Sincere but deceived

On my way to work this morning, I was listening to a lectue on CD about the Prophet Lorenzo Snow, the 5th President of the Church. Shortly after his baptism (at the age of 22), he served a mission in Ohio. During that time, he tried to share the gospel with family and friends in that area but had limited success. In the lecture, it said that the general reaction he got among family and friends was "Lorenzo is sincere but he is deceived". I suspect that's exactly how a number of my family members and friends are feeling right now.

LDSFAQ (Mormon Answers)

My brother-in-law DE pointed me to this FAQ site maintained by Jeff Lindsay, a self-described "amateur LDS apologist". I've only briefly read through some of the content - the volume's almost overwhelming - but it appears to be very well done. Also, I got a good impression of the author reading through his homepage. He seems like a regular guy. On the homepage, he wrote: "While I am an amateur 'LDS apologist' whose work is heavily used to defend the Church, I am not saying that the Church is perfect or has a monopoly on truth. In fact, I have tremendous respect for many religions and recognize that we can learn much from most of them. I also recognize that the Church has plenty of those pesky mortals in it, even running much of it, and that means errors and problems and embarrassments from time to time. OK, I can't give my full endorsement to every historical event and statement and practice over the years, neither in modern Church history or the Biblical record, for that matter. But I do think we have some amazing things that the world should know about, especially The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Got one? It's a major reason why I am proud to be a member of this Church. My experience with that book have greatly added to my conviction that Jesus Christ is real, that God lives, and that there is a way for men and women to find joy and peace and meaning in this life and beyond. Oops, there I go, preaching again...."

Anyway, thought I'd pass it along in case others are interested. I hope to return to it at some point to explore some of these topics in more detail.

Summer of Sharing - week 3

Today was the last day of my gospel-sharing Sunday School class at church (see this post regarding week 2). We went through the last five questions of the homework assignment and I also gave people copies of the handouts I put together. Here are my sample responses to today's questions:

6. Why aren't temples open to visitors? Why are the ceremonies kept secret? What do you have to hide?
Temples are open to the public before they are dedicated. In fact, hundreds of thousands of non-members attend these open houses each year. Once dedicated, however, temples become the house of the Lord and only Church members in good standing are permitted to enter given the sacredness of the ordinances performed there.

7. Why do Mormons wear special undergarments?
Not all Mormons wear garments, only those who have received their temple ordinances. The garment represents sacred covenants. It fosters modesty and becomes a shield and protection to the wearer against temptation. Among other things, it symbolizes our deep respect for the laws of God - among them the moral standard.

8. Why does the LDS Church have missionaries?
Missionary work is voluntary and is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believerin the name of Jesus Christ.

9. Why don't Mormons drink alcohol or coffee? Isn't everything ok in moderation?
We believe in continuing revelation through modern-day prophets. One such revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith and is commonly referred to as the Word of Wisdom. It prohibits Church members from drinking alcohol or coffee, smoking, or other potentially addictive behavior.

10. Why do some Mormons work on Sunday and others don't?
We believe in the Ten Commandments as set forth in the Old Testament - one of which is keeping the Sabbath day holy. We are supposed to rest from our labors and devote this day to the Lord. While modern-day prophets have specifically counseled members on this topic, some members are more orthodox in its implementation than others.

We were a litte short on time today but I thought were still able to have a pretty good discussion. Hopefully people got something valuable out of the class.

Summer of Sharing - week 2

Today was week 2 of my gospel-sharing Sunday School class at church (see this post regarding week 1). There were a couple more people there this week and we had a good discussion regarding the first five questions of the homework assignment. Here are my sample answers to those questions along with additional suggestions from others.

1. Do Mormons consider themselves Christian?
Yes, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior and Redeemer. In fact, we believe that Jesus Christ Himself sits at the head of our Church.

In terms of why other Christian denominations may not consider Mormons to be Christians, we came up with this list of reasons: (1) our understanding of the Godhead vs the Trinity, (2) additional scriptures such as the Book of Mormon, (3) the Church being a relatively new organization, (4) modern-day prophets and continuing revelation, (5) a different understanding of Adam's transgression and original sin, and (6) the plan of salvation, including a progression towards being like our Heavenly Father. As an aside, on this last point, I mentioned the anti-Mormon cartoon "God Makers" in class today but had never seen it myself. I watched it on YouTube this afternoon (one video). The cartoon was amusing to me in its absurdity - taking one or two elements of truth, massively distorting them, and adding in a bunch of stuff that is simply not true. It's really unfortunate that some people form their opinion of the Church based on material like this. If people want to take issue with the Church or its teachings, there is plenty of material to go after but at least stick to the facts.

2. Do Mormons believe in the Bible or just the Book of Mormon?
Yes. We revere the Bible and it is a key part of our standard works. The New Testament remains the best source for an intimate understanding of the character and personality of Jesus Christ during His mortal mission.

I pointed people to two General Conference talks - "Miracle of the Holy Bible" and "My Words ... Never Cease" - for additional discussion of this topic.

3. Why doesn't the LDS Church recognize baptisms by other Christian faiths? Why do people need to be baptized again when they join your church?
This is really a question of priesthood authority - the divine right to preach, act in the name of God, and direct the Lord's church. We believe that the priesthood authority that Jesus Christ established in His early church was lost and was later restored in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including the authority to baptize individuals.

