Recently one of the members of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons or LDS) gave an excellent talk entitled “Faith of our Father.” This talk is excellent for those in the LDS church and all Christians. I was especially moved by the following remarks:
When my own family contemplates the phrase “faith of our fathers,” often it is the Lutheran faith that comes to mind. For generations our ancestors belonged to that denomination. In fact, my son recently discovered that one of our family lines connects back to Martin Luther himself.
We honor and respect sincere souls from all religions, no matter where or when they lived, who have loved God, even without having the fulness of the gospel. We lift our voices in gratitude for their selflessness and courage. We embrace them as brothers and sisters, children of our Heavenly Father.
We believe that it is a fundamental human right to worship “Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”4
As I reflected on these comments my thoughts turned to my sister and brother-in-law who are members of a non-denominational Christian church. They are youth ministers and feel called to help youth know Jesus. I’ve been touched as they’ve shared their experiences with me of miracles they’ve seen with prayer, healings they’ve witnessed, places the Lord has called them to go, etc. It has been a great example to me of how to turn one’s heart over to the Lord and serve as He would serve. If you want to check out their website it is under my “Evangelical” section of this blog under “Ignite.” You can read more about their ministry and how the Lord is working in their lives.
Next, I thought about my mother who is a member of another Christian faith. She is another great example of following her heart and following the Lord. She is always calling me with some great scriptures she has read and something she’s heard from one of her favorite pastors on Christian radio. I also love praying together with her and the sincerity she as a Christian shows for the Lord. She is another great example of a righteous woman who has turned her heart to the Lord. I’m grateful for her example.
I then thought of some of my friends from other faiths who have helped me throughout my life. Many of whom have commented on this blog from time to time. One such friend commented in one of my earlier posts entitled “Receiving and Recognizing Answers to Prayer” when she made a comment on how prayer is a sacred conversation. Some more of my Christian friends made some good comments and analogies on the “Making our Hearts a Manger” post a couple months ago.
Also, there are many of you who frequent this site who are at varying stages in spirituality…most are Christian and a few do not profess any faith that I have learned from and respect. Some of you I’ve emailed personally and responded to personally and I appreciate your example of continuing to learn and grow and the desire to be closer to Jesus. It helps me with my relationship with the Lord.
I want to thank you personally for sharing what you have learned and continue to learn. I feel we all are from the same God who created us and that He works through us as we are willing to learn and come to Him through prayer. Sincere seekers of truth in all religions and faiths sharing their ideas and spiritual growth are what makes us all grow closer to God and Jesus Christ. I hope we can all continue to learn and grow together.
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April 13, 2008 at 8:03 am
uft36
Great post! I really like your articles and blog. I hope some day more people of all faiths would have this attitude. I am a little leery of bringing up doctrines and my faith with Christian people. I have had a few bad experiences both on my other blog and in the real world. No matter what I say they are just determine to prove to me that what I believe is wrong and they tend to group me with other LDS members who grew up in the Church. I never grew up in any one faith. My family went to church once in a while and we had a period of about 3 years of going to church more regularly. But we were not a faithful Church going, Bible reading family. I have had a few great Christian friends when I was growing up but when I became older and decided to join the LDS Church I had to be careful of who I talked to for fear of their reaction. I have to get to know them first before I tell them I am LDS, especially here in Oklahoma. It really bothers me to see people spending so much time in trying to discredit our faith instead of either being neutral or promoting their faith. Keep up the great work on this blog and maybe more people of all faiths will take what you have wrote to heart.
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April 13, 2008 at 8:02 pm
ama49
#1
I’m glad this site has been helpful for you. As you mentioned, people from all religions are guilty of intolerance. This may be partially due to fear…at least it was for me. Once I let go of fear and have tried to see how God works in all of his creations…especially people…it has been a very freeing experience for me. I hope this site can help us all move in that direction as well.
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April 14, 2008 at 3:22 am
hillary
hey aaron! thanks! that’s encouraging and you encourage me to in your walk and growth to know Jesus more too! i’m excited to tell you about how the retreat this weekend went 🙂 love you!
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April 14, 2008 at 4:14 am
Brad
Great post Aaron!
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April 14, 2008 at 5:36 am
ht
I am most definitely a truth seeker. I am touched by the fact you have so many non mormons in your family. Are you a convert?
