10. Truth is stranger than fiction – and it is beautiful!

Stories familiar to me since childhood sound pretty strange to most people - gold plates, angels, modern prophets. Does that make Mormonism a cult? But there are also many strange biblical, koranic, and other stories that others accept as factual, and certainly not a cult by many longer established religions. What's the difference? Usually they are older. A 1000 year head-start helps a lot more people to believe and accept their own particular weirdness. Is a religion more true after billions believe it than it was when only a dozen believed? Even "settled science" worshipped by perhaps a billion is sometimes simply not true. Jesus preached a new gospel, and many found his followers to be cult-like.

When I realized how unusual our own history and doctrine is, I wondered "isn't it just nuts to believe this?" But through prayer, study, and living the teachings, my mind has raced and come alive with a fascinating world of Truth that is unbeknownst to most people. Do you have a hard time with the story of how our church came into existence? Try the Book of Mormon, study our practices, and discover how we understand the Bible. Ponder on how its founder could suffer as he did. All that for a hoax? You'll be amazed at the truths and value you will find here that really aren't found elsewhere. I heard a religious professor once said something like "I have no idea whether the things Joseph Smith claimed actually occurred. But just look at the pure volume and value of enlightened thought he introduced. It is truly remarkable, independent of how it got here." It got here from God.

9. Gospel is Restored, and Real Prophets Exist Again!

If God ever spoke to man through prophets, why would He cease? Christ set up a church where new apostles were called after one died - a perpetual structure. Why then is that structure not found in Christianity? The righteous were crucified or fed to lions. Those who escaped were left without prophets and apostles, so they did the best they could. But over hundreds of years, corruption and error became obvious.

The Reformers
Throughout the enlightenment, God was working behind the scenes to help secure religious liberty. When something new appears, it is much easier to kill it off quickly if religious or political power structures feel threatened. But when religious liberty became enshrined in the US constitution, lost truths could be again revealed.

The Radio is Working Again!
God does pick kids sometimes, as when he picked David as the future king of Israel, Samuel the prophet, and many others. We look for resume, but God looks only on the heart. Think of those movies where even kids can fly jet airplanes - if they have radio communication with someone who can tell them what to do. Up to 10% of the entire human family since Adam is alive today and searching as never before for important truths that are hidden as never before. Surely God would not leave this many of us with only "ancient flight manuals" when we are in mid-flight and trying our best to safely navigate in modern conditions. Prophets interpret the manuals for 21st century conditions we are flying into right now!

I know that God has restored his church again, as it was first established by Christ. This church is small, but since when did small make it not true? Original Christians were once small in number too. Give it a chance. Yes, Christ did say "beware of false prophets!" Ok. But that inherently implies there may also be true prophets. We should "beware" by first hearing what they have to say, then discern through prayer if they are God's true messengers or not.

8. Personal Responsibility, Preparedness, Practicality

God would have His people be of great service to their fellow man, and He counts any service we give to others as service given to Himself (Golden Rule). Perhaps the first rule of service is avoid being a burden on others if possible. Carry our own weight, and then help carry others. We cannot be "wards of the state" unless there is no other way. To be LDS is to strive for what the Boy Scouts strive for - to do your best to be mentally, emotionally, morally, and physically prepared for whatever life can throw at you, and to do your duty to God and your country.

If life deals you a good hand and you're fortunate enough to avoid serious pain, then it is incumbent upon you act as a good steward and use these blessings and talents in support of those who do suffer - even if their suffering is brought about by their own actions (recall the Lord praises those who visit those in prison, etc.).

To be LDS is to take whatever talents the Lord has given, and to "double them" as commanded in the Lord's parable of the talents. I love LDS emphasis on education, emergency preparedness, food storage, and general well roundedness. The Lord's true gospel would help each person develop their inner genius across an array of disciplines, so that they can be happy in this life and help others too. This gospel does exactly that I think better than anything you will find out there.

7. Saved by grace… after all that we can do

Like other Christians, Latter-day Saints recognize that even if we could create heroic mountains of good works, those works cannot save us. We are completely dependent on the grace of Christ for salvation. But I'd say we also believe that Christ sets his own rules for whom he will grant his grace. He will elect not to save us by his grace unless we obey His commandments, repent regularly when we don't obey, and do in fact produce good works and good fruits. We all intuitively know works matter, and it can't be right to assume that a single event in 1982 where you "accepted Christ" was your golden ticket to heaven.

Our physical resurrection is a gift of Grace that even the wicked will freely obtain. It is a recognition that they chose to be part of the 2/3rds who supported Christ in the Pre-Existence. But for our spiritual salvation in the highest degrees of heaven, we must strive to be more like Him every day, and repent when we fall short. If we will do that, then Christ will elect to "save us by His grace, after all that we can do" (2 Nephi, 25:23). LDS theology brings a perfect resolution to the age old debate between the role of both works and grace in our salvation.

