Mormonism & the Mormon church

One of my latest projects has been to build AskGramps.org. Ask Gramps is sort of a “Dear Abby” column for Mormon topics. Author Clay Gorton has been a Mormon bishop, stake president, mission president, and MTC president, and has been answering questions as “Gramps” for many years. His new website will include content from his books as well as answers to new questions that come in. Many questions are interesting and obscure, and Gramps does a great job of answering them all in a fun and candid way — just like your own grandpa.

This weekend my family convened in St. George, since it’s sort of central to everyone, to celebrate my mom’s 50th birthday. (She doesn’t look it at all.) On Friday evening we went to the St. George temple visitors center and saw the new movie the Mormon Church released at the end of last year, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. The movie was very good. It was the most comprehensive movie I’ve seen about the prophet Joseph Smith, covering all the main events as well as many smaller ones: his painful leg surgery as a child, being tarred and feathered, standing up to profane prison guards, and giving away his horse to free a slave. I was inspired by his courage and goodness, and I could feel the Holy Spirit reaffirm that he really was chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ to be the prophet of the beginning of this era.

This Saturday I saw New York Doll, the story of Arthur Kane and his band The New York Dolls. The Dolls were an influential punk rock band from the 70’s whose short career produced music that was ahead of its time and which influenced several artists including Morrissey. The Dolls lived lives of heavy drug use and illicit sex. Before long the band broke up and Arthur Kane was as poor as dirt.

The movie goes on to narrate Arthur Kane’s conversion to Mormonism. He was baptized in the Mormon church in 1989 and later served in the family history library of the Los Angeles Mormon Temple. When he initially prayed about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, he said the answer he received was like an “LSD trip from the Lord.” That, and other funny quotes from Arthur, were in the movie.

In 2004 Morrissey organized a reunion concert for the Dolls in London. Arthur was anxious at first but glad to be reunited with old friends and play his bass guitar again. Just hours before the show, Arthur told other band members about the Mormon Word of Wisdom and that tithing was a “pretty good deal.”

The reunion concert was a success, and afterwards Arthur was surrounded by fans, including adoring girls. Someone asked him, “You’re not going back to your day job, now, are you?” Arthur replied that he worked in a library, that they were expecting him back, and that they were a bit “understaffed”.

New York Doll is an entertainingly told story about a likable guy, with candid commentary by the people who knew him best.

This blog features a picture of the Mormon Temple in Las Vegas, NV, located at the base of Sunrise Mountain on the east side of the valley. While there are thousands of Mormon churches across the world, there are only 100+ temples worldwide. In Mormonism, temples are considered sacred places where it is easier to feel the presence of God and to feel peace.

That has certainly been my experience. When I visit the temple, I can clear my head, feel at peace, and see more clearly what is important in life. I think the Manhattan Mormon temple is one of the best examples of contrasts: the streets of NY are busy and loud and crazy, while just inside the walls there is so much stillness and peace and direction.

One of the best things this Mormon did over the Christmas holiday season was see The Chronicles of Narnia. I’m not a big fan of fantasy movies generally, but as a symbol of Christianity, Narnia was an excellent movie. The symbolism is easy to see — the lion Aslan is the benevolent king who allows himself to be killed by his enemies to save the life of a traitor. There are other important details, as well, such as the resurrection, the freeing of the “prisoners”, and the kingdoms the humans inherit in the end. I think anyone who watches Narnia with the mindset of looking for Christian symbolism will appreciate the reminder of what Jesus did for us.

If you search for “Jew” on Google, the top result is an anti-Semitic site. Google is running an ad above it that explains why it appears first and that they don’t endorse the site. They also explain that the term “Jew” is often used in anti-Semitic contexts, while Jewish people themselves prefer the term “Jewish”. Google suggests searching “Judaism”, “Jewish”, or “Jewish people” to find more relevant results.

This parallels what has happened with Mormonism. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have typically used the terms LDS, Latter-day Saint, or LDS Church to speak of themselves, while people outside of the Church often use the terms Mormons, Mormon church, or Mormonism. Therefore, search results for this latter set of terms are often littered with sites that are unfriendly to the Church. (By the way, I’m not suggesting that the resulting anti-Semitic and anti-Mormon sites are equally bad — I don’t know — just that they are both “anti”.)

People interested in learning more about Mormonism will have more success by searching for “lds church” or by visiting Mormon.org directly. Other search terms like Mormonism or Mormon church aren’t great, but they are getting better.

The “Home Front” TV commercials sponsored by the Mormon church are now available on Google Video. My favorite is “Lasting Marriage”:

By the Hour

Family Harmony

The Fence

Going to the Dogs

I’ve Put it off Too Long

Just What to Say

Lasting Marriage

Phone Call

Potato Chip Trip

Sister Pitcher

Waiting for Dad

It was 200 years ago today that the Prophet Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, was born. To celebrate, the Church held a televised event with president Gordon B. Hinckley speaking from Joseph Smith’s birthplace in Vermont. Our family watched the event on the Internet, and it was very good. Here are a few thoughts from various speakers:

Elder Ballard — We should be grateful for Joseph Smith’s family. Imagine if Joseph had come back to his parents to tell him about the visions he had seen, and hadn’t received any support. He came from good blood.

President Faust — Every person that calls him or herself a member of the Church should have a conviction of the Joseph Smith account. While Joseph Smith has friends and enemies, no one can dispute the success of what he started.

President Monson — By any account he was a remarkable individual.

President Hinckley — “He was the living prophet of the living God.” To celebrate Joseph’s 100th birthday, a granite tower was built at his birth place. The tower was 39 and 1/2 feet tall, one foot for every year of his life. It was made from one solid piece of granite and weighed 40 tons. Getting it from the quarry, to the shop, to the birthplace was a monumental task in 1905.

The building of that monument goes along well with a quote by Joseph about himself: “I am like a huge, rough stone… and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force…. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.”

During this Christmas time we should remember that no man bore a stronger witness of Jesus Christ than the Prophet Joseph Smith.

During priesthood meeting last Sunday, we studied the last chapter of the David O. McKay manual. I came across a couple paragraphs that I liked:

Husbands, be true to your wives, not only in act, but in thought; wives, be true to your husbands. Children, be true to your parents; do not [assume] that the are old-fashioned in their beliefs and you know more than they do…. Strangers, seeing such homes, will say, “Well, if that is the result of Mormonism, I think it is good.”

Let the sincere investigators who believe more from what they see than from what they hear, find, upon investigation, that “Mormons” prove by example in the home, by devotion, and in their service to God, that they believe and know that God is their Father. [Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, David O. McKay, p. 230]

Mormonism sets high standards for its members, and though no Mormon is perfect (and hopefully no Mormon implies that he or she or any member of the Church is perfect), the high standard is worth striving for. It brings purpose and peace into your life. If you’re interested in being challenged to love your family more, do more service, and be more kind, the teachings of Mormonism may be able to help.

I’ve decided to create a blog about my religion — Mormonism. Mormonism is the branch of Christianity practiced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That’s the official name of the church, but it’s of course called the Mormon church by a lot of people. On this blog I’ll write about what it was like growing up as a Mormon, what it was like being a Mormon missionary for two years, and why I’m still a Mormon and a Christian. I’m sure I’ll touch on various topics that are unique to Mormonism like the temple and celestial marriage. I’ll be glad to entertain questions if anyone has them. If I don’t know the answers I’ll try to help you find them, though I won’t pretend every question has an answer.

I look forward to having an outlet for my thoughts about my religion. It’s infinitely important to me, and I hope that will come across in my writing.