A Defense for Mormons

As most people know- I am a Mormon- or as we prefer to be called a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  And the most common question I get from people outside the church is either- “How can you believe something like that?” Or “What if you get to Heaven and find out that it was all a lie?”

The answer to the first question is simple- I’ve prayed about it. I’ve studied it. I put my heart into learning the answer. And for me, it is the church that speaks to my soul. The number one thing I love about my religion is that it’s main principle is “Pray and you shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” And I found this to be true in my own life. I prayed, and received an answer. And then, when applying it to my life, I could see the ways it was proven true over and over again.

And the second- the one I really want to address- is even if I get to Heaven and find it was all some elaborate scheme, and a false religion- I will still be so thankful to have had the opportunity to be part of it. In today’s society, I see negative things about my religion everywhere- from articles about politics, to comments on youtube videos, to musicals and plays on Broadway. And if I was on the fence about my religion it might have had a negative impact. And while people rail to find the faults, in both the book and the people- I have tunnel vision and can only see the good.

I am proud to be part of a church that is centered around families. I am proud that our church stresses the importance of friendships between intermediate family members, putting your family first, and promotes teaching children good values by watching their parents live them. My family is my closest support system. I am proud to be in a church that encourages family meals, family home evening every Monday night, family prayers, and the main message- That families can be together forever. The more time I spend with my family, the more I know that there was some type of Heavenly being that gave me these specific people, and that person has a way for us to be each others support system through eternity.

I am proud to be part of a church that is focused on service. It warms my heart to see articles showing my churches contributions in many different humanitarian efforts. Service is such a key part of my religion. We have organizations set up in the ward level-  called Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching, where men and women are assigned members of the ward to check up on. Everyone is assigned someone to serve, so when something bad happens you have a support system built in to help them through. The women in the ward are always aware of what families are struggling, and meals, shelter, clothes, and emotional support is automatically extended. Every member of the ward makes sure that every other member is served and helped. I have seen this in my own family more times than I can count, and I have seen my own family do it. Nothing brings tears to my eyes faster then thinking of the wonderful people that came over and brought us meals, games, and prayers when my mom was having complications with a pregnancy. Or when, even at college, I was sick and people brought over soup, cards, and blessings. Everyone is taken care of. But more than that- the church asks us to serve everyone. Once a week we do a service activity in our churches, whether it be helping clean parks, clean peoples houses, go to old folks homes, create blankets for those in need, create service kits for desolate counties, and most importantly- pay ten percent of our money that we  earn to tithing. That money doesn’t pay for any church leaders expenses, our prophets bills or anything of the sort- that money goes to building church buildings, missionaries and their efforts to help other countries, and most of it to service organizations around the world. When terrible things happen- our churches main priority becomes helping those in need. Everyone I know on campus is involved in some service to others. This Saturday my whole ward made blankets for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. As far as I know, there are not many college campus that do that. And there aren’t many that have three different service organizations offered through the school to keep up with all the help that is being offered daily. Not to mention the service that we are called to do in the churches organization itself. Every member has a calling- a job that they are called to do without pay. Bishops spend hours and hours conducting meetings, interviews, planning ward activities, helping people, and doing much more. They dedicate 20+ hours a week to do a job that they get no money from. I have been called to be a teacher, a child care watcher, plan ward activities, and do much more. And these have given me the opportunity to be  a leader, learn empathy, and do service without any recognition.

I am proud to be part of a church that stresses education. Our church leaders stress, and restress the importance of every female and male to get the highest education that they can. My church provides a way for me to get a high education at a low cost, because it thinks that it is important. Our church leaders are men who are educated, and well read. It’s ironic that people paint us as ignorant, and naive when our main church leaders are surgeons, treasurers, attorneys, Supreme Court Justices, Nuclear Engineers and a majority of them have doctorates or masters.  It’s also funny that society paints us as backswords people when the FBI and CIA both have recruitment programs through BYU and study our Mormon Missionaries to better understand their proficiency at languages. Goldman Sachs recruits more that thirty people per year from BYU, and Mormons hold disproportionate number of top jobs at several major companies. We stress getting the best education you can, and learning the most that you. Both about religion and about worldly things. The church doesn’t ask me to a turn a blind eye to anything as others assume. It encourages me to find answers for myself, and be the most educated woman that I can be.

I am proud to be part of a church that believes in modern revelation. Revelation wasn’t just something that existed when Christ was on the earth, and in bible times. Today we are lead by Prophets and Apostles, just like in days of Christ. Today we can pray, and receive revelation for ourselves. I know this to be true. I have had too many moments in life where I wanted to do things my way, but after praying and getting answers- I was led on a different path. I have received answers when looking for them and have received personal confirmation that God cares about me, my path, my choices, and my fears. He hears, answers, and finds ways to lead us just like he used to. He didn’t ever sever all ties between us and his revelations.

