On Happiness

The following is the full text of a Talk I am giving in Church January 18th, 2009.  I likely will not get through it all, so I am publishing it all here in case anyone wants the full text:

“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”   These are the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  And he is not alone.  Lehi said that men are that they might have joy; that is, men (and women) exist in order to be joyful.  Thomas Jefferson wrote the famous words that among our inalienable rights are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  That august news source, the Onion, has remarked that Americans will frequently pursue happiness at the cost of everything else, even of Life and Liberty.  Alma called God’s plan for our lives, the Great Plan of Happiness. 

The content of my address today will be happiness and joy.  I have drawn my ideas from the General Conference addresses by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, President Thomas S. Monson, the work of psychologists on happiness, and the experiences of myself and that of others.  I chose this topic because of my own struggle to be happy.  Some people, and I am not among them, have a native cheeriness.  Others among us, it would seem, have a native disposition to melancholy.  Nevertheless, I believe that true joy is deeper than our native temperments; it transcends mere enjoyment or contentedness.  It pierces the very truth of our existence as spiritual beings.  As such, joy is available to all.

Before I proceed, let me say a few words about words.  In many respects, joy and happiness describe similar emotions, but they are not entirely synonymous; if they were, we likely would not need both words.  We have this profusion of words with similar and overlapping meanings because, among other reasons, no single word can truly encapsulate our experiences.  Joseph Smith once remarked that words and not sufficient to explain the truth, but they were all that we have.  And so, we throw an effusion of words and imagery trying, often vainly, to relate fundamental truths that can only truly be gleaned by direct experience.  Thus said the Prophet: “The things of God are of deep import, and time, and experience, and careful, and solemn, and ponderous thoughts can only find them out.  Thy mind, oh man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation must stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss and the broad expanses of eternity, thou must commune with God.” 

 One last aside before I continue on my theme by way of, I hope, illumination.  The deep and important doctrines are not the arcane teachings about Kolob or the origin of God or whether Adam had a belly button.  Rather, the sacred, immensely deep concepts of truth, mercy, love, hope, happiness, faith; these are the true “deep things of God,” as Paul calls them.  My proof text, if I may call it that, comes from the Savior who said to his accusers:

 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” 

To put our gospel lives in perspective, we must focus on the weightier matters, the deep principles of the gospel upon which hang all the other peripheral but no less true teachings and practices of the gospel, but we must not neglect these matters, rather, we must ground them in the roots of the tree.  Most of these often thorny doctrinal issues that some people, particularly in the age of blogs, have wasted hours and days debating are really of little importance for our salvation and everything we know about them from authoritive sources could be summarized in a paragraph or two.  Mercy and love, however, require entire volumes and lives to explore and even then the fountain is not tapped out.  

Let me begin by establishing my definitions of happiness and joy.  Then, though you may disagree with my delineations, you will at least know exactly what I mean.  Happiness is often fleeting.  It is the enjoyment we get out of the things we love to do.  Joy, however, represents a much deeper and more enduring connectedness to people and the world around us and a knowledge that we are where we need to be.  Happiness, to use an analogy, is what we feel when we receive a sought after gift.  Joy is the feeling we have when we give a sought after gift.  They are not mutually exclusive and frequently align, but Joy has the capacity to encompass suffering, as we mourn with those that mourn; love, as we serve those in need; and gratitude, as we learn to receive well and not just take.

 I have been pondering what it means to be happy and have joy in one’s life.  As I’ve defined them here, happiness is quite easy to achieve.  Simply do things you enjoy.  This sort of pleasure seeking, however, is hollow—I think no one would contend with this.  Such pleasure seeking leads to loneliness ultimately.  To achieve that lasting joy which can endure through sorrow, strife, and set backs requires work and it requires the Spirit of God, for we read that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness[, and] temperance.” It is virtually impossible to extricate joy from the concepts of love, peace, hope, and faith.  They are intertwined and increase or decrease together.  There are other factors that will increase and help us complete and fill up our joy.  Indeed, Joseph Smith indicated that there is a path to lasting happiness and joy and the prophet Nephi wrote that his people lived “after the manner of happiness.”  Happiness is, I believe, simple, but that is not the same as being easy.  As Alma counseled his son, we must not grow slothful because God’s path is so simple that we almost forget we are on it.  We must daily recommit to it.  

It is the nature of God is to be joyful.  Alma says that wicked men are without god.  Being buffeted by their own desires and lusts, they are enslaved to their bodies.  They have gone contrary to the nature of God, whose child they are and hence from whom they have a divine inheritance, a spark of divinity that resides in embryonic form within each soul.  The natural man as described by the prophets, far from being the innate spirit of man, is rather the man given over to the natural world of bodily appetites.  Alma tells his son that those who are in this natural, carnal state “have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness.”  We are commanded to emulate the divine nature and hence we are commanded to be joyful. 

There are several things that experience, the scriptures, and the work of psychologists have shown to have either no influence on our joy or to have a negative influence.  Dr. Martin Seligman, former President of the APA and a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has demonstrated in his work that intelligence, level of education, and good physical health have no impact on one’s ability to be happy.  Neither does money, provided that you have sufficient to provide for housing, food and other necessities.  In fact, several independent studies have shown that beyond this, money and wealth can actually have a slight negative impact on happiness.  Once you have enough, no amount of increase will make you happy.

Save for those who live in abusive or similar situations, we cannot suddenly become happier by moving or quitting our job or starting over.  Such false beliefs and expectations can injure our ability to be happy.  On my mission, I became acquainted with a man named Paul Cardon, who had been a bishop in Chataqua, New York.  He told me a story that I have never forgotten.  He said that while he was bishop, he frequently interviewed individuals and families as they moved into the ward.  Almost invariablely, they would ask him whether this was a “good” ward or not.  He never gave them his opinion, but rather asked them about the ward they had just moved from.  If they said, “It was a great ward; the people tried hard to live the gospel and to help one another; there were problems as there always are, but it was a great ward,” then he would say, “I’m happy to tell you that you will find this ward to be very similar."  If, however, they said that the ward they came from was a terrible ward full of hypocrites where no one helped out and no one– excepting themselves, presumably – was trying to follow the commandments, then he would say: “I’m sorry to tell you that you will find this ward to be similar.”  The amazing thing is that almost without exception, both groups of people would come to him later and tell him:  “Bishop, you were right.”  

People often see what they wish to see.  We condition ourselves to receive and remember those experiences and incidents that justify our expectations.  Negative emotions have a powerful pull on our memories.  We often focus on them, perhaps because we feel the need to protect ourselves.  Remembering that a particular individual has betrayed us protects us from being hurt by them again.  However, if we give too much weight to these memories, we distort our future perception.  We can become obsessed and harassed by our negative emotions and reminiscences forgetting that there is sorrow and joy in every life; abundance and scarcity exist side by side for all of us.  It is ironic that frequently in the midst of material abundance such as that in which we here in the US live, it becomes too easy to forget God and our relation to Him.  We suddenly believe that we are able to care for our selves. 

