Dear Bernie:

I'm glad that we are having a chance to chat despite the distance. Both our addresses are correct and as far as response time, whatever works for you will be good enough for me.

I congratulate you on your desire to go beyond the easy road of prejudice and seek knowledge directly from the source. In its 170 years of existence, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has suffered a great deal from the effects of "third-party information"-- usually misinterpreted or purposely distorted. I can assure you that we as a Church welcome your desire to "investigate" (as we normally use the term) the Church and its beliefs regardless of the probability of you joining the Church or not.

Now I will answer your questions. But in order to give you plenty of "food for thought" I'll do so by quoting the Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These were summarized declarations of belief written by the first prophet and president of the Church, Joseph Smith Jr., in 1838.

Let me begin "somewhat backwards" and answer your third inquiry: "might [we] still be able to shake each other's hand and pray 'May God bless you' ". The first of the 13 Articles of Faith states: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." And the eleventh says: "We claim the privilege of worshiping 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."

Bernie, regardless of any differences of opinion–real or imaginary–we are all offspring of the same God; we are a worldwide family, offspring of Heavenly Parents and that is an absolute truth that cannot be changed by imperfect human opinions or philosophies. Therefore, we can always reach out, shake hands as true brothers and sisters and together pray to our Heavenly Father.

Your other question was: "What do we have in common"? And I'll give you a short and a long answer.

My short answer is our third and thirteenth Articles of Faith. Just as all other Christian churches "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." And "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul——We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

I might also add another characteristic we have in common with most other Christian churches: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." (Twelfth Article of Faith)

And finally, you asked: "Where and in what way do we differ?" At this point I'll just quote all the remaining Articles of Faith:

(2) We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam''s transgression.

(4) We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(5) We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

(6) We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

(7) We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

(8) We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

(9) 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.

(10) We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

Finally, we come again to your question "how important are such differences so that we might still be able to shake each other's hand and pray 'May God bless you' ".

As I stressed in the beginning of this message, these differences in doctrine do not alter the fact that we are offspring of the same God who loves and cares for us as a perfect Father in Heaven. What these doctrines state is that our God has eternal laws enacted to prepare us to return to his divine presence one day. It is entirely up to us whether or not we will abide by his laws; however, we cannot exempt ourselves from the eternal consequences of our choice.

One of the prophets mentioned in the Book of Mormon said the following: "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." (Book of Mormon; Alma 34:32-33; page 295)

Everywhere in nature we see examples that prove that the kingdom of God is governed by inalterable laws and principles that make nature be full of order. Therefore, we conclude that the same order must exist in regards to religion. The reason why different religions exist is because over the course of human history men have decided to create religions of their own, patterned after their own opinions and biases.

On the other hand, the message and testimony the missionaries presented to you is that in these latter days God himself is trying to end the confusion. And He did so by restoring His original religion of old through a modern prophet. For some, this may sound strange and even blasphemous. But think about it for a moment: how did the ancient people react when Moses came and testified that God had chosen him to liberate the Israelites after 400 years of Egyptian bondage? And what about in the case of Isaiah or Elijah? In all of those cases, God proved to the people that He himself had chosen those prophets. He showed signs and wonders to confirm in the hearts and minds of the people that those were true prophets declaring His true doctrine.

Likewise, in our days the Lord has called new prophets to liberate the entire world after centuries of spiritual bondage--the bondage of ignorance and sin. And He is willing to show signs and wonders once again to prove the truthfulness of the message his servants are declaring. This is why our missionaries ask people to read the Book of Mormon (a modern wonder) and then pray and receive an answer from God through the power of the Holy Ghost (a modern sign from on high).

I hope you continued receiving the missionaries and eventually do these things (read, ponder, and pray). And feel free to continue asking me as many questions as you want.

All the best to you.

Marcus

P.S.: I don't know your friend in the USA, but her e-mail domain "slc.k12.ut.us" tells me that she works in the school system ("k12" stands for kindergarten to 12th grade) in Salt Lake City, state of Utah. And at this point they are in summer vacation, which means she might not have access to her e-
mail until the end of August.

Marcus H. Martins, Ph.D.

Brigham Young University-Hawaii

55-220 Kulanui Street, Box 1975

Laie, Hawaii, USA 96762

E-mail: martinsm@byuh.edu

Internet: http://academics.byuh.edu/religion/martins.htm