I wanna play a game. I call it, "Where's Jesus?" The rules are simple: Watch the following video and tell me where Jesus is in its content and purpose. And I'm not talking about Jesus-esque behavior, either - just Jesus Himself. For the first installment, I decided to go with one-o'-them "... and I'm a Mormon" videos. You know what I'm talking about. If you aren't in the mood for deep thinkin', just count how many times Jesus is mentioned.
If you got more than none, you did better than me. This is the primary problem I have with this new series of videos (and, in fact, with most of what the Mormon church does): Jesus is virtually absent. He is not completely absent from the entire religion, of course, since He is mentioned frequently in the standard works and in the title of their religion, and there is an eerie statue of Him (henceforth referred to as "Space Jesus") in the Salt Lake Temple Visitor's Center, so there's that. Jesus is a key figure in Mormonism, I must admit: but His glory does not appear to be the main goal here, and He does have to compete with Joseph Smith for attention and praise. It seems to me that any religion which desires to be called "Christian" must have Christ alone as its center and purpose. I don't see that in Mormonism. When I listen to General Conference, for example, I don't hear much about Jesus (except when His name occurs in the obligatory blessing at the end of each speech. I'm beginning to think that the name "Jesus" is the Mormon equivalent for "Goodbye" or "Class dismissed."). I do hear several ridiculously old people speaking - in a tone so soft as to make a psychiatrist feel inadequate - about how important it is to play nice with others and wash behind your ears. How can anyone claim to have entered into a deep, abiding fellowship with Jesus - the very creator of everything - without being compelled by something deep within him to tell every human being on the face of the planet about how great the LORD is? This is why the Apostles were so intensely bold about the Gospel (Rom. 1:16). The LDS leadership, in contrast, has always seemed more concerned with getting the word out about how great the Mormon church is. Don't believe me? You might have noticed that these videos always feature someone who does something particularly noble and/or remarkable, like taking in mentally challenged children or being a professional surfer. And did you see how everyone was smiling? And how well-dressed they all were? And how picturesque that porch was? Everyone is happy and prosperous. Don't get me wrong: Taking care of kids like this is a wonderful thing, and I'm glad this woman chose to do it. But the underlying message of this video series is not simply that Mormons are normal, decent people (though I would agree that they are). The message is that Mormons are able to do good things and live happy lives with happy families primarily because they are card-carrying members of the LDS. No mention is ever made of sin or salvation or the work of Christ in someone's life because it is so much more important for everyone to know what church these noble people belong to. The body of Christ does not exist for the purpose of advertising itself, but for advertising the person and work of Jesus Christ, which is the Gospel.
Don't believe me?
I love the Brian Welch video! Btw, your post area is too narrow for all of the youtube videos to show.
ReplyDeleteI have a few thoughts.
ReplyDelete-From a logic/rhetoric standpoint, saying that Christ is absent in LDS theology because of an observation of the number of times His name is verbally mentioned by members of the LDS Church is a fallacy of ignorance.
But if you want to get technical, I went through all of the talks from last October's General Conference and did a search for all references to "Jesus Christ" -or- "Jesus" -or- "Christ." Out of the 39 talks given, one of those three terms was mentioned 254 times.
-I've definitely observed over time just how many subtle nuances there are in LDS culture and theology. I can understand why someone would doubt our belief in or dedication to Jesus because of our emphasis on other things, like Priesthood authority or Temple work or obedience or service. However, in growing up Mormon and constantly being immersed in its doctrinal culture, I see those things as only putting more emphasis on the importance of Jesus.
For example, when a Mormon says, "It's important to do vicarious Temple ordinances for the dead," the name of Jesus may not be explicitly mentioned, but the big implication is "It's important to do vicarious Temple ordinances for the dead because these are the things Jehovah asked His children in the Old Testament to do, and what Jesus is asking us to do today; making the covenants we do in the Temple shows Jesus that we are willing to consecrate our lives to Him." This is the general understanding among Mormons about the Temple, which is why we can get that message across to each other as easy as, "it's important to go to the Temple." Likewise, the implication in "Proper Priesthood authority is necessary for baptism" is "Proper Priesthood authority, or the authority given to men by Christ Himself, is necessary for baptism." Because the rhetoric of Mormon doctrine and theology allows for these implications, our culture generally understands that the foundation of everything we do is Jesus Christ without needing to verbalize His name. I particularly like this quotation from Joseph Smith: "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."
I always welcome thoughts, since I don’t always have enough already. How've you been? It's good to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteI see where you are coming from. I'm not entirely satisfied with how this blog turned out, anyway. Personally, I think it sounded a lot more condescending than I intended, and the line about Jesus being no more important than Isaiah or Moses is definitely false. I will, henceforth, edit that bad boy out.
Just out of curiosity, how did you get that info about General Conference? If you actually went through and counted, then you deserve a pizza.
While you do make some good points (which I appreciate, by the way), I think you have missed mine. First, "saying that Christ is absent in LDS theology because of an observation of the number of times His name is verbally mentioned by members of the LDS Church" certainly would be fallacious and ignorant - but that is neither what I said nor what I meant to say. My goal in this post was to provide an example of something that I have observed about Mormonism – not that Jesus is completely absent, but that glorifying the church and its members often seems to take precedence over glorifying God. If I may be allowed to quote myself, “He is not completely absent from the entire religion, of course, since He is mentioned frequently in the standard works and in the title of their religion, and there is an eerie statue of Him (henceforth referred to as "Space Jesus") in the Salt Lake Temple Visitor's Center…”
I recognize that Christ may be the motive behind the behaviors of individual Mormons such as yourself (or not – I can’t speak with certainty about anyone’s motives other than my own), and that you might do those things largely on account of the fact that you believe them to be the will of God. I respect that. However, when I read through the Bible, I see that God does things primarily for the purpose of broadcasting His great name and glory to anyone who has “an ear to hear.” Here are some examples:
- The Exodus - “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” (Ex. 9:16)
- Speaking of the gathering of Israel in the last days, God says through Isaiah, “Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” (Isa. 43:7; Eze. 36:22-23, 32, 38)
- God relented from destroying Israel – “For My name’s sake I will defer My anger, and for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.” (Isa. 48:9, 11)
- “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.” Jer. 16:21
- “But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles …” Eze. 20:9, 14; 20:22, 44; Mal. 2:2
- And let’s not forget the ultimate purpose of everything – “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
That aside, I have to wonder why anyone, when given two minutes to summarize his life, would choose not to mention God. That is, unless God wasn’t really all that important to that person.
Anyways. I do have a certain disadvantage here: Namely, that I have never been a Mormon. Therefore I admit the possibility that I might have missed something. Feel free to correct me when I do.