While intelligence has no effect on our happiness, knowledge does.  We cannot be saved in ignorance.  Nephi said of his arrogant, ignorant, irritable brothers: “And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.” They had not studied the scriptures and the history of God’s dealings with men.  Therefore, when they saw prophecies revealed and miracles performed, they could not perceive them.  False understanding is damning to our souls and leads to negativity that halts our progress to be more like God and hence our ability to feel joy.  Ignorance and the arrogance to believe that we could not possibly be wrong in our understanding can be as damning to our souls as any grave sin.  To be happy, we must understand God’s character, His being, and his manner of dealing with His children.  To have joy, in short, one must search the scriptures and know God.  Hence, the Prophet Joseph Smith tells us to contemplate the heights and the abyss and commune with God in prayer if we are to bring our souls to salvation.  Alma tells us that on the morning of the resurrection, the righteous will be raised to a state of happiness, but this will be merely a continuation and perfection of the path they walked on earth.  Those who are joyful here will have joy in the hereafter and those who are miserable will be miserable still because they have gone contrary to the nature of God which is the nature of happiness. 

There are many things which will bring us joy.  In their recent general conference addresses, President Monson and Elder Wirthlin spoke about some of these things.   One of the keys to true happiness and joy is righteousness.  Lehi said to his sons: if there be no righteousness there be no happiness.  Elsewhere we read that wickedness never was happiness.  Joseph Smith echoed the same sentiment in the quotation with which I began.  Joy is a gift of the spirit and it enters our lives as we strive to do the will of our Heavenly Father.  Perfect joy would therefore follow perfect righteousness, but that is impossible.  

We read that the angels rejoice over the repentant soul and that we, too, will be filled with great joy when even one person repents and works righteousness.   It follows, then, that our joy would be great when we ourselves repent.  Repentance is nothing more or less than the opportunity to be today, better than we were yesterday; to leave our past behind us and improve.  Never forget that this gift is open to all.  Part of repentance is forgiveness.  If we do not forgive ourselves and those who have sinned against us, not only are we not fulfilling a commandment of God, but we are mocking the very mercy upon which we ourselves depend.  War is often easier than peace, because peace requires forgiveness and forgiveness requires humility and a mutual forbearance of others’ imperfections but unless and until we “put up” with others as they put up with us, there can be no lasting peace.  Pride refuses to forgive, believing instead that another’s action, far from being the tragedy that can damn that individual’s soul, has somehow damaged our own soul; and the ego cannot permit this.  Pride leads to fear which leads to anger which leads to war which leads to tragedy, but it preserves the ego intact in all its petty smallness and self-deluded, damning hell. We are all beggars at the mercy seat and the distance between my imperfection and God’s infinite perfection is no less insurmountable than is the distance between you and God, unless we repent.  

There are few things more destructive to happiness and joy than comparing yourself to others.  The Spirit when it enters into us begins to make of us new creatures, born of God and remade spiritually in His image.  We begin to take upon us the divine nature and we grow, as Peter describes, from faith to virtue, from virtue to knowledge, from knowledge to temperance, from temperance to patience, from patience to godliness, from godliness to kindness, and from kindness to charity.  Thus we through our spiritual progression make our calling and election sure and fill our souls with joy.  We must work to bring our natures in line with the divine nature if we are to find lasting joy; for, as Alma says, the nature of God is the nature of happiness.

Study the scriptures, learn about God and Jesus Christ and follow His example.  Learn to serve others and to care more for their welfare than for you own.  There is nothing so small and so pathetic as that soul which is wholly wrapped up in itself.  I know this, because I’ve been there.  It is a lonely and depressing place.  Even scientific studies have confirmed that friendship, socialization, marriage, and service are essential for happiness.  How this looks may be different for each person, I believe, for while principles are universal, details are not.  I will never, no matter how hard I try, ever be the affable and gregarious life of the party, but that is not required.  We can all find joy in the emulation of the life of the Savior. 

Paul said that sorrow is common to man.  Jesus himself is described of as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  Sorrow is an essential part of our mortal probation.  Joy consists not in ignoring or eliminating all sorrow from our lives, but in keeping our sorrow within perspective and finding God in our sorrows.  In fact, I believe that true and lasting joy is impossible without experience sorrow and grief.  Suffering can bring humility and bind us closer to our fellow beings.  Through our failures, we learn that we are dependent on God and on our fellow men and can leave forever behind the fiction that we are truly somehow able to live our lives completely in isolation.  We are told, for example, that the reason Christ is able to succor and help us all is because he suffered more than us all.  Suffering increases our capacity for empathy and consequently brings us closer to others which will in turn create bonds of friendship and without friendship we cannot have joy.  

Our trials also make us stronger.  In ancient Greece there was a man named Demosthenes who was famed for his oratory.  People would come from miles around to hear him speak (this was pre-TV, of course).  As a child, Demosthenes stuttered so severely that he could scarcely talk, but through hard work, he surpassed all his contemporaries.  Had it not been for his speech impediment, it is likely that he, like most of us, would have taken speech for granted.  Demosthenes was, in the words of Elder Sterling W. Sill, the greatest orator in all of Greece not in spite of his weakness, but because of it.  Our challenges and sorrows are what give us the humility to recognize and address of shortcomings and through Christ we find the strength to grow and become more like God and hence to find joy. 

Another godly trait we need in order to have joy is gratitude.  President Monson stressed this in his talk.  We can learn to accentuate the positive aspects of life and find joy and goodness even in the most trying of circumstances.  We must acknowledge God in all things:  “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.”  I used to struggle with this statement, because it seemed to imply that we should say that God caused little children to suffer or women to be abused.  I have come to see it another way, however.  The commandment to acknowledge God’s hand in all things is not a commandment to claim that God causes ever act of suffering, because that would require that we claim God is responsible for making people do wicked things.  Rather, it is a commandment to remember God and to see where He is when we are in the midst of our sufferings.  We must, in short, be grateful and find and highlight the positive.  Both the scriptures, ancient and modern, and the studies by Dr. Seligman confirm this.  Gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to boost our happiness.  It is a part of being optimistic, of emphasizing the good.  We remember the story of the ten lepers whom Christ healed.   When one returned to thank Jesus, he asked where the nine were.  When Christ was told that only this one returned, he turned to the man and said: Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.  All were healed, but only one was made whole spiritually.  

Finally, true joy should be centered in the Savior.  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  His way is the path that leads to happiness and eternal life and it is the fruit of the tree of eternal life that is desirous to make one happy.  Perhaps because these are trying times, I was led to read the final words of Mormon to his son Moroni.  After reciting the horrible scenes of wickedness and death that surrounded them both, Mormon said this:  

“My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.” 

Paul said that if we as Christians could only hope for the things of this world, then we were doomed to be miserable, because the life of a disciple does not lead one to the enjoyments of this life, but the joy of the eternal soul.  Perspective and patience is required for our joy to be full.  Christ has overcome this world and our Joy may be anchored in Him and in the hope of his mercy and kindness and patience with us, his errant children.

