What it means to be a Mormon

Preface

Virtually a century has passed since Joseph Smith was favored with a heavenly vision. In that time wonderful things have been done in the name of Mormonism. Since the Lord made Himself known to the Boy Prophet, a church has been established and has grown until it now has a membership ap¬ proximating one-half million; the Holy Priesthood has been restored which entitles us to God’s choicest blessings; a march across a continent — such a march as has but few parallels in all history — has been achieved; a desert has been reclaimed; and a religious organization has been perfected which is the wonder of the world.

God’s spirit of inspiration has made these things possible. Mormonism is His Church of these latter days. To promote faith in Him as our Father, and to call attention to the truths of Mormonism in such a way as to inspire boys and girls to live better, cleaner, and nobler lives, has been the aim of the author of these chapters. In a book of this size, the thoughts suggested have necessarily been given but limited consideration, in the hope not of settling for all time the essentials of religious belief, but rather of stim¬ ulating an interest in vital questions which ought to concern Latter-day Saints all their lives.

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CHAPTER 1 Why Are You a Mormon?

Why are you a Mormon?

Have you ever really thought out an answer to that question? Of course it is a big one— one that cannot be answered in a day — nor a year; in fact, it can well concern a person during his entire life— but it is important that we have the question clearly m mind that we may gradually work out an answer that

satisfies us. ,

The author of these chapters has been interested

lately in finding out just why boys and girls do the things they do. In practically every case they had very definite reasons. Newsboys pretty generally sold their papers so that they could help support themselves or their families. It is surprising to find out how many thousands of boys are selling news¬ papers in the United States. Many people feel sorry for them and think it a shame that such young boys should have to do such work, yet many of these same boys become very successful men. They learn the importance of knowing how to work early in life and that lesson stays with them as long as they live. The habit of doing things, formed when habits can best be established, leads them to success.

Boys playing baseball thought it very peculiar for any one to ask them why they played. One little fellow suggested that “Every American likes to play baseball.”

Girls, too, knew well enough why they were work¬ ing. Either they had to help out at home or they wanted to, so that they could buy the kind of clothes “other girls wear.”

But the most interesting fact about the cases that were considered was that of all the boys and girls of whom the questions were asked, only one boy could tell why he belonged to his particular church, and his reasoning was decidedly weak. All of the others knew the name of their church well enough but when asked why they belonged to it they invariably an¬ swered, “I don’t know,” or, “It’s the only one I know anything about.” And it was evident that the “anything” was pretty closely related to nothing.

It was clear that though all these boys and girls knew why they played, or why they quit school, or why they worked, they had no definite ideas as to what their religion meant to them. And yet they were all of them between thirteen and sixteen years of age — really second intermediate boys and girls — and had reached that period in life when boys and girls are more often converted to the churches of the world than at any other age. They had reached the age of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he undertook to find out which of all the churches in the world was right. Certainly they, together with all second inter¬ mediate pupils, ought to be thinking about their religion, that it may become a guide to them in all their lives.

WHY ARE YOU A MORMON?

To bring the question a little nearer home, sup¬ pose you were to take a trip into some eastern state. You would naturally make a number of acquaint¬ ances for whom one of the most interesting facts about you would be that you were a Mormon. Sup¬ pose they asked you some of the questions usually asked of Utahns:

“What do the Mormons believe?" “How are their teachings different from those of other churches?” “Are the Mormons Christians?”

How would you answer them? Or imagine your¬ self called on a mission — as you very likely will be if you are a boy, or as you may be if you are a girl. How would you get along with your first sermon? One of the most embarrassing situations the author has ever seen a young man in, was in Denver when a new missionary was called upon to speak for the first time. He evidently had never given much consideration to our question, for after blushing a good deal and stumbling about intellectually for a while, he said, “Well, I guess I’m up against it,” and sat down.

Let us consider some of the possible reasons for bejng a Mormon.

