“R” is for the Rest of the Story*

“Behold, I would exhort ye that when ye shall read these things…that ye shall receive these things and ponder it in your hearts. And when you shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.¹’' 

We made a new appointment and they started to answer my questions. Then, they started getting serious and I wasn’t. They gave me a Book of Mormon and asked me to read it and to pray about it. They came back two days later and asked me if I’d had a chance to read some of the Book. I said I had – the entire book. They looked at me as if I were the alien from outer space (I like to read; what can I say?) and asked me what I thought about it. I told them I thought it was interesting, but I didn’t believe it was the word of God. They were frantic.

They then asked me to read the scripture quoted above and asked if I had prayed. I said no and they asked me if I would do so. I said I would, but I was silently convinced that the answer would be no.

That night before going to bed, I prayed; I prayed every night and every morning anyway, but this time I asked about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I also said in my prayer that I sincerely hoped for a negative answer, but that I would accept the answer, regardless of what it was. I then went to sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I was smiling (I do that a lot) because I knew that the Book of Mormon WAS the word of God. And because of that, I knew that Joseph Smith had to be a prophet, which meant (in a logical process) that this had to be God’s Church, because it seemed highly illogical that God would have more than one prophet teaching things that would be so contrary to one another. I think the missionaries were ready to faint when I told them I wanted to be baptized two weeks later. And I was.

*Continued from “Q” is for Questions

¹Moroni 10:3,4

 

© April 20, 2015. Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved.

“Q” is for Questions

“Behold, I would exhort ye that when ye shall read these things…that ye shall receive these things and ponder it in your hearts. And when you shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.¹’'

 I was in something of a quandary last night, because I had absolutely no idea what my Q blog would be about. This morning, it came to mind that a question had been asked in a comment for another article, and so I have decided to answer it today: “Why did I choose this particular Church?”

The first thing I need to say is that I didn’t really choose this Church; it chose me. Most of my family had joined the Church when I was about 14 or 15, but I already belonged to another church and was very happy where I was, thank you. This situation continued for about six years, until a few months before my 21st birthday. I was in my third year of college and the Choir was on tour in Northern California. I had a number of very good friends who were LDS and when they asked me if I’d like to go to Oakland to see the temple there I thought sure, why not? A few other friends went along with us and we had a fun time.

After the tour, I asked the pastor of my Church what he thought about the Articles of Faith of the Mormon church (I had picked up a card that had them listed while visiting the temple). I found them thoroughly confusing, and I was hoping to find an excuse that would allow me to say “Thanks, but no thanks.” He did his best, but when we’d finished talking, I think he was as confused as I, if not more so. In fact, I decided that I would ask the missionaries what those things meant, because I found that many things coincided with what my church taught, while many other things seemed to be as believable as aliens from outer space.

The missionaries didn’t come to that first appointment, which ticked me off royally.

To be continued tomorrow. Look for “R” is for the Rest of the Story.

¹Moroni 10:3,4

The photograph is of the Oakland Temple

 

© April 20, 2015. Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved.

“P” is for Polygamy

When I was serving my mission in Italy, one of the first questions men would ask us was “If I join your Church, can I have more than one wife?” After staring for several seconds at the inquirer, we would shake our heads and tell him that there has been no polygamy in in the Church since the late 1880s, when it was declared illegal by the United States Congress.

Polygamy had never been a widespread practice among the members of the Church from the time it had been instituted in 1843; there were only about 3% of the male members who practiced polygamy and those who did had to be formally approved. Among the main requirements were that the men were financially able to support an extended family and that they were also spiritually worthy. The main reason for the institution of polygamy was that so many of the LDS men were being killed by angry mobs that many women, including the widows of the men that had  been killed, were in need of support, both financially and spiritually. It should be remembered that in those days, it was virtually impossible for women, especially women with children, to find a job, especially when members of the Church were being chased from their homes time after time. Despite what is commonly believed, most women were fine with plural marriage, or polygamy; if they were unhappy in their situation, they had the right to bow out with a divorce.

