Book of Mormon Video
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Mormon Church, Mormon Videos
The Book of Mormon is the word of God, like the Bible. It is Holy Scripture, with form and content similar to that of the Bible. Both books contain God’s guidance as revealed to prophets as well as religious histories of different civilizations. While the Bible is written by and about the people in the land of Israel and surrounding areas, and takes place from the creation of the world until shortly after the death of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon contains the history and God’s dealings with the people who lived in the Americas between approximately 600 BC and 400 AD.
In the video below, a living Apostle explains what the Book of Mormon is and how anyone can know that it is true.
I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and this means that I have read the book, and thought about its teaching, and prayed about it, and I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that is a true book, written by ancient prophets. The Book of Mormon contains the word of God, and if we live by its precepts we will be blessed in our lives.
Faith and the Book of Mormon
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Mormon Prophets and Apostles
When I first started investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) with the Mormon missionaries, I had to accept many things by faith. My investigation was actually a relatively short process, shortened by faith, because in spite of being attracted by the general vision and basic principles of the Church, and by the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, there were so many things that were so new and strange, especially in the Book of Mormon that could only be accepted by faith. There was no time to investigate all of them. The Jaredites story was definitively one of them. But there was one verse in the Book of Ether, that became my favorite and a key to my conversion, Ether 12:27.
Recently I have been thinking a lot about how lack of faith is so tragically linked to bad choices, for young and older people.
Hugh Nibley in his writing about the World of the Jaredites gives a great context to the my favorite scripture
Those without faith live in a world of their own which to them seems logical and final; they take the very unscientific stand that beyond the realm of their own very limited experience nothing whatever exists! God’s works to them look small, and they will never be cured of their myopia until they are willing to face facts and pass a test that only the honest in heart can consider without a chill of aversion. The test is this: “… if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; … then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27)
Faith is a gift of God, and I am thankful for it. Life can really be miserable without it, and consequences for individuals and people may be terrible.
Giuseppe Martinengo: Before becoming a Mormon
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Giuseppe Martinengo, Mormon Church, Mormon Missionaries, Mormon Prophets and Apostles
I have already published this story in another website, but since this is my blog I think I want to have this here.
In the past couple of weeks I have been talking to a special person in Italy who found my Italian blog and became interested in knowing more about the Church. While talking to this person by email I noticed how people do not get interested in the Mormon Church by chance, especially in a place like Italy. They are usually people who have the courage to ask themselves and others deep questions, and who do not accept things with blind faith, but look forward to find what they are looking for using a positive faith, the kind of faith I found by reading one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them (Ether 12:27)
For someone like me, who was born and raised in Italy, it really looks like a miracle when someone, in that country, has the courage to ask questions about religion and search for answers without becoming cynical and give up religion althogether.
So, this is the part of my story that starts from the beginning, while in another post I have the story about the last period before I met the missionaries.
” I was not born and raised in Utah, among the Mormons, but I was raised a Catholic in Italy. When I was 10 years old, my father died because of lung cancer (he used to smoke) at age 47. His death changed everything in my life. I was then the only child of a widowed young mother (33 years old). In spite of all the efforts made by my mother to help me cope with the situation, very soon I realized that something had changed not only in my outward normal life, but also inside me. I wasn’t anymore like many other children who could go about being just children without many problems and especially without many questions about life or sudden sadness.
Because of the death of my father, I noticed that some people started to treat me differently and, over time, I had to face some hard questions about the purpose of our existence here on the earth. I didn’t realize how important what was happening inside me was until I was 13 or 14. However by the age of 14, I was beginning to be highly unsatisfied with the world around me and with the answers that my teachers, family, or religious ministers gave me to the important questions of life. I was beginning to realize that perhaps something was missing in the worldview and beliefs of most people around me, but I was not sure what.
It is important to stress that the presence of the Catholic Church were so strong in my environment that I can still remember a time, when I was about 9 or 10 years old, in which during a lesson at school about people with other beliefs, I asked myself: “How can people not to be Catholic? Do they know that they will all go to live forever in… (a very bad place)? Why they don’t change religion and become all Catholics?” Such was the power of tradition in my environment.
