Category: Holy Ghost

Is the LDS Church just another Christian Church

The following is my own opinion, but it is what one Mormon believes, so I think it can still be posted on this website.

We recently got a nice comment from a woman who used to be a member of our Church, but has since becoming involved in another, more mainstream Christian Church.  She wrote about her “new eyes and strong desire to help others come unto Christ [the same way that she has].”  It was really nice to read, actually. And I’m grateful that she commented because it gave me a chance to think about what she is advocating.  As a member of a church that proclaims to be the “only true and living church on the face of the earth” (D&C 1:30) it is sometimes hard to wrap my head around the fact that someone could leave this “fully true” church for a “partly true” church.  (Don’t get all offended, I’ll explain my labels).

There are at least two parts to our church:  the human part and the inspired part.  The human part is honestly just like any other Christian Church.  There are fellowship meetings, get-togethers, sermons by people who have some pet virtue they want to beat into the parishioners heads.  Sometimes the church is amazing in this realm.  Sometimes people reach out to new people and bring them into their warm circle of friends and fellowship.  Sometimes seven different people come up to you during the first 14 minutes of church when you are visiting just to introduce themselves (thank you, Abilene Texas 3rd ward!  You guys were awesome!).  Sometimes there are incredible choral programs for Christmas and Easter.  Sometimes someone’s sermon changes your life for good.  Sometimes you find your closest friends through the Home or Visiting Teaching programs.

And sometimes, honestly, the human parts stink.  People are flawed.  And they bring those flaws to the church–especially in the LDS Church where everything is run by the members–a lay clergy, volunteers in every single role from the tiniest nursery tots all the way to the High Priests Group nodding off in the back row.  So that means that every person’s flaws and weaknesses are somehow incorporated into the functioning Church body (as well as their good qualities, but that observation belongs in the paragraph above).  And so, for people like the woman I mentioned above, visiting a warm and welcoming  congregation, perhaps with a social following the service and all sorts of ancillary programs to sign up for, may seem like a shocking difference (especially if her LDS ward was the opposite of the Abilene Texas 3rd Ward).  And it might seem like that church is more true.  More full and lively.  And it probably is more full and lively.  As far as fellowship and sociality goes, the Mormons don’t claim to have a monopoly.  Other churches are simply outstanding at uplifting and professional sermons, providing like-minded friends, urging people to lead honest and moral lives.   I don’t think any Mormon would argue otherwise; and if the human part of our church were the only part, then the answer to my post title is Yes.  It is just another Christian Church.

But there is another part to the church: the inspired part.  And this is the part that separates it from the “partly true churches” that have great human components.  God the Father and Jesus Christ really did restore the Church of Jesus Christ back to the earth through Prophets.  The Prophet really does speak to deity.  That’s an important distinction.  The organization of the church below them with Apostles, Seventies, Elders and so on is truly inspired.  It works on a small scale and it works globally.  I don’t think that Joseph Smith could have come up with that one on his own. The temples are also inspired.  Probably the most important element of the inspired part–that which makes it the true church–is the performance of saving ordinances:  Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, the Sacrament, Temple Endowment, Temple Sealing.  These things are HUGE.  It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t been to an LDS temple why they are so important, but it’s like having the map back to heaven, printed in your own language.  The temple is the point of having the Church back on the earth at all.  This is what makes the LDS Church the “only true and living church on the face of the earth.”

However, sometimes even members of the LDS Church miss this.  They see only the human parts and if they aren’t comparable to the other Christian Churches around their neighborhood  then it only makes sense to switch.  Being a member of the LDS church matters if those saving ordinances like baptism and temple ordinances are important to you.  They are important to me.  They give me security and increase my faith in Christ.  I know that He will do what He has promised to do because I’ve covenanted with Him to follow Him and He is always true to His covenants.  Those ordinances mean that I have a constant companion all the time: the Holy Ghost.  He leads me, comforts me and corrects me.  My temple marriage means the world to me because my little family means the world to me: if my road cycling husband were killed in an accident, I have God’s promise that we will be together again in the next life.  And I trust that.  I won’t even start to imagine losing one of my cherubic children because its too painful to contemplate, but we will be together for eternity too.  And when I die, because of what I have learned in the temple and covenanted to do, I have full confidence that I’ll be privileged to meet my Savior.  That is so important to me.

Way more important than how successful the ward party was and if today’s sermon wasn’t given as tactfully as I would have liked it. But that is my preference.  Everyone is entitled to their own priorities and I won’t condemn you for yours if you don’t condemn me for mine.

 

Service and Spiritual Eyes

I recently gave birth to my second child, a girl. I was and am feeling extremely blessed. Not only for her presence in my life, but because I was the recipient of so much service from others. I am getting gifts and free babysitting from neighbors and friends and family  and starting to feel a little to spoiled. I prayed for opportunities to serve others, but with a newborn and a two year old, I knew I couldn’t go out and clean someone’s house or bring them dinner or anything. I felt that all I could do was sit and wait for the Lord to send me people to help or tasks to fulfill for others.

