This is a monumental question. Often, throughout my life, the moment someone found that I was “Mormon”, I immediately felt contempt from them. Why is that? The cause of this contempt is usually derived from something they heard from someone not of our faith, and it usually was either untrue, exaggerated or simply misunderstood in some way.
The church is thought of as something new, and when religion is concerned, this brings it immediately under suspicion. It can be threatening, especially to clergy who could feel their livelihood is on the line. The specific doctrine may be different, if not distasteful, especially if not understood. New scripture was introduced, which again can be threatening. I hope at this point, anyone familiar with the Bible can see that all of these problems occurred with the people of God, and even with Jesus and his followers.
At this point the apologist in me is strongly geared to address these issues, but in this instance, I want to go a different direction. I think probably the best and most concise book to answer the most common of these, what I call stumbling blocks, can be found in the book, Are Mormons Christian, by Stephen Robinson.
An anti-Mormon show I was watching threw out some of these things and more, then asked the question, why would anyone believe these things? Good question. I want to answer.
Let me make it clear that I do not believe any other church to be inherently bad. To me it is obvious that they do much good. They give many people meaning in life. They serve their fellow man. And they have much truth. They do serve a purpose. In my mind, among other (good) things, they are as a John the Baptist--preparing the way. But they can also lead people astray.
My uncle, in his own search for religion would ask clergy three questions--where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going after this life? It wasn’t until LDS missionaries came to his door for him to be satisfied with an answer. Beyond having answers to these questions, we have answers to many others.
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) The church is, “built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets.” (Eph 2:20) Very high on the why list is this--we have living prophets and apostles. What a tremendous blessing! When I hear them speak, I can feel their wisdom and authority. And speaking of this authority, it is through their keys, that we can administer saving ordinances. This authority was restored, not through a mortal man, but directly through Christ himself or his sent messengers. John the Baptist and Peter, James and John came and restored both priesthoods, Moses committed the keys of the gathering of Israel, Elias committed the keys of the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, Elijah appeared and committed the keys of his dispensation as promised by Malachi--the keys to join families together in eternal relationships.
The idea of a restoration is not new. It is a recurring theme throughout the Bible. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah and others were restorers. Jesus called the religious leaders of his generation fallen, putting it nicely, but he was there to bring them into the light. The method each dispensation came out of apostacy was through a living prophet. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), why would this not be the case in our day?
With living prophets comes new revelations, which often results in new scripture. What a blessing! New revelations for new problems. (Noah's revelation to build an arc was not very relevant to Moses.) For me personally, The Book of Mormon is what turned on the light for me. It is full of truth and inspiration for our day. As Elder Patrick Kearon has said, “The assurances in The Book of Mormon repeatedly remind us that our father in heaven and our Savior love us beyond anything we can imagine.”
In the Bible, the last days are referred to as the, “Dispensation of the fulness of times.” (Ephesians 1:10) In addition it speaks of the “restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:21) What does this mean? It means that in this dispensation, all the ordinances, practices, rituals, and knowledge had by all people of God throughout history, will be had in our day. Yes, that even meant polygamy for a time. But it also means access to many other great things. It means we can add light to nagging, age old problems, like The Problem of Evil, but it also means we can answer today’s problems. It means we can know and practice rituals and ordinances and make covenants had by the ancients, and other peoples from time to time throughout history. Things common to the ancients, that may seem unfamiliar and odd today, but things that God would nevertheless have his people practice. It means we can know with clarity our value and our potential, even that we can become, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)
As much as some like to claim these things are from the imagination of Joseph Smith, the evidence to the contrary is there for all to see. If the church is truly a restoration, would we not see these beliefs and practices in our history? The resounding answer is yes! If we look at what the very early Christians believed, we can see the supposedly “new” doctrine there--even those things that many have a problem with.1 Beyond that, if we look at the most ancient civilizations throughout the world, again would we not expect the same? Again, a decisive yes! Keeping in mind man’s disposition to change and distort throughout time, we can still see common beliefs that are unique to the restored gospel--especially those seen in our Temple.2
What is even more astonishing is that many of these things were unknown in the time of Joseph Smith. Just one example is from the very first Pharoah of Egypt, who would have lived very close to the time of Noah. Written on the walls of his temple are very specific acts and words that would be meaningless to the world, but well-known to those very familiar with the LDS Temple endowment.3 Egyptian was not even being translated at the time of Joseph Smith.
The Law of Moses was given to the children of Israel because this is what they wanted. The Lord wanted them to have much more--to have the Law of the Gospel. But he allowed them their free agency. “The law was added for transgression” until the coming of Christ (Gal 3:19-20) But they are not alone in this phenomenon. In my view, Muhammad, Confucius, Gandhi, and Buddha, among others, also brought the people of their day what they wanted--what they would accept. God would rather have a people that cherish families, and strive to do right than to be totally atheistic in nature. But if they would, he would much rather have them know and become much, much more.
Free agency is still and will always be in effect. We have a smorgasbord of beliefs out there to match what we want to believe--making our chosen way to God easy or hard, popular or strange, or even non-existent. This is a Biblical prophecy, “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. (2 Tim 4:3-4, NRSV) But the admonition of The Church of Jesus Christ is that we can come to a personal knowledge of the right way from God himself, and not have to rely on man, or our own limited understanding. (see James 1:5, Moroni 10:4) The Church of Jesus Christ is not “new” but in reality, very old and very Biblical, and modernized to our day though a living prophet. The heavens are open! Come world and see!
1-See for example, Restoring The Ancient Church, by Barry Bickmore
2-Many books have been written showing this to be the case. One college professor in particular has brought these together in a series of podcasts found at theancienttradition.com. The caption states, “Substantial textual, cosmological, theological, symbolical, architectural, liturgical, and mythological evidence indicates a pure religious tradition was imparted to human beings “in the beginning”. Abundant evidence in the ancient record indicates a pure, theologically rich religious tradition was imparted to human beings in deep antiquity. Although it appears in the modern age, with the proliferation of religious traditions and denominations, that substantive theological differences separate religious groups, there is substantial evidence in the ancient record to suggest that the multifarious religious traditions of today are descendants of a single religious tradition imparted to human beings “in the beginning”- Under deep scrutiny, the core theological and cosmological tenets of each of the major religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism), folk traditions (African, Chinese, Native American, and Aboriginal) and other religious traditions (Shintoism, Taoism, Sikhism, and Jainism) reveal striking parity. Such findings not only necessitate the reassessment of religious studies en todo, they also invite us to attempt a reconstitution of the original religious tradition, which, undoubtedly, is likely to have widespread theological implications, especially among aspirants seeking undefiled theology- the “true tradition”.”
3-Although this also can be found from various authors, my source is from Bruce H Porter. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Masters in Middle Eastern Studies with an emphasis in Semitic languages. He has studied Hebrew Aramaic, Akkadian, Coptic, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and other languages. Because of the sacred nature, I will refrain from stating the specific source.