''in the first place, a boy may be a Mormon because his parents belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he has naturally grown up to believe as they do. And surely, to be the son of Mormon Pioneers, or to be descended from them in any way, is one very splendid reason. Our pioneer forefathers sacrificed all they had, left comfortable homes, risked their lives in the face of a desert inhabited by hostile Indians — they did all these things and put up with hardships which we shall never be able to appreciate, all that they and we might enjoy the privileges of our religion. To have been taught such a religion by such parents is one of the proudest her¬ itages in the world. There may be a wonderful meaningbehind the statement, "I am a Mormon because my father and mother were Mormons.”

But just as Mormonism meant all the world to the Pioneers, because they loved it, studied it, and lived it, so it can have its full significance for us only as we do those same three things.

A second reason may be that a boy feels that Mormonism is true. He may have attended meetings, particularly fast meetings, when there was an out¬ pouring of the Spirit of the Lord to such an extent that everybody felt its power and influence. Such a spirit can bear a wonderful testimony to a boy or girl and certainly just such a spirit is one of the most characteristic features of Mormon meetings.

In the third place, a boy may see that the men who try to be the best Mormons are the best men he knows. Religion ought to help us live good lives and if he sees that Mormons are fine, clean men who are honest and true and fair in all their dealings, he may well believe that here is a very sensible reason for being a Mormon.

As a fourth reason he may have seen the power of the Priesthood, one of the essential characteristics of Mormonism, made manifest in healing some member of his family or of the family of one of his friends. It

WHY ARE YOU A MORMON?

may be that he has been healed himself. Here cer¬ tainly, is a testimony that there is a power in Mormonism which may well lead him to believe in it.

Many other reasons might be put down, but let us conclude this lesson with just one more. Perhaps our boy has studied the teachings of the church, or has listened to his parents or teachers discuss them, and he feels that they are reasonable and true. Or, perhaps all of these processes have contributed to his belief and he is anxious to go on looking for still more evidences. At any rate, that shall be the purpose of these lessons. We shall attempt to find out briefly what Mormonism is; what, at least in part, it teaches ; and what it may mean in the life of a boy or girl who will apply it to the problem of their lives.

1. Do you believe it a good reason when you say you are a Mormon because your parents are?

2. Is such a reason sufficient? Why?

3. Tell of meetings you have attended when there seemed to be a rich outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

4. In what way are the lives of its members a test of the value of a church?

5. Do you consider the healing of the sick an evidence of the truthfulness of the Church? Why?

6. What are some of the advantages of studying the principles of the Gospel?

7. Name some of the most successful men you know or have read about. How many of them made an early choice of their life’s work?

8. Apply this same thought to a man's religion.

9. How old was Jesus when He was found in the temple, "about His Father’s business?”

10. Name some of the advantages of deciding at an early age to make your religion mean something to you.

CHAPTER 2 Why a Religion at All?

Perhaps the questions already presented have led you to ask this one, “Why is there need of a religion at all?’'

The answer lies very largely in the fact that man¬ kind cannot get along without one. Every nation, tribe, or community, however primitive, has been found to have some kind of religious system. History teaches us that man is in his nature a religious being — he must devote himself to some kind of worship.

Various nations at different times in their history have tried the experiment of abandoning religion. France is a notable case, having attempted in 1793 to substitute the worship of Reason. But in this case, as in every other, it has been found that people simply cannot live without some sort of religious devotion. No substitute has been found satisfactory.

A man’s religion is a guide to his spiritual life. It points the way to a fuller understanding of God’s dealings with the world and helps man appreciate his relationship with his Heavenly Father and with his fellow-men. To say that there is no need of re¬ ligion is in a large measure to leave man to search out alone his spiritual way through a most com¬ plicated and entangling world. There are problems on every hand for which only religion can offer a solution.

One of the most interesting things about a big city today is that there Is very little need of a person’s ever getting lost in it or if he gets lost there is no need of his remaining so. Policemen now no longer are employed merely to settle disputes and put down riots — they are positive helps in the orderly progress of city life. They are presumed to know their city thoroughly well, and usually do, so that they can direct strangers and all other inquirers to any part of the city. A traveler may now save himself a very great deal of worry and confusing search by getting a policeman “to start him off right.” We should con¬ sider a man foolish who would waste hours of time looking for a place which he could easily have found if he had inquired of someone the way to go.