I am finding that the non denominational churches have a wonderful spirit of the Lord present. Everytime I walk through the door I am overwhelmed with the feeling of peace and love. It is a feeling I only felt a few times in the mormon church when I was investigating it forever ago as a youth. There are many similarties between mormons and christians, but the differences outweigh the good in my mind currently. I know that will change in time when I learn that you all can’t ever have me back. For the time being I have my guard up. I also share my new beliefs more then I ever did my mormon ones. I was never proud to be a member…it is kinda sad. But deep down I was always worried about rejection and I think I always knew it wasn’t right for ME~
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April 14, 2008 at 6:17 am
Eric Zacharias
Your post was very expressive and heart-felt. I have a feeling that you are very open with your life. Thank you for sharing that with us.
Yes, tolerance is a good thing. Acceptance is another matter, isn’t it? We can be tolerant of another’s viewpoint; it doesn’t mean that we accept that belief (or life-style). A forum like this helps others see from another perspective. The reason we post to a blog is to aid in sharing that other perspective.
I think it is wise to remember, however, that Jesus was very specific about matters of faith. While people know that Jesus ministered to people of all backgrounds and was regarded as the “friend of sinners and prostitutes,” it is amazing to recognize that Jesus was not a friend of the Pharisees, who were the cream of Jerusalem’s religious elite. Looking at Matthew 23, we find Jesus taking the Pharisees to task for their belief that God liked them just as they were. Pharisees were righteous in their own eyes, believing that repentance and forgiveness of sins was not important.
We must never accept the commonly-held belief that religion is essentially being nice to another person and accepting a person as he/she is. That is non-Biblical. There are only two religions in the world: that which is totally governed by grace and that which is governed by works. The Christian faith can be summed up in a couple Bible verses:
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
and
It is by Grace you have been saved, THROUGH FAITH, and this is not of [a product of] yourselves, it is a GIFT of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
In every false religion, there is a set of works that must be accomplished (continually) in order to merit acceptance by God. The ONE religion that God established is totally about HIS work for us: God loved…God gave. What is required of God’s people? Faith. Follow this around the Bible. Faith is essential: specifically, that God grants us eternal life by believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and that by believing you will have life in his name.
Summary: There is religion that is of the world (and ultimately of Satan), which is about garnering favor with God. This is based on LAW; and law never ever saves. The pure religion God gives is based on what God gives to us, which makes us holy. This is based on GOSPEL: receiving the unmerited and unconditional love of God, as delivered to us fully through Jesus Christ.
Works that are loved by God flow from the faith we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These works flow naturally from a heart that loves God; but again, it flows only because God has loved us first. The key passage here is well-established in Scripture: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6.
Blessings in Jesus Christ,
Eric
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April 14, 2008 at 2:12 pm
ama49
#3
Hill, thanks for stopping by! It will be good to hear how things went this weekend.
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April 14, 2008 at 2:19 pm
ama49
#4
I know you’re a truth seeker and I appreciate it when you share your faith. Regarding your comment on “you can’t have me back….” It sounds like you feel the Mormons are out to get you and I am sorry if you feel that way. In truth Jesus is who you should be focused on and I think you’re doing the right thing by doing what you feel is the best way for you to seek Jesus. That’s who you want to be with anyways in the end right?
There is a verse that I want to share that reminds me of seeking Jesus. I’ll share it with you:
Ether 12:41
And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth brecord of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen
I hope we can both continue to progress in our relationship with the Lord.
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April 14, 2008 at 2:24 pm
ama49
#5
Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of your views.
You say tolerance is what we’re looking for…I think that’s a good first step. I don’t like the word though because it still has a condenscending tone to it. I think that sincere seekers of truth in all religions should be more than “tolerant” to each other. They should learn to love and support one another as Jesus would do. So you’re right in that tolerance is a step, but not the end. We should be praying to see how God sees, love how God loves, and try to live how He would have us live.
I like your views on faith and love as well. thanks for sharing them.
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April 14, 2008 at 2:49 pm
ht
I think Eric hit it on the head…every last bit of it. He is much better with his words then i am, but ditto everything he said…oh good stuff!
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April 14, 2008 at 6:42 pm
NM
Great post =) Thanks again ama49…
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April 15, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Bethie
Excellent post!
I believe we can learn something from every sincere seeker of Truth.
Jesus said, “They will know you are my disciples by your Love one for another.”
Love is what we are all seeking for…not just “tolerance”.
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