 One final thought on finding joy.  Do not give up.  For those that struggle, do not give up.  For those who find it easy, do not judge too quickly those for whom the path is not so simple.  The infinite goodness and perfection of God is equally distant for all of us.  We are all finite beings with struggles and challenges which we are called upon to bear.  Why some struggle where some prosper is a mystery, but what is clear is that we all called to bear up with one another: to dry the tears of the sorrowful, to bear up the burdens of the heavily laden, to bind the wounds of the injured.  It is a much graver sin to judge others in their weakness, than it is to combat, even unsuccessfully, our own failings.  We are not promised relief from sorrow in this world, nor release from the temptations and the weaknesses that beset us.  But, as C. S. Lewis said, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by surrendering.  Every battle, even those we lose, can build strength in us. The Pauline thorn may not pass away on this side of veil.  What we are promised, however, is strength for the journey, peace in our hearts, and the promise that all will eventually be made right and in that there is a comfort that cannot be denied.  Jesus Christ as the only sinless person, is also the only person who know to perfection how to resist temptation.  He has descended below all things becoming in his ignominious death, the lowliest of all and he has ascended above all things become master of all and so He encompasses all that lies between: the totality of our experience good and bad.  He knows how to succor the weak and the tired, because He has felt more what it is to be weak and tired than we could bear, but His perfection was not compromised and his mastery is not diminished.  I do not know everything.  In fact, the more I learn, the less I feel I know.  However, I cannot deny my testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   These two facts bind me to the testimony of my Savior and of His Church.  I cannot go anywhere else, because despite the weakness of us, the membership, this Church has the words of Eternal Life.  I hope and pray that I will continue to be humble enough to recognize this always.  Amen. 

I would like to close with one of my favorite poems, the Desiderata by the American Poet Max Ehrmann:

 

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, 
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, 
be on good terms with all persons. 
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; 
and listen to others, 
even to the dull and the ignorant; 
they too have their story. 
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; 
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, 
you may become vain or bitter, 
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. 
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; 
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, 
for the world is full of trickery. 
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; 
many persons strive for high ideals, 
and everywhere life is full of heroism. 
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. 
Neither be cynical about love, 
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, 
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, 
gracefully surrendering the things of youth. 
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. 
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. 
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, 
be gentle with yourself. 
You are a child of the universe 
no less than the trees and the stars; 
you have a right to be here. 
And whether or not it is clear to you, 
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, 
whatever you conceive Him to be. 
And whatever your labors and aspirations, 
in the noisy confusion of life, 
keep peace in your soul. 

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, 
it is still a beautiful world. 
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

 

On the Defining of Clouds: Life on the Spectrum, Part II

As I reread what I wrote last time, I noticed, in addition to a few typos, that it still seemed a shallow treatment of this issue. I thought that today I would address two issues that are of utmost importance to myself: Asperger's and religious belief and socially constructed Asperger's. I shall begin with the second first, apropos given that the first shall be last, et cetera.

What do I mean when I say that Asperger's might just be a socially constructed artifact? Well, from this aporia let me continue by saying that there is no one normality in human behavior. There is rather a range or spectrum of behaviors. Some of these are functionally adaptive, meaning that they lead to success. Others are maladaptive; that is, they lead to failure. These can be maladaptive or functionally adaptive in various spheres. For example, the ability to concentrate on one issue or thing may be useful in studies or science, but it might be maladaptive for social situations where stimuli are many and transient. This means that the degree of adaptivity or maladaptivity is relative to the frame of reference from which it is viewed.

Human behavior ranges widely and the variety of behaviors and traits is difficult to comprehend. However, for any individual, his behavior is defined as normative by the society in which he lives. Thus, for example, when I board a bus or train in America and there is only one other person on board, it is typical in America for me to seat myself a fair distance from that person. Alternatively, if there are lots of people who enter at once, they will most likely each try to space themselves equidistantly (if possible) throughout the train. However, on my brief experiences abroad in the Arab World, I have noticed that people tend to group together. when they board a train or a bus. Now, let me state in all fairness that public transit in Egypt as I experienced was much more widely used and the city had a much larger population, but I couldn't help notice that people, when there were empty spaces, tended to prefer being around other people.

It is difficult to define what is normal in human behavior, even within a single society or group. I have recently been reading Umberto Eco's "Kant and the Platypus," which treats semiotics and linguistics. He discusses how language shapes our understanding as well the interplay of cognition and language. Frankly, I find much of it arcane, since I am not an expert in semiotics, but I can understand his greater arguments. For example, in the first chapter he discusses Being, the mere fact of existence. No one can adequately define what it is to exist without generating a tautology. If you say, To be is to exist; you have merely restated in your predicate what you said in your subject. You can try a negative approach (and this is popular both in metaphysics and its less rigorous cousin mysticism) by saying, Being is not being nothing.

Eco argues that while we cannot define Being, we cannot let it mean everything (and hence mean nothing at all), but nor can we define strict limits. Instead, we have "resistances" as he terms them. We can't define exactly why a cat and a dog are different, but they are. Something resists them being lumped together in the same genera. This means that as we trying to assay experience, we run into "resistances" that force us to categorize what is around us. Like the blind men and the elephant, we grope and feel. We are aware that there is a boundary, but the harder we try to pin it down, the farther it slips away. Imagine, for example, a cloud. From far away a cloud (and let us take a nice fluffy cumulonimbus since they are my favorite) has a very distinct border that separates it from blue sky. True, there may be wispy fringes, but in general, if you were asked to describe the boundary of the cloud, it appears very evident. However, the closer you draw to the cloud, the less clear this liminality becomes. Blue becomes gray becomes white without every showing a clear boundary. Still, we know when we are in a cloud and when we are out of a cloud. These two facts exists, but they overlap like a Venn diagram creating a space that is both cloud and sky while also being neither cloud nor sky!

Human behavior is much more complicated but analogous. It seems clear that many people fall along a continuum in various fields of behavior such as sociality, deliberateness, introversion, et cetera. Human beings exhibit many different behaviors and in each of these they fall within a wide range along the spectrum and so the individual can be quite complex behaviorally. It seems likely, however, that some behaviors are interrelated and that the relationship among them complex. The degree of one behavior influences the degree of another (as I noted before). I will not, however, go into that here. Another time, perhaps.

All human societies have normative behaviors that are both obvious and impossible to pin down. These are often termed (negatively) "stereotypes", or (positively) "traditional values." Like our cloud, we cannot always pin down the boundaries of these behaviors, but the center seems clear and is orbited by a periphery of interrelated and dependent behaviors that arise from and influence one another in a fashion that I will not attempt to delineate here (both because it is beyond the scope of my interests for this essay and because I am not qualified to discuss it).

It American society, where in recent years there has been an explosion of Autism spectrum diagnoses, we live in a society that sociologists term "low context" culture. That means that unlike a more homogeneous society like Finland or Japan, Americans have much less shared cultural and interpersonal shared meaning. Norms of behavior are much less rigid here. That means that each individual much be constantly interpreting the signs around him anew. Non-verbal communications are not a given in our society as they might be in Japan. Individuality matters much more. We Americans praise our individuals and make heroes of the mavericks (a word, naturally, coined in the American West and originally referred to a stray calf). However, the down side of the low context culture means that each of us must put much more effort into understanding others.

