Call him Ishmael. The man has been coming to church with the missionaries for six or eight months now, and he seems a bit different from other investigators and recent converts we’ve seen in our ward. Most of these people have been, let us say, humble in their financial circumstances and educational attainments. Ishmael, by contrast, seems like someone who will not be needing welfare assistance: he is a doctor, mid-30s, good health, thoughtful and well-spoken.<\/p>\n
Before today, you had introduced yourself to Ishmael but had not talked with him at any length. But as it happens, it\u2019s the third Sunday of the month, and you and I find ourselves seated next to Ishmael at the \u201cLinger Longer\u201d in the cultural hall after the meeting block. Following a bit of friendly conversation, you feel bold enough to ask: \u201cSo, Ishmael, you\u2019ve been coming to church for a while, and we love having you here. Have you given any thought to . . . being baptized?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of thought. Hmm. . . . Part of me really wants to belong to this community. Not because I need a social group or anything\u2013 I\u2019m actually more of an introvert\u2013 but because, well . . . I hope this doesn\u2019t sound overly dramatic, but I really feel the presence of God here. In your testimony meetings, in your interactions with each other. I think that belonging to this church would help me live a more godly life, if I can put it that way. So, yes, I would like to be baptized. But I\u2019m not sure that I can do that, or that I should do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure I understand,\u201d you answer. \u201cIs there some . . . difficulty? Family, maybe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWord of Wisdom?\u201d I clumsily insert. \u201cTithing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh no,\u201d Ishmael responds. \u201cNothing like that. All of your commandments and rules of conduct seem to me to be very sound. Inspired, even. I\u2019m far from perfect, of course. But I would happily commit myself to trying to live by the church\u2019s rules. That would a reason to join.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat then?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ishmael hesitates, then begins slowly. \u201cI\u2019m not sure you\u2019ll understand this. But since you asked . . . . You won\u2019t be surprised to learn that the missionaries are eager to set a baptismal date. And your ward mission leader, Brother Firm, is encouraging as well. But he also explained that I shouldn\u2019t be baptized unless I have a testimony. I asked what that entailed, and he said there are three components to a testimony. You have to have a conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. You have to believe that Joseph Smith was called by God to restore the Church. The First Vision, the Book of Mormon and all. And you have to believe that the Church is led today by living prophets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I have no problem with the first of those items. Actually, I used to be a devout Episcopalian\u2013 that\u2019s not an oxymoron, as some people seem to think\u2013 and I seriously considered going into the ministry. I actually did a year of divinity school before deciding to go to medical school instead, and I became disillusioned mostly because it wasn\u2019t clear to me that many of my divinity school mentors actually did believe in what I regard as the essential truths about Jesus. One thing I really like about your church is that when people say they believe that Jesus is the Son of God or that he rose from the dead, I\u2019m confident that they really mean it in some non-equivocal, non-metaphorical sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also have no problem with the third component. It\u2019s impressive to me that your church has stayed on track when so many others, in my humble opinion, have wandered down wrong paths. To me, that\u2019s an indication of divine guidance. And I\u2019ve listened to two of your General Conferences now, and I don\u2019t know of a place today where someone could go and be as confident of hearing sound, inspired Christian teaching. Teaching, I might add, that the world today desperately needs. That\u2019s another reason why I would like to be a member, actually; I would like to devote some of my energies to supporting the things your church does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree completely,\u201d you interject. \u201cThat\u2019s wonderful. So . . . I\u2019m still not sure what the difficulty is?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s with the second component,\u201d Ishmael explains. \u201cJoseph Smith. I\u2019m not the kind of person who would take a big step like this without doing my research. So I\u2019ve read about Joseph Smith. I\u2019ve read quite a lot, actually. And he seems to me to be an impressive, charismatic, truly remarkable character\u2013 but, frankly . . . How can I put this in way that won\u2019t be offensive? He seems a bit slippery. Not one-hundred percent trustworthy, if I can put it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d you ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I don\u2019t want to say too much. These are sensitive subjects, and I really don\u2019t want to offend anyone. But there is . . . well, the Book of Abraham. And polygamy\u2013 not just the practice of it, but the way it was practiced, and the disingenuous denials and all. I could go on, but I think you get the point. I know your President Nelson is currently urging members to reread Smith\u2019s account of the First Vision. The official account. I agree that it\u2019s an impressive and uplifting narrative. But somehow I just can\u2019t stop myself from thinking, \u2018Well, but that isn\u2019t how he told it the first time he wrote it down.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue,\u201d I jump in. \u201cBut there aren\u2019t any real inconsistencies. You wouldn\u2019t expect someone to relate an experience in exactly the same way on different occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be a long discussion, maybe for another time,\u201d Ishmael replies. \u201cThe last thing I want to do is get into arguments, or offend anyone, or undermine anyone\u2019s faith. Maybe I can just say this much? That I\u2019ve read quite a lot on the subject, and thought about it\u2013 and I\u2019ve also prayed about this, as the missionaries told me to (I would have done that anyway)\u2013 and Joseph Smith strikes me as, let\u2019s say, a kind of magnificent, inspired story-teller.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut let me be clear: I don\u2019t really have a problem with that. God works in mysterious ways. I don\u2019t see any reason why God couldn\u2019t work through an inspired story-teller. It seems to me that God always, and necessarily, works through profoundly imperfect people to achieve his purposes. What else could He do? So when I was an Episcopalian, we didn\u2019t stake our case on claims about the integrity of Thomas Cramner\u2013 or Henry VIII, Heaven help us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would think that what should matter is whether I believe God is working in the church today. And I do believe that. So what difference should it make what I think about Joseph Smith?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yet Brother Firm tells me this is an essential part of a testimony. If that\u2019s right, then I don\u2019t think I have, or am likely to have, the requisite testimony. And yet I would like to be baptized\u2013 and to do my best to be a faithful member. So, what do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ishmael is asking a hard question, I think\u2013 a hard question whether or not one shares his opinion about Joseph Smith– and I myself want to reflect a bit more about it. Maybe if I think I have anything useful to say, I might do a post or two on the subject. Meanwhile, what would you advise?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Call him Ishmael. The man has been coming to church with the missionaries for six or eight months now, and he seems a bit different from other investigators and recent converts we’ve seen in our ward. Most of these people have been, let us say, humble in their financial circumstances and educational attainments. Ishmael, by contrast, seems like someone who will not be needing welfare assistance: he is a doctor, mid-30s, good health, thoughtful and well-spoken. Before today, you had introduced yourself to Ishmael but had not talked with him at any length. But as it happens, it\u2019s the third Sunday of the month, and you and I find ourselves seated next to Ishmael at the \u201cLinger Longer\u201d in the cultural hall after the meeting block. Following a bit of friendly conversation, you feel bold enough to ask: \u201cSo, Ishmael, you\u2019ve been coming to church for a while, and we love having you here. Have you given any thought to . . . being baptized?\u201d \u201cOf course,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of thought. Hmm. . . . Part of me really wants to belong to this community. Not because I need a social group or anything\u2013 I\u2019m actually more of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39626"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39635,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39626\/revisions\/39635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}