SMART MORMONS
During the 2012 presidential campaign, that awesomely deep
well of perpetual wisdom, Alec Baldwin, proclaimed that if Barack Obama were
not black, his vote total would have been 20 percent higher.
People of real intelligence realize that the opposite was
probably true: if he had been white, his vote total would have been 20 percent
lower. The African-American voting bloc combined with enough whites suffering
from liberal guilt guaranteed a higher vote total for Obama.
The truth of the matter is, if Mitt Romney had not been a
Mormon, his vote total might very well have been significantly higher.
In fact, according to a Galup poll released in June of last
year, while 4 percent of people said they would not vote for a black president,
a full 22 percent said they would not vote for a Mormon. In fact, only atheists
and gays ranked higher.
So Baldwin probably had it backwards, which he usually does,
so that comes as no surprise.
What did come as a surprise to me is why people would have
such negative views of Mormons. I have known lots of them in my life, and in
most cases they have been hard-working, kind, generous, family-oriented
people—just the kind of people this country used to value (and maybe that’s the
problem right there.)
Mormons have intrigued me ever since Mike Huckabee back in
2007 claimed that Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. With the
recent election over, I decided to check out Mormons a bit more.
My hope in doing this was to explain to readers who Mormons
are and whether or not 22 percent of the people were justified in opposing
having a Mormon president.
But instead I’m going to share an intriguing bit of Mormon
theology I learned that I think makes them perhaps the most politically wise
human beings on the planet. Ironically, this story stems from that Huckabee
quote about the relationship between Jesus and the devil, but the lesson to be
learned is one that, regardless of our political or religious views, we would all
be wise to consider.
So here’s what I learned: Mormons, unlike most other
Christian sects, believe that all humans lived a life before mortality. They
call this the pre-existence or pre-earth life. At birth a veil is placed over
our minds so that we don’t remember it (you’ll see why in a minute).
In this pre-earth life, we were all in the presence of God
as His spirit children. Jesus was there—the first-born of God’s spirit
children, and a leader in the councils in Heaven. Lucifer was also there, and
was another leader among the children of God. He was called a “son of the
morning.”
At some point in this existence, the Father called all of
His children together to explain how things worked. All of His children would
have to leave His presence and come to earth for a period of testing. The goal
was to see if we would live a righteous life even when we had to live by faith,
as we would no longer be able to remember God or heaven (that’s the reason for
the veil).
If we would live a righteous life, we would be given the
opportunity to return and live with God forever. Otherwise we would forfeit
that chance, because no unclean thing can live in God’s presence. However, God
knew that we would all make mistakes, so he would provide a Savior for the
world. This Savior would live a sinless life, and because of that, he would
qualify to pay for the sins of the world through what would be called the
“Atonement.” If people would sincerely repent of their sins, then the Atonement
would essentially erase their sins, and they could still return and live with
God. The Father called for volunteers to be this savior, and two stepped
forward: Jesus and Lucifer.
Lucifer said that he would be the savior and he would force
everybody to live righteously, thus guaranteeing that all of God’s spirit
children would return to Him in heaven. Jesus said that He would follow the
Father’s plan and allow God’s children their free agency. They could choose for
themselves whether to live righteously and take advantage of the Atonement or whether
to live in sin and forfeit the opportunity to return and live with God.
God rejected Lucifer’s plan, causing Lucifer to rebel and
declare war on God. One-third of God’s spirit children joined Lucifer in this
rebellion. In the end, the rebellion failed and Lucifer and his followers were
cast out of heaven. They came to earth without bodies and now, continuing the
war they started in heaven, they tempt men to do evil to one another and lose
out on the chance to return to God.
PAY ATTENTION HERE; THIS IS THE GOOD PART
Now, any traditional Christians reading this will see
similarities to their own belief system. Most traditional Christians believe
that Lucifer lived in heaven as an angel, but then declared war on God and was
cast out. However, the causes for that war are not necessarily clear in
traditional Christian theology.
That is where Mormon theology is so intriguing. For Mormons,
the greatest of all battles, the war in heaven, was fought over LIBERTY—or as
they call it, “free agency.” Lucifer wanted to take it away, while God demanded
that humans have it.
Although a Mormon might balk at my making comparisons
between their religious beliefs and modern politics (and as I said earlier,
every Mormon I’ve ever known was a very good person, so I apologize to any I
offend), I see a direct correlation here. For a Mormon, the battle for liberty
is not unique to this life; it is the core battle of the ages. Lucifer lost the
war in heaven (he really thought he could beat God?), but the war continues on
earth. So seeing the government become more and more tyrannical is not just a
political concern; it’s a fundamental, eternal concern.
I’m inspired by this Mormon theological idea: God intended
for humans to be free to make our own choices and live with the consequences of
those choices. The Founding Fathers of this country said essentially the same
thing in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
My study of Mormonism has not only given me newfound respect
for this people and their religion; it has also made me evaluate my own attitude
towards the liberty that seems to be slipping through all of our fingers. Is
this just something that is nice to have, and for which I thank the Founding
Fathers? Or is it really something that is endowed by God, and that He expects
me to fight for. According to Mormon theology, I already fought for this once.
The fact that I’m here says that I was on God’s side in the war in heaven, and
fought for liberty.
A Mormon might ask, why should any of us be less willing to
fight for it here than we were there?
Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado. He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway. He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers. He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.
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