Mormon at the Baptist Fellowship Meeting

It's funny to me the timing of this post and my last. While I have been thinking about my last post for about two months, this post just came to me tonight. They go hand-in-hand.

Remember Mormon = Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

What happened that made tonight different? Tonight, I was a Mormon at a Baptist Fellowship meeting.

Wait. What? How did that happen?

There is an amazing woman, "Sally" in my neighborhood who is not Mormon. While there are many people who aren't Mormon, where I live it is predominantly Mormon, or full of "members." Sally is the anomaly. She is also a Baptist.

Could she feel completely isolated where we live? You bet. Could she feel intimidated because "everyone" in our neighborhood attends the church on the corner and are members in the same church? You bet.

But she doesn't.

Sally has made friends with many people, and by people I mean members. It's been fun to watch as our list of mutual friends on Facebook grows longer and longer. She has embraced where she lives. She plays in our church basketball games, she comes to aerobics at our church several days a week, she has attended some of our evening relief society meetings, she's a regular player in our Bunco group. I totally admire her.

So, she was having a bible fellowship meeting at her house tonight.

I invited myself.

I am always eager to talk about the gospel. It's a big thing in my life. Wow, that's a little bit of an understatement. It's THE thing in my life that all other thoughts and decisions are filtered through...trying to keep that natural man in check. (see previous post.)

So, I invited myself. I saw it as a chance to talk about the gospel and to build on our common belief of a Savior.

I met an amazing group of women, daughters of our Heavenly Father.

Right off the bat, not really meaning too, one of them disparaged my church on two counts of gospel doctrine. As I have learned a little bit of wisdom at my age, and that I had invited myself, I didn't really speak up. Perhaps I should have. But, I did't want to bring a negative vibe to the meeting, we were all there after all to be spiritually uplifted. Having a "my religion believes this" was not what these women had signed up for.

One of the topics was about a hard to understand gospel principle. (In fact, when I taught this principle in my gospel doctrine class, I felt such anguish as I prepared the lesson. I wanted to understand it perfectly before I taught it and it was complex and has many layers.) And, I could totally see how it would come about.

It's like when I teach my children. I give them "line upon line, precept upon precept." In fact, we are all taught this way, even the Savior himself. So, I give them the first line, and maybe the second line. Who knows exactly when they are ready for the third line or a precept...but at some point they need to take responsibility for their own spiritual progression and learn for themselves.

The thing the lady said, was that first line (x). So, while right (x) but because the principle wasn't taught in it's entirety (xyz) it could totally be misconstrued.

Listen to this. This message is from Elder L. Tom Perry, at Women's Conference a few years ago. (Ironically his message has always stood out and been remembered the most by me.) And from him I learned:

I learned that our church is so misunderstood by people in the United States and abroad in the world. (Hence, my last post.) He says that for every person who strongly likes us there are four who don't. And then he provided statistics from non-members polled in the United States. Of those polled across the United States:

51% had little or no awareness of Mormons
47% did not have a favorable impression
31% believe that Mormons aren't Christian

He went on to say that many of the misunderstandings and wrong impressions are our fault because we don't talk about who we are and what we believe clearly enough. (Hence, this post.)

He says of the four sources for people to hear of the church--church media, outside influences, members, and missionaries--members are the primary source for people to gain a clearer understanding.

Back to the lady, I am sure her limited understanding of the principle was taught by a well meaning member. So, I guess that is my invitation tonight. Let's talk about who we are and what we believe more clearly.

I am a Christian...with an Invitation

...who is a Mormon.

Let me clarify, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Our nickname is the "Mormon Church."

It surprises me how many people think we aren't Christian.

It's almost laughable, if we weren't so misunderstood. People who think this have obviously spent no amount of time trying to learn about something which they know nothing about, and thus, should not be saying anything at all. It seriously would only take one minute of a google search to see that the true name of our church has the name of Christ in it.

The apple dictionary defines Christianity as: a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.

So consider this:

One of my favorite scriptures (there are many) from the Book of Mormon from a prophet named Nephi:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. (2 Nephi 25:26)

That is the epitome of my religion. If that doesn't qualify us to be Christians, I don't know what does.

This post started in my mind during my mom's visit while we were walking around the Visitor Center on Temple Square. Here is what I was looking at:

My son looking at the mural of Christ calling his first apostles.

My step-father looking at the mural of Christ's baptism by John the Baptist.

These beautiful murals covering the wall almost from floor to ceiling. I don't remember how many there are in all (maybe 12) but they depict major events in Christ's life starting with his miraculous birth.

Finally, following the ascending spiraling path you end up here, looking at the Christus.

We are Christians.

Who are also human, the natural man. Do people in my church make mistakes? You bet. Are our actions sometimes not Christian? You bet. Well, that's because "the natural man is an enemy to God...and will be, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit." (Mosiah 3:19) Do we hope with our works, repenting of sin, and through the redeeming grace of God that we can one day enter into his presence again. You bet!

With all the interest in Mormons because of the presidential candidates, I offer an invitation to people everywhere: "Get to know us, properly. Drop into our services, talk to our people, have dinner with a local leader, spend a family home evening with a family, be present when a young soon-t0-be missionary opens his/her "call letter" and learns where they will be spending the next couple of years. Join with us on a service project. And then, when you have scratched the surface in this way, closely observe the transformation of people's lives outside the church as missionaries teach them and they go through the conversion process. Watch those who transition from attitudes of hopelessness to lives of purpose and meaning and learn new ways to follow Jesus Christ. Talke to a Mormon bishop--our version of a local pastor, but who is unpaid for their volunteer work--as he helps people grapple with problems of addiction or shaky marriages or unemployment. Examine the doctrine--not through simplistic "us and them" comparisons that we see so often, but in ways that explain how the doctrine of the church influences behavior." (This is quoted from an article in The Washington Post called More than a 'Mormon moment.')

What's So Pinteresting?

Pinterest...I love you!

It's so hard to believe that this amazing web site was developed by men. For women.

Well, it used to be only women but more men are starting to "pin."

Last summer, Time magazine listed Pinterest in its "50 Best Websites of 2011" column.

And, I can see why. It is so much fun.

For me, it keeps the clutter out of my house. It is also my "go to" site when I need a new recipe. For now. It's categories are growing all the time. I have made several things I have found on there and loved them all. My favorite was probably this find:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip!

This is my new favorite "go to" dessert because it was delicious, so easy to make (no baking involved at all), and did I mention delicious! (I do have to agree with the website where the recipe orginiate though that using milk chocolate chips are probably the best to use. Paige made this same recipe and used semi-sweet and her friends didn't rave about it like my friends did. I think the chocolate chips make or break this sweet treat.)

I love that Pinterest is so much fun and while I couldn't imagine my life without it (stop laughing Steve) I am not on it every day. It's just fun.

When I first started, it was like eye candy to me. The visual world that was mesmerizing and I found myself pinning anything that was colorful...but that was before I understood the purpose of the site.

And now. Well, I have a whole board on ideas that are going to keep me from a deep depression next year when my daughter is in school all day. LOL. I have always wondered how I would keep busy. Okay, not really, but kind of. But, I am formulating a plan on how to keep busy next year, and that is by making my days devoted to something. One of my days may be spent on "Pinterest Projects" whether that's sewing something, doing a deep clean using a technique that I saw on their site, or prefecting making perfect chocolate chip cookies.

What are you pinning?