The Quiet Whisper of the Spirit

In our first weeks at osteopathic medical school, the freshman class was taught to feel the transverse processes of the spine. Each spinal segment has two transverse processes, fingerlike projections of bone, pointing off to the left and right. Osteopathic students are taught to feel these spines to tell if the spinal segment is rotated. If one transverse process is more posterior than the other and projects from the surface of the back more than the other, then the segment is rotated and can be manipulated.

Learning to feel transverse processes is very difficult. During our first weeks an occasional student would claim to be able to feel them. But the majority of the freshman class could feel nothing. It didn’t matter if we lightly touched the back or pushed with a great deal of force, we could not feel the transverse processes. We closed our eyes and scrunched our foreheads as we concentrated on the sensation beneath our fingers and still could not feel them.

Our difficulties were compounded by what we were learning in our Anatomy courses. In our books and in our studies with cadavers we learned about the spine and about the thick and powerful muscles that line it. These run over the transverse processes. We began to wonder if it was even possible to feel through these muscles to the bone beneath. Perhaps we would have to be extraordinarily gifted to ever feel through the muscles. Perhaps spinal manipulation and osteopathy was a fraud, pushed on us by teachers who were either delusional or deliberately deceiving us.

About the time some of the more outspoken students began making hotheaded statements, it happened. I felt the transverse processes. They were there, below the surface of the skin and muscle. With delicate pressure and movement I could feel them there. At first I thought I might be imagining it or faking it to myself. But by repeating my examinations and confirming my findings with my instructors I proved it to myself. Up and down the spine I could feel them and could tell which were rotated.

And I wasn’t the only one to feel them. The majority of my classmates were feeling them too. And suddenly the building doubt and resentment was passed. We knew that transverse processes were real, were palpable, and we could tell which were not aligned.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I excitedly tell my friends about the Book of Mormon, about modern-day prophets, and about the restoration of the church that Jesus Christ established. I tell them that they can know if the things I tell them are true by the power of the Holy Ghost. It will whisper to them and confirm to them that these things are true.

Some people can immediately feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost and know that the message is true. Others struggle to receive an answer. They pray to our Heavenly Father for guidance and feel that their prayers are unanswered. Despite sincere effort they are still left wondering and begin to think that perhaps the message is not true. Perhaps their Mormon friends are either delusional or deceitful. Perhaps the Book of Mormon was cooked up by Joseph Smith. Perhaps God no longer calls prophets. Perhaps God does not even hear His children’s prayers.

To my friends searching for truth, let me say that the answers do not always come right away and the quiet whisper of the spirit is often difficult to perceive.

When I was younger I wanted to know for myself whether this church was the restored church of Jesus Christ. Many times I prayed to the Father to know if this was His church. Many times I left my prayers with no answer. When I finally began to recognize the promptings of the spirit, I thought I might have been imagining the feeling. Perhaps I was just telling myself that I was feeling it because I wanted to so badly.

But as the years have passed, my doubts have faded. So many times the Spirit has guided me and I have come to rely on it. I now regularly feel and recognize the delicate promptings of the Spirit. They have become a regular part of my existence.

When I read the scriptures and feel my mind opened and filled with light, I recognize the influence of the Spirit. When I kneel in prayer with problems and difficult decisions and am guided and comforted, I recognize the influence of the Spirit. When I am enjoying my family and feel peace and joy, I recognize the influence of the spirit. When I read the Book of Mormon, listen to the prophet speak, and pray for a divine confirmation that these things are true, I feel the spirit. The warmth and enlightenment fills me I know that they are true and of God.

The influence and answers that come from the Holy Ghost can be hard to perceive. But they are there, real and constant just like my transverse processes from medical school. If you are having trouble feeling the Spirit and receiving your answers, keep on trying. Do not give up faith or hope. I promise that you will feel those promptings. I know that God answers our prayers and guides us in our quest for truth. With patience and faith, you will perceive the whisperings of the Spirit and they will guide you to truth and great happiness.

Your Mormon Friend

Why the Book of Mormon?

The Christian world stands united in its reverence for and belief in the sacred collection of prophetic writings known as the Bible. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we love the Bible and consider it scripture. We depart somewhat from our Christian friends in holding other books to be scripture as well. The most prominent of these is The Book of Mormon.

