Monday, May 18, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Why must there be only one true church?
Why must there be only one true church?
I think that many religions, if not the vast majority, are good. I think they teach truth and that not only do they teach people to live good lives, but that they are successful in this and many good, principled people can be found in the adherents to any religion. Why then must I try to convince these people to leave their religions and follow my own?
First, I should say, that I don’t think any religion needs to be abandoned to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I think if you explore this church, you’ll find that everything you accept as truth is found here, too. You’ll just find more to explain mysteries and show the way back to our Father in Heaven. You’ll find more light in a world of darkness.
That’s a nice reason right there -- but there is even more.
I think that God can be found in all the churches. I don’t think that He only talks to members of my church. I think He talks to all the pure in heart wherever they may be and whatever congregation they do or do not attend. He loves all His children and He responds when we reach out to Him.
That said, why would He choose just one church to be His favorite? Why would He in essence discredit these other congregations full of people who love Him and seek after Him?
I don’t think that is His intent. I think He has set up in this church a prophet to talk to the people and ordinances to bring us back to His presence and He wants everyone ever born to benefit from those things. Those things can’t be found anywhere else. Why should He set them up multiple times? It is up to us to put aside our pride, take advantage of the fact that He will speak to anyone who seeks Him, and ask if there is a specific church where He would like us to be.
Although it manifests itself in many ways, the greatest advantage to someone to be in this church as opposed to any other is priesthood power – God’s power and authority on earth. This is the same power that Christ and His apostles used to work miracles when they were on the earth. It can be used today to give priesthood blessings and bring about miracles (again I want to emphasize that I know miracles are not the sole property of my church – God loves His people and when they exercise faith, he often responds with miracles. I think priesthood power is just a more direct way to access God’s power, and as such, He wants us all to have access to it).
The other important aspect of priesthood is authority. Does the man who pronounced you man and wife actually have the right from God to do so? How does one get the authority to baptize? Will the ordinances (such as baptism) that have been performed for you be recognized as legitimate? Will they count in the hereafter? Again, these are technicalities and the Lord looketh on the heart. He will work things out. I am just telling you that authority may be the difference between my ordinances and your own. I know, in fact, that it is.
Finally, legitimate priesthood power manifests itself in the same organization that existed in Christ’s original church. Namely, that we have a prophet, twelve apostles, and other leaders. “Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7) “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) If He spoke through prophets in the past, He would speak through a prophet today. Why would God go through the trouble of establishing a church with a prophet and apostles and then not use the same organization to prepare a people who can be ready when He comes again?
And if God had reestablished His church, led it through His prophet, given power to its members through the priesthood, and provided for authentic ordinances that bind in this world and the next, would He not want all to flock unto it? In addition, would He not want every man who has been warned to warn his neighbor?
Absolutely. He would want us all to come and join this one church.
I think that many religions, if not the vast majority, are good. I think they teach truth and that not only do they teach people to live good lives, but that they are successful in this and many good, principled people can be found in the adherents to any religion. Why then must I try to convince these people to leave their religions and follow my own?
First, I should say, that I don’t think any religion needs to be abandoned to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I think if you explore this church, you’ll find that everything you accept as truth is found here, too. You’ll just find more to explain mysteries and show the way back to our Father in Heaven. You’ll find more light in a world of darkness.
That’s a nice reason right there -- but there is even more.
I think that God can be found in all the churches. I don’t think that He only talks to members of my church. I think He talks to all the pure in heart wherever they may be and whatever congregation they do or do not attend. He loves all His children and He responds when we reach out to Him.
That said, why would He choose just one church to be His favorite? Why would He in essence discredit these other congregations full of people who love Him and seek after Him?
I don’t think that is His intent. I think He has set up in this church a prophet to talk to the people and ordinances to bring us back to His presence and He wants everyone ever born to benefit from those things. Those things can’t be found anywhere else. Why should He set them up multiple times? It is up to us to put aside our pride, take advantage of the fact that He will speak to anyone who seeks Him, and ask if there is a specific church where He would like us to be.