This low context, highly individualized society makes it difficult for persons who might have a predisposition towards having difficulty distinguishing the subtle non-verbal clues. In fact, studies (and my own experience have shown) that people on the the Autistic Spectrum fare well in structured environments where the societal relationships are well defined. Thus, it would seem, persons diagnosed with "Asperger's" in America, might, in Japan, be fairly well integrated by virtue of the fact that they need not be constantly trying to figure out verbal clues. These structured rules of interaction allow him or her to concentrate their efforts on other issues and thus they are able to be more successful at navigating society. However, those same persons in America would find society almost unmanageable because without rules, the subtle clues are too numerous and contradictory to make out. Thus what is a strength in one culture, leads to failure in another for the individual with Asperger's would feel liberated in the high context culture while someone with a more maverick personality would feel constrained. This means there might be disorders in Japan that would have no social meaning here.

Early psychologists used to speak of women suffering from "Hysteria" (a typically female's only disease according these all-male scientists who thus named it from the Greek word for uterus). In a repressive, Victorian middle class society, suffering from nerves was a natural for women who could find no outlet for their frustrations. This "disorder" has all but ceased to exist. In southern Egypt and the Sudan, there exists the Zar cult among traditional societies. This cult (in the ethnographic sense, not the pejorative sense) is confined mostly to women. In the Zar cult, women become possessed by spirits, frequently male spirits, and under the influence of this spirit, they act and speak like men. Men in the community will even treat women under the influence of the Zar spirit (which comes from the Arabic word for visitor) as a man. In a society where women have no voice, those who struggle against the social norms have no outlet and so they become men in order to give vent to this possible subconscious desire.

These examples show that some "disorders" might very well be socially construed. They represent the inability of certain segments of society to adapt to the prevailing societal norms. For people like me, who thrive on order and structure, our inability to adapt to the chaotic social norms of American culture manifests itself as "Asperger's Syndrome." This is not to argue that all the behaviors and traits of Asperger's are socially constructed. If any reader things I have argued that, then either I have done a poor job of explaining myself, or the read has done a poor job of reading. My argument may be summed up thus: Whether it be due to nature, nurture, or both, there are those whose personality traits are ill suited to the prevailing societal norms. These traits, neither good nor bad per se, lead to classes of behaviors. Under a society where these traits are maladaptive, these behaviors become a disorder; whereas under different conditions, these traits might be an asset. Let it be said, however, that even under contrary society where said traits are maladaptive, they may still bear fruit if only fruit choked by weeds.

As the hour is late and the words verbose, I will save my second theme; Asperger's and Mormonism, until a later entry.

On Religious Persecution and Historical Perspective

History, the old adage tells us, is written by the victors. But that is not the entire truth; nor is it one hundred percent accurate. Athens lost the Peloponnesian War in the fifth century B.C., but most of our accounts of that conflict come from Athenian sources. What matters is good Press skills and the Athenians had that. Over the course of centuries, it doesn't matter that Athens was beaten, what matters is that they kept records and others did not. What this means is that the historical records is always skewed; even when the record keeper is honest. He invariably interprets events as his world view shapes them.

Let us look at an example. In the 1830s Mormon converts began migrating to Jackson County, Missouri, which had been designated in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith as the site where Zion would be built. However, within only a few years, the Mormons were expelled en masse from the County and took refuge in northern Missouri where, after only a few years, they were again expelled, this time on pain of death if they stayed, under Governor Lilburn Boggs' justly infamous Extermination Order.

As Mormons tell the story, they were the victims of religious persecution driven because of their beliefs again and again until they were forced to make a dangerous winter flight to Illinois. The government, however, said that the Mormons were a threat to public order, and enemies of the state. What is the truth? Well, both.

When the Mormons began moving to Missouri they did upset the public order. Their more communal lifestyle was at odds with the more independent-minded Missourians. Most Mormons were also anti-slavery (despite what you may have heard about blacks and the Mormon church; they did, at least, oppose slavery). In the 1820 Missouri Compromise, Missouri a slave owning territory even though most of the Louisiana Purchase was Free. Still, the issue was revisited again and again. In the Compromise of 1850 and again in the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854, legislators tried again and again to resolve the issue of slavery in the expanding United States. Missouri, though a slave state since the Compromise of 1820, still had agitators demanding Missouri become a Free state.

In the midst of all this, in 1836, the Mormon owned newspaper in Independence Missouri published an editorial advocating abolition. The day after this issue appeared, Mormon leaders were rounded up, tarred and feathered, and the press was destroyed. This incident is famous in Mormon history, but Mormons often forget the role that this editorial played in fomenting this violent act.

Mormons often portray this as the culmination of religious persecution, whereas it could equally be seen as a political riot. The truth is that both viewpoints have some aspect of the truth. Swelling numbers of Mormon immigrants instilled the Missourians with a fear that would lose political influence to these strange, religiously different, anti-slavery (mostly) northerners. Not only that, but Mormons were quickly outnumbering the previous immigrants and threatening to take over all political life. This threat of Mormon domination led to the election day riots in cities like Gallatin.

The Missouri Mormon War figures prominently in LDS history, but scarcely a blip on US history and barely a mention even in Missouri history. Both Mormons and Non-Mormons publicized their side of the story broadly in their day, but the Mormon version has become the more widely told tale today because Mormons have kept up the story long after many others stopped caring. The story is taken up by Anti-Mormons who wish to make it sound as if the Mormons were not the victims of persecution, but rather the justly expelled enemies of the state that Lilburn Boggs declared them to be. They have the Missouri State archives on their side in that battle.

Often, I noticed, Anti-Mormon or other writers will compare this story to examples from their own Faith traditions history to show that these upstart Mormons were trying to make themselves victims instead of criminals to tie into the long tradition of persecution that Christians have faced. What intrigues me here, though, is that is an uneven comparison. They take in insider's viewpoint of the Biblical persecutions and an outsider's perspective on the Mormon persecutions to prove their point.

In fact, Jewish and Roman sources depicted the Christians as enemies of the state who threatened the public order and deserved the violent actions taken against them. They broke up families, disobeyed laws, lived communally in their own areas (early on), and advocated radical social changes that disrupted the traditional values of Roman society. Consider the riots in Ephesus that Luke relates in Acts 19. As Luke tells the story, the craftsmen whose livelihood depended upon making votive statues and decorations for the Greco-Roman gods were worried that Paul's success would diminish business and so they rioted against Paul and the Christians.

This story is a nice parallel. The difficult is, however, that we have only Christian story. Doubtless, the pagan workers would have told a different tale of meddling outsiders upsetting the place, living strange customs so who knows what else they really do. In fact, Roman writers often wrote that Christians were cannibals (think of the Sacrament/Eucharist), drank blood, were atheists (they didn't believe in any of the gods!), who swore secret oaths against the government and practiced incest and all sorts of perverted marital arrangements. They often lived separately and shared all things in common and called one another brother and sister. Romans found this all very disturbing and riots ensued. The only solution was to persecute the Christians who were viewed to be the cause of the disturbances since no such problems had existed before.

What is religious persecution? Those who are prejudice and discriminate and persecute others would almost never say they did so because of prejudice. It is always the victims' fault. Victims are not altogether blameless in these situations. I do not mean that the victims' deserve it, but rather that their being different does, indeed, lead to the persecutions. It is contrafactual and hence weak to argue, but had Mormonism not arisen, likely no mass migration of anti-slavery, communal northerners would have settled a southern state like Missouri thus raising tensions and prompting violence (from both sides). So, in a sense, the Mormons did cause their own persecution.

