Investigating the LDS Church

Interesting example (from my perspective) of things happening for a reason. Two weeks ago, I decided to set a weight loss goal of fitting into a pair of size 33 jeans. In the course of writing that post, it made me think of a statement my brother-in-law had made and I decided to also set a goal of deciding what I want to do with organized religion. But the religion goal was almost entirely "oh by the way" compared to the weight loss goal. Then, a couple of hours later, a friend of mine innocently posts a comment on my blog asking me "what [I] hope to get out of organized religion?" A fair enough question. That got me thinking about why I'd potentially want to take things to the next level with organized religion. In the course of thinking about this question, two things came to mind: (1) community and (2) eternal families. Regarding community, I've read in a couple of different places (like this article on ExploreFaith.org) that a relationship with God can most richly be experienced in a community of like-minded believers. Conversely, everyone being too like-minded can also be a problem (see this past post) but I think there's something to be said for community. Regarding eternal families, I've always felt that my relationship with my wife and kids would transcend this world - or at least I'd like to believe it will.

Now, I was planning to send my friend an email with this explanation (and possible post it on my blog) but decided to go looking for an explanation of eternal families that I could share with him. I figured it would be easy to find and I'd be done in 5-10 minutes. Since I knew the LDS Church believed in this concept, I decided to look there. At the time, I wasn't aware that the LDS Church has a monopoly (so to speak) on this belief. At any rate, I figured there would be a page on the LDS web site that succinctly summarized this belief. After viewing a bunch of videos and reading a bunch of pages, I surprisingly couldn't find what I was looking for. The concept was mentioned in multiple spots but there was nothing that would summarize the concept for someone not familiar with the rest of the LDS beliefs.

Now, here's the interesting thing. In the cause of looking for this phantom page, I did come across a page that included a quote from the Book of Mormon: “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost?” (Moroni 10:4).

In one of my earliest posts (link), I mentioned the following experience:

My belief in God actually happened quite suddenly when I was 19. My wife (then girlfriend) and her family are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – the Mormon Church as it’s more commonly referred to. As my wife’s sister was preparing for her mission to Chile, I began talking to her about religion in general and the Mormon faith in particular. Specifically, I asked her how someone goes from not believing in God to believing. Her simple answer to that question is that you pray about it – you read a particular faith’s doctrinal materials (e.g., the Bible) and ask God whether that faith is “true”. So, that’s what I did. One night I read portions of the Book of Mormon and kneeled down by my bed to pray about it. At first, my mind was very chaotic and I couldn’t focus on what I wanted to say to God. But, moments later, my mind become very clear and I felt peaceful. The feeling didn’t last long and I wasn’t “saying” anything at the time, but that brief moment solidified my belief in God. My interest in God had been growing over time and there were certainly seeds planted prior to this, but that one moment, that feeling of peace was the tipping point.

Ironically, the moment that solidified my belief in God in general did not solidify my belief in the Mormon Church in particular – although the genesis of that pivotal prayer was reading the Book of Mormon. At the time, I was simply seeking the existence of God – something larger than myself. I wasn’t ready for more than that and God didn’t proactively offer it up.

In reality, the question that I asked God that night wasn't "do you exist?" but "is this true?" (after reading the passage of the Book of Mormon above). For a whole variety of reasons (that I won't get into), I've applied revisionist history to that event since an answer to the latter question has farther reaching implications than the former.

So, here I am. In the course of about eight hours, I decide to buy some skinny jeans, set a "by the way" religion goal, a friend of mine asks me an innocent question, I go looking for a simple explanation, don't find it, get reminded of an experience 14 years ago, and view the significance of that experience through a new set of eyes. It's hard for me to believe that's a random set of events.

Now, you might ask the question "if you're sure you had this experience 14 years ago, why aren't you rushing out and getting baptized as quickly as possible?" and that's also a fair question. One answer is "it's already been 14 years, what's another couple of months?" Another answer is "this happened 14 years ago so let's not be too hasty about what it means". That being said, I am taking it seriously and trying to decide for myself what it means for me.

In terms of investigating the LDS Church, one person I spoke with suggested that I begin with the following sections of the Book of Mormon:

Introduction
2 Nephi -- Chapters 2, 31, 32, 33
Mosiah -- Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, 16, 18
Alma -- Chapters 5, 7, 32, 34, 36, 37, 41
3 Nephi -- Chapters 1, 11, 18, 19, 27
Ether Chapter 12
Moroni Chapter 10

If there are others people would suggest, please post a comment or send me an email directly. Also, I mentioned to this same person that I've never personally connected with any of the Mormon missionaries I've met in the past. When I asked if there is a "self-study" version of the missionary lesson, the person suggested Preach My Gospel (one of the manuals that missionaries use). My sister-in-law HG let me borrow her copy and I've read the whole thing (except the chapters on time management and finding people).

So, there you have it. We'll see where this investigation leads but that's the "back story" for those who are interested.