When the early pioneers finally reached Utah, they thought that they had finally found a place where they could live according to the dictates of the Church and their own conscience. It should be noted that there was no legal provision regarding polygamy in the US Constitution, but each State was allowed to define their rules on the subject, just as with marriage laws in general today. However, Congress declared at that time that polygamy was unconstitutional and that if Utah wanted to enter into the Union, they would have to cease to practice polygamy. In the end, this resulted in many families being torn apart, with many wives and children being left without husbands and fathers, inasmuch as the order was, unfortunately, retroactive. The practice of Polygamy officially ended in the Church on September 24, 1890 through a Manifesto signed by President Wilford Woodruff.

Today, the practice of polygamy is not accepted or promoted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are a few fundamentalist groups which practice polygamy; they are not a part of the the Church, and when a member of the Church does contract a polygamous marriage, he is ex-communicated.

This is an Interestingly Fun Fact: despite the title of the supposed biography by Irving Wallace, The Twenty-seventh Wife, Brigham Young did not truthfully have that many wives. The below photo, entitled “The Empty Pillow” was published at Brigham Young’s death.

“O” is for the Osmonds*

I have decided to give you (and myself  ) a musical break, and talk about a group that has actually been “in the business” since 1958; my first brush with them was in the late ‘60s, watching them on the Andy Williams Show while babysitting for some family friends. I thought they were simply a group of Jackson 5 wannabes at the time, especially when Donny joined the group. In fact, I held them in such disdain that I didn’t even realize they were LDS until after I joined the Church in 1973.

They have had a long and varied career that started out with Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay forming a barber shop quartet, singing at Disneyland after an audition for Lawrence Welk failed. At the time the four boys were very young, with the youngest just barely out of diapers. Andy Williams’ father saw them on a Disney special and told his son to book them for his show, where they became regulars. Further on in their career, their sister Marie  and then later the youngest boy, Jimmy, were also introduced.

The group produced an interesting, unprecedented album in 1973 entitled “The Plan”. It is a rock interpretation of God’s Plan of Salvation.

Donny and Marie both took off on solo careers at the end of the ‘70s, when their variety show, Donny and Marie, was cancelled in 1979, with Marie specializing in Country music and performing in Broadway Musicals. Donny has been very popular around the world; he starred as Joseph in the touring version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

The Osmonds continue performing; they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their musical career in 2008.

 

*Information was obtained from Wikipedia. If there are any errors, please let me know so that I can correct them . Thank you

 

 

 

 

“N” is for the Ninth Article of Faith

“We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.¹”

 It is a common belief these days that God no longer speaks to mankind, and yet the times we live in are more needful of God’s guidance and direction than any other time. I really wonder why people think this way? Do they think that God loves us less than before? Or that He has possibly lost his power? Perhaps they feel that we DON’T need his help, that all we need has already been written in the Bible. I’m not quite sure what people think regarding this important question, but I do know that none of the previously mentioned answers is correct.

One of the elements that distinguish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we are led by a prophet called by God; there has been a prophet on the earth ever since Joseph Smith was called to restore the Church back in 1820. The man that God has called to be his prophet at this time is President Thomas S. Monson; Thomas Monson receives the necessary revelations pertaining to our days for the more than 15,372,000 members of the Church. And the very good news is that these revelations are not just for the members of the church, but for every single person living on the earth today, regardless of who they are. The Lord is not a respecter of persons, but has the same love for all of His children, whether they want it or not. The first Saturday and Sunday of this month, the Church held its semi-annual Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. During this Conference, the leaders of the Church gave talks on a variety of subjects, receiving inspiration from Heavenly Father. If anyone would like to read or listen to these talks, please click here.

Amos, one of the last prophets in the Old Testament said, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”² There are still many things that were prophesied in the Old and New testaments that still haven’t happened yet. According to this verse, if there are no more prophets, then nothing else that was prophesied will happen, including the second coming and the Millennium. What do you think?