If this is true in a city of well planned blocks and streets, how much more true is it when we venture on a journey into the City of Religion? Here certain¬ ly there are paths and by-ways so numerous and so indefinite that we have need of the best of direction and guidance. Fortunately there are those men who can guide us and who are only too glad to show us the way if we will but inquire. Not policemen to be sure, but they are men who have traveled the ways of life until they know them as well an we may hope to after we shall have lived very much longer than we now have.

As we face the problems of religious life, it is interesting to have some of these men indicate the way we might travel.

Gladstone, one of the greatest men England has

WHY A RELIGION AT ALL? 15

produced, when considering the importance of re^

ligion in a young man's life, gave expression to this r

thought: “It is a dangerous thing for a young maxi

to start out in life without the thought of God. And the stronger that thought the greater his claim to

success and hanniness-” : ^ ■ S P ^

We think of Washington as a great? military leader, a man of strong courage and of good practical common sense, yet he savs that he could not have gone through the Revolutionary War without the. assistance of God. In the winter at Valley Forge, when men were freezing and starving, one of his officers, embittered by the suffering of that severe winter, determined to revolt against the inhuman treatment the soldiers were receiving. He walked over to his General’s tent to tender his resig¬ nation and to enter his last complaint against the way in which things were being managed, but as he pulled back the flap of the tent, he saw Washington kneeling in prayer asking God to relieve him and his men in this hour of sore distress. Needless to say, such a prayer put renewed courage into the heart of that officer as it did into the heart of the Great General.

Benjamin Franklin was characterized by the same sort of religious devotion. In the Constitu¬ tional Convention, when it seemed impossible to de¬ cide upon a form of government that would best serve the needs of the United States, he made one of the best speeches ever made upon American soil, urging the convention to call upon the Lord in prayer for the wisdom which they so clearly needed. In that speech he said: “In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were en¬ gaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we now imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth— That God Governs in the Affairs of Men.”

Lincoln gave expression to this same faith throughout his entire public life. Consider such a statement as the following: “I am confident that the Almighty has His plans and will work them out — I have always taken counsel of Him, and have never adopted a course of proceeding without being assured as far as I could be of His approbation.”

Such statements coming as they do from states¬ men and military leaders, indicate that men of affairs see the need of religious devotion — of a strong trust in God. They point the way to all young men.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.

1. How do you explain the fact that wild, un¬ civilized tribes all have some form of religious worship?

WHY A RELIGION AT ALL?

2. Show why the experience of France would very likely be the experience of every other nation that might try to abolish religion.

3. Why is the fact that Washington had strong faith in God a testimony to us?

4. Account for Lincoln’s faith.

5. Mormonism teaches eternal progression — show how this fact makes it particularly important that we should study our religion.

6. Ask some of the leading men of your com¬ munity for their opinions on the importance of religion.

7. Quote the last sentence of Benjamin Frank¬ lin’s speech before the Constitutional Convention.

CHAPTER 3 Making a Religion Worth While

Every baseball team has its heroes — the men who win its victories and whom the “fans” like to go to see. The present Chicago team of the American League has two such men: one, a fielder, one of the three best batters in the league; the other, a catcher, believed, by Chicago at least, to be the best catcher in the United States.

It is a delight to see this man play. He is in the game heart and soul. As one man put it, “He’s a Baseball Wonder — every inch of him.” He watches every play and seems anxious to get into them all. Now back to the grand stand for a foul, now down toward first base or the pitcher’s box or third base — always intent upon making every play count. No idling, no complaining — just cheerful, enthusiastic “win or die” baseball. He has become the ideal, almost the idol, of every Chicago boy who has any ambition to become a ball-player.

Of course he has natural ability — no one who has not can hope to get into the big leagues; but he makes his ability count by constantly calling it into play to its full limit. It is easy to understand why he is being talked of as Chicago’s next manager in the American League.

