Another Serious Post?!?

One of my regular website rituals is to visits the Newsroom page on the Church's site to see what's up in the world of Mormonness. This may be a result of having gotten the Church News as a kid and not getting it now, or simply my way of making up for wasting time at the ESPN website everyday. Anyhow, one of my favorite features is the commentary, which is, I suppose, related to the regular commentary feature in the print Church News.

A recent piece on the newsroom interested me. It's called "The Religious Experience of Mormonism," and while it's not anything earth-shattering, it for me confirms and articulates some things I find important.

The main thrust of the piece is that the gospel we embrace is rooted in a personal relationship with Deity that transcends traditional Christian ideas of theology. I have heard the critique that Mormons have doctrine, not theology (there's not school of theology at BYU, for example), but I find that idea attractive. Theology is too much of an insular, theoretical construct for my taste; I like the idea that conversion (a lifelong process) is rooted not in creed, but in what the article refers to as " much deeper level of experience that motivates individuals to action." It's not just what or how you believe, it's how you feel and how you act on those beliefs.

I think about this in particular in terms of raising children. They ask insightful and often challenging questions about religion and ethics, but ultimately what they want to know is "what will make me happy?" and "what should I do with my beliefs?" This helps me to realize that the answers we give--and, in fact, all of our religious instruction--should focus on developing a relationship with God that is both personal and outward-reaching, both feeling something for the Lord and doing something for others based on that feeling. I want our children to love God and to therefore share that love with others through meaningful and sincere service and charity.

Now, how to do that...