Mormons and Politics

Yes, that's right.  I'm joining the fray.

First let's take a brief look at the politics side:

There has been a ton of coverage in the news lately about Mitt Romney and how his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints effects his abilities as a potential presidential candidate.  This coverage seems to have exploded in the last few days after Pastor Robert Jeffress declared Mormonism to be a cult.  


There have been some great responses to Pastor Jeffress' ignorant remarks including these articles:


Don't judge candidates by their faith (by CNN's William Bennett.  Thanks for pointing this one out, Katie)


Latter-Day Sins (subtitle: Why don’t we challenge anti-Mormonism? Because it’s the prejudice of our age.)


Anderson Cooper and Robert Jeffress interview (video)

I'm a Mormon.  I may or may not vote for Romney.  If I do, it certainly won't be because we both belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It will be because I like his political stance best.  By the same token, I'm going to give Rick Perry fair judgment based on his politics as well.  I'm not going to discount him as a potential candidate just because he is a member of a different faith.  This is what I'm getting at - it just doesn't matter.

Bennett summed it up well in the first article I linked to by saying, "To the right and left alike, we are in the middle of a grueling presidential campaign season. It behooves us to despise and reject all forms of religious, and racial, bigotry. Politics are about policy and deciding whether a candidate shares your views of the founding principles of this country -- life, liberty, and the rule of law -- which men and women of all different faiths can agree upon."

In the video above, Jeffress is directly confronted about his remarks on Mormons.  Jeffress then explains that by "cult" he meant "theological cult" wherein a church looks to a man instead of a divine figure as the founder of their church.  He also describes the Book of Mormon as a "newer, fresher revelation."

This brings us to the second portion of this post.

I'm a Mormon.  I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Jesus Christ is the founder of my faith.  Joseph Smith is a prophet just like Moses, Noah, and Abraham.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, my Savior and Redeemer.  I believe the Bible is the word of God.  The Book of Mormon  does not replace the Bible, but is a companion to it.  It is "another testament of Jesus Christ" and witnesses powerfully of His divinity.

If you want to know what it's like to live in China, ask someone who lives there, not someone who only once saw a picture of it.  If you want to know what Mormons believe, ask a Mormon.  We're your friends and neighbors and would welcome your questions.  Ask me, I'm a Mormon.  Or visit mormon.org to learn more.

The Quest for Immortality

For thousands of years, men have sought for immortality. People have gone on perilous quests to find the fountain of youth; alchemists dedicate lives of study to finding the Philosopher's Stone and making an elixir of life. Across the world there are examples of people erecting monuments of stone to themselves in order to obtain lasting greatness. Even today, people spend millions of dollars every year on creams, dyes, and surgeries to make themselves younger looking. We seek to avoid aging and death at all costs.

Where is the solution for mankind's immortality? The Lord has said, "For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) Through the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, every person who has ever lived on this earth will one day live forever. What an amazing gift Christ offers to us!

"O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect." (2 Nephi 9:13,15)

What is the catch? What do we have to do to obtain this great gift? Nothing. Well, almost nothing. Before we become immortal beings we must die. It seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? But that's the way it works. Over and over again in the scriptures Christ teaches us that "whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matt. 16:25, see also Matt. 10:39, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, John 12:25 )

This is the way of the Lord. It is true in this practical sense, that we all must die before we are resurrected and become immortal. But it also is true in a deeper, spiritual sense: when we willingly give our lives to the service of Jesus Christ and his gospel, He will return unto us much more than we have ever sacrificed for Him.

The Lord asks but little from us, only that we follow him. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" (2 Nephi 31:10-21, see also Matt. 4:19) In return He promises eternal life (2 Nephi 31:20), peace (Isaiah 48:18, John 14:27) and joy (3 Nephi 28:10).

Why would Christ offer all of this to us? Because He loves us (Alma 26:15, John 3:16).

The Deb Show

Aloha and welcome to the ward! Today we'll be having the Deb show!

This morning at church I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was about how the Young Women's program has strengthened my testimony. Our whole Young Women's presidency spoke. (I'm the 1st counselor)

Then, I subbed for another teacher and taught the Teacher Development class during Sunday School. We discussed the impact of having Christlike love for those you teach. Only two people came. One was Nate.

And I taught the Mia Maids during Young Women. We learned about making wise choices.

