'Smug' Mormon takes on 'brazen' evangelical
By Jerry Johnston
Deseret Morning News
Published: Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 12:25 a.m. MST
On Saturday, I spent a couple of hours chatting with a friend who runs
an evangelical bookstore. He set the shop up in the heart of Mormon
country and has kept at it for 30 years.
"I have to say, I admire your devotion," I tell him.
"I never take credit for personal virtue," he says. "That's you
guys."
It's the way things are between us. We don't play a lot of slap and
tickle. We know where we stand.
Evangelical faith comes out as confidence and boldness, which Mormons
often see as brazen.
Mormon faith comes out as obedience, which evangelicals often see as
smug.
"But you do see yourself as a sinner," I say.
"Yes."
"Well," I say, "among your many sins, I don't see 'lack of
devotion."'
He smiles.
I don't mind playing to type.
He says he likes talking with me because I'm an "old returned
missionary." The new returned missionaries, he says, speak in the same
earnest voice and say the same things in the same way.
The comment strikes me as curious. I've never seen evangelicals as a
colorful bouquet of religious style and thought.
He says he can size people with one question: "Are you a good person?"
If they say "yes" or "I try to be," they haven't been saved. True
Christians, he says, see themselves as sinners, washed in the blood of
Jesus.
True Christians, I think to myself, behave like true Christians.
I suppose it's why our faiths are natural rivals. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints sends thousands into the world to show
people they can live better lives. Evangelicals send out thousands to
tell people it doesn't matter what they do. Yes, they see Mormonism as
a cult because we stress behavior. But they also see Catholicism as a
cult, along with Jehovah's Witnesses, large swaths of the Episcopal
Church, Muslims, most Quakers and probably Jews. In fact, the only
reason I can see for Mormons to be so concerned about being accepted
by evangelicals is politics. Evangelicals control the right wing of
the Republican Party. If druids controlled the Republican right,
political Mormons would look for ways to bond with their druid
brethren.
"Your good works aren't bad works," my friend is saying. "They're just
dead works. Meaningless."
"The Jesus I believe in would find that a bit harsh," I say.
He opens his Bible to let me know my Jesus isn't Paul's Jesus.
I tell him my Jesus shows up in the gospels.
We're like two old men playing checkers in the park. We know each
other's moves. We just play the game out for company.
I tell him I have to go.
He says he'll pray for me. He sees me getting older and fears I soon
may be beyond rescue.
I leave, knowing what I've always known. True believers can be civil
to each other, they can even join hands. But they can never join
hearts. That's just a pipe dream of people who don't know true
believers.
Wringing your hands over being accepted by other religions is a waste
of a good pair of hands. Better to use them to hold to your ideals.
Let the Founder sort it all out.
Unlike politics, in Christianity, his vote is the only one that
counts, anyway.
________________________________________
Jerry Johnston is a Deseret Morning News staff writer. "New Harmony"
appears weekly in the Mormon Times section.
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