¹Ninth Article of Faith

²Amos 3:7

© Mary Purpari, April 17,2015. All Rights Reserved.

“M” is for Mormons and Miracles

I remember when I was serving as a missionary for the Church that when we told people that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they would look at us blankly and say “Who?” When we explained to them that we were also known as the “Mormons” they would look at us, their faces lighting up as they nodded sagely at us and asked why we hadn’t said so in the first place.

We didn’t say so in the first place because that’s really not who we are. “Mormons” was given to the members of the Church as a derogatory nickname, because of our belief in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon received its name from the prophet who compiled and abridged the sets of metal plates; his name was Mormon. My name is Mary, not Mormon, and I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I accept – hopefully with some semblance of grace – the nickname, as do most of the members, but we really prefer being called by our own names or by the appellation of LDS.

That being said, one of the things that distinguish us from many, if not most churches is that we believe in the continuing existence of miracles. We believe that they didn’t cease with the death of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, but that they continue to be performed even today. I sincerely believe in miracles, because I have seen them over and over again.

The first miracle took place about 39 years ago, when I had my first knee surgery. I suffered from bilateral chondromalacia patella, which is a softening and deterioration of the kneecap; it scrapes against the soft tissues in the knee and causes inflammation and great pain: in my case, it had also stretched the ligaments that held the kneecap in place; you can just imagine how much fun I was having. It should be remembered that this was before arthroscopic surgery came into existence, let alone replacements; so when the doctor told me that if I had both knees done at the same time – with open knee surgery – I would have less than 25% possibility of walking anymore. I had no choice at the time; I had a healing blessing¹ and a week after surgery, I was walking, albeit highly resembling Frankenstein with my full-length casts; six months later, I was running. The Doctor said I might go from 1-15 years before I would need more surgery—I went twenty. A miracle? I think so.

My daughter is a a second miracle. The doctor told us nine months before my daughter was born that we would never be able to have children, under any circumstances. We were given a blessing and the rest is history; that was almost 32 years ago. We had no more children, but we’re thankful for the one beautiful daughter we have. And yes, I believe in miracles.    

¹See James 5:14-15

© Mary Purpari, April 16, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

“L” is for Life

“My life is a gift; my life has a plan.My life has a purpose; in heav'n it began. My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth and seek for God's light to direct me from birth. I will follow God's plan for me, holding fast to his word and his love. I will work, and I will pray; I will always walk in his way. Then I will be happy on earth and in my home above.”¹

The LDS consider our life on this earth to be a wonderful gift, something to be cherished, despite the difficulties that find their way onto our path. We believe, and the scriptures support this belief, that we lived in Heaven with God as his spirit children, before being sent here into this life. We were given a physical body that would allow us to have experiences that were not possible with only a spirit body. We would feel physical pain, and so be able to appreciate the lack thereof.

We were sent here without the memory of what our life was like before, and we were given the chance to make choices in every situation, knowing we would be responsible for those choices and either reap the benefits of those choices, or pay the consequences when we made bad choices. This body, despite its weaknesses, is a great blessing, something we had to fight for to obtain. The scriptures tell us that a third of God’s spirit children did not obtain, and will never obtain, a physical body because they chose to not accept God’s plan. If we follow his commandments, we will be able to return and live with him again. I’m so very thankful for this.

Life is so sweet, despite the sadness we face, the pain that afflicts us, although we may not think so at the time. I know that I don’t always appreciate the pain and sadness; it’s a human failure, but these and other experiences make us strong, even though we may ask at times, “why me?” But you know what? Life is an experience that I’m glad to live, because I know that with God’s help, I can overcome any and all obstacles thrown in my path (even though sometimes I may not want to at the beginning )

An important part of life is death, because it is through death that we may return to live with our Heavenly Father.

 

¹I will follow God’s plan, Vanja Y. Watkins, © 1981