6. Focus on the Family

God has declared that his "work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Thus man is God's mission, and our efforts to mold children into solid individuals who are good citizens and who know him are the fruits that are the most pleasing to God. Citizenship and knowledge of God is learned in solid religious families.

I once met a man who was greatly concerned about over-population. When he learned I was LDS, he noted our typically larger families, but said, "You folks should keep having as many kids as you can because from my experience Mormons are among the world's most solid citizens." He thought the benefits of great citizens exceed the costs of a little more competition for resources. In fact good citizens create more resources, and help solve environmental consequences of today's methods. I have 7 little kids now, and what a burden! It is hard, but they are also such a joy. Family home evenings, eternal marriage, the list of LDS programs, doctrines, and concepts that support strong families goes on and on. "No success in life can compensate for failure in the home!" So said one of our prophets in the 1970's.

5. I am a Child of God (Children’s Song)

There is a strong, healthy emphasis in this church that every individual on the earth can have a personal relationship with God. Each can come to know that He recognizes our personal, infinite worth even if we aren't very noteworthy by earthly standards. We are each of infinite worth in spite of the fact that billions of others also have personal infinite worth to Him.

To be a Latter-Day Saint is to see God very much as a loving parent in whom you can count on, confide in, converse with, and get responses from. Yes, He is the All-Powerful Governor of the Universe, and that should command our reverence, fear, and respect. But in spite of our billions of siblings, and in spite of our personal failings, He is also intimate and personally concerned for your well-being, as any great parent would be. Time is endless for him, so he can make time for you.

4. Kool-Aid - best drink ever!

Part of what makes being LDS so valuable to me is that it's just plain fun. There is a powerful culture of activities, service, and brotherhood that together just make for a fun life. Primary songs, cub scouts, boy scouts, youth dances & activities, seminary, service projects, church history tours, 2-year missions, "vacation-log" testimonies, little kid testimonies, unintoxicated teenage mischief (usually creative and normally harmless), family reunions, green Jell-O at ward parties, funeral potatoes, wedding receptions in the cultural hall, last day of the month home teaching, inside jokes - it all adds up to a way of life that is engaging and truly fun. It is often called a "Kool-Aid lifestyle" as opposed to a "sex, drugs, and rock and role lifestyle" that qualifies as "fun" for many... until it ruins their lives. "Wickedness never was happiness." (Alma 41:3).

3. He who has eyes to see, let him see.

There is something almost magical about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as practiced in this church. Prayer, study, pondering, and "time in the pews" have helped me comprehend so many powerful truths - mysteries of God if you will - that are lost to the view of the rest of humanity and even largely lost to general Christianity. I've only scratched the surface of what I could know through mechanisms revealed by Christ's restored gospel. Paul did say that "We see through a glass, darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12)." I know that is the case even with the LDS. But I know it would be even darker and more distorted in any other place. The blind are leading the blind. I am glad to at least see through a glass, darkly.

The "enlightened" elites focus on the spiritually inconsequential base sciences and scoff at the thought of anything to do with God. Truths discovered through science are cool and often very helpful. Cell phones are great! But what does that have to do with the meaning and purpose of life? General Christianity does a good job of answering that for billions of people, but they are missing "the rest of the story" that could help them do even better.

There are whole new dimensions of truth to be seen through these lenses. Atheists and intellectuals think they see 20/20. But they are really worshipping their own gods, blind to the most important truths - the Spiritual Sciences.

Spiritual blindness vs. spiritual sight is like looking at the 3-D picture shown here. A few strange "fanatics" claim they see a hidden image that is important and beautiful, but you have to look at it long enough and cross your eyes just right. The blind either don't care and won't look, or they give up too easily - seeing only a mess of colors and strange shapes, and scoffing at those few who swear there is a beautiful 3-D image if you look just right.

2. Makes bad men good, good men better

Gordon B. Hinckley was a prophet who recently passed away, and this was one of his favorite ways to describe the Gospel. Certainly all legitimate churches subscribe to the goal of improving the individual, regardless of where the individual finds himself on the path toward perfection. One beautiful concept emphasized by LDS, but not unique to LDS, is that God is far more interested in the direction you're headed than where you're actually at, since all men fall short of the glory of God, and require His Grace for salvation. I see ample evidence that this Church has a high batting average in helping make bad men good, and good men better.

1. It is where God has Revealed His Plan for Salvation and Happiness

"I think, therefore, I am." We Exist! We existed before, and we will always exist hereafter. Most of us like to hope that is true, even if plenty doubtful. This church provides a satisfying and complete vision that we existed before this earth, and will exist forever. And that we have some control over how that after life will be, by willingly embracing Christ and keeping his commandments. God established the earth as a place for our souls to be tested, gain experience, and ultimately gain critical and Godly knowledge that could only be gained as we wrestle here with all of life's joys and pains - pains often caused by the free will of those who have chosen wickedly (and will hence be condemned).