The death of my father, however, started to change my situation. The Lord sometimes works in mysterious ways to bring about His purposes. In fact, after the death of my father, my mother reduced her involvement with the Catholic Church. She was still a Catholic, but, perhaps because she didn’t find the help she was looking for in that organization to cope with her loss, she started looking elsewhere.
She started reading books about oriental religions and philosophies such as yoga, Zen, and Buddhism; in particular, she started reading about and practicing yoga. Her exploration opened up a new world to me. Suddenly, I was learning about other religions and philosophies and I was discovering that there were a lot of good things to be learned. I began to realize that perhaps the Catholic Church didn’t have the best answers to the questions of life. Moreover, and especially, I began to be familiarized with the concepts of spiritual progression and the idea of spiritual self-improvement. Not that these concepts are completely absent from the Catholic tradition, but in the daily life of a Catholic they are almost absent, since they are usually stressed only for those who abandon the “normal” life and became “full-time, forever single, priests or nuns.” My favorite Catholic “hero” was Saint Francis of Assis, but I didn’t like the idea that a religious man or woman should give up marriage to pursue a religious life at its best.
I had a dear friend, Stefano, who was a member of a small Protestant group. I had always been fascinated by the fact that this and other Protestant groups rejected the principle of celibacy in their church. When people like me are immersed in a strong Catholic culture, even these little examples or ideas can make a big difference over time and give us the courage to pursue something different in spite of the strong pressure of the tradition.
When I was 15, I had another key experience. The setting was a trip to Rome. The purpose of the trip was to take the Catholic youth from all Europe to meet with the Pope. At that time I was involved with the Catholic youth of my parish, even if I was beginning to question some of our beliefs. During that trip, something special happened.
On the specific day, thousands of youth were ready to meet the Pope in the Saint Peter’s Basilica. We had been preparing for months for this special meeting. Youth from all over Europe had traveled to get there. Obviously, the Pope was not present when we arrived and so we all sat on the floor of the church and started singing. I really didn’t sing, but I listened for at least an hour to those Gregorian lyrics but I started feeling bad. I had great expectations about that special meeting with the Pope, but after a while I began to think: “What am I doing here?”; “Why I am here after all? Just because others told me that it would be special?” I struggled for a while, but then I decided to stand up and leave. I had a feeling of relief when I left that strange atmosphere in the Saint Peter’s Basilica. I had an uncle in Rome and I decided to visit him and spend some time with his family instead than meeting the Pope: not a big deal anyway, I thought.
On the way back to my city in northern Italy, while still on the train, I had the opportunity to tell what I had done to our main guide, a very outgoing and friendly priest. I told him about my feelings, my doubts, and the fact that I had left the meeting. I began to ask questions about Catholic beliefs. After listening and discussin with me for some time he finally said: “If you believe these things, then you are not a Catholic”. That was really a strong and challenging statement, a call back to orthodoxy. I was a little perplexed, but I replied: “Then, I am probably not a Catholic!”
I suppose that the Spirit of the Lord was present that day to support me and open my mind, because I felt relieved when I said what I was really thinking, and I was not afraid of the priest’s reaction. After that episode, my search for answers was directed mainly outside the Catholic Church, since even that apparently open-minded priest had failed to help me to understand. When confronted with hard questions, he couldn’t find anything better than suggesting that I rely on blind faith or consider myself a heretic!
Several years passed after that episode and I continued to meet with my Catholic friends, but I was now always more involved in reading books about other religions. Books were my main font of information about religion. One author that really had a strong influence on me for a period, for example, was Sri Aurobindo. I can’t remember the details of what I read at that time, but Sri Aurobindo, in his books, suggests that humankind can evolve spiritually beyond its current limitations and reach a future state of “supramental” existence. This would be like an “evolutionary” step for humankind that should lead to a divine life on Earth. (This make me thing of the Millennium now, even if according the Bible this “almost divine life” will not the product of “evolution”; but at that time it was an interesting concept that gave me some hope and meaning for the future).