Jesus was executed, not because He was the sinless Son of God and victim of a massive conspiracy to suppress the Truth, but because Jewish and Roman leaders viewed Him as a threat to public peace and the established order. As far as the Romans were concerned, Jesus was a political rebel who had declared Himself King of the Jews. Neither the Romans nor the Jewish leaders lay awake thinking that needed to prevent the "Truth" from coming out. They likely genuinely believed that they were right, which to my mind is more frightening.

Humanity is often prone to an arrogance of assumption. We assume too quickly. Truth is much larger than any one man's (or woman's) paltry ability to grasp. Its depths recede beyond the farthest horizon we can imagine. Pride is the most human of sins. It may even be the defining characteristic of our species. This extends even to our understanding of events. We forget that real people live on every side of every issue. In the end, the truth lies not in the middle, for that would somehow give every bigot some measure of undeserved dignity, but rather beyond, encompassing all the small-minded assumptions of our kind. James Lowell, an American Poet, wrote, perhaps envisioning this struggle:

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

Of Darkness and Light

As far as I am aware, man is the only animal with a conscience. This is not that animals do not feel bad from time to time. Anyone who has every been around a dog knows that they can evince something that resembles shame when you get mad at them. However, like Robert Burns said of that ill-fated mouse whose cozy winter home the Poet's plow so rudely overturned:

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Man is doomed by his intellect to suffer for the pains of the past and fear for the future. That is why, perhaps, so many of the world's mystical traditions encourage their initiates to put the future in God's hand, the past in His mercy and become immersed in the present. So taught the Taoists, the Stoics, the Sufis, the Christian Mystics, and even Jesus Christ Himself. Consider these words:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself ~Matthew 6:34

A few years ago, a heard what was a paradigm shifting sermon for me by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was October of 2000 in the Saturday Afternoon session of General Conference. Elder Oaks spoke on Becoming. He said:

[T]he Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts--what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts--what we have become.

Not long before this I had encountered as a missionary for the Mormon Church an angry minister of another faith who accused me of believing that each good deed somehow got me a certain number of "points" with God and that I need only achieve a particular threshold in order to enter heaven. Having only said, "Hello," to him, I was startled by this brazen declaration and no manner of refutation on my part could dissuade him of his error. However, I though a lot about his words and about the perceptions our words and actions can give to others. I have addressed this topic many times before in this site.

Elder Oaks' talk, however, gave me great clarity. Many more scriptural passages became clearer like Jesus' parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), which Elder Oaks cites. It is not the things we do that matter, but the effect of the things we do on our soul. This is at once comforting and frightening.

On the one hand, it means that where we labor, whether it be as Prophet, Relief Society President, or the guy who vacuums the Church on Saturdays, does not matter at all because the ultimate goal is the effect of our work on our soul. Elder Oaks notes as an example that, "the pure love of Christ" (Moro. 7:47), is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes. Thus, as Moroni declared, "except men shall have charity they cannot inherit" the place prepared for them in the mansions of the Father (Ether 12:34; emphasis added)." Doing charitable things does not matter nor does the size of the charitable deed; it is that we become charitable beings. Thus repentance makes more sense. We can never truly ameliorate or mitigate the bad effects of our poor choices and sins. Indeed, we may be forced, as Paul with his thorn in the flesh, to suffer for our bad choices all the days of our probationary mortality. However, we can become better in our souls and through the mercy, grace, and charity of God and Our Savior, we can return and be sanctified though this ultimate end may not come for many years even after our mortal deaths.

On the other hand, we learn here that only true repentance that wrenches the very roots of our souls will ever suffice to obtain God's grace and mercy. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that we would all be tried as Abraham and our very heartstrings would be wrenched. The purpose in all this is not to torture us, but to purify our desires. Hence there are scriptures that say we will be judged by the very desires of our hearts.

The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh. (Alma 5:41)

And yet, throughout all the days of our erring mortality, we are all full of darkness and light warring within us. Each of us has different strength and we fall to different temptations according to our desires.

It is overwhelming sometimes. I often feel beset with my failures and weaknesses. In quiet moments when I should feel peace, I hear only the voice of self recrimination. I am convinced that cynics and idealists are really the same class of being, but we cynics, though we hope for perfection and beauty, see too often the failure. We over emphasize the bad perhaps to justify our own failings.

Light and Dark are continually at war within us. The more I ponder this, the less I am inclined to judge any man for his sins. I cannot do it. He is tied to me in the same ultimate endeavor. At stake is the very integrity of an immortal soul. How can I dare to cast one of those aside? C. S. Lewis remarked that when he looked upon suffering souls, he saw gods. The Bible tells us that we are gods (see Psalms 82:1-6). But fallen so far we little resemble what once we were when we walked with Angels for a time. We are as much now like God as a pebble resembles a mountain.

Lately I feel that I have been trying to compensate for what Hemingway called, "the burden of a happy childhood." Through this, I have come to understand the wisdom of what Jesus told the Pharisees who endlessly debated the measuring of tithes and the "deep doctrines" of God's presence in the Burning Bush as if such could possibly affect their souls while they omitted the true "deep things of God" as Paul termed them. Jesus said:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23)

Mercy, faith, judgment, hope, charity, peace. These are the doctrines upon which it is our duty to meditate. Oh be sure to pay your tithes, as Jesus said. He never advocated neglecting these temporal duties, but rather He cautioned us to look at what underlies the Law. In doing so, the very powers of heaven distill themselves upon our souls.

The Historical Book of Mormon

Six years of studying the profession of History must have some benefit. In an end-of-the-year party held by my undergraduate history department for departing seniors, the Head of the Department, Dr. Norman Jones, remarked that the study of history is primarily learning how to interpret and weigh evidence. It is not, strictly speaking, scientific, though it can and should be supported where possible with science; but nor is it a freewheeling art form where anything goes. History is the challenge to ponder the evidence of the past and weigh its reliability, biases, and utility for telling the story of a people. So, it would seem, I have learned something in all these years about reading texts.

Though we like to call the Book of Mormon scripture, and I believe it is that, it is also a historical text as the Bible is. With that assumption, what does the Book of Mormon tell us. I have often found myself reading the text of the Book of Mormon like I would a primary source for historical research. This has actually increased my faith in the Book of Mormon; for a work of fiction would not carry those subtle, stray artifacts that make a document ring true.

Being the skeptical sort by nature, I have often struggled to understand and accept some aspects of our past and our story as Mormons. However, I believe so strongly in the Book of Mormon that I am drawn to accept even when I don't understand. I feel like Peter after Jesus gave his masterful discourse on the Bread of Heaven (see John 6). When Jesus expounded doctrines and made claims that many of His disciples found difficult to believe, they turned away from Him, but Peter, though he could not understand replied:

Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
(John 6:68-69)

So it is with me. I don't understand the former ban on Africans from the Priesthood, nor do I really comprehend polygamy or all the ordinances of the Temple, but the Book of Mormon and the Prophets of this Church have the words of eternal life and that keeps me here. So, in between my travel adventures, I hope to start posting some essays and explorations of the Book of Mormon as a historical text and what I have learned from reading it this way.

My first observation is not some grand truth, except about human nature, but it is a testament to the veracity of the Book of Mormon and a defense against charges that it cannot be historical because the history it presents is too simple.

