My Last Mormon Post, I Promise

Okay, last reflection on my time with the Missionaries. 

In all the discussions we had with them, Brad kept trying to get them to clarify a question: Who do you say that Jesus is? Is He God, or not? Created or uncreated? Do you worship Him?

The first time he brought it up, they kind of were taken aback, and sort of came to the conclusion, yes. He’s God.  I guess. The second time, kind of the same, but with a tinge of “c’mon. We know he died for our sins.  That’s all that’s important, right?”  No, not right.  If you get Jesus wrong, you’re toast (theologically speaking, of course).  If he isn’t God, isn’t uncreated, then we worship an idol.  He couldn’t have died for us. He couldn’t have raised himself from the dead.  Our faith is in vain. 

But if he is? Shouldn’t that blow our minds every time we even think of it? That God would love us so much as to condescend to become one of us? And that he invites us into that same life, sharing his very power with us through grace?

And if he’s God, could he have failed to set up a Church that would last? Would he have been lying about “the gates of hell not prevailing against it”? Or mistaken? If Jesus is God, and the founder of the Church, then let’s stay on board, and invite everyone we can to join the party!! Because if this is his church, why would you want to be anywhere else? As my Ecclesiology professor probably borrowed from some wise person: If you get Christ wrong, you will get the Church wrong.  And vice versa. 

My very last thought from our Mormon Experience was this: regular people don’t think nearly enough about eternal things.  Elder M. commented to that effect a few times.  Shoot, imagine you’re down and out and some enthusiastic, well mannered, friendly, helpful person shows up at your door offering to do yard work and listen and just spend time in real life conversation with you.  When they finally get around to asking you about the Big Things in life, are you going to believe them? Heck, yeah.  Their version is just close enough to what most people heard decades ago in Sunday School to be reassuring. 

Now, again, this is not a shot against LDS missionaries, but rather a call to action for us Catholics.  If we really are the Church founded by Christ, why aren’t we out on our bikes, like the Good Shepherd, seeking and saving the lost? At the very least, it should be us that are there at hospital beds, or next to the friend getting divorced, or the buddy looking for work.  It should be us there when people start asking the Big Questions… because we have the answer.

My Mormon Conversion Part II: Suffering

See the last post for the disclaimer.  In this mini-disclaimer I have to add that I am jealous of the little laminated pictures of Calvin (of Hobbes fame) that he used to explain the LDS take on Salvation History. I may steal and adapt the concept for future use.

So this is the Big Picture, according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as I understand it:

God the embodied Father, and his son Jesus created a whole lot of human souls.  But since the Father wanted them to learn and grow and experience things (like he did), he sent them to earth. The first to cross the veil and receive bodies were Adam and Eve.  God told them not to eat the fruit, but he really wanted them to, so that they could experience joy and sorrow, and all ranges of emotion.  So, they did eat it and now get to experience all those things: like sickness, death, hard work, etc.  Then God sent Jesus, who atoned for our sins on the Cross.  So now, when we die, our souls wait in a place whose name alludes me.  But while we are in the Waiting Place, we can still choose for or against God.  Finally, there will be a Judgement at the Second Coming and based on that we will be sent to one of three kingdoms, the highest of which is a place where you are yourself a god and spend eternity with your family.

So, for today I will look just at pre existent souls and Eden, in light of my own experience.  I know there is an undercurrent of the belief in pre-existent souls in popular culture, usually manifesting itself in a sentiment like, “I’m so glad you chose me to be your mom.”  This is flawed on many levels.  First, why would a loving God send souls completely in his presence and basking in the Beatific Vision to Earth??  Why would you want to leave heaven to go “learn and grow”? Second, what good would it be for God to create children who die in the womb, or ones who die as infants? They didn’t get to “learn and grow”.  That would kind of make their lives a mistake.  But if we look at each conception as the creation of a new human life- body and soul- then, yes, it makes at least some kind of sense.  That person now exists for eternity. 