Although it manifests itself in many ways, the greatest advantage to someone to be in this church as opposed to any other is priesthood power – God’s power and authority on earth. This is the same power that Christ and His apostles used to work miracles when they were on the earth. It can be used today to give priesthood blessings and bring about miracles (again I want to emphasize that I know miracles are not the sole property of my church – God loves His people and when they exercise faith, he often responds with miracles. I think priesthood power is just a more direct way to access God’s power, and as such, He wants us all to have access to it).
The other important aspect of priesthood is authority. Does the man who pronounced you man and wife actually have the right from God to do so? How does one get the authority to baptize? Will the ordinances (such as baptism) that have been performed for you be recognized as legitimate? Will they count in the hereafter? Again, these are technicalities and the Lord looketh on the heart. He will work things out. I am just telling you that authority may be the difference between my ordinances and your own. I know, in fact, that it is.
Finally, legitimate priesthood power manifests itself in the same organization that existed in Christ’s original church. Namely, that we have a prophet, twelve apostles, and other leaders. “Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7) “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) If He spoke through prophets in the past, He would speak through a prophet today. Why would God go through the trouble of establishing a church with a prophet and apostles and then not use the same organization to prepare a people who can be ready when He comes again?
And if God had reestablished His church, led it through His prophet, given power to its members through the priesthood, and provided for authentic ordinances that bind in this world and the next, would He not want all to flock unto it? In addition, would He not want every man who has been warned to warn his neighbor?
Absolutely. He would want us all to come and join this one church.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
To Begin
When I was in high school in Las Vegas, I sat next to a free-spirit, hippie type in my Spanish class. She knew I was a Mormon, or LDS, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That wasn't all that unusual. Our seminary building was across the street and there were large groups of us that went back and forth between seminary and high school. At that time, about one in every ten students in my high school were LDS. There were LDS kids in every sport, every extra-curricular activity, and every class. We were everywhere.
I felt like I had answered a lot of questions about my church, too, by that time in my life, so I wasn't at all uncomfortable when she started to ask me about some of the things that we believed. She sticks out in my mind, though. Apparently, after every question, I would begin my answer by saying, "We believe . . ." After only a couple of answers like this, she interrupted me and said, "I don't want to know what your church believes, I want to know what you believe."
And there it is. The fundamental difference between reciting something I had been taught and bearing testimony of something that I sincerely feel, somewhere in the very inner sanctums of my own mind and heart. What do I believe? And not so very unrelated, why do I believe? As an intelligent, thinking person, how have I accepted these beliefs and how do I live with them? Why do they matter to me?
So, I have no scholarly degree, no authority from some high leadership within my church. The only thing I do claim is to feel a desire, even a responsibility, to share with the world what I know and to help others understand. I do it in the hopes that it will help others as they try to find truth in their own journeys in life.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints encourages every member to in effect, "warn their neighbor," by proclaiming the gospel to the world. I will try to do this in my own little way.
I will also try to do it, for reasons other than membership in said church. I will try because I am a daughter of God and I believe that He would want me to. For me, that is what everything comes down to in the end.
I felt like I had answered a lot of questions about my church, too, by that time in my life, so I wasn't at all uncomfortable when she started to ask me about some of the things that we believed. She sticks out in my mind, though. Apparently, after every question, I would begin my answer by saying, "We believe . . ." After only a couple of answers like this, she interrupted me and said, "I don't want to know what your church believes, I want to know what you believe."
And there it is. The fundamental difference between reciting something I had been taught and bearing testimony of something that I sincerely feel, somewhere in the very inner sanctums of my own mind and heart. What do I believe? And not so very unrelated, why do I believe? As an intelligent, thinking person, how have I accepted these beliefs and how do I live with them? Why do they matter to me?
So, I have no scholarly degree, no authority from some high leadership within my church. The only thing I do claim is to feel a desire, even a responsibility, to share with the world what I know and to help others understand. I do it in the hopes that it will help others as they try to find truth in their own journeys in life.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints encourages every member to in effect, "warn their neighbor," by proclaiming the gospel to the world. I will try to do this in my own little way.
I will also try to do it, for reasons other than membership in said church. I will try because I am a daughter of God and I believe that He would want me to. For me, that is what everything comes down to in the end.
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