The Book of Mormon has three main authors and a few minor authors (excluding the lengthy quotations from such persons as Isaiah, Alma, Captain Moroni, and so on): Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni son of Mormon. Jacob could be added to the list as well. In fact, my first evidence comes from Jacob.

In a class I took in college on the History of the Celts, we looked at the identity of these persons and groups and realized that tribal nomenclature is a tricky business. We use the name Celts, from the Greek Keltoi, to describe the peoples of Europe who inhabited vast swaths of land from the Danube to the coast of Ireland until the invasion of the Romans and later the Germanic tribes pushed their culture to near extinction leaving on pockets of Celtic language and traditions in Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The Romans called these same people Gauls. What they called themselves is actually somewhat of a mystery; assuming they had a sense of "Pan-Celtic" consciousness rather than just tribal identities. The same holds for the Germans, who to this day don't call themselves Germans, a name the Romans adopted from a tribe that lived along the Rhine River. Germans call themselves Deutschen, which is related to the words Teutonic, Dutch, and so forth and roughly translates as "people." Greeks, of course, are not Greeks, but Hellenes in their own language and Greece is not Greece, it is Hellas.

How does this touch the Book of Mormon? Many critics of the Book of Mormon have said that since we have no records aside from the Book of Mormon, mentioning peopled called the Nephites and the Lamanites, then the book must be a modern fabrication. However, this critique is built on the false assumption that the names Lamanites and Nephites were in widespread use. The Nephites were soundly destroyed and most of their records destroyed, according to Mormon and Moroni (see Mormon 6:6). It is highly unlikely that the Lamanites called themselves Lamanites as a people. In fact, Jacob drops this highly interesting hint in his book:

Now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings.

Jacob 1:13-14

Mormon echoes this statement hundred of years later in 4 Nephi 1:36-37:

And it came to pass that in this year there arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ; and among them there were those who were called by the Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites; Therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ, (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus who should tarry) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.

The key passage, highlighted above, shows that Jacob knew there were more complexities than Nephites and Lamanites, but frankly did not care to distinguish at that level of complexity because his purpose was a spiritual one and he did not care to get bogged down with politics.

These sorts of incidental references provide a strong sense of authenticity to the Book of Mormon account. The authors refer almost parenthetically to the world around them with which they are intimately familiar and hence feel no need to elaborate on such obvious givens. Furthermore, we know from these accounts that the Nephite/Lamanite duality is, in some sense, an artificial simplification of a far more complex world full of various tribes. Keep in mind, furthermore, that none of these names should be assumed to have been used by the groups to which they refer, just as one would not find an ancient Greek source referring to "Greeks." An Greek author would talk about Hellenes and a person reading Roman sources alone would not be able to find records of "Greeks" in the land that the Romans called Greece.

This parallel is not, of course, precise, because both Greeks and Romans were highly literate and thus the records speak repeatedly of each other, whereas the Nephites were literate, but most of the Lamanites were not. No records, aside from the Book of Mormon, exist to document the history of Central and South America prior to the Maya and the Aztecs, both of whom came hundreds of years after the demise of the Nephites. The Incas, interestingly, were not literate and left no records; neither did the Olmec, Toltec, Moqui, and many other groups whose names, it should be rememberd, are mostly exonyms, i.e. names applied by outsides. What these groups called themselves, as with the Lamanites, is unknown. The same is true for ancient ruins in Central and South America. For the most part, their names are unknown and the names applied by archaeologists are modern.

There are two things to be gleaned here. First, the writers of the Book of Mormon recognized they were using exonyms and we should not, therefore, be surprised that no other record uses them since these names were not used by anyone else. Secondly, the fact that the Book of Mormon mentions this detail and does so in a very cursory manner, contributes to the veracity of the Book of Mormon as a historical record.

The Good News of the Book of Mormon

The Gospel

The fourth Article of Faith of the Mormon Church says:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This represents the basic foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Mormon Church. These steps are what a person must do to enter a covenant with Christ and enter the path that leads to Eternal Life. The word Gospel is a contraction of “Good” and “Spell” and means literally the good story or good news. The Good News of Jesus Christ is that He suffered for our sins, died, and was resurrected from the dead. This constitutes the Atonement of Jesus Christ through which all mankind can be saved in the Kingdom of Heaven through faith, repentance, baptism, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endurance to the end. The Book of Mormon usually refers to this as the Doctrine of Christ.

Mormons teach that the fullness of the Gospel, or the complete teachings about the Gospel as well as the authority to perform baptism and the covenants God makes with man were lost from the earth in the centuries following Christ’s death and resurrection and that these teachings and this authority were restored through modern day prophets beginning with Joseph Smith. Part of that restoration was the Book of Mormon, which the Lord gave to help us understand more fully this essential doctrine. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ said, “the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fullness of the gospel” (Doctrine &Covenants 42:12). Contrary to critical attacks, the Book of Mormon does explain the fullness of the Gospel. Shortly after his resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared to some of the ancient inhabitants in the Americas and said this:

Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you--that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil--And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works. And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world. And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the justice of the Father [ … ] And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end (3 Nephi 27:13-17, 19; pg 459, emphasis added).

This describes the basic elements of the Gospel according to Mormonism:

1. Jesus came into the world to do the will of the Father
2. The Father’s will was that he die on the cross and draw men unto him through the Atonement and Resurrection
3. Men will return to Father to be judged of their works
4. Only those who have faith, repent, be baptized and endure to the end will be saved
5. Through faith, repentance, baptism, and endurance to the end through the power of the Holy Spirit, a person’s sins are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ which atoned for all sin.

The Apostle Paul said something very similar about the basic nature and emphasis of the Gospel. He said to the Corinthians, “[W]e preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor 1:23). To the Romans he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). Through the power of the Gospel, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ becomes active in a persons life, and they become clean from all sin.

This is the good news that lifts up mourning hearts, brings hope to those in despair, comforts and restores lost souls, and makes possible every good thing. This is the foundation of the teachings of the Mormon Church. The Prophet Joseph Smith said,

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it. But in connection with these, we believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power of faith, the enjoyment of the spiritual gifts according to the will of God, the restoration of the house of Israel, and the final triumph of truth (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. 3:30).

Faith

Faith is more than believing Jesus exists, it means believing Him when He says that you will be forgiven of your sins and saved in His Kingdom. This faith includes two parts:

1. The belief that all who live on Earth are granted salvation from death (physical resurrection) through the Atonement

2. That salvation from sin (or spiritual death) is obtained through sincere repentance, resulting in forgiveness for sin through His grace, and by following the teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ.

Mormons are encouraged to develop their faith through study, prayer, service, and obedience to God's commandments. Faith is a form of spiritual work and character-shaping, in conjunction with the miracle of Christ's Atonement. Mormons often refer to their personal faith as their testimony and refer to telling others about their faith as "bearing testimony."

The Book of Mormon discusses how to develop faith (see Alma 32:18-43, pgs 289-291). We begin by being humble and teachable. If we are arrogant, the Spirit of God cannot work within us. Second, we desire to believe. The Book of Mormon compares this to planting a seed and watering it. We plant the seed by desiring to believe in Jesus Christ and in the Book of Mormon, which teaches of Him. We nurture the seed through prayer, scripture study, service to others, and keeping the commandments. As we do this, the Holy Sprit will enter our hearts and we will know that what we are studying and doing is true. If we do not experiment with our faith by keeping the commandments, praying, and attending church, the Spirit will not tell us whether the scriptures are true.

