Reflections on Being a Mormon

Hey, all. I regret not having been able to update the blog for almost two weeks now. There have been quite a few personal issues that have kept me from devoting the time to this blog that I would have liked over the past fortnight.

Unfortunately, even with the extra time to mull over ideas for blog posts, and more encouragement and interest for these posts than ever, I don't feel like I've had any really great ideas for interesting content for today's post.

So, instead of doing my typical themed-type blog post, I want to something a little more freestyle. I hope you'll bear with me. Today, I'm going to focus simply on how I feel as a practicing, believing Mormon in the Millennial generation. I'll try not to ramble too much, but it might be a little longer, because it's a little closer to my heart.

Reflections on Being a Mormon

(Note for non-Mormons: Although I make try to make sure that readers of all faiths and backgrounds can understand what I'm saying, there might be a few things in this post that are harder for non-Mormons to understand. If something here is unclear to you, feel free to leave a comment, or contact me directly at TrevorAlexanderJones@gmail.com, and hopefully I can help you out. Happy reading!)

Reflection One: I am a practicing, believing, mostly-orthodox Mormon. I do pay my tithing. I do say my prayers morning and night. I do not read my scriptures nearly as often as I should – and I'm mostly OK with that. I try my very best to be good to everyone I know, attend the temple regularly, and live up to the promises I've made there. I served a mission, worked hard there, came home, and got married in the church. I work very hard to one day become a mostly orthodox father-husband-provider figure to a family that I hope will one day be made up of lots of mostly orthodox Mormons.

As an orthodox Mormon, I was married in the
Salt Lake Temple, one of the Church's most iconic buildings. 

I try not to let my sins and imperfections get the best of me. I sometimes have doubts about certain things, and I often wonder if the Church is being lead as effectively as it could be. I sustain my leaders, though, and I follow what they say as well as I can. On the more controversial matters, I will side with the Church every time, and try to defend their position with gusto. I trust in the grace of God inordinately. I trust my gut more than I trust fuzzy thoughts in my head that may or may not be promptings from God.

And, do you know what? Even though I'm not perfectly orthodox, I feel incredibly fulfilled. I feel like I've got perfect balance in my spiritual life. I've really got a good thing going here.

Reflection Two: I believe very strongly in the truth of God, as taught by Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Church of God on Earth today, and I believe that it's lead and guided by holy, inspired men whose words are endowed with the authority of God. I believe that we will be well off if we listen to what they say, and do our best to follow it.

I haven't always been so sure of it – my belief used to come and go a lot more. But I've noticed that people who stick it out with the Church, in spite of trials, obstacles, personal weaknesses, or unresolved doubts or questions, seem to do much better for themselves in life, on a whole, than those who don't. In addition, I see a causation here, not just a correlation – in other words, I feel like people's getting ahead in life is typically caused by their decision to continue with Mormonism, not the other way around.

Also, I feel like just about everyone (everyone in my generation, at least) has to make a conscious decision, at some point, to “continue” with Mormonism, rather than just blindly accept what they heard growing up.

Reflection Three: Being a Mormon in the Internet age is hard work. It feels like we are getting attacked from all sides: from atheists and non-believers, from fellow-Christians who disagree with us, and even from other Mormons who differ from the mostly-orthodox believers on important doctrinal points.

Most Internet surfers aren't so tolerant of religion.
Thank you, dear reader, for being the exception to the rule.

I often feel like Mormonism – and much of religion in general – has been lackadaisical about using the Internet for proselyting and sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean, yes the missionaries can use Facebook now, and there are some good members who work hard to create interesting memes, put up blog posts, etc. But for the most part, it feels like it's getting lost in a flood of anti-religious fervor on the Internet. I often wonder why that is. I have no honorable answer.

Also I feel that, too often, another part of what makes it hard to be a Mormon actually comes from inside the Church itself – a nagging sense of guilt about not being quite good enough. I feel like Mormonism often lacks the “come-as-you-are” vibe that is so essential for any Christian Church to function properly. (When the answer to more Sunday School questions is “read your scriptures” than “the grace of Jesus,” it becomes easy to feel turned around.)

Reflection Four: I feel like there is a lot of Mormon history that has been excessively downplayed. For fear that the faithful would misunderstand, I feel like our leaders have downplayed some aspects of early Mormon history that, at first glance, don't look too flattering. (Examples, for me, include the succession crisis after Joseph Smith's death, the early practice and extent of polygamy, and Joseph Smith's use of a seerstone in translating the Book of Mormon.) Maybe it's just my personal optimism, but I feel like the Church has been too cautious in this regard. Frankly, we need more help to understand these things about our past, because if they're not addressed in an atmosphere of trust and belief at Church, they can be misrepresented and used as ammunition against believers.

I am inclined to be sympathetic towards our leaders in this regard, though, because there is a difficult balance between talking about these things in a way that promotes spiritual resilience, and in a way that invites doubtful dissension. Not every Sunday School class would have an easy time discussing these things honestly and frankly. But I think that the Brethren should trust us – and we should trust ourselves – to grapple with questions about our past that don't have easy answers, because doing so will allow us to think clearly about what they mean for our present and our future.

Reflection Five: I feel that we have a glorious future, as a people, but we are starting to forget it. The Book of Daniel (Chapter 2:44-45) holds this amazing prophecy:

“And in the [latter] days... shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all [other] kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Daniel prophesied the Church's triumph
in the last days, thousands of years ago.

“Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”

As Church members, we know that this prophecy refers to the latter day Church and Kingdom of God, restored to the Earth for the last time. I fear, though, that most of us have mostly forgotten this, and see the Church basically as a social club, or less. Too many times, I've seen the speaker get up in sacrament meeting, apologize for not having prepared his remarks until the night before, and start droning into his notes for the next fifteen minutes, while the rest of the congregation mentally checks out and struggles to stay awake. Too often, we let ourselves believe, unconsciously, that that's all the Church is really all about.

But isn't our destiny greater than all that?