Other angles on this question could include discussing the fifth Article of Faith, the fact that we don't believe in original sin or infant baptism, that Jesus sought out John (one with authority) when He was baptized, or the discussion in the New Testament (in Acts) of people being called to the ministry through the laying on of hands.

4. Why does the LDS Church have a prophet? Didn't the need for prophets end with Jesus Christ?
Modern apostles and prophets are a distinctive characteristic of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - as is continuing revelation. Thomas S. Monson is the current president and prophet of the Church. We believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God through His prophets.

As part of answering this question, people might refer to the sixth, seventh, and ninth Articles of Faith. They might pose the question, "If God spoke through prophets in the past, why not now?" We might also talk about people in lots of faiths experience personal revelation and inspiration and that prophets can receive revelation on behalf of the entire Church (and all mankind).

5. Why do Mormons have temples and what takes place there?
Latter-day Saint temples are considered houses of God, a place of holiness and peace separate from the preoccupations of the world. They provide a place where Church members make formal promises and commitments to God. They are also the place where the highest sacraments of the faith occur - the marriage of couples and the sealing of families (both living and dead) for eternity.

Additional things that people brought up were: (1) the fact that temples are different than our normal meeting houses, (2) the progression from baptism to higher ordinances like endowment and sealing, and (3) that we do service by doing work for other people who have passed on.

Next week, in the fianl class, we'll cover the remaining five questions from the homework. I'll also give people copies of the handouts that I've developed on these topics and others.

Acts 5:34-42

I was chatting with my brother-in-law DE the other night on Google Talk. During the conversation, he suggested that I check out the last part of Acts chapter 5 in the New Testament. Specifically, he said it is a good way to explain to people about the LDS Church. At this point in Acts, the apostles Peter and John have been arrested for preaching about Jesus Christ. In part of deciding what should be done to Peter and John, Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, counsels: "And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." In our chat, David went on to say: "Read this the other day. I may differences with the LDS Church, but it's hard to challenge what he says. I think the church does far too much good to dismiss it as a cult or a fringe movement. Anyway, Acts is good to read because it talks about he early church facing persecution."

One of my favorite scriptures from the New Testament is a couple of verses later in Acts 5 - specifically Acts 5:41, "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name". There is something about "rejoicing" over being counted worthy to "suffer shame for his name" that speaks to me. I certainly can't say I've reached this point but it speaks to me nonetheless.

Poor loser - suggestions?

My son JD is a really poor loser. It's starting to really concern me and I have no idea what to do about it. If he doesn't win a game, he pouts about it and insists we play again so he can win. Today, we went bowling with DE and JD complained the whole time that he didn't do the best - and then started to actively root against the rest of us (and celebrate when someone missed the pins). It's gotten to the point where I don't want to do activities with him since I don't want to deal with his attitude about it all. I suppose part of this is my own fault. When I've played games and sports with him in the past, I've intentionally kept things close and let him win. So now he probably expects to win all the time. Or perhaps JD has some of my perfectionist tendencies. I don't know. All I do know is that he's in for a lot of disappointment when he plays sports or does other activities with kids down the road. Hopefully it will work itself out over time. In the meantime, I'm totally open to suggestion.

Addendum (7/5/08): My mom pointed out to me that I was a poor loser myself when I was 7 or 8 with very similar behavior to what JD is exhibiting now (if not worse). She reminded me that kids who are good at certain things often assume they should therefore be good at everything. I guess the fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree. It's always hard to see our own imperfections mirrored back to us in our kids - at least it's hard (very hard) for me. It's one thing for me to have my own struggles but it makes me feel 100 times worse when I think I might be passing them on to my kids. Then again, they need struggles to grow and mature so I suppose it's serving some useful purpose (although, to be honest, that's only mildly comforting to me).

Professional

Yesterday, the family went to the park to play soccer. My son JD decided that he and I should be on different teams since it would be "rude" for both "professionals" to be on the same team. That's probably the one time in my life that I'll be called a "professional" in the context of soccer. =) JD will start noticing all my imperfections soon enough. For now, I guess I'll enjoy the "Dad's a professional" phase.

Black swans

My wife and I have some of our money with a group called Smedley Financial Services. Every two months, they published a newsletter called Money Moxie. In the most recent issue, they talked about a book called "The Black Swan" (see PDF). I heard about this book from one of our venture capital investors at work. He was interested in the book in terms of spotting investment opportunities or market trends (e.g, the next Google) before everyone else. For those of you not familiar with this book, a "Black Swan" is defined as a highly improbably event with three principal characteristics: (1) it is unpredictable, (2) it carries a massive impact, and (3) after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. September 11th was one such event. Anyway, interesting to see these guys' take from a personal finance perspective. Thought I'd share in case others are interested as well.

Office 2007

There aren't that many things in this world that I can genuinely say I hate. There are things that I dislike or things that I prefer more than others. But there aren't that many things I hate. That being said, I hate Office 2007 with the intensity of a thousand suns!! I was a power-user of Office 2003 and it drives me nuts that Microsoft decided to completely overhaul their user-interface (and make it a hundred times worse) as part of the new version. From my perspective, this is a complete disaster.