Based on my current knowledge and testimony of the teaching of the Mormon Church, I can’t avoid thinking that by reading his writings I was moving a step forward in the direction of understanding key Mormon concepts, some of which are not clear or even accepted by many traditional Christians. I believe that the Spirit of the Lord teaches people according to their language and understanding, and moves forward the true seekers one step at a time until they are ready for the fullness of the Gospel.
My search for the truth continued to intensify until it reached its climax when I was 19 years old. One day, I was in Torino, where I was supposed to be moving forward with my studies in physics. I had chosen to study physics not because I wanted to become a new Einstein, but because of books such as The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, books that discuss the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism. It is probably unnecessary to say that since my interest for physics was nothing more than another step in my search for the truth, I was very disappointed with my undergraduate program at the University of Torino. Therefore, as in many other occasions, on that particular day I was not studying physics but I was reading a book about the history of Indian philosophy.
At a certain point, that day, I decided to go for a walk to relax and think about life. While I was walking downtown someone stopped me and asked me if I wanted to do a psychological test. I didn’t mention it before, but I had also been interested in psychoanalysis and psychology, and I especially liked books such as Eric Fromm’s The Art of Loving or To Have or to Be? and so on. Therefore, I was somewhat curious about this test.
That test was the beginning of my last step in my search for the truth. After that, I had lost my fear of disconnecting from the Catholic tradition, and I was almost incomprehensible to my family and Catholic friends. I can say now that I was ready to meet the Mormon missionaries, and especially to understand and accept their message, less than a year later, because of all those experiences.
But who was behind that psychological test? The people of Dianetics and Scientology. Their focus on personal improvement and their blending of scientific, religious, and psychological knowledge attracted me for a short period, even if I never became really involved with them, because after the initial interested, I realized that they didn’t have the answers I was looking for. However, even this relatively negative experience had at least one important positive outcome. Scientology completely severed my last psychological (and some doctrinal) connections with the Catholic Church. I freed myself even more from the weight of tradition and I grew stronger in the belief that there was something out there, in some place, in some organization, or in some book, that could help me answer my questions about the purpose of life.
It may seem of little importance to some, but to have the courage to be unorthodox, to challenge at least in our own mind the tradition is an important step before we can be ready to receive a testimony and to accept the restored gospel. This was especially true for me, since I didn’t accept to be baptized in the Mormon Church for social reasons or out of a temporary interest, but only because I was touched by the Spirit, after contemplating the simple but powerful architecture and logic of Mormon doctrine. The concept of obtaining a testimony of the truth by the Spirit of God implies that to rely on tradition to believe is not enough, even when the tradition is true.
I can testify with all my conviction that the scripture that read “seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9) is true, because the Lord guided me by the hand through many different experiences until I found what I was really looking for, the true Church of Jesus Christ once again established on the earth.
The Dark Ages of my life were dispelled when I finally met the missionaries and I can only be thankful that I was born in a time when the true Church is present in the face of the earth. I can’t imagine the hardship imposed on those people who tried to find the Church when it wasn’t on the earth.
I need to recognize that I owe to the Catholic Church my first limited understanding of and belief in Jesus Christ, belief that never left me even when I was focusing on other religions. However, I owe to these other religions and philosophies a better understanding of many true principles and a more opened mind that helped me not to be afraid when I finally found the true Church of Jesus Christ.”
You can follow the link to find a version in video of Before becoming a Mormon.
There may be a few differences among the video and the written story and this because when I write I am more relaxed then when I am in front of a camera! But these little differences or omissions should not be used against me. In fact, I understand better now why there are a few slightly different accounts of the First Vision of Joseph Smith.
Our memory is not always perfect, our audience may not be the same, the circumstances in which we find ourselves may be different, or we simply want to stress different points at different times.