Our belief in the Book of Mormon has brought us a long history of persecution. Even today many members of the Christian community refuse to accept LDS church members as Christians because we accept the Book of Mormon as scripture. Like other Christians, we look to Christ as our Savior and the only means to return to God's presence. So why do we continue to hold to the Book of Mormon when it brings exclusion and persecution? What makes the Book of Mormon so valuable and compelling to us?

The answer requires a preliminary orientation to the Book of Mormon. The book's origins are similar to that of the Bible. Like the Bible, it is a compilation of the writings of ancient prophets. The Book of Mormon prophets are descendants of a family of Israelites that were warned by God and escaped Jerusalem before it was invaded by Babylonians in about 586 B.C. This family was promised a land of their own by the Lord. Led by His hand, they traveled across the Arabian Peninsula, built a ship, and sailed to the Americas. Here they founded a civilization that grew to millions of people.

Prophets among these American Israelites were called by God to teach the people. They taught the people about the coming of Christ and the great Atonement he would carry out to save humanity. Like the Old Testament prophets, they recorded their writings and a history of the people. In the twilight years of Christian portion of the population (around 400 A.D.), a prophet named Mormon compiled and abridged the words of the past prophets on plates of gold. His son, Moroni, hid the plates and buried them with the hope that they would be found by future inhabitants of the Americas. He had faith that the plates would be instrumental in convincing future generations that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of Mankind.

Joseph Smith was a young man in a farming family in upper New York in the 1820's. He had prayed to God to know which Christian church to join. In vision he saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and was instructed the he should join none of the churches, but that he would be instrumental in restoring the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The prophet Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith as an angel and showed him the location of the buried gold plates. Joseph translated the record and published it as the Book of Mormon in 1830. Since its publication, the book has been very compelling, affecting the faith and lives of tens of millions of persons.

Perhaps the most compelling aspects of the book are the promise it makes. Throughout the book, the prophets who wrote it emphasize that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is accessible to man now, just as he was in the days of the Bible. He communicates with man, as long as there is faith in the world. Man can ascertain His will for us. The end of the book carries the especially compelling invitation: "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, and with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."

I have accepted the invitation and inquired for myself. I now know the Book of Mormon is true.

Many Christians who object to the Book of Mormon may not realize that it contains nothing that contradicts the Bible. They might not agree with every doctrine that is taught in it, but everything that it does say is backed up by the Bible. Herein is part of its value.

Bible-based Christianity has given rise to a wide variety of beliefs and practices. The Bible, standing on its own, allows for a variety of interpretations. However, coupled with the Book of Mormon, the doctrines become clear and concrete. Essential gospel truths that are wrangled over by the Christian churches become clear and simple with The Book of Mormon. Faith and works, the nature of the Godhead, and baptism- issues in which Christianity struggles to reach
a consensus- are simply stated and simply understood in The Book of Mormon.

The most important message of the Book of Mormon is that Jesus is the Christ. He is our Savior. Only through His atoning sacrifice may we return to the Father. The chief product of the Book of Mormon is faith in Christ. As I read it, my faith and love for Him grow.

This is why a Christ-loving people does not renounce the Book of Mormon. It brings them closer to Him. This is why we invite our fellow Christians to discover what we have discovered- not a book that destroys our faith in the Bible, but a book that confirms the message of the Bible. It confirms the gospel taught in the Bible and powerfully proclaims Jesus as the Christ. This is a book and a message that we believe our Christian friends can appreciate and embrace.

Your Mormon Friend

That Strange Mormon Doctrine

I would like to write about why Mormons believe the things they do. Why do they believe in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as three individual and physically separate beings? Why do they believe they should abstain from alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee? Why the hard line on sexual abstinence until marriage? Where do these religious ideas come from and why do they become doctrine?

I believe that the establishment of doctrine, or religious ideology, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is unique among the Christian churches.

