About Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often nicknamed the Mormon Church or LDS Church) claims to be a restoration of Christ's original church from the New Testament, led by a living prophet and apostles, established to share the gospel and prepare the world for His Second Coming. The largest denomination of the Christian restorationist movement, it was once projected to become the first major world religion since Islam, and has wielded a disproportionate influence in the United States despite its failure to meet that projection. I was born into it, devoted myself to it with all my heart and mind, and left a few weeks before my twenty-ninth birthday.
If you're not a member, I hope you'll enjoy learning about it. If you are, then I hope you'll learn something you didn't know or see a perspective you hadn't considered. Marion D. Hanks wrote, "No one knows anything about Christ’s work simply by being born a member of the Church, and often he knows little about it after years of unmotivated exposure in meetings or classes. He must learn. And learning involves self-investment and effort. The gospel should be studied 'as carefully as any science.' The 'literature of the Church' must be 'acquired and read.' Our learning should be increased in our spare time 'day by day.' Then as we put the gospel truth to work in daily life, we will never find it wanting. We will be literate in the most important field of knowledge in the universe, knowledge for lack of which men and nations perish, in the light of which men and nations may be saved."
Despite my "intellectual" approach to most topics, I try to follow Philip Barlow's advice: "[S]tay humble. In church settings, you are going to spend the rest of your life understanding some problems, facts, and concepts that are invisible to the faithful around you. With restraint, care, wisdom, modesty, and love, you may be able at points to draw on some of this understanding constructively to enliven your own mind and spirit and/or the minds and spirits of those about you. You may be tempted to think yourself superior when in conversation, church classes, and worship, as academics are tempted to do whenever they engage in subjects in which they have training. Remember that God’s Project entails an invitation to the divine, which leaves little room for preening, artifice, self-promotion, inert or arrogant intellectualism, or one-upmanship. Understand that you are always surrounded by people, even when they appear simple, who are better at some things than you are, often without conceit. Some of them are expert at fixing the engine of your car, at removing your tonsils, at growing or preparing food, at making music; in none of their superiorities is aloofness or condescension appealing, admirable, or helpful. Some Saints with whom you attend church or among whom you live are expert at disciplined, courageous, intelligent (or naive) loving, which generally matters more than whatever academic perspectives you bring."
If you're not a member, I hope you'll enjoy learning about it. If you are, then I hope you'll learn something you didn't know or see a perspective you hadn't considered. Marion D. Hanks wrote, "No one knows anything about Christ’s work simply by being born a member of the Church, and often he knows little about it after years of unmotivated exposure in meetings or classes. He must learn. And learning involves self-investment and effort. The gospel should be studied 'as carefully as any science.' The 'literature of the Church' must be 'acquired and read.' Our learning should be increased in our spare time 'day by day.' Then as we put the gospel truth to work in daily life, we will never find it wanting. We will be literate in the most important field of knowledge in the universe, knowledge for lack of which men and nations perish, in the light of which men and nations may be saved."
Despite my "intellectual" approach to most topics, I try to follow Philip Barlow's advice: "[S]tay humble. In church settings, you are going to spend the rest of your life understanding some problems, facts, and concepts that are invisible to the faithful around you. With restraint, care, wisdom, modesty, and love, you may be able at points to draw on some of this understanding constructively to enliven your own mind and spirit and/or the minds and spirits of those about you. You may be tempted to think yourself superior when in conversation, church classes, and worship, as academics are tempted to do whenever they engage in subjects in which they have training. Remember that God’s Project entails an invitation to the divine, which leaves little room for preening, artifice, self-promotion, inert or arrogant intellectualism, or one-upmanship. Understand that you are always surrounded by people, even when they appear simple, who are better at some things than you are, often without conceit. Some of them are expert at fixing the engine of your car, at removing your tonsils, at growing or preparing food, at making music; in none of their superiorities is aloofness or condescension appealing, admirable, or helpful. Some Saints with whom you attend church or among whom you live are expert at disciplined, courageous, intelligent (or naive) loving, which generally matters more than whatever academic perspectives you bring."