Then a few weeks ago, sitting in Sunday School, feeling selfish again, the spirit was strong in the meeting and it gave me a deeper insight into my prayer: I had been serving people for the past 2 weeks. I thought of at least 3 instances where I had helped people, (even getting someone a job!), and the important service that I was giving my own children. Without even thinking about serving, or making sacrifices, I had helped plenty of people. It felt so good to have the spirit open my eyes to that realization, I can’t explain it, but it solidified my testimony that the Lord will answer prayers and that He is aware of us in our circumstances. It wasn’t answered the way I thought it would be, but when are they?

What does Baptism Entail?

Q. I’m christened Roman Catholic, my son has just joined a Mormon group, he said that he is to be baptized in 14 days. What does this entail and what are their views on me being a Catholic?

Guest author Jared responds:

What a great question! My grandpa is also a christened Roman Catholic, and several years ago he was in the exact same situation as you when a few of his children (my mother included) decided to be baptized. Before I go into that, though, let me first focus on the preparation leading up to baptism, and what is to be expected concerning the baptism itself.

Preparing for Baptism

Before someone can be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (“The LDS Church” or “The Mormon Church”) there are some common events that occur:  meeting with the missionaries, praying for guidance, worshiping with the local church, and a baptismal interview.

From the time the missionaries are introduced to someone who expresses interest in the Church, the missionaries will usually meet with the person a few times per week, sharing lessons about our beliefs concerning God, the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the history and organization of the church, God’s plan for us, the commandments, and what we must do to return to our Father in Heaven after this life. During each lesson the missionaries stress the importance of prayer and continually challenge the person receiving the lessons to ask our Heavenly Father in earnest, personal prayer if the things they’re being taught are true. The person receiving the lessons will be invited to attend church on Sundays where they’ll have the opportunity to meet the local church leaders and worship with us in our Sunday services. Once someone decides to be baptized into the LDS church, they continue to meet with the missionaries to help them continue to gain knowledge, grow in their faith, repent, and prepare to become a member of the Church.

Just before a person gets baptized, they have a baptismal interview. This is a one-on-one meeting with someone who has been ordained to give these interviews (for your son it will likely be a full-time missionary other than those who taught him the lessons). This isn’t like a job interview or an interrogation looking for faults. The purpose of this interview is simply to ensure that the person is really ready to be baptized – that they have prayed and received personal confirmation from the spirit that the things taught to them by the missionaries are true, that they understand and are obeying the commandments, and that they have repented of past transgressions.

What to Expect at the Baptism Service

The baptism service will begin with a prayer. A few people may have been asked beforehand to say a few words or share their musical talents by singing a religious song or playing an instrument. Then the actual baptism will take place.

The baptism itself will be very simple. Clad entirely in white to represent the cleansing through repentance and baptism, your son and the person performing the baptism (probably one of the missionaries who taught your son, or a local church leader or friend) will enter the baptismal font (a small pool of water usually around 3 feet deep). The person who baptizes your son will take him by the wrist and raise his right hand while he says the following prayer: “<Your son’s name>, having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” Your son will then lean back and be fully submerged in the water for a moment, then brought back out of the water. This act symbolizes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the beginning of a new life, and the washing away of past sins.

There will then be a few minutes of waiting and quiet conversation while your son changes into dry clothes before he comes back and rejoins everyone. Someone (probably a local church leader and possibly even your son) may say a few final remarks, then there will most likely be a song and prayer to close the service.

The final step of baptism is to receive a blessing by the laying on of hands (those giving the blessing put their hands on the head of the person receiving it), confirming the individual a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and commanding him/her to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This “confirmation” often takes place during Sunday worship services soon after the baptism, but it’s not uncommon for it to be performed immediately after the baptism as part of the baptism service.

The Baptism Service and You

Anyone (regardless of religious affiliation) who would come to witness and support those in their decision to be baptized are heartily welcomed! This is especially true for family and close friends of the individuals being baptized. As I mentioned, My grandfather, like yourself, is a christened Catholic and he’s attended the baptisms of several of his children and grandchildren into our faith; additionally, whenever he comes to town to visit he always attends Sunday worship services with us. He is not interested at this time in being baptized himself, but he enjoys attending church with us and always feels welcome.

I sincerely hope that if you are able to attend your son’s baptism, that you do! It would give you an opportunity to support your son in this important event in his life, to witness for yourself what he’s embarking on, and to meet his church leaders and friends. If you are able to attend, I challenge you to keep an open mind and be conscious of your feelings during the service; you may be surprised at the peace you feel as your son begins this new chapter in his life.

