THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605150130
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: ANOTHER VIEW
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
It is disheartening that so many uninformed or misinformed people denigrate our religion based on second-hand information from third parties.
Jonathan Brown stated in his May 5 letter to the editor that the Mormon ``facility'' is certainly not a church. He seems to think that ``church'' refers exclusively to Christian faiths, which it does not. It refers to a building for public worship. This could be public worship of little green men and still be called a church.
Mr. Brown has swallowed the erroneous teachings of others that we Mormons are not Christians. I wonder why the real name of our church, which Mr. Brown conveniently abbreviated, is ``The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?'' The Lord Himself told us to use this name. Perhaps He had hopes that even outsiders would recognize that we were Christians if we had Jesus' name in the name of our church, and if we performed every ordinance and ended every prayer in His name.
A Christian, by dictionary definition, is ``one who professes belief in Jesus Christ.'' Nothing in our church is ``contrary to the teaching of the New Testament,'' as Mr. Brown alleges. We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost - our first ``Article of Faith.'' We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father, was born to a virgin and, after His earthly ministry, was crucified for all our sins. His victory over death allows us all to live again. Isn't this the main focus of all Christian religions?
Why does it bother other Christians if we happen to believe that, after His ascension, Jesus appeared to and taught the people of the Western Hemisphere, His ``other sheep,'' who duly recorded it just as did the people of the Bible? This takes away nothing from the ``mainstream'' Christian's belief. In fact, our additional scripture, ``The Book of Mormon,'' is subtitled ``Another Testament of Christ.'' We never have worshiped any mortal man. We do honor the prophets, Moses and Joseph Smith, and our current prophet as well. As for the percentage of modern-day prophecies that ``came true,'' what is the ratio for Isaiah? Or John the Revelator? ``Oh,'' you may say, ``We haven't gotten to all those events yet.'' Exactly. Same for modern-day prophecies.
Mr. Brown's information seems to come from people who write books against us or preachers who preach sermons against us. Is it fair to judge anyone only on the basis of second-hand information or opinion which could be biased? Fellow Christians, if you are curious about us ``Mormons,'' ask some of us, or come worship Jesus Christ together in a Sunday service, or stop by our new ``facility'' and get a free copy of The Book of Mormon and start reading.
If anyone questions the truthfulness of a teaching, they should pray about it earnestly and with an open heart, because the Holy Ghost can only speak when one is listening. Sure, we would love for some investigating ``mainstream'' Christians to discover that we are as we say, a church restored by His Divine Hand in these latter days. But at this point, we would rejoice for folks to finally realize that we, too, are Christians, just as they are - just as righteous, just as imperfect, and every bit as needful of and thankful for the divine sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Timothy Swain
Bonnie Lee Swain
Pender Street
Suffolk MEMO: See related letter to editor.
by CNB