What I Believe

I was released as Bishop on November 15th 2020. I did want to say that I am thankful for the opportunity I had to serve as Bishop, to stand for those who may not have had a voice in the Church Before. I will always be an advocate for the marginalized. I have been meaning to revisit my religion and what I believe now that I no longer have the stresses of being Bishop. About halfway through My calling as Bishop around October 2017, I wrote down some thoughts on what I believe. I didn't feel I should post it while I was still Bishop. Here it is.

My religion is not one religion, it is All religions. When I say all religions, I don’t mean all parts of all religions, only the Spiritual parts of all religions. I don’t believe that only one religion is the True religion or ever could be because I believe that God is bigger than any one religion.

There are so many different cultures and ways of thinking within the human race. But there are common threads that run through humanity that bind everyone. It’s the common threads and spirit that binds humanity. That is where we find God. Religion plays an important role in finding God and our place in the universe. Some religions have more spirituality than others. Some religions teach more true principles than others, but the idea of only one true religion when there are so many people and cultures, I think limits one's view of the human race and of God.

Each religion has an outward structure that encapsulates Spirituality and defines it within their own interpretation. This outward structure I think of as Scaffolding to be able to reach a higher level of consciousness. The Scaffolding is important yet different for each religion. It serves an important purpose, but also obstructs the view. It can get in the way of understanding the spirit.

Religions also have Fluff, or myths, that are meant to help one's belief but are not necessarily real or based on reality. These myths or stories may be tied to real events and sometimes not. Whether they are necessary or not is debatable, but they enrich culture and are heavily based on culture and society.

There are also harmful parts of religion. This is an area that is hard for me, because it puts religion in a bad light. Parts of religion, in just about every religion can be harmful and actually turn people away from the spirit. This is why I don’t believe that any one religion could ever be the only true religion and why only part of all religions can really point to God. Of Course some religions have more harmful practices than others, or have had in their past, if they don’t anymore.

On the flip side, Some religions offer more spiritual truth than others. Even though I don’t believe that there is only one true church on the face of the whole earth, as several religions claim they are (Mormons Included), some religions have more good to offer than others.

The Mormon faith I believe offers something that no other religion offers. That something (among other things) is the eternal nature of family relations. Being a relatively new religion, it doesn’t have the baggage of Catholicism or Islam. It does have its own baggage but I’m not going to get into that right now.

Hinduism claims there are four ways to reach God, and Eternal salvation: Knowledge, Love, Work, and Yoga. In Hinduism it is up to each person to find out their path. To find for themselves what they believe. What parts of what religions are worth holding on to. What religion or religions to claim. So in a way I guess you could say I am a Mormon Practicing Hindu that believes in Science and Evolution. 

When I baptised my son I remember I had to do the confirmation twice because I messed up the prayer. That was a week before I was called as Bishop. I decided I was going to stop taking the sacrament and stop coming to church as much. I remember the day I was called, we were on our way to Home Depot to pick up some building supplies. We were driving in the car and I turned the radio on. I remember thinking I need to enjoy life a little more and let my kids listen to the radio and enjoy life. And I need to have more fun with my kids. My oldest was really looking forward to Father and Son Camp Out the next day. I danced to the music as I drove. When we pulled into Home Depot my phone rang. It was the Stake secretary who said President Anderson wanted to see me as soon as possible.

I thought they must want to call me as Elders Quorum President because we hadn’t had one since Brad moved to Utah. When I got here I went in and he asked me a couple questions, then he read me the letter from the First Presidency calling me to Bishop. I was in shock. Tears started streaming down my face. I kept wiping my eyes. I kept thinking of my children. I wanted to stay Den Leader. That was a calling I felt comfortable doing. As I sat there not seeing a way out of it. I couldn’t say no. I thought I can do both. I’ll have to do both.

I am writing this to keep myself grounded in reality during this calling, and from the continual barradement of dogma that comes with activity. If I don’t ground myself, I will get lost in the Dogma, I will be tossed from what I know of science and history to what the Church tries to teach. I was OK with my beliefs in the fringes of activity. But it is hard to stay where I am and also be a leader in the church. I try and focus on the parts of Mormonism I can agree on, but there are times where I need to teach things I don’t believe, at least not the way it is taught.

I avoid the Book of Mormon. Evan at Ricks College I remember reading the Book of Mormon, and I would get this sinking feeling that what I am reading is not factual. I was reading the Book of Mormon a few years before I was called. I would get those same feelings. And then I found out about the manuscripts that the Pearl of Great Price was translated from. The Egyption fascmils. Egyptologists have been able to translate the fascmils, they were common markings at Egyption burials.

Many times when I read the Book of Mormon I find things that don’t fit historically, or just doesn’t jive. I try to reconcile them or just push them to the side. Recently I have been avoiding the Book of Mormon, because I can’t deal with it right now. But then people ask me for advice about a scripture in the Book of Mormon, and I am forced to read it.

2/22/2021 Now that I am released I figured I would finish my thoughts on the Book of Mormon. 

The Elders were teaching a Catholic priest in 2019. I joined them in some of their discussions. He really liked the teachings of the church. He brought up a concern with the Book of Mormon that I have had but not put in words. Sometimes when a member is talking about the Book of Mormon they will say how it speaks of Jesus Christ more than any other book. But historically, How would they even know the name of Christ?

There are parts of the Book of Mormon I find helpful; for instance, how it gives more insight into the two trees in the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. Also the parable of the Olive tree in Jacob chapter 5. I look at the Book of Mormon as a book of Analogies, Parables and Myth which attempts to explain the mysteries of God and Civilization and connect the many cultures and people and religions into one. It uses stories of an ancient people called the Nephites that supposedly inhabited the Americas before the time of Christ up to abt. 600 AD. In 3rd Nephi Chapter 11 the resurrected Christ visits the Nephites. I remember studying the Book of Mormon on my mission, trying to make sense of it all. I heard of a theory that there were Two Hill Cumorahs, One in Palmyra NY, and one in the Yucatan Peninsula. And that the Lamanites were connected to the Mayans of Mexico and that the Book of Mormon mainly takes place in Central America where the Mayan Pyramids can be found.

When I was a teenager, we were able to visit the Mayan Pyramids in the Yucatan. We saw the Shadow of the snake come down the pyramid at Chichen Itza on the Equinox. The Mayans believed in a God named Quetzalcoatl who came to visit the Mayan People and promised to return some day. Mormon Apologists sometimes try and shoehorn the story of Jesus coming to visit the Nephites into the legends of Quetzalcoatl. Maybe there is some loose connection between the two. Who knows if Joseph Smith knew of Quetzalcoatl. It’s a nice concept that QuetzalCoatl and Jesus Christ were one in the same, if you ignore the mythology of the Mayan. There are historical and conceptual issues with other stories in the Book of Mormon as well. The story of Amon, the 2000 stripling warriors, the story of the Jaredites, and others that just don’t seem realistic. There are parts of the Book of Mormon that portray God in a way that seems harsh and controlling, rather than loving and understanding. But I just toss those parts out and that is OK. It doesn't have to be all or nothing just as I would with Catholicism, Islam or any other religion.

All of this being said. I do believe that Religion is important, It is what brings people together to contemplate and discuss the meaning of life, and to bring and show reverence for life, to recognize the hand of God, and or the majesty of the Cosmos. Religion shows how we are all connected in ways science could never do.