On Born Agains

[ajax]

Like a good Mormon, I internally made fun of the antics of my good born again neighbors. Arms up, swaying back and forth, and of course, the all-important confession of Jesus as personal savior to be saved.

Silly. So irreverent. So un-business like. So un-orderly. I knew better. We are reverent and keep LOTS of commandments.

Well, as always, the BoM has much to teach. Here are some of my favorite BoM "born-again" moments:

In the middle of conference, the congregation falls to the ground and cries aloud with one voice,

“O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.” (Mosiah 4:2)

When Lamoni’s wife, the queen, arises, she cries with a loud voice,

“O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people! And when she had said this, she clasped her hands, being filled with joy, speaking many words which were not understood; and when she had done this, she took the king, Lamoni, by the hand, and behold he arose and stood upon his feet. (Alma 19:29-30)

How about this?

Now it came to pass that when Alma had said these words, that he clapped his hands upon all them who were with him. And behold, as he clapped his hands upon them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. (Alma 31:36)

Maybe there is something I can learn here.

Would our meetings be more like these experiences if they were

“conducted…after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done.” (Moroni 6:9)

After the announcements of course.

[Thinker]

I think the important thing is finding something that resonates with you.
Buddha suggested we stick with the uplifting aspects of the religion of our youth, since that is how we tend to relate best.
I've gone with non-lds friends to "hand raising" churches, where people jump and run around, and I didn't feel comfortable.
But I respect that for some, they'd feel uncomfortable in our dead-silent (at least in single wards) sacrament meetings.

On a lighter note...

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tim ... DBD75031C8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kathedralegs]

This made me laugh! I feel like I have had to eat a lot of crow as I look back over my life and viewpoints. The born again that "tormented" me in high school was a little closer to the truth than I gave him credit for. He said Christ's atonement is a gift that we need to accept. Yet I was wrong in thinking it was up to me in any sense other than repentance or turning towards Him and accepting His gift. I just didn't realize how actively I was turning away from Him as I was completing my check list to exaltation.

[deep water]

In order to accept a gift, the gift has to be offered. Christ alone paid the price to make the gift available to all, however he and he alone has reserved the right to offer this gift to mankind, on an individual basis. He chooses whether or not and when to apply this cleansing. We in turn have to search and seek and live his words in order to be worthy.

[oneClimbs]

Look at the differences between salvation and exaltation.

Mormonism comprehends both but tends to focus much more on practical progression and looking forward to preparing for exhalation. In this, we may have erred in the case of many where we have not done enough to ensure people's reconciliation with God through the cleansing from salvation and the atonement.

Whereas other Christian sects seem to focus exclusively on salvation and getting people to Jesus. Once there, they don't appear to know what to do or really what future awaits them in heaven.

So yeah, some churches "do" salvation better, but we "do" exaltation better, yet we should do BOTH in their proper order. There's much we can learn from each other. Mormonism has the capacity to borrow the good from the world and add it to itself, so if someone else is blessed with knowledge that helps communicate the way to salvation in Christ, then by all means, why not exemplify those principles ourselves.

I loved this explanation by Terryl Givens on how Joseph's restoration worked:

Joseph Smith, I mean, if I were to define how he understood his own calling, the term I would use is 'inspired eclecticist'. Yeah, he was a sponge, absolutely. And that's a problem for a lot of Latter-day Saints who have read a very different version of history where Mormonism erupted in an absolute vacuum. But it's not to denigrate the role or calling of a prophet or the scope of Joseph Smith's contribution to say that most of his ideas, or many of them, probably most, already existed in the environment, or among predecessors.

Because his job, he felt, was to filter them. St. Augustine said the same thing, St. Augustine used the example of what he called 'spoiling the Egyptians', right, when the children of Israel take all of the gold from their Egyptian captors then use it to found their own new Israelite civilization. Similarly, Augustine said that we've got to steal the truths from the pagans and return them to the right context.

I think the best example of how Joseph did that blatantly, right, out in the open, was to take the Masonic ritual and say, ok, they've got all of these signs and tokens and drama but they don't understand what it's real eternal significance is. Now we put it in the temple, that's where it belongs. Mormons get scandalized, 'oh he's stealing from the Masons!' well of course he was stealing from the Masons, because he said they didn't know what to do with it and he did.

(I transcribed this from audio here: http://mormonstories.org/terryl-givens- ... yerSpace_2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on Part 3)

[jockeybox]

Like a good Mormon, I internally made fun of the antics of my good born again neighbors. Arms up, swaying back and forth, and of course, the all-important confession of Jesus as personal savior to be saved.

Loved your scriptures you found. It's great to read them in succinct fashion.

Living in Texas has offered me a unique experience to be surrounded by those that love Jesus, in a more vocal manner than I am use too. They unfairly get labeled as "Jesus freaks".

Almost every time I turn on the radio to the Christian stations, they are proclaiming his name, giving praise or offering gratitude. At first it was odd to me, as I thought "they should have some balance in their life". I've come 180, as my life is more Christ focused. I desire to be like them; as I feel they are a better disciple of Christ than myself. I hope live a life that is so out of balance, someone would shake their head and mumble "Jesus freak".

[Dave62]

All of these posts are so spot on. I remember despising the 'Born-agains' as a young missionary as they were the groups that gave me so much grief. Yet now, I too, have started to really understand the 'born-again manifesto' that we call the Book of Mormon. I believe that the Book has, amongst it many functions, two that stand out the most for me. Firstly, the Book leads us to Christ, especially based upon a good, solid foundation of the Bible; secondly it acts as an antidote to so much of the useless cultural baggage that we LDS carry around with ourselves.

I like our quiet, conservative sacrament meetings as they don't interfere with the workings of the Spirit for each individual. But how I wish that our firesides and other meetings could be held outside the chapel around a real fire and sound a bit more like the 'Born-agains".

[Dannyk]

My wife and I went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir on new year's eve. We heard they were doing a special show and thought it would be fun to see. Turns out we went in there to pray in the new year...and instead of being sung to (like is often the case with our choir), we were expected to sing with, and "praise Jesus" with our voice and with our uplifted hands.

It was very different, but it was joyful, celebratory, and quite honestly worshipful. Multiple times during the meeting we were told to shake the hand of someone nearby, tell them God loved them and wanted to fill them with his spirit, etc. etc. The participation made me feel welcome, and helped me feel of the good spirit of those I was sitting next to.

We truly did pray in the new year. We had a 30 minute sermon on being born of the holy ghost, of getting that fire within you, so that you could have power in Jesus. I couldn't help but agree.

By the time I'd left, I'd uttered a few hearty Hallelujahs, sung with all my heart a number of unfamiliar but very worshipful hymns, and felt reminded of some of the most important principles of a disciples life. Can't argue much with that.

[Thinker]

But how I wish that our firesides and other meetings could be held outside the chapel around a real fire and sound a bit more like the 'Born-agains".

Me too!
I believe that nature is God's natural temple (besides our bodies).
It's why Moses, Jesus, and many other spiritual people have gone up to the mountain to get closer to God.

And there's nothing like the smell of camp fire and the feeling of sharing ones thoughts with others around it...
...which reminds me of a song and clip of some great friends...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu88-rkU72U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;