Are Mormons Christians? The Movie the Testaments responds
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, Mormon Church, Mormon Prophets and Apostles, Mormon Videos, Videos
When I first arrived to the US in 2000 I went to watch for the first time the movie, The Testaments: of One Fold and One Shepherd. The message of this film is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind. This movie alone show to all sincere investigators of the truth that Mormons actually believe in Jesus Christ. This movie is one of my favorite ever. It is spiritual and interesting, and it is very well done. This is the only movie that I watched more than once or twice. I think i have watched it 9-10 times. I have found it on youtube, go ahead and enjoy it.
WHAT IS A TESTAMENT?
A Testament is a covenant or an agreement made between God and his people. The Term Testament may also refer to a statement of belief.
The Old and New Testaments in the Bible are records of God’s promises to His people in ancient Israel. The Book of Mormon is a record of God’s promises to His people in ancient America. These testaments also witnesses of Jesus Christ and the reality of His life, love, and sacrifice for each of us.
WHAT DOSE “ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD” MEAN?
From the Scriptures we learn that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd and that those who follow Him are part of his fold (see John 10:14; Alma 5:38, 60).
While in Jerusalem, the Savior told His followers, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold: and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
Shortly after His Resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared to the people in ancient America. To these people He said, “Verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (3 Nephi 15:21).
These passages of scripture teach us that the Savior loves all His people, regardless of when or where they live. He wants all people everywhere to become part of his fold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvcH6map71k
WHAT IS THE BOOK OF MORMON?
Throughout time, God has repeatedly reached out in love to His children by revealing His gospel to prophets. The writings of prophets in ancient Israel are collected in the Bible. These prophets include Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses.
At the same time that some of these prophets were teaching in ancient Israel, there was another of people living in ancient America. God loved these people and called prophets among them. Their writings are collected in The Book of Mormon.
The highlight of the Book of Mormon is the record of Jesus Christ’s appearance to the people of ancient America. After His Resurrection in the old world in the Old World, He appeared to these people, taught His gospel, healed the sick, and showed them how to live by his example.
The Book of Mormon is an inspiring and powerful witness of Jesus Christ. Reading the Book of Mormon will bring you joy, hope, and the power to live more righteously. It will increase your faith in and love for Jesus Christ. It will bring you closer to your Heavenly Father.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS8snWCdji4
The Book of Mormon: flooding the Earth
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Mormon Videos, Videos
Members of the Mormon Church should remember the great talk by President Ezra Taft Benson about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. I was reading that talk again today and I remembered the great movie that the Church produced, The Book of Mormon, How rare a possession, where it is narrated the story of Parley P. Pratt, and especially of Vincenzo di Francesca, that amazing Italian who found an almost burned copy of the Book of Mormon in the US in the beginning of the 20th century and was influenced by it long before discovering the Church who published it.
While reading the talk I wondered if someone had already posted that video on youtube and yes… I found it. Here is the entire movie, it is a little old but it is still great and inspiring. It has been split in 5 parts and it is not HD, but it still touch me to watch the story of this Italian convert.
Georgia: Russia advancing into Georgia
Filed under: Book of Mormon, General Conference
I grew up in Italy during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. In 1989 I was still living in Italy and I can vividly remember the impact and the excitement created by the fall of the Berlin Wall. On a particular day I was in my lunch break and I saw those historic images on TV when East Germans started climbing onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side. It really was the ushering of a new era for Europe. In the following year Germany was reunified in a process that seemed impossible even a few months before.
In spite of the importance of the US President Ronald Reagan in the process, I still think that the change was possible mostly because of the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. It was a lot harder for him than for Ronald Reagan to lead the change in his own country, where the opposition against reforms was a lot stronger and dangerous.
Now, the same day of the opening of the Olympics in China, Russia invaded Georgia. I was looking around in the news and I found this recent comment by Gorbachev: US could start new Cold War. Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the United States of mounting an imperialist conspiracy against Russia that could push the world into a new Cold War.
This is very interesting. We are now in 2008 and we got used to this new situation, post Cold War. However, Russia is still a major world power and even if many changes in Russia happened, it is still a very young democracy and very fluid, I would add.