It was crazy. Church has never gone so fast. I was constantly hurrying about to gather chalk, pictures, play prelude, go sit on the stand, etc. Now I can really be grateful for regular Sundays when I only have one lesson to teach.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Amen.

God's Words Never Cease

This video is of a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He testifies, as do I, that God continues to reveal his will unto prophets and apostles. He loves us and wants us to know and do his will that we might return to live with him forever after we have finished our mortal sojourn. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he is the Savior of all mankind. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

The Joy of Christmas

I love the Christmas season. I can't even explain my own excitement - family, decorations, giving gifts, serving those who are less fortunate, a break from school, a time to reflect on the year, a feeling of love, community, and generosity, and most importantly, a time to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the kindergarten class that I work with, we were making little Christmas tree crafts and I got to be in charge of the art table. As the kids were working, they got to talking about how excited they were for Christmas. One of the little boys was expressing his enthusiasm for Christmas celebrations, but then he got this great light in his eyes and said, "But when Jesus comes [meaning the Second Coming of Christ] it will be even more celebrater!" Poor grammar perhaps, but a wonderful message. The joy and hopefulness that we feel at this time of year is only a glimpse of that which we will feel when Jesus Christ comes to the earth again.

Achieving the Impossible

It has been another exciting week at camp. Since our Americorps team left us two weeks ago, we've been very short staffed (aka very busy). When they left, they reduced the number of our staff by half. So, this week we had youth with mental disabilities and interns became hybrid intern-counselors. Half our time was spent doing our regular activities and the other half was spent helping the groups out with whatever activity they were doing. I was privileged this week to be part of the Group B Wildcats (I'm pretty sure their mascot was taken from High School Musical) and there were several great stories from this week. I'll start with my favorite:

Thursday morning I was belaying at the high ropes course for one of the groups (acting as an intern for this part of the day). One of the boys in this group had a goal to try the high ropes course. He wasn't afraid of the height, but he had some strength, balance, and coordination problems that made him (and others) doubt his ability to climb up. However, he was determined to give it a try, and I was determined to help him do it. This guy was one of my favorite campers this week. He got his harness and helmet on and before too long had worked up his courage and was ready. Before climbing up, he had some questions, as most campers do, about the ropes, if they would break, and what happens if he were to fall. So I taught him a little about the belay system and how I would hold him up if he fell while climbing. Keep in mind however that he probably out-weighed me by a good 60 - 70 lbs.

In order to get up to the elements of the high ropes course, you first must climb 30 feet up little metal steps on a telephone pole. This in itself often proves a difficult challenge for our campers. When he started to climb, I called one of the counselors, Troll, over to be my backer. (Yes, that is her camp name and she did pick it herself) Because Casey* out-weighed me by so much and was unsure of his climbing abilities, she simply holds on to the loop on the back of my harness to provide a little extra strength and weight so I don't go flying off the ground if he were to fall. With both of us ready, Casey began climbing. He wasn't sure how to go about it though, so for each step we coached him on which hand or leg to move, where to put it, and which leg to stand up on to get higher. Even with this coaching, Casey could not physically do it on his own, so Troll and I started pulling on the rope to give him a little extra boost with each step. I often wound up a few feet off the ground with Troll pulling me backwards trying to get Casey just a little bit higher so he could get his foot on the next step.

By the time Casey's head got to the bottom of the wooden platform, he, Troll, and I had each worked so hard to get him up that there was no way that he was coming back down without making it to the top. My hand was cramping from holding the rope behind me in the brake position, and my legs ached from supporting myself in a lunge-squat-like position for so long. I felt like my arms and legs were going to fall off, but his courage and determination to meet his goal kept me holding on with all I had. It took us 20 minutes to get him up, but he made it because he never gave up; he never asked to come down, only how do I go up from here. All the effort was worth it to hear the excitement in his voice and see it in his face. He knew that he had accomplished the impossible.

Some might say that we cheated Casey by giving him so much help, that we gave him a false sense of confidence. I disagree. There are many things in this life that none of us can accomplish on our own. There are obstacles that there is no way we can overcome through only our own meager efforts. We all need help from each other and most importantly from our Savior. None of us can leave this world having never done wrong. We cannot be worthy to enter God's presence by our own merits alone. Because of our Savior was willing to pay the price for our sins, He has given us the greatest gift we can ever receive, that of repentance and the path back to live with our Father in Heaven. It is not cheating to accept this gift, making possible a miracle we can never achieve on our own. With our Savior's help each of us can accomplish the impossible.