Plus, if we were initially souls, and just dropped into our bodies to experience things, why is the dropping out of them so traumatic? Because we are body-and-soul!  The two together make up a human! They were never meant to be torn apart!

Which leads me to Eden.  I clarified with them the part about God really secretly wanting Adam and Eve to eat the fruit, because it sounded so bizarre to me.  Would any of you parents tell your kid not to do something that  you knew they’d do just so you could punish them? That would be a sick and vindictive God! Further, the idea that the suffering we undergo in this life is God’s way of letting us “experience things,” or “learn and grow”? Now, I will be the first to admit that tremendous sorrow has amazing fruit.  But I take great comfort in the fact that God never meant for death or sickness to enter the world.  I can say with confidence to any suffering parent, “God never wanted your baby to die. That’s not how it was supposed to be.”  Yes, he knew we would fall.  Yes, his solution to the problem of sin is so much better than if we had never sinned.  But make no mistake: God is not pleased with sin and its effects.  That’s why he went so far as to send us himself-his only Son- to fix the problem.

If the effects of sin are just “learning and growing”, then why do we need a Savior? Why would God need to redeem us from something that he intended us to have in the first place? It just doesn’t make sense.

My Mormon Conversion: Part 1, Reason

Recently, we had some conversations with our neighborhood LDS missionaries. These talks really began a conversion in me– to a deeper appreciation for my Catholic Faith. I’d like to share some of those reflections here. By way of disclaimer, I would first like to say that I have the utmost respect for Elder M., Elder H., and the more established member they brought the last time. I admire their zeal (they remind me of my days working with the NET team members), and genuinely liked them as people. I wish we could invite them over for a BBQ sometime. Also, it goes without saying that I am no LDS expert. If anyone out there is a Mormon and wants to correct my understanding of their doctrines, please do!

Perhaps our discussions left me most grateful for the way that the Catholic Faith respects our God-given gift of reason. Right away, after all of us shared our faith stories, the thought occured to me: How could all four of us pray to the Holy Spirit, and have Him tell half of us to be Mormon and half to be Catholic? These faiths are incompatible. Much of the Mormon faith seems to be based on a feeling of confidence given by the Holy Spirit. But how do you know the feeling you had is of God, and not just excitement, peer pressure or what you had for lunch?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is based on a revelation given directly by God the Father (who has a body) and Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith in the mid 19th Century. God told Joseph that the Church had been corrupted since the original apostles’ death, and that he was to be given the restored Gospel of Jesus. The missionaries mentioned all the miracles that Jesus did during his time on earth, but failed to give any outside evidence that would back up this revelation to Joseph Smith. No miracles (except that he translated the Book of Mormon with only a 2nd Grade education), no archeological evidence that backs up the claims that there were prophets that came over to North America during the time of Jeremiah, not even another person that witnessed the revelation. Now, of course, we need faith to grasp the truths of God. But we also need reason. God gives us ample evidence that points toward Jesus’ divinity and his messianic mission. Prophesies, miracles and the Church herself. The Gospel writers take great care to describe the credibility of their sources for their accounts. We have two millenia of scholars, some of the world’s most brilliant, who have poured over the Truths of the faith and clarified it for us. (Interested? Pick up St. Thomas’ Summa!!) Catholics who engage their reason will ultimately fall more in love with Jesus Christ.

Further, the Church takes a very skeptical approach to private revelation. The popular devotion at Mejugorie has not yet even been officially approved. The reason is that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. He is the Father’s last Word. We won’t get anything more from legitimate private revelation than encouragement for our times. This is to protect us from getting off track. All this is not to discount the roll of an experience of the Holy Spirit in igniting one’s faith. I wish all the youth I work with could really have a deep experience of God’s love for them personally! This is precisely why we take them on retreats. But any youth leader knows it can’t just be about a good feeling, because feelings don’t last. I am so grateful that after an experience with God they can gather up their questions and dive down deep into the beautiful truths of their faith. And the more they learn, the more they can love, and the more their Faith will increase.