Every girl ought to know the Life of Helen Keller. We often complain at our lot in life because we were not born geniuses — because we have to put

MAKING A RELIGION WORTH WHILE forth a little effort to get results and sometimes be¬ cause we do not seem to get the results — but here is a case where a girl, handicapped as but few girls ever are, has succeeded in accomplishing wonders through her diligence and her heroic devotion to achievement.

We shall set down a few of the important events in her life in the hope that they may lead pupils to read more about her.

Born June 27th, 1880, in Northern Alabama, she spent the first two years of her life as any normal child does. When nearly two, she was seized with a fever which left her both blind and deaf. The next five years must have been dreadfully dreary and monotonous, but at the end of that time, on March 3, 1887, Anne Mansfield Sullivan came to be her teacher and her slow but wonderful development began. She learned to spell a few words and then was given cardboards on which words were printed in raised letters. Fancy the tediousness of having to make out the meaning of sentences by feeling the letters with the fingers! But she persisted in what must have seemed an endless task until she could read surprisingly fast for one so handicapped.

But if learning to read was difficult, consider the task of learning to speak. Think of having to pass your fingers across the lips of a person in order to make out what he was saying.

But again patience and persistence triumphed and Helen Keller not only learned to talk — she has even toured the country giving lectures. Here are a few*of the things she has accomplished: In addition to learning to read and talk in her own language, she has mastered French, German and Latin; she oper¬ ates a typewriter; she has read many of the plays of Shakespeare, and the books of other famous writers; she has completed a college education and has toured the country lecturing on her life and her development. She claims attention as one of the most remarkable characters in America.

We have referred to a baseball hero and to Helen Keller, a national idol, to show that, whatever a person’s station or condition in life, the important thing in determining that person’s achievement is the degree to which he puts his heart into his work. Being in the American League could not make a man a great player unless his heart were in the game; and certainly being deaf and blind could not win fame for Helen Keller if she had not done remarkable things in spite of these handicaps.

And so with Mormonism. The best religion in the world, it can make of a man a good Christian, a noble character, only as he lends his whole heart to being a Mormon. Half-heartedness even in a good religion will secure but poor results.

We might add scores of cases that illustrate this point of the development that comes from continued effort, and that show that after all it is what we really try to make of ourselves that counts. Consider how many letters you made before you learned to write, or consider your verbal stumblings before you could read. Think of the number of stitches taken before a girl can do the artistic fancy-work that we see so

MAKING A RELIGION WORTH WHILE 21

much of. Can you count the number of times our great foot-ball players must have kicked a ball be¬ fore they became the heroes they are? Try the ex¬ periment with baseball — or watch a baby that is learning to talk — what a course of gymnastics its tongue has to be taken through before it can do the wonderful things that it does all through life.

Turn where we will, we find this same truth clearly established: that if we would develop power or ability in any line we must pay the price of con¬ tinued, whole-hearted application; and educators are agreed that the earlier we begin to make such application the greater the results which we can secure.

Does this truth, then, not apply equally well to religion? If we would develop a strong faith in God, if we would build up our own personalities into fine strong characters, if we would have our church help us become men after His image, we ourselves by our own activity must make all these things possible. As Latter-day Saints, we must feel the importance of this thought: “I shall put my whole heart into what I believe to be true.”

1. How far does work explain the success of the boys and girls and men and women who you know are succeeding?

2. With God’s plan allowing man his free agency, discuss the importance of work to a Latter-day Saint.

3. Discuss the important results of work in the life of Helen Keller.

4. Which church has the better claim — the one that asks for much service from its members or the one that asks for little? Why?

5. A bank can pay interest only on money that has been deposited; show that this same truth applies to Mormonism — it can pay back its members only as they put their hearts into the work.

6. Why is it necessary for athletes to keep in training?

7. Show how this same thought applies to de¬ veloping spirituality.

CHAPTER 4 The Teachings of Jesus Christ

/ One of the questions frequently asked of Latter-day Saints as they travel outside of Utah is: “Do you believe in Christ as the Savior of the world?” Some people have a notion that Joseph Smith claimed to be a sort of new Savior and that Mormonism is something different and apart from Christ¬ ianity. On the contrary, we announce to the world that being a Mormon is simply being the best possible kind of Christian. As the name indicates, we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith, a prophet of God, had as his mission the establishment of Christ’s Gospel through a proper church organization for us of the latter days.