If you have any further questions about your son’s decision, don’t hesitate to ask. If you would prefer a more direct question and answer opportunity, feel free to contact the full-time missionaries in your area; when I served as a full-time missionary I loved the opportunity to answer questions of the family and friends of those whom I taught, and I’m confident those in your area would feel the same.

Taking the Sacrament

When investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the question often arises, “What do I do when the Sacrament comes around? Am I allowed or even supposed to take it?”Taking the Sacrament

The LDS sacrament is known to other Christians as the Eucharist, Communion, or generally, the Lord’s Supper.  Two priesthood holders, usually young men, bless first the broken bread and then the water, which have been placed in trays. After the respective prayers, these trays are passed to the seated congregation.

When it comes to you, you can either take one and pass it, or just pass it.  Either way, no one will fuss.

In my personal opinion, there is no harm in taking the Sacrament without being a member. No one is going to look at you like you’ve blasphemed their faith by partaking. I, along with many other members, allow my children to take the Sacrament and they haven’t been baptized as members yet.

However, it is important to understand why we take the Sacrament: 1) It reminds us of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and His great sacrifice on our behalf.  2) It serves as a renewal of the covenants we made at our baptism.

Regarding the first, I feel that most visitors would have no problem viewing the  bread and water as symbolic of the body and blood of our Redeemer.  The second reason just doesn’t apply though. Without having been baptized, you can’t renew those covenants.

Essentially, it’s up to you. You’re certainly under no obligation to take the Sacrament. If you feel more comfortable passing the tray along, that’s perfectly acceptable. If you’d like to take it, you’re welcome to do so, though it will mean far more to you after baptism.  This weekly ordinance allows baptized and confirmed saints to maintain the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, the greatest gift we can have in life.

How do we ‘know’?

Today at church we had a testimony meeting.  This is a somewhat unique sermon style where the bishop invites the people in the congregation to come to the microphone and share their testimonies or personal witness stories.  They simply go up to the front if they feel like they should, and it is usually very uplifting and enlightening.  You can learn how the gospel impacts a person directly.

You’ll often hear phrases like, “I know that God lives,” and “I know Jesus died for my sins,” and “I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.”  Sometimes visitors come away from these meetings non-plussed by our uber-confident ‘knowledge’ of things.  It got me thinking.

Whenever someone says they know something, they are saying they have high confidence that their belief coincides with objective truth.  We do this all the time.  You say, “I just know the dentist is going to lecture me on flossing” because 1) he’s done it before and 2) you still haven’t been flossing.  Your previous experience and the evidence of your behavior lead you to this prediction.  There are many ways we gather knowledge; I’ll list a few here for illustration:

  • Personal experience (five physical senses,  sense of balance, pain, hunger, etc.)
  • Emotion and intuition (love, fear, instinct, etc.)
  • Experiences of others (advice, anecdotes, biographies, etc.)
  • Logical and mathematical proofs (a priori)
  • Found evidence (archeology, historical documents, paleontology, forensics, etc.)
  • Robust scientific experimentation that controls for all variables (physics, chemistry, etc.)
  • Scientific experimentation/observation that controls for variables where possible (sociology, political science, economics, etc.)

We all tend to have some level of confidence in these methods, some more than others, depending on many factors, but each of these can lead a person to say “I know…” if the learning method is compelling enough.  Even so, many would argue that none of the methods I listed above are capable of producing reliable knowledge of things as transcendent as God.  Archeological digs might lend credence to a religious belief, but surely not firm knowledge.  These critics have a point, so I would add one more item to the list:

  • Revelation from God

God speaks to His children in various ways.  He gave Joseph prophetic dreams that came true; He spoke to Moses from a burning bush (and also face-to-face).  He sent an angel to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus.  Joseph Smith saw and listened to the Father and the Son in a grove of trees.

To Joseph of Egypt, Moses, Mary, Smith and many others, those experiences were indisputable.  They had every right to declare, “I know” instead of “I believe,” and they did.

For most of us, though, the glorious visions and visitations of heavenly beings haven’t yet happened.  For us, God has promised another form of revelation: a personal witness of spiritual truths through the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is available to bear witness of the Father and the Son.  “By the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5).  This witness may be less dramatic or conspicuous than an angelic visitor, but its convincing power may be even more sure than a vision (see Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:151; 1 Nephi 17:45-46).  Because of His subtlety, it may take many prompts for you to hear the Holy Ghost and again many more before you trust them enough to say “I know.”  But it can happen.  This is how I know God lives and that Jesus is the Christ.

You can know, too.  Like other modes of learning, it won’t necessarily come in an afternoon of mild curiosity, but it will with dedicated seeking, knocking, and asking over the course of weeks and months and years.  Begin now and you will taste the deliciousness that is the knowledge of God.