For example, let's suppose you were to speak with a Mormon friend about the nature of the Godhead. Carrying a very traditional Trinitarian view, you show your Mormon friend a series of very convincing New Testament references to prove that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one inseparable physical being. Let's suppose that your Mormon friend's mastery of the New Testament pales in comparison to yours and he or she is only able to provide a couple of references backing up LDS church doctrine. Odds are that despite what you may consider overwhelming evidence to the contrary, your Mormon friend has full confidence in his or her beliefs without being able to prove them scripturally to your satisfaction.

LDS doctrine is not dependent on scholarly interpretation of ancient scripture. Mormons truly believe in the Bible as the word of God, but they do not depend solely on it to determine the nature of God or His will for us at this time. Many interpretations can be made of each scripture and Mormons generally will interpret scripture in light of established LDS doctrine. Attempts to dissuade Mormons from the doctrine by use of the scriptures will generally be unsuccessful because Mormons interpret the scriptures through the viewpoint of established doctrine.

Now, let's suppose you were to speak with your Mormon friend about early Christian traditions and historical Christian declarations and creeds. You could speak quite extensively to your Mormon friend about the Nicene creed and its declarations on the nature of the Godhead and point out that they speak perfectly clearly about the inseparable nature of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Even if you showed evidence of a unanimous opinion on the nature of God by early Christian councils, your Mormon friend would still hold to his or her beliefs with complete confidence.

LDS doctrine is not a result of the historical evolution of Christian belief. Your LDS friend cares little for the teachings of fourth century scholars. He or she will find the history interesting, but not of doctrinal significance. How then is LDS doctrine determined? If it does not come from earnest scholarship of the Bible or from an integrity to Christian tradition, where is the doctrine coming from?

Suppose you perceive your Mormon friend is unchanged after your convincing arguments and you wonder why they believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as three separate and distinct beings. Your friend might answer by telling you of the experience of Joseph Smith, who in response to prayer was visited by God the Father and the Savior Jesus Christ. He spoke with them, face to face. Your friend might tell you of other experiences and teachings of modern prophets that make clear the nature of the Godhead. He or she might then point out a couple of scriptures that illustrate the same point.

LDS doctrine is established by modern prophets. Mormons believe these men are called of God as was Moses, Abraham, Isaiah, and the ancient apostles. They believe that through modern prophets, the true and original gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. They take to heart to statement of Amos of the Bible (Amos 3:7), that "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." They believe that the Lord speaks to mankind in this time through prophets, just as he did in Biblical times. They believe that guidance from the Lord is just as important in our difficult time as it was in the difficult times of the ancient Israelites.

As was recently stated by Dieter Uchtdorf, counselor to the current prophet and president of the church:

"This gospel does not come from man. The doctrine of the Church is not someone's best guess as to the meaning of ancient scripture. It is the truth of heaven revealed by God Himself. I testify that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. He truly looked into the heavens and communed with God the Father and the Son, and with angels.

I bear witness that Heavenly Father speaks to those who seek Him in spirit and in truth. I have witnessed with my own eyes and joyfully testify that in our day, God speaks through His prophet, seer, and revelator, even Thomas S. Monson."

This belief in modern prophets may strike some as a dangerous fanaticism. There have been acccusations of "blindly following" our prophets. But it is difficult to find an adult practicing Mormon who blindly believes. We hold these men to be prophets because after earnest prayer and inquiry of the Lord, we feel He has confirmed to us that they really are His prophets. And so we believe, not blindly, but because we have been shown.

Your Mormon Friend

Welcome to Your Mormon Friend

This is new project for me. I'm not sure how it will work out or whether it will get any attention. What I hope to do is to provide my personal assistance in answering your questions about my Mormon faith. Of course, my positions do not constitute the official stance or doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but I will do my utmost to base my posts on those stances and doctrines.

I hope this site will be a friendly and insightful place to learn about the LDS faith- a place where you and I can really discuss the church and its members' beliefs. I'm not interested in engaging in argument with those who are seeking to destroy my faith. Of course, I may not be able to discern who is earnest and who is attacking. But as a rule I won't respond to queries like "Such-and-such book says all these bad things about the church- respond to all of them." or "Watch this movie and tell me what you think." Instead, let me know what interests or concerns you personally. Go ahead and lay it on me. I'm not a professional apologist, but I remain your Mormon friend.