TRUTH IS MORMONISM

"Truth is Mormonism" claimed Brigham Young. A bold statement. Anything that was true could be called Mormonism and included in Mormon teachings, science, religious truths...

So, when we learn of other systems of beliefs that teach principles that seem true to us, we are entitled, according to Brigham Young, to call these "Mormon". And perhaps Brigham Young was right...

Whether it's the Hindu Upanishads and their teachings that the self is of the same eternal and self-existent nature as the Self -or the Divine- or whether it's Zarathustra, who founded a religion revealed to him by a celestial being and taught dualism, opposition in all things, for humans must exercise free choice and needs opposition in all things or whether it's Philosophical Hermetica that teaches that God's son is Light/Adam and Life/Eve that descends into nature and descends [falls] so much that he becomes mortal but still is in the divine image, it all is present in Joseph Smith's teachings, in Classical Mormonism.

Joseph Smith taught that man's spirit was as eternal and as self-existent as God's in his King Follett Discourse. The Book of Mormon tells that opposition in all things is necessary and 19th Century Mormonism taught how Adam was a God who had been sent to this world with one of his wives to fall by partaking of the gross matter found on Earth, so their offspring would be mortal and taste the opposition in all things and learn and progress.

Philosophical Hermetica also teaches how God gave birth to a Man who looked like him ["very goodly to look on, bearing the likeness of his father"] when speaking of Man [Adam]. This is consistent with the teachings of Joseph Smith, teaching that was lost to the Christian world, and the Jewish world, since the weird doctrine of the Trinity and the idea that God is a spirit here, there and everywhere, despite some Kabbalistic teachings that don't shy away from God's "shape" as found in the Scriptures.

And then, of course, we have Gnosis. It has many forms, some close to Mormonism, so remote from it. Yet, as one study put it: "Gnosis consisted in the act of recalling to consciousness their divine origin" and that Man could become deified.

Smith taught the doctrine of the Pre-Existence, nowhere to be found in the Christian world that has lost so many plain truths, as well as the doctrine that God and man share a common nature and that people need to learn to become Gods like all the Gods before them.

There are those who believe Smith was a prophet, the Prophet and those who believe he was nothing more than a fraud. Of course, Smith was taught Kabbalah, Hermeticism and probably Gnosticism, so he may have incorporated those teachings to his new religion.

Whatever your take on Smith and Mormonism, it's amazing and wonderful that Smith was able to restore, and his movement is said to be a restoration movement, all these lost doctrines, all these movements from the East or from the past that had been lost, or gone underground, and brought them back to life for common people to enjoy and learn of.

Even to a modern reader, lucky enough to have access to all those ancient texts and to the studies made available on the internet or in our bookstores, Classical Mormonism still has this advantage that it uses images and a terminology that speak to a modern person, delivered for a modern audience.

That makes me happy for some reason. Maybe 'cause I'm a [Reform] Mormon?

SMILING TO FUNDAMENTALIST MORMONS

Someone asked me the other day how I could be so fascinated with Fundamentalist Mormonism and be homosexual.

I would want to get to know Fundamentalists, that's true. I would expect their communities to be centered around families and never thought of them having single wards of some sort. I am not looking for other GLBT people in the Fundamentalist community. We all have a sexual orientation and that's something we all deal with one way or another. But the Fundamentalist teaching do fascinate me, although I disagree with quite a few.

I remember when I was excommunicated from the LDS Church. They asked me what I thought the Plan of Salvation was and I said that Adam was meant to be with Eve and procreate. They looked at me surprised. "But then?" Then, nothing. That's how it is meant to be, I just don't fit that mold is all. And it is still the case.

Do I believe being gay is wrong? No, I don't. I think there must be a reason for it and that reason is not for me to feel sorry for myself and hide away and be celibate till the afterlife. I really don't. So, of course that distances myself from both LDS and Fundamentalist groups.

I don't feel LDS at all anymore because to me they're like RLDS, a Christian denomination with Joseph Smith as a founder, but not Mormons. They claim to follow Joseph Smith but, like the RLDS, they only follow the early developments of his ministry. As for Brigham Young, the LDS pretend they follow him but they certainly don't! LDS are Christians. They are not Mormons!

Fundamentalists are Mormons though and I feel close to their cause.

The same question as the excommunication trial could be asked then: "But then?" And the same answer will be given: "Then, nothing". That's how it is meant to be, I just don't fit that mold is all. But I am fascinated with the doctrines, the teachings, the hymns and it has always been Classical Mormonism that caught my interest. I decided to join the LDS Church and never thought there was any other Mormon group out there.

So, yep, I would like to know Mormons who believe in 19th century Mormonism and not in the PR-machine-generated-Christianized doctrines of the so-called LDS Church that just leave me so cold.