Sacred... Not Secret

So... yes, we’ve moved to Utah. And as you can imagine, the most common questions and comments we get from our friends are smart alecky remarks about Mormonism, or as they prefer to be called, LDS.

Of course this is something we considered before we moved here. Neither of us had much exposure to this religion or culture. All we knew, or thought we knew, were the sterotypical and sometimes absurd things we grew up hearing... you know, that all Mormon men have multiple wives, the families are huge, and there’s something about going to different planets when you die. We did have a little exposure to it from some friends of ours who were LDS who came to YoungLife in Oregon. But that’s about it.

We did some research before we moved here and found that Sandy, the town we live in, has a staggering 83% LDS population, 9% Catholic, and 8% other. But now, because of the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, those percentages are changing. The closer you get to the city, the more diverse it’s becoming. Since we’ve been here, we’ve been told that the Olympics helped change the culture here pretty dramatically. It exposed Utah to the world and people found out that Utah was breathtakingly beautiful and the cost of living wasn’t too shabby either.

My Mom came out for a visit a couple weeks ago and we were both intrigued and anxious to get to know more about the LDS culture here... I made a commitment that I would embrace the culture and educate myself so I knew where they were coming from. I don’t want to be an ignorant Christian that condemns, but instead be a Christian that understands and loves. So we took a field trip to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was pretty amazing.

It was an immaculate park with extraordinary buildings. The thing we couldn’t get over though was the Truman Show/Stepford Wives atmosphere we were feeling while we were walking around. We were greeted multiple times by a variety of LDS folks... but there was something a little off about it all.

After we left, we were even more intrigued and wanted to know more. So we went to Barnes & Noble to look for a book that would help explain everything. The LDS section at B&N was huge... but right smack dab in the middle of it all was the bright yellow “Mormonism For Dummies.” Bingo.

I wanted to avoid a book that was light hearted or had a negative perspective on Mormonism. I wanted something that was fair and told it like it is. This book was written by 2 legitimate LDS members, one of whom is a professor at BYU... so it seemed like a safe buy. Within the first several pages, nearly all of my previous knowledge and stereotypes either defined or changed. It’s so fascinating to finally learn what it’s all about. So refreshing to hear it from their mouths and to learn where they’re coming from. One of the things I grew up thinking was that Mormons had a lot of “secret” things going on within their religion, temple, worship, etc. I heard that there were handshakes, ceremonies, and more... but one of the more interesting things I’ve learned from this book is that they refer to those things as “sacred, not secret.” This doesn’t, of course, mean that I’m on-board with any of it... but it’s so nice to get their point of view. It has already helped SO much in many of the conversations I’ve been having with people I’ve been meeting here.

I am totally looking forward to what God has in store for us here. We know that besides our love for the outdoors, we’ve moved here for a reason. I’ve met with several pastors of Four Square, Baptist and other protestant churches since I’ve been here and they’ve all been like-minded in sensing that God is indeed doing something miraculous here in Utah. It’s an exciting time be living here and an awesome opportunity for our faith to be challenged and strengthened.