at first but it sort of felt good to be up there speaking to everyone. The only thing that made it a little awkward was that some people had pretty intense listening faces so I tried to avoid looking at them too much.

The Aftermath

After the Fireside, a lot of people came up to me to tell me how much they loved my talk! I got a lot of hugs and handshakes. Some people told me how their story related to my story or how I offered a perspective of finding religion that they’d never heard or thought of before. Some people told me they thought the talk was hilarious and how they were glad I got moved up from backup to starter. It was all very encouraging and made me feel pretty good. I probably wouldn’t want to talk in front of everybody like that too often but next time, I’ll probably be a lot less nervous about it. It was a great experience.

I wish you were there to see it.

-Jeston

Follow me: @DoHpodcast and @JestonTexeira

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