Grace Available

I think a lot about the Book of Mormon, the things I have learned from it, and how that has informed my view of the world around me. a compelling part of the story told in the book is that it is presented as historical, though the distinct Nephite and Jaredite civilizations can’t be placed for sure in the archeological record.

If my view of the world has been so impacted by the book then why do I say that I don’t need you to join my church? It is a fair question, one whose answer is best understood By first becoming familiar with the mystical tradition taught by Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton, and others. I don’t think I actually got the good news of grace until a friend had pointed me in the direction of Rohr.

I grew up hearing that we were to be God’s peculiar people and we had enough unique doctrines in our temple worship and special rules in the word of wisdom to prove it. Unfortunately there is something else that was missing. What I found among the mystics was a God that invites us to leave everything behind and follow him. A God that can be trusted because if you quiet yourself enough he can be experienced and that experience can change you to your core when you realize that being one of his people doesn’t mean you’re exclusively special, it means you have now experienced a belonging all people are invited to enjoy.

What I learned from this is that it is the gradual transformation that comes from the mystical experience of God that makes people peculiar. Unfortunately, the brand of peculiarity offered by my church is behavioral restrictions that make the members just weird enough to claim peculiarity without effectively teaching the things that will lead to the real transformation that is needed. The greatest tragedy that comes from this is that in the absence of real transformation, parts of the church fall back to behavior control based that some call cult like behavior. Some teach a stingy and mean transactional god when they have the very real and present God of all the eons of creation that is giving everything he has and is away to whoever will receive him that they could be introducing people to instead. The tragedy of this is that some come away rightly rejecting this god that has no business being followed, but they don't realize that they were taught a specifically false god.

So what is the point of all of this? For me, it is that I think there is some truth to be found here that I hope you will consider even if the people who claim to be the exclusive holders and gatekeepers of it have a bit of a shadow to deal with. You see, everyone want to be sure that they're right and that they are the ones that have God all figured out. It's very comforting when God is on your side and you can use him to make sure that your ideas are always validated. Unfortunately that leads to having a tradition for each conception of God that someone can formulate and get to catch on with others.

I recently realized that there's nothing more traditional for a Christian than a good schism. In fact, this is a big part of the Joseph Smith story where he prayed about which church to join and was told not to join any of them. You see, this trouble of schism brings up a great example of things that are unique to Joseph Smith's contributions to the christian story. There's a phrase that I always have in the back of my mind when thinking about different kinds of christians not getting along. "If ye are not one ye are not mine". I went to look it up because I thought surely it was in the bible, but that exact phrasing as it sticks in my mind appears to be unique to the revelations received by Joseph. Now I know the historical record around Joseph is a bit of a mess and I still don't know conclusively about some of the things that are attributed to him, but of the revelations that were openly given, I would say that I try to judge them each as to the quality of fruit that they are. In the case of this one declaring "If ye are not one ye are not mine." I see the goodness of that fruit.

There is more fruit to be found, I know there is much here that is good, but I also know that the church organization itself turns a lot of people away by being weird instead of peculiar. I believe there are good things that could transform the world around me if we focused on the words and ideas that are there instead of on whose organizational structure we have to belong to if we read and take them seriously. We can come together to renounce war and proclaim peace, follow Jesus by mourning with those who mourn and comforting those who stand in need of comfort, help those who are in need because we know the earth is full, there is enough and to spare, or understand the limits of power and that we have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.

As I said before, I don't need you to join my church, but I invite you to consider Joseph Smith's contributions to modern thought. I don't expect you to believe it all and I don't expect it to stand up to all scrutiny, but I do suspect that some of it can help heal the wounds inflicted by the philosophies that have us oppressing our neighbors and cannibalizing our society as we walk a path dangerously similar to the one demonstrated by both civilizations that destroyed themselves in the Book of Mormon.