Repentance

Once a person begins to develop faith, the next step is repentance. Repentance is a wonderful gift from a loving Father in Heaven. Through repentance we can overcome weaknesses and move beyond mistakes we have made in the past.

To repent we must acknowledge our mistakes and weaknesses. We must take responsibility for our own actions and recognize that what we have done has hurt others and offended God. Second, we must forsake the sins. This means we must stop doing it and never return to it again. We must, if possible, make restitution. This means that if we stole something, we should return it or pay the person for what we took. If we lied or hurt someone’s feelings, we must apologize. Restitution is not always possible, but we must always apologize and ask for forgiveness from those we offended or hurt. God is able to heal all wounds and when we trust in Him, we can be forgiven. Finally, we must ask for forgiveness from God through prayer.

When we have done this, we have this promise from God:

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins--behold, he will confess them and forsake them (Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43, pg 106).

When we have sincerely repented, we have God’s promise, and God cannot lie, that we are forgiven. To become clean from all our sins and become a new creature in Christ, we must follow repentance with baptism. However, as everyone continues to make mistakes, we must repent throughout our lives and continually turn towards God for strength and forgiveness. Through the sacrament, called by other denominations the Eucharist, which Mormons partake every Sunday, we renew the covenants made at baptism and thus renew the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. The Doctrine and Covenants of the Mormon Church says:

Yea, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for a remission of your sins; yea, be baptized even by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost. Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved And upon this rock I will build my church; yea, upon this rock ye are built, and if ye continue, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you (D&C 33:11-13).

Since this Gospel is the rock upon which the Mormon Church is built it follows that these are the first steps taken by converts to the Mormon faith. After faith and repentance, a person is baptized by immersion for the remission of sins.

Baptism

Baptism by immersion is a symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul said, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5)

Baptism also serves a sign of one’s covenant with Jesus Christ to take His name upon you and serve Him and keep His commandments until death. Mormons call this the baptismal covenant. It includes:

1. Taking the name of Jesus Christ upon us and become one of His people
2. Bearing one another’s burdens
3. Mourning with those who are suffering and comfort them
4. Standing as a witness of God at all times and in all places
5. Serving God and keeping His commandments (See Mosiah 18:8-10, pg 181)

God in turn promises that those who keep their baptismal covenants will

1. Receive a greater portion of His Holy Spirit
2. Be redeemed (i.e. saved)
3. Rise in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just Inherit Eternal Life

Since a person must exercise faith by following the commandments and repenting of one’s sins, Mormon do not baptize children until they reach the age of accountability, which is understood to be around eight years old.

Baptism by water for the remission of Sins

When a person is Baptized, he or she commits to follow Jesus Christ. Those who are to be baptized dress in plain white clothes to symbolize humility and purity. The person baptizing must hold the priesthood, which is authority from God to perform ordinances in the Church. All adult male members of the Mormon Church can be ordained to the priesthood. The prayer for baptism is simple and straightforward. The officiator holds his right arm up, bows his head and says:

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.

The officiator then dunks the person completely under the water to symbolize the death of the old self, burial, and the promised resurrection through Jesus Christ.

Baptism by Fire and the Holy Ghost

Baptism is actually composed of two parts: baptism by water and baptism by fire. John the Baptist said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). It is through this baptism of the Holy Ghost that a person will be cleansed of his or her sins. In the Mormon Church, this ordinance is called confirmation and it typically occurs in the Sunday services in the week following baptism.

In confirmation, also called the laying on of hands, a priesthood holder lays his hands upon the new members head and gives him or her a blessing. This blessing is similar to a prayer. He will call them by name and through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, confirm them a member of the Mormon Church and give them the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which means the right to have the Holy Spirit as a constant companion. Finally, he pronounces blessings and promises as the Spirit inspires him and will close in the name of Jesus Christ.

Enduring to the End

Jesus Christ said to his disciples, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt 7:14). Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is the gate that leads to the Way. The Book of Mormon teaches this more clearly:

For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive (2 Nephi 31:17-18; pg 114).

Once we have entered the path, we must continue on the path that leads to Eternal Life. Mormons call this enduring to the end. Again, the Book of Mormon gives us a good explanation of what this means. It says:

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life (2 Nephi 31:20; pg 114).

We must endure with steadiness in obedience to Jesus Christ’s commands, being filled with hope and love. We must feast on Christ’s words, which means we must continue to study His words in the scriptures and as given by revelation through living prophets. This corresponds to what the Apostle Paul said as he discussed faith, hope, and charity (see 1 Corinthians 13). Enduring to the end does not means that Mormons expect to be perfect. Part of enduring is continuing to improve oneself through repentance whenever something is out of harmony with God’s will. Because people continue to make mistakes, the Lord has provided a way to renew these covenants. Every Sunday Mormons partake of the Sacrament, usually called the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper in other churches. The Sacrament consists of broken bread and water to symbolize the body and blood of Jesus Christ. For faithful Mormons this represents a renewal of the covenants and commitments made at baptism and an opportunity to meditate upon the atoning mission of Jesus Christ.

Enduring to the end also requires service to others. The Book of Mormon teaches that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17; pg 148). A person endures by growing in Godly attributes. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a modern prophet like Joseph Smith in the Mormon Church said:

The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord's teachings and teachers were given that we may all attain "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something (The Challenge to Become, Conference Report, October 2000)

He says further,

From such teachings we conclude that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts--what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts--what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.

Peter said something similar in his general epistle. He counseled the righteous followers of Christ in his day to become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). To do these, he says, we must “add to [our] faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

The Book of Mormon described one individual who endured righteously. His name was Ether and he was a prophet to a wicked people. Of him the Book of Mormon says:

For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled---Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, be led to glorify God (Ether 12:3-4, pg 509).

This path of hope and faith in God which brings men to do good is the narrow path that Jesus spoke of that leads us toward Eternal Life, which is to know Jesus Christ and God (see John 17:3) because we have become like them (see 1 John 3:2). Then, through power of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, those who have followed this path will be cleansed from their sins and taken at last to Heaven to dwell with Christ and God for ever.

On Being a Mormon Missionary: Faith and Reason

I wrote this in college:

Sometimes during my studies in college and graduate school I felt as though I were some sort of mythological beast like the fabled Yeti or -- to take something from part of the country -- a Jackalope. I am a faithful, believing, run of the mill Mormon. I am also a student at a major university studying history. In a sea of doubt, pessimism, and agnosticism my colleagues find my faith both baffling and strange and have sometimes remarked in passing how sad that such a capable person should be under the sway of such delusions. My native shyness often led me to avoid confrontation and debate, but here I wish to reply to those people to all the others who have made similar comments over the years. Most of the discourse I see relating to Mormon missionaries on the internet and in the media is cynical and critical. The authors highlight the minority of cases where a missionary hated his mission experience or where missionaries clashed with ministers of religion or seers of secularism. I want say the seemingly unsayable: I enjoyed my mission.