I am proud to be a part of church that focuses on the priesthood. The priesthood is a key doctrine of our church and provides ways to heal the sick, receive comfort, bless and ordain, and much more. It also calls the men to step up to the plate. Being one who has health problems- nothing is more precious to me than the receiving of priesthood blessings. I have received comfort, when I thought to be beyond comfort, understanding when my heart was closed off, and actual healing when I was though to be beyond movement. I received guidance, understanding, and most of all- an ability to feel Heavenly Fathers love for me, through this ordinance. This makes me feel significant.

I am proud to be part of a church that differentiates between the religion and the people. Because in any church there are going to be people that are bad examples of the church, make mistakes, take it too far, and turn something precious into a way to judge other people. The church does NOT condone this. Almost every conference (Two time a year the Prophet, and his apostles conduct a world wide conference where they give us revelation, and talk about important spiritual things they believe church members need to know) there is a talk about getting rid of pride, and not judging others. This is the doctrine of the church. Even Joseph Smith has said “I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations.”

I am proud to be part of a church that one of our main articles of faith is “We claim the Privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” The church would never attack another religion or belief. In fact, I went to a friends Catholic baptism to support him, and found many other Mormons there doing the same. We support others in their beliefs in practices, even if they may differ from our own.

I am proud to be part of a church that stresses the importance to be different than the rest of the world. Our church doesn’t settle for mediocre. We don’t drink coffee/tea/alcohol, don’t have sex, don’t smoke, don’t cuss, dress modestly, and do things that other people think of as odd. And not only do we make these decisions, but that we are proud of them. The world would rather we act and talk like them, and be afraid of being different. The church teaches that it is okay to be odd, even defines itself as an odd people. But the church teaches us that it isn’t the worlds opinion that matters. I am proud to be part of a church that doesn’t want its members to become a cookie cutter representation of the world. Every member and situation is different and the church celebrates and encourages that.

I am proud to be part of a church that stresses that you are never too far gone, too lost, or too sinful to escape Heavenly Fathers love. Anyone has access to repentance and Jesus. And everyone, prostitute or prophet is loved equally by our Heavenly Father. And we, as members, have a duty to love them equally as well.

I am proud to be part of a church that teaches me the importance of turning the other cheek. When Book of Mormon the Musical came out- the church didn’t go into attack mode, or try to refute the mockery the musical was making- it instead came out with the statement “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Chris.” They even bought ad space in the programs. Not only did the creators of this musical hope for this- they suspected it based on the quality of the people they had known that were Mormon. They said "before the church responded, a lot of people would ask us, 'Are you afraid of what the church would say?' And Trey and I were like, 'They're going to be cool.' And they were like, 'No, they're not. There are going to be protests.' And we were like, 'Nope, they're going to be cool.' We weren't surprised by the church's response. We had faith in them." When Big Love, made a mockery of our beliefs and private spiritual ceremonies, Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve Apostles both responded to warn LDS members of their responses, that when expressing themselves in the public arena, Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness. And as Romney ran for president, the church received even more attention, both negative and positive. When negative things ran- the church never tried to attack or refute, they instead focused on letting the members know to be understanding, and patient. They made a point to let the members know the church had no religious stance, and that politics were up to the people. When Obama won, the church issued a statement saying that we support him as the leader of our country.  I have felt my heart break at seeing people turn something political into a religious attack on something that I believe with my very soul, I have been offended and angry but I have also listened to the church leaders, and turned the other cheek. They say “May the Lord bless you and inspire you to walk without anger, without bitterness of any kind, but to reach out to others with expressions of friendship, appreciation, and love.”

If it was all false, I have spent my time putting emphasis on what I feel like are important things. I have founded my character on principles I believe last outside the churches doctrine. I feel like my life has purpose and guidance, and that feeling, even if it turns out it is based on something false, is still fulfilling for me.   hope, regardless of how,you achieve that, you come to feel the same way I do. If it’s your religion, your politics, your family, your career, your sexuality or anything else that gives you that feeling that I get from this, then I support you, celebrate it, and give you the respect to let you do it in peace.

So you may hate my religion. You may question why I believe it. You may not understand me, but it is important to me. Just as you are important to me. I understand you may not understand it. I just ask that you respect that it is important to me. If you attack my religion- I will not fight back. But I will pray for you. I will love you regardless. And most importantly- I will continue to believe it.