Dear Readers,
A while back I was browsing the religion section at the Apache Junction Public Library, and I looked at the books on my religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a.k.a. Mormonism. I was disappointed with what I saw on the shelf. There were about ten to fifteen books on Mormonism, but almost all of them were from non-Mormon skeptics or detractors.
Some of the books claimed to be authored by faithful Mormons, like "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins," but it didn’t take too long to figure out that the author had negative attitude toward the Church. The library had “Under the Banner of Heaven," which is a lovely book that leaves readers with the impression that Mormons have a penchant for murder. And they had “Escape” which is about a girl who was raised in an fundamentalist Mormon polygamous compound. She was sexually and physically and mentally abused, and then she finally escaped.
There was only one book was from the perspective of an orthodox, faithful Latter-Day Saint. It was "The Encyclopedia of Mormonism". And that book isn't exactly a pro-Mormon, missionary-tract type of text. It's the Church's attempt at objectivity. It’s a great reference work, but it’s not a great introduction to the Church. Probably one of the best books for beginners to read about Mormonism is "Our Search for Happiness: An Invitation to Understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" by M. Russell Ballard.
But there was one book missing from the Mormonism section that would have been even better than Ballard's book. Can you guess which book I'm thinking of?
I'll give you a hint. It's the keystone of my religion.
I'll give you another hint. A man will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book.
Yes, you guessed it! It's the Book of Mormon!
The library had all those books with negative perspectives, but they didn't have the foundational text of my religion. Isn't that messed up?
If I were a non-LDS library patron, and I felt like learning about Mormonism by reading a few books from the library, I would very quickly get the impression that Mormons murder people, impregnate teenage girls, and worship Joseph Smith, who spent his life murdering people and impregnating people in between his magic treasure hunts.
When I saw that the Book of Mormon was missing, I thought maybe it had been checked out. I was curious, so I checked the computerized library catalog, and it turns out that they don’t even have the book in circulation. (They didn’t have the Doctrine and Covenants or Pearl of Great Price, either, by the way.)
Let me put this into perspective. The Apache Junction Public Library is a gigantic library with tens of thousands of books. They have hundreds of romance novels, hundreds of mystery novels, and hundreds of books about how to paint. I remember when I checked out books on how to do oil paintings recently. They must have had about fifty books just for oil paintings. They probably had another fifty books about pastels, and another fifty books about watercolors. And yet, somehow the library didn't have the shelf space for a Book of Mormon.
So I decided to donate a Book of Mormon to the Library. I had a nice hardcover Doubleday edition of the Book of Mormon around the house, so the next time I went to the library, I took it in.
I was nervous. It was going to be a missionary experience! I was going to testify! Well, my would-be missionary event turned out to be pretty uneventful. Here’s all that happened:
ME: Hi, can I donate this book to the library?
LADY AT THE DESK: Sure. I’ll take it. (sets book on desk, acts busy.)
ME: Do you know if it’s going to be put in circulation?
LADY AT THE DESK: I don’t know. I don’t make that decision.
ME: OK. Well, thank you. (leaves)
So that was it. That day I also put a comment in the comment box that said that I had just donated a book, The Book of Mormon, to the library, and it would really mean a lot to me if they would put it in circulation.
That was about a month or two ago. As of this writing, the library has not put the holy book in their catalog. I don’t think they will. I hope they donated it to an orphanage, and some spiritually hungry orphan will get it, read it, convert, and eventually turn into the next Prophet. But more likely, they gave it to a used bookstore or to a thrift store. Or worse yet, but still possible, they threw it in the garbage can. Who knows what happened to the book.
All I know is that the Apache Junction Public Library missed a chance to more fairly represent my religion, and the religion of millions, through their book selection. They missed a chance to spread the gospel of Christ.
Sincerely,
Telemoonfa
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Bookmans is that way too :( Although they did have a few books that weren't anti-mormon, but there were definitely too many about how these abused women escaped a life of polygamy.
You should put a Book of Mormon straight onto the shelf.
I don't know why people are afraid of the Book of Mormon. I think the library should put it in circulation.
When I was a missionary in North Dakota, I was at a Salvation Army and the person who worked there told us that they threw away the Book of Mormons that got donated. In a way, I can sorta understand a one religious organization not wanting to promote a different religious organization, but a public library should definitely just put the Book of Mormon on the shelf.
I've read An Insider's Guide to Mormon Origins. I though it was good. It is certainly not a perfect book, but I learned some things from it. I think people should search out multiple perspectives and read them all with at critical eye. No one is above scrutiny or criticism - neither supporters or detractors of any issue.
Just because a book presents a different perspective on the church does not mean it is anti-mormon. The church is neither all good nor all evil and people can look at it from different angles. If a book is generally critical of the current church, but is based upon factual history, sound research and logical reasoning, that is not anti-mormon to me.
To me, I think things are "anti-mormon" if they are intentional fabrications or distortions of what the church does or believes. For example, sometimes you will hear that Joseph Smith said this:
"We will establish our religion by the sword. We will trample down our enemies and make in one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. I will be to this generation as a second Mohammed whose motto in treating for peace was 'the Qu'ran or the sword.' So shall it be with us."
One problem. It's not clear that Joseph Smith ever said this. It's not recorded anywhere in Joseph Smith's own writings. The only source is an affidavit sworn by an apostate who said he said it, which makes the source a little flimsy. Whether or not Joseph Smith actually said this, to me, promoting this quote as truth without providing the context that makes the source look flimsy is an example of anti-mormon material.
Conversely, sometimes you will hear that Joseph Smith said this:
"I have more to boast of than any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such work as I."
If you want to look this up and read the context, you can look in History of the Church Volume 6, pages 408-9 and read it for yourself in context. Thus, to me, this is not a good example of anti-mormon material because it appears in the church's own official history. How can the official church records be anti-mormon if they are quoted accurately?
The Boid
Post a Comment