I was raised in a healthy religious environment. My parents were educated people, not academic scholars but readers of good books, seekers of knowledge, and faithful in their convictions. They were humble in their current level of knowledge and dedicated to the pursuit of continued learning. They recognized human fallacies and shortcomings of human institutions but remained faithful to principles, doctrines, and acknowledgment that the fundamental element of religious experience is faith.I have always considered myself an inquisitive, logical, and bit of a skeptical individual but with a sincere desire to do what is right and discover truth in all aspects of life. In the church of my youth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, young men are encouraged to go and preach the gospel of Christ at the age of nineteen. As this birthday approached for me I was brought to that inevitable religious crossroads. I could not go out and preach and recruit strangers to subscribe to a philosophy to which I did not believe myself with all my heart and mind. And so began my quest.I began reading voraciously. I first decided to focus on primary documents and not commentaries, my selections ranged from the Bible to the Koran, the Tao de Ching to the Book of Mormon. I was introduced to philosophy through a reader-friendly overview of philosophy called Sophie’s World. In it I was exposed to classic questions of the human experience and the variety of theories and explanations to make sense of the world. Throughout, my searching was accompanied by sincere prayer. Growing up I had had small little experiences in my life, feelings of peace, illogical ‘coincidences’ that came in answers to prayer, and faith promoting experiences, so that I felt that God would guide me in my sincere desire to do what is right and understand the workings of this life.I read the New Testament for the first time in my life motivated by own personal desire to learn and decipher truth. I also read accounts of Jesus visiting a group of people in ancient America, found in the Book of Mormon. The fundamental questions in my mind were: “Do I believe the story of this Jesus?” and “Do I believe the accounts of these witnesses?” A quote of C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity shaped my thinking,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell… let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
I also saw this line of thinking as being applicable to the religious tradition that I inherited as the adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their founder Joseph Smith have the most radical claims and message. They speak of angels coming to earth bringing new scripture, priesthood authority, and ancient temple rituals. This young man Joseph Smith reports seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ and being told to join none of the religious sects of his day but to wait and that he would receive further instructions. These are not claims to be dismissed lightly. And we must not say that Joseph Smith was simply a ‘great religious genius’ just as we cannot say Jesus was simply a ‘great moral teacher’; he either saw the things he said he saw or he was the greatest con artist of the millennium. The physical documents, principally the Book of Mormon, as well as an unprecedented amount of written material to judge a man claiming the Ancient Israel definition of Prophet, are such that they do not allow for middle ground. To me it is logically and morally impossible to be a fence sitter on the issue of the Mormons at least when given a sincere and honest exposure to the documents.In the course of my reading and honest prayers for direction I was one day reading in the New Testament and out of nowhere, even seemingly untied to the text I was reading at the moment, I felt overwhelmed by a feeling of peace yet exhilaration and although I did not comprehend everything at that time, and still do not, I could say confidently, with that peaceful resonance confirming that Jesus did indeed die and live again and that he is the center of this grand story of human life. I can’t explain my logic or detail my thoughts building up to that moment, and it might stand in opposition to my academic training, but at that moment I knew, it simply rang loud and true to my mind and soul.With that assurance I turned my mind to the issue of Joseph Smith and the Mormons. For this I started with a collection of personal essays by faithful Latter-day Saints who were or could be considered academics and intellecutals. The book was entitled Expressions of Faith. It gave me the confidence to pursue the Mormon question. These were not blind followers. They were extremely well educated and thoughtful individuals who surely knew the arguments for and against the Mormons better than any critic, yet they had found something when others could only ridicule. Based on one of those essays by a philosopher named Truman Madsen I obtained a series of lectures entitled “Timeless Questions, Gospel Insights” in which he took the classic questions of philosophy and shed light on them according to the revelations and teachings brought forth by a simple farm boy Joseph Smith. It was through that series of lectures where I truly understood the strength of the position of the Mormons. I studied the life and writings of Joseph Smith with great enthusiasm and marveled at the radical and beautifully rich ideas he brought back to a more complete understanding of Christ and the overall purpose and plan behind the creation and this life experience.I can say without a moment of hesitancy that I believe the story of Joseph Smith. I believe that he was indeed called upon by God to restore truth to the earth in the form of bringing forth additional ancient scripture and countless revelations to guide in the establishment and direction of a singular, divinely-endorsed church and forerunner to a heavenly society on the earth, referred to in sacred writings as Zion. It is through Joseph Smith that I have been able to see Jesus more clearly, accurately, and radiantly.There are, of course, things I still do not understand, questions I still search after, but these two fundamental aspects: That Jesus is the Savior and cornerstone of all existence and that Joseph Smith was personally directed by that same Jesus to establish a latter-day work in preparation for His return, are permantly intertwined in my soul and very being.I firmly believe that any sincere and honest seeker will come to the same conclusions when given a fair opportunity to examine the evidence accompanied with faith. Unfortunately I think a fair opportunity can be a rare occasion as there are so many voices of opposition; most being outright lies, others distortions, and some misguided or incomplete interpretations of men. If one can have the discipline to tune out those agenda-based voices and instead read the documents themselves, principally the Book of Mormon as it is at the center of the issue, and pray sincerely and with humility, willing to repent and change one’s life according to changes in knowledge, then one will find answers.