More will be said in later lessons concerning our belief in the Savior as the Son of God — it is sufficient for our present purpose to say that Christ in his mission upon earth established the true church of God and gave us the plan by which we may work out our salvation. Any other plan is therefore not His. As one eminent writer has said, “It seems to me as regards the foundation of the church, that we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus, the Christ, Himself being the chief corner stone. It seems to me there can be but one laying of the foundation, and the foundation once laid, we cannot build a new church.

“There can never be a new church unless it be a false church. That which is true, in regard to church organization, is not new; and that which is new is not true.”

If we would really know what it means to be a Mormon, then we must know what it means to be a Christian. Of course, no brief statement can indi¬ cate adequately the meaning of the Savior’s message to the world, but the three following statements are significant and serve as tests to be applied to all religions which lay claim to truth.

I. In the first place, Christianity emphasizes the importance of a proper faith in God — a faith which makes it possible for man to ask God’s help and to secure it. Throughout the entire New Testament Jesus manifests complete reliance upon His Father’s goodness and power. He seemed to do nothing with¬ out first having been assured that it met with His Father’s approval. Turn to any of the following passages and you will find that it was faith that en¬ abled Christ’s followers to enjoy the blessings which he called down from Heaven: Matt. 9: 22; 17: 20; 21: 21, 22; Luke 7: 50; Acts 14: 9.

II. In the second place, Christianity urges every individual to become as pure and strong and intel¬ ligent as he possibly can. The whole Sermon on the Mount, as contained in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew, is rich in suggestions which enable mankind to live better lives. Chapter five concludes with that wonderful declaration: “Be ye

THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST 25

therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

HI. The third great teaching of Christianity is that we should render the best possible service to our fellow-men. Indeed the real Christian spirit is most truly felt when we give ourselves over to doing little kindnesses to others. Just as the Savior illustrated what He meant by dying for us that we might go on to eternal progress, so He taught repeatedly that such service is the work of all true Christians. One of the most beautiful bits of all Scripture is the story of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10: 25-37. Every boy and girl ought to read and re-read those verses — the world is in need of more Good Samaritans.

//"To be a Mormon, then, means to be a Christian devoted to the three principles of Faith in God, Selfperfection and Service to others/'TCny church which is to claim consideration as a true church must secure in the lives of its members an active realization of these three things. ~~ v

1. Show why God’s true Church should teach as Jesus Himself taught.

2. How do you explain the fact that a man so humble and simple as the Savior was should now have so many followers?

3. Show how Mormonism teaches the truths of Christianity.

(a) A strong Faith in God.

(b) Personal Perfection.

(c) Service to Others.

4. Discuss the statement that a new church is necessarily a false church.

5. Discuss some of the most striking of the teachings of the Savior and show whether or not they are included in Mormonism.

CHAPTER 6 Christ’s Church

* if

The Savior not only taught the truths of Christ¬ ianity, but He organized a church, so that others might assist in spreading those truths and so that His followers could strengthen and encourage one another to face the difficulties that were sure to con¬ front them. Though no full account is recorded in the Scriptures of the details of His organizing the church, many passages make clear that the organ¬ ization was established and it is certain from what the apostles did after the death of their Master that they clearly understood that they were to carry on the plans which He had laid out.

In the first place, as recorded in the tenth chapter of St. Luke, Jesus chose seventy whom He sent out to heal the sick and to preach to all who would re¬ ceive them, that the Kingdom of God was at hand.

The twelfth chapter of First Corinthians em¬ phasizes the same point, for it declares that, “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, second¬ arily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diver¬ sities of tongues.” The fourth chapter of Ephesians, eleventh and twelfth verses, repeats the same idea with an explanation of the reason for an organization of the church: “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints.

for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”