Like the majority of young Mormon men, I served as a Mormon missionary when I turned 19. Since my sixteenth birthday, I had been saving money for this foreseen event. My meditations and my prayers over this future were generally one and the same, or at least they flowed so naturally one from another that I was never quite sure which I was undertaking. I determined that I would not go unless I felt and knew in my heart that is was the right thing. The Prophet Joseph Smith said once,

[T]he things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity-thou must commune with God. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God, than the vain imaginations of the human heart! None but fools will trifle with the souls of men. (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 Vols. 3:295)

In Mormonism, God is not to be found simply through mere musings as in Natural Theology, but through experiences with Him and those experiences come from service to God and to mankind. As Joseph Smith said, what are needed are time, experience, and ponderous thought. The truth of a thing is to be found in the doing of it. So, I studied and lived what I read and in time, there came a conviction that God lives and that the Book of Mormon was true. As a Mormon missionary I spent two years teaching that to everyone I met. Another essay at another time will perhaps deal more fully with my basis for theism, but here let me say that faith is not irrational. It is not illogical. It arises from a spiritually yearning and understands that sometimes, to be understand, a fact must first be accepted and placed in the best light or in the most charitable regard. Logic, as my professor of philosophy at college said repeatedly, is merely a tool that constructs a priori assumptions and like a machine computes the necessary conclusions. It is not knowledge in and of itself, but a framework for organizing knowledge. A person of faith is just as capable of reason and inquiry as the most ardent adept of Positivism.

What does a Mormon missionary do? This question no doubt bewilders some. Some, whose own lack of strongly held values so distorts their perception of the world, refuse to believe that someone would truly devote two years of his own time; delay school, career, dating, and friendships; and at his (or her) own expense spend day after day sharing a message he knows most will reject. It seems a quixotic errand and perhaps it is. But, let me place myself on the witness stand as one who did it and does not regret it. For two years I wore out shoes and grew calluses from daily walking and labor. I was rejected, spat at, pelted with rocks (and once with ketchup packages), insulted, harassed, nearly arrested twice, and once threatened at gun point.

I will not try to claim that I enjoyed this negative treatment. Sometimes, though, I could understand the person’s frustrations and anger. It can be irritating to have someone approach you and try to steer you into a conversation about something as deeply personal as religion. However, my experience has taught me that most people, once my fellow missionary and I could sit down with them and discuss frankly one another’s beliefs enjoyed the conversations even if they chose not to believe in what we taught. Some were devotedly antithetical to our beliefs or practices and would likely have been upset my mere presence in their vicinity. To all who were willing to listen I taught my beliefs and bore somber testimony to the influence God and my commitment to Him have had in my life. In those two years I learned more about myself, my God, and my fellow men than in any other comparable period and it is not unlikely that I will be mining these experiences for the rest of my life.

Among my most cherished memories were many pleasant discussions with people of every walk of life from the educated to the ignorant, from the deep-rooted American to the most recent immigrant. I learned quickly that debate and disputing were worthless ventures. I am convinced, and my subsequent life has convinced more of this, that truth and understanding are the greatest victims of forensics. The result is usually the same: both sides become more convinced of the truthfulness of their own position and the issue becomes more polarized than before. In confessing that insight, I feel as I am committing a sin against modern society where debate has become per se a value. Let me clarify that I am not referring to disagreement or discussion, but rather to that puerile variety of parallel argumentation that so dominates our public discourse where speakers, who cannot truly be called interlocutors, speak so singly and disconnectedly that there is no exchange of ideas or even a recognition of the other’s point of view. It is rather the solipsistic pontificating of pundits and spokesman.

As Mormon missionaries , we were taught -- and I aimed -- to share our message, invite others to consider it, pray about it, and live it, but nothing more. True, we were sometimes goaded into debate and I succumbed to too many such baitings, but more often than not I and my fellow missionaries testified and warned and invited others to hear our message without ill feelings. Some have tried to argue that our reticence to debate evinces some deeply harbored fears on our parts about the veracity of our message; but such criticism is misguided. We merely recognize that rarely does any good come from such debate and the casualty of such battles is usually the good relations among people. Most of those who wished to debate us were so lacking in the ability to listen and grasp another’s point of view, that debate would have been merely a battle of wills and egos.

So, you might ask, why do we do it? Why do we risk stirring up such controversy and rancor? I am convinced after much experience that it the missionary work of this Church that inspires such vehement diatribes against us more than any peculiarity of practice or principle. Many groups similarly have divergent beliefs about God and salvation, but no other group makes such an effort to ensure that everyone else knows about them. I can only answer by saying that our belief compels us to do so and were we to ignore the imperative to share this message we would wallow in enervating hypocrisy. We believe that our message can soothe hearts, strengthen relationships, and enable all people to understand and worship God. This belief will cause controversy and earn us the ill assessment of many who hold that truth and values are relative, but to cease to share our message would be as good as denying that we believe it and that we cannot do; I cannot do that, for I have had too many experiences which have confirmed to me the truthfulness of this message and the necessity of sharing it with others. I have seen faith, both in God and in self, work too many miracles for me to step aside now and say I will not work to help others because I might offend some. Life has taught me this: someone will be offended no matter what I do, so I will live so as not to offend my conscience for that will be my constant and eternal companion.

My plea is for this: that people take more time to understand one another in our public discourse, particularly with regard to religion. This appeal has been made before and will be made again. I suffer no delusions that this little essay will have some grand effect on society, but hopefully someone will listen. True discussion and true communication about ideas and values requires that first we understand our interlocutors views and beliefs. Too many people assume all too quickly that they know what someone else believes about this or that. Such intellectual mondegreens stifle our ability to communicate for language and discourse is fluid and highly dependent on socioeconomic conditions. It is not enough to know what God and grace and values mean to us, we must understand what they mean to others. If not, we will blithely and arrogantly attack straw men of our own creation because, as Cervantes said, “they might be giants.” Then when we have bested our chimerical adversary, we will proclaim unilaterally and pointlessly our hollow victory.

Go to the source and ask a Mormon what a Mormon believes. Those who devote their energies to tilting at Mormon windmills and slaying Mormon chimeras will no doubt continue to claim that all Mormons lie about their own beliefs or hide the truth about what Mormons really believe. No doubt they will continue asserting that Mormon missionaries are highly skilled propagandists and purveyors of misinformation (nothing could be farther from the truth), but such claims are circular and rely on the assertions of prejudiced and blind eyes. As a former Mormon missionary who was proud to serve his faith and still follows that tenets of his religion, let me say that while we in America and the West will most likely continue to disagree, the first step toward improving our discourse, is by improving our listening.

Unless we first seek to understand, we can never be understood. I have grown weary of the prejudices, the casual slights, the quick dismissals and the self-righteous indignation of those who attack not just my faith, but all faiths and beliefs systems. These willfully ignorant and prejudiced attacks come not only from other religious leaders, but also from secularists who are so isolated in their own belief systems that they believe anything else must be irrational. Such dismissal of even the ability of others rationally to disagree with you and rationally to believe something you find fantastic will only serve to divide and exacerbate our public discourse. Let me end as I began by saying the unbelievable: I believe in God and in the message of Mormonism and I do so with full understanding and with every faculty of my mind. I do not ask any readers to suddenly convert to my faith, but rather I hope they will with an open and inquisitive mind seek to understand those of us who still believe in faith and hope through a living God.