Mormon Coffee

“According to Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, the church now claims more than 8 million members in 159 countries. The current president of the Church of Scientology International is a former Utahn, Heber C. Jentzsch, who grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and attended the University of Utah. As he once explained to TV interviewer Larry King, Scientology provided him with answers to questions such as ‘Who am I? What am I doing here? What are these other people doing here?’” (>>)

On January 16th the Associated Press provided interested readers a short list of the Key Tenets of [the] Mormon Faith. The list is comprised of these six items:

Nature of God: God once was a mortal who became an eternal being after a great trial.

Jesus Christ: Christ was God’s first-born spirit child, his only earthly child and the only perfect mortal.

No Trinity: Mormons reject the idea of the Christian Trinity — God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as one ethereal being. Instead, they believe the three are separate beings joined in a common purpose.

Pre-existence and the afterlife: Before their mortal birth, humans existed in pre-mortality and were born in the spirit world to heavenly parents. Mormons also believe in the resurrection and teach that most people will receive some measure of salvation and have a place in a three-level eternal kingdom.

One true church: Mormons say their faith is not Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox but holds a unique place as “restored New Testament Christianity.” Founder Joseph Smith said God told him none of the existing churches were practicing Christianity as it was intended.

A living prophet: Mormons believe the head of their church is a living prophet, seer and revelator who can communicate with God.

To me, this seems like a reasonable snap shot of Mormonism. Certainly there could be more written — more points, more detail and clarity (e.g., instead of saying, “they believe the three are separate beings,” it would have been better to say, “they believe the three are separate Gods”) — but for what it is, the Associated Press did a fair job.

I wonder what Latter-day Saints think of the list. Do they find any fault with it? Many Mormons reacted strongly (and vocally) against last month’s public disclosure of the LDS doctrine regarding the sibling-status of Jesus and Lucifer. Do Latter-day Saints put the AP list in the same category? That is, do Mormons believe the Associated Press has attacked their faith by publishing these key tenets? Is this also an attempt (as an LDS spokesperson suggested last month about the Jesus/Lucifer question) to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine? What do you think? And why do you think it?

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Eldred G. Smith, considered the “Patriarch to the Church”, affirmed a belief that is still popular today among Mormons:

“I cannot for a minute conceive the telestial being hell, either, because it is considered a heaven, a glory. The Prophet Joseph Smith told us that if we could get one little glimpse into the telestial glory even, the glory is so great that we would be tempted to commit suicide to get there.” (March 10, 1964, BYU Speeches of the Year, 1964, p. 4)

In doing some research for an upcoming article on the afterlife in Mormonism, I discovered that the above is an unfounded, “faith-promoting rumor”. When I bring up the hellishness of the bottom two “heavenly” kingdoms, I have had many Mormons bring the “suicide” story to alleviate the problem. On this common belief Robert Millet and Kent P. Jackson write,

“Regarding ’surpasses all understanding’: A rather common notion in connection with this verse is that Joseph Smith had taught that if we knew what the telestial kingdom was like, we would commit suicide to get there. What the Prophet said was not in reference to the telestial kingdom, but to life ‘behind the veil,’ which may mean a number of things.The Prophet’s statement (Charles Walker quoting Wilford Woodruff quoting Joseph Smith) is as follows:

“Br. Woodruff spoke. . . . He refered to a saying of Joseph Smith which he heard him utter (like this) That if the People knew what was behind the vail, they would try by every means to commit suicide that they might get there, but the Lord in his wisdom had implanted the fear of death in every person that they might cling to life and thus accomplish the designs of their creator. (Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, ed. by A. Karl Larson and Katherine M. Larson [Logan, Ut.: Utah State University Press, 1980], vol. 1, pp. 465-66.)” (Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 1: The Doctrine and Covenants, pp. 305-8)

Truman G. Madsen writes on the belief as well:

“Many of us have heard the statement made—and ascribed to either Joseph Smith or Brigham Young—to the effect that if a person could see the glory of the telestial kingdom he would commit suicide to get there. If only we could get the fundamental doctrines across to Church members as rapidly as we get across rumors, everyone would be saved. Am I saying that’s a rumor? Well, I am saying this, that over a period of many years I have combed everything Joseph Smith said and wrote, and I can’t find it. Hugh Nibley has done the same with Brigham Young’s words, and he can’t find it. It is hard to prove a negative, of course. What I can say is that we have found a statement from Joseph via Wilford Woodruff that says something else that is close, and I suspect it is the origin of the alleged statement (see Diary of Charles C. Walker, August 1837, in Church Historical Department). Elder Woodruff said the Prophet taught this, roughly: that if we could see what is beyond the veil we couldn’t stand to stay here in mortality for five minutes. And I suggest from the context that he was not talking about the telestial kingdom. He was talking about what it was like to be in the presence of God and the family.” (The Radiant Life, p. 91)

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In the year 2000, “Utah [became] the last state to recognize MLK Day by name, renaming its Human Rights Day state holiday.” (>>)

“One word is causing a world of controversy.” (>>)

Tuesday, January 22, marks the 35th anniversary of the infamous Rose vs. Wade decision making abortion legal in the United States. According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than 42 million legal abortions have been performed in the U.S. between 1973 and 2002. That averages out to nearly 1.45 million abortions per year. The Mormon Church touts itself as a “pro-life” church although, like many teachings coming out of Salt Lake City, consistency regarding the topic of abortion is lacking.

For example, President Gordon Hinckley, speaking in general conference in October, 1998 noted that abortion was an “ugly thing.” He went on to say,

“While we denounce it, we make allowance in such circumstances as when pregnancy is the result of incest or rape, when the life or health of the mother is judged by competent medical authority to be in serious jeopardy, or when the fetus is known by competent medical authority to have serious defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.”

Pro-life ethicists would find Hinckley’s allowances fraught with problems, but it is not my intention at this time to discuss the holes in Hinckley’s statement.

According to the LDS General Handbook of Instructions (11-4), the termination of a pregnancy is “one of the most…sinful practices of this day.” Twelfth President Spencer Kimball said very much the same thing when he wrote,

“Abortion must be considered one of the most revolting and sinful practices in this day…” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.189).

However, the Encyclopedia of Mormonism (1:7), while citing the prohibition to kill found in D&C 59:6, goes on to state,

“With respect to related offenses, the Church distinguishes abortion from murder but holds it an extremely grave action, not to be done except in extremely limited circumstances that might include incest or rape, perils to the life or health of the mother, or severe birth defects. As far as has currently been revealed, a person may repent and be forgiven for the sin of abortion.”

Such statements raise obvious questions. Why does the LDS Church consider abortion a sin, if it is not murder? If abortion in fact “kills” something, what does it kill, and if the object killed was once living and had human DNA, how is this not murder? If that be the case, why is there a provision for forgiveness for this type of murder, yet there is no such provision in Mormonism for any other type of murder?

For further reading see Abortion and LDS Inconsistency

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