Comments on: What Mormonism Offers to the World

By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:12:25 +0000

I found this quote attributed to BH Roberts:
Less than a year after B. H. Roberts returned from presiding over the Eastern States Mission, he was asked by an editor of a national magazine, “Why does Mormonism appeal to you?”
He sat down and wrote the following nine-point list:
1. Its views of God,
2. Its views of man,
3. Its views of creation and the universe,
4. Its views of the purpose of life,
5. Its views of the atonement of the Christ,
6. Its views of the gospel as a means of man’s salvation,
7. The grandeur and consistency of its development as the dispensation of the fullness of times, the completion of the plans of God with reference to the redemption of the earth and the salvation of man, and finally,
8. Its views of the physical resurrection and the
9. future degrees of glory to which man will be assigned as the outcome of his earth life.

By: Seth R.

Seth R. — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:31:08 +0000

What Mormonism offers, is not primarily a theology, or belief system, but a destiny. It places us in the larger universe. It speaks of what we were and what we can become. It offers a person the chance to transcend suffering and error and unite with God. It’s a chance to hold the universe in your hands and unite with others in the unity of love and cosmic family.

And yet, it isn’t some fuzzy loss of identity in the big gooey happy cosmic collective otherwise known as God. It is an opportunity to transcend into the next level of human evolution as a free individual and not as some worthless and expendable redundancy that God could just as well do without.

Mormonism offers the believer true freedom in the cosmos and a love and unity worth having. It names us sons and daughters of the living, present, speaking and breathing God. It gathers us as Israel into Zion.

This is no mere belief system, no mere philosophical game. This is a divine and glorious destiny that we are called to rise to.

That is what Mormonism is and what it offers.

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:22:33 +0000

Gospel messages are communicated via feeling as opposed to intellectually. Sure, vocabulary has to be used, and the words have to be factually correct, and in a language and sub-language that the listener can understand. But without the Spirit, nothing can be communicated, let alone accepted as truth, no matter how intellectual or how smart the speaker and the listener are.

That is one reason why intellectual communication of gospel principles doesn’t seem to have much effect. The scholars, whether they be the speakers or the listeners, are focusing on an ineffectual method of gospel communication, and an ineffectual method of gospel understanding.

This is not to say that emotionalism should replace intellectualism. After all, the glory of God is intelligence.

But gospel understanding has to start at the basics and work up from a good foundation. The basics of the gospel are simple enough for an 8 year-old.

Those who try to understand lofty concepts before getting their foundation in place will never achieve understanding of the higher concepts.

By: Clark Goble

Clark Goble — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:40:26 +0000

Me too but not even all Mormons agree with what that means.

By: Eric Nielson

Eric Nielson — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:17:08 +0000

I am a child of God.

By: BrianJ

BrianJ — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:12:08 +0000

Clark, I’ll have to read up on Eastern Orthodoxy. Not something I’ve done before and it sounds quite interesting. Thanks.

By: Clark Goble

Clark Goble — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:24:55 +0000

Aloysius – he’s standing beside us. One could say he’s still crafting.

Brian, deification in Eastern Orthodoxy is pretty key doctrine to them although they still maintain the ontological difference which ends up affecting the theology in some key ways. One could say that in Eastern Orthodoxy deification is the key doctrine after the Trinity: especially relative to western Christianity.

Gerald, a surprising number of Evangelics are pretty open to revelation, angels and do talk about them a lot. At least they did in my mission. Mormons have this view of the ‘closing of the heavens’ as being our opposition but that was more liberal Christianity. Mormonism was part of 19th century movements reacting against this and our Evangelical friends were part of that movement. There were other parts, most of which didn’t end up doing as well as we have.

I do think our doctrine of pre-existence offers a lot. In some ways it’s not unique. (It’s found among many strands of Judaism) But the way we conceive of it is pretty unique. I also agree that it tends to change ones perspective. Especially the way our choices there affect us here.

By: BrianJ

BrianJ — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:56:11 +0000

I’m with you on the rejection of creation ex nihilo, and I’d add the Mormon doctrine of exaltation—of becoming so one with God that one becomes a god. That doctrine, to me, affects nearly every aspect of how and why I worship. Do any other religions offer a comparable doctrine? Many (or most?) offer some kind of salvation/heaven/nirvana, but nothing quite like exaltation.

By: aloysiusmiller

aloysiusmiller — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:21:54 +0000

Just where is God standing when he is doing his crafting?

By: Gerald Smith

Gerald Smith — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:58:30 +0000

I think our two greatest offerings to the world is the understanding of the Premortal divine council. It explains our relationship with God, why we are here, and why there are evils and trials in life. When we look at tragedy as experiences that will help us in our divine journey back to God, then war/famine/pestilence/etc have an actual reason that makes sense.

Second, we show that the heavens are not closed. While many think Mormons and gold plates are strange, if you were to ask the average Christian if he/she believed in angelic visits, most would probably say, “yes.” It’s just that most others don’t speak of such things, while Mormons wear it on our sleeve for all to see. I think that the greatest point on the First Vision is that God does make house calls today – that Nietzche is wrong, God didn’t die. And I agree with Bushman that revelation is available to all, according to our faith and our attention to it. Even the temple is a rite of practicing entering into God’s presence and have Him revealed to us as individuals.