A Case for Latter-day Christianity

INTRODUCTION This is going to be a personal book about my faith. I’m a Mormon, and I’m a Christian. If you are interested in how that works, I’m willing (and hopefully able) to “bring forth my strong reasons” for my beliefs and share them with you. I’ll use reason, scripture, the teachings of the early Church Fathers (some of the earliest Christians), and quotes from some of the most respected Catholic and Protestant scholars, pastors and theologians in history. I’m not a Baptist Christian nor a Methodist Christian nor a Presbyterian Christian nor a Lutheran Christian, nor do I claim to be. I’m not a Protestant Christian, an Evangelical Christian or a Catholic Christian. Therefore I am not a “traditional” or “historic” or “orthodox” or “reformed” Christian. But I AM a “Biblical” and a “New Testament” Christian. I sometimes refer to myself as a “pre-Catholic” or a “pre-Nicene” Christian. Why am I writing this? Perhaps this story will make it a bit clearer: When the Mormon candidate announced his intention to run for the office of President of the United States, there were many who felt he was well qualified for the job. He was handsome, charismatic, a proven leader, and he had already been elected to a substantial political office. However, despite his qualifications and the support of a large number of sympathetic voters in at least one western state, many political pundits felt his candidacy was doomed from the start because of the man's affiliation with a religion that was considered strange and mysterious to many, and to some people even dangerous. In an attempt to alleviate some of the misunderstandings about his faith, the candidate wrote a letter to a major publisher that was considered a well-formed position paper, explaining the salient points of his beliefs and those of other members of his church. Unfortunately the major media did not help to publicize the explanation of the candidate's beliefs and tragic miscarriages of justice arose. Even government entities violated numerous Constitutional rights of the candidate and his followers. At one point an official order was given to exterminate them if they did not leave the state where their majority population resided. Eventually corrupt local officials arrested the candidate on trumped-up charges and placed him in a jail where a terroristic mob of thugs broke in and assassinated him and his brother. Denied government protection from roving mobs of armed men, tens of thousands of members of this Presidential candidate's faith were dragged from their beautiful homes at gunpoint. Their lands and businesses were confiscated and they were forced to leave the boundaries of the United States to find a place where they eventually could live their religion in peace. Does this sound like a fantastic fictional story? In point of fact it is actually horribly true. It happened in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The year was 1844. The candidate was Joseph Smith, the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the “Mormons.” The purpose of this book is to try to illuminate (and hopefully eliminate) some of the kinds of misunderstandings that led to those tragic events of a century and a half ago. Sadly, many of those misconceptions about members of the “LDS” church are still in evidence today. As an example: A volunteer campaign worker for Senator John McCain said during the run-up to the 2008 Presidential campaign that “Mormons gave money to Hamas terrorists and treat women like the Taliban.” I’M NOT TRYING TO CONVERT ANYONE This book's purpose is not to engage in contention or debate, nor to preach nor to proselytize, nor to convert people away from their own beliefs to join my church. Nor it is to be an official pronouncement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As I said, it is my personal confession of faith, and an attempt to “bring forth my strong reasons” (Isaiah 41:21) for my beliefs, and “to give an answer to every man... a reason for the hope that is in me.” (1 Peter 3:15) “Having a good conscience,” I feel a need to follow the Apostle Peter's admonition to speak out and share my beliefs with any and all interested parties. Before I go too far down this road, let me admit up front that I don’t have a string of letters like Ph.D. or Th.D. or L.L.D., or Doctor of Divinity after my name. (Although I have an uncle who does -- he's retired now after a long and happy career as a United Methodist pastor.) I’m just a good ol’ boy from Georgia, but I can read Scripture just like anyone else, and there are some things that seem to be pretty self-evident to me. I leave it to you to decide if it makes sense to you. WHY DO I CALL MY BOOK REALLY INSIDE MORMONISM? I’ve been a member of the LDS Church all my life (61 years in 2015, since my baptism at age eight). My father served on the first High Council in the first LDS stake (regional organization) organized in Georgia. I served two years as a full-time Spanish-speaking missionary in California and Arizona. I received my BA from Brigham Young University where I attended college for three years. I’ve held almost every LDS Church office at the local level except Bishop, and I’ve had several Stake and Area callings including Stake Mission President. I worked professionally at LDS Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City as a writer/ producer/ director for nine years in the media production department. For the last 25 years I’ve lived in the Salt Lake Valley, in the “epicenter” of Mormondom. So I’ve “really” been “inside Mormonism” for a lifetime. That’s where the “really” in the title comes from. Really. WHAT IS A “CONFESSION” If you watch many TV detective shows you may think a “confession” is when a bad guy admits to doing something wrong. That’s usually the modern day usage of the word and was part of the tone of The Confessions of St. Augustine. But in other times the meaning was closer to “profession”, like a “profession” of one’s faith. Such was the Westminster Confession (1644) or the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. I admit to using it here in part because it makes for a provocative title. The idea is to get more folks to read it. Did it work for you? WHAT IS A “MERE” CHRISTIAN? Since I began writing this book I’ve also revised my original working title to include the word “mere.” I did this after reading C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” and I did it in homage to the great wisdom and eloquence of that wonderful Christian writer and apologist. C. S. Lewis has become one of my heroes. He defined “mere” disciples or Christians as “those who accepted the teachings of the apostles” (Acts 11:26). He said that “if we once allow people to start spiritualizing and refining or as they might say ‘deepening’ the word Christian, it … will speedily become a useless word.” He described “mere” Christians as “those who accepted the teachings of the apostles” (Acts 11:26). He said that “if we once allow people to start spiritualizing and refining or as they might say ‘deepening’ the word Christian, it … will speedily become a useless word.” He described “mere” Christianity as being like a large hallway in a building, out of which doors open into several rooms (or denominations). His goal was simply to bring people into the hall, not to convince them which door to open. He said, “Even in the hall you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which one pleases you best by its paint and paneling.”