The vision of who we are, why we're here, and where we're going based on how we live, is breathtakingly beautiful and definitely inspires both long-time members and those just beginning to "see the 3-D picture" - to repent and align their lives with Christ so as to be found in a more rewarding afterlife. This church provides satisfying answers to the most perplexing debates that have raged for eons among the branches of Christianity.

To Be a Latter-Day Saint is to Be Happy  in Your Pursuit of Happiness!

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While thinking about the value of living prophets, I created this analogy that was too long for the Top 10 list, but still good to think about...

Navigating Without a Living Guide or a Transmitter
Imagine being on a safari only to wake up and discover that your guides (the apostles) have been killed by savages. Their maps, letters, and survival guides remain behind, but many are torn and pages are missing. But even if it were all there, nothing is quite as good as your living guide was. You are smart, and learn what you can from what's available, but there is no doubt this will be a Dark Age for your group. So you assemble all parchments that your inspired guides left behind and call it "The Bible."

There is no way to make up for the years of critical personal knowledge your prophetic guides had. They had CB radios to communicate with the outside world after all! (i.e., connection to God). So the group selects a leader who seems to best understand both how to survive and how to get home. The new "guide" marches you on - "forward" so he says. But other smart people are reading the same documents, and heated debates ensue. Smaller groups break off and try to find their way based on their interpretation of the material.

After hundreds of years this way, all groups seem to accept that they'll never have such competent, experienced, prophetic guides like they had before. They didn't realize, or they didn't trust, that if they "lacked wisdom they could ask of God" (James 1:5). Or perhaps, many did not feel they lacked wisdom. "I'm brilliant, and I don't need a living guide - 'The Bible' they left behind is all I need." That might be true, if not for the fact that other brilliant people seem to find alternate interpretations of the same Bible.

Paul was the "guide" for the early churches where he preached, and Christ was Paul's living, resurrected guide. Paul sent letters to correct their course, and would visit as often as he could. But ultimately he and all other apostles were killed, and the prophetic link between Christ and the churches was severed. They were left to do the best they could, but drifted off course just as they had when Paul sent the correcting letters that became the bible. But now no one was sending correction. They set up "Catholicism" at the Council of Nicaea in about 300 AD. Over the centuries Catholicism degenerated, as Luther and others provided compelling evidence. I'd say most reformers were on a good thread. But "threads" are not the "tapestry." They were fundamentally mere mortals of limited resources trying to recreate the tapestry through university-like study - arguably the only thing they could do given the circumstances. Those who followed them then and now were and will be better off than those who accept atheism or a non-Christian religion. But none of them were established by or are guided by God himself.

The Radio is Working Again!
When Joseph Smith entered the scene at age 14, he didn't have the knowledge or rhetorical skill to debate interpretations as so many others were. Instead, knowing he lacked wisdom, he took up James' challenge and prayed with real faith as only kids can (James 1:5). I think God was pleased with Joseph's faith and sincerity, but also pleased with the world's hunger and progress toward finding the lost elements of the Gospel. There was a newly established religious freedom in America, and that could allow God to speak through prophets once again (Amos 3:7) without opposition getting the upper hand as occurred with the original church. So this particular prayer was a convenient opportunity for God and Christ to reveal themselves to Joseph, and begin his preparation to restore anew what others could not fully piece together without God's direct intervention.

God does pick kids sometimes, as when he picked David as the future king of Israel, Samuel the prophet, and many others. We look for resume, but God looks only on the heart. Think of those movies where even kids can fly jet airplanes, if they have radio communication with someone who can tell them what to do. In our safari journey, even the "learned elders" who have memorized everything left behind would be no match for even the simplest soul who happens to have a CB radio and can ask questions and get answers from the outside world.

I know that God has restored his church again, as it was first established by Christ. There are prophets again on the earth as in the days of ancient Israel where one prophet would succeed another. Christ also established the same pattern, where a new apostle was called once one moved on. Is it so hard to believe, given the other things you already believe? This church is small, but since when did small make it not true? Original Christians were once small in number too. Give it a chance.

To me it is almost easier to accept Atheism than to believe God once had prophets, but no longer uses them, because "we have the safari guidebook". Up to 10% of the entire human family since Adam is alive today and searching as never before for important truths that are hidden as never before, like a needle within a media haystack. They search via science, reasoning, religion, etc., but are greatly split on where best to find it. Given such a huge share of God's "family" is here TODAY, God is surely seeking to communicate with all of us collectively and you personally through your prayers and experiences, regardless of your religion. But he also seeks to communicate to you and the entire world through his special witnesses - modern apostles - just as in times of old. Christ said "beware of false prophets!" Ok. But that inherently implies there may also be true prophets. We should "beware" by first hearing what they have to say, then discern through prayer if they are God's true messengers or not.