According to Gorbachev,
“We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them.”
“The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently.”
“Every US president has to have a war.”
I am not an expert in foreign policies, and I am not sure if I agree completely with Mr. Gorbachev. However, I remember President Gordon B. Hinckley – and before him many others, including President Kimball, warning against putting our trust in the arm of flesh or in the military, while at the same time forgetting that the real protection come from the Lord, who delights himself in protecting a just people, but does not respond to the pleas of an evil nation.
In the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), in October 2002, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” where he said,
Peace is a prime priority that pleads for our pursuit.The commandments to love God and neighbor are interrelated. We cannot fully love God without loving our neighbor. We cannot fully love our neighbor without loving God. Men really are brothers because God really is our Father. Nevertheless, scriptures are studded with stories of contention and combat. They strongly condemn wars of aggression but sustain obligations of citizens to defend their families and their freedoms.
I am not sure what is the right things to do, and I am glad I am not in the position of making very difficult decisions in terms of war and peace, but I know that hatred, aggression, and war only create more hatred and more wars. Russia is now creating a difficult situation, and the day they choose to attack is quite troubling, but the response to their actions may make a big difference.
If people think that there are too many pages about wars in the Book of Mormon, they simply need to realize that that book was written for our generation. It becomes always more evident why.
Book of Mormon and Baptists
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Mormon Church, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Prophets and Apostles
I have found something really interesting, called “The Baptist Version of The Book of Mormon – Protestant Doctrines within the Book of Mormon” by Lynn Ridenhour, a Southern Baptist Minister.
It is an amazing article. I am copying it here because I do not want to see it disappear in the future from the internet, but I recognize his authorship and commend it for what he did and his sincerity.
This is his article that currently can be found at http://www.centerplace.org/library/bofm/baptistversionofbofm.htm
“I’m a licensed Southern Baptist minister and I embrace the Book of Mormon.
That is, I believe the truths recorded in it. No, I’m not a convert to the Mormon faith, nor am I a member of any particular “spin-off” restoration group such as the RLDS (Reorganized Latter-day Saints), Hedrikites, or Strangites. I’m still a Baptist minister. To be exact, I’m “charismatic Baptist.” That is, I still embrace the “born again” experience. I still believe you’re saved by grace. By the shed blood of Christ. Salvation is by faith alone in His finished work on Calvary. I still believe in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. I believe and embrace those cardinal doctrines of Protestantism.
And you know what?…
I still believe the Book of Mormon too! Read more
Anti-Mormons’ techniques: the Book of Mormon
There are many great people in all religions and churches. I really appreciate all the good things many religious people do, even if I may not share the same exact beliefs.
However, there is a marginal group of religious people that, instead of focusing on doing good things and in attracting people to their churches by the power of their teachings and actions, prefers to use a negative approach: they attack others.
Perhaps they think that by attacking others people will not notice their own shortcomings. Take a look at this picture, for example:
In any case, they are right. If people honestly and sincerely pray about the Book of Mormon, they will know that is true unless, and unfortunately this also happens, people do not want to know the truth, because they are scared of what changes they should make in their lives, after they know what they are supposed to do.
I did it a long time ago and this is really what happened with me.
Joseph Smith and God
Filed under: Book of Mormon, God, Joseph Smith, Mormon Doctrine
Joseph Smith‘s doctrinal restoration include many principles that were lost by the world for centuries. Probably the most important was about the nature of God. Joseph Smith proclaimed to have seen God the Father and the Son in his vision.
According to Joseph Smith, they were two distinct personages and not a confuse part of a trinity. Traditional Christians were offended by such a claim, since they thought it would diminish God.
Why did they react that way? Because traditional Christianity included in its beliefs the idea that God is an amorphous essence of some kind. This idea come from Greek philosophy and not from the scriptures.
Moreover, especially those who strictly believe in the Bible, seem to have forgotten what happened do Stephen when he claimed that he saw the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God (see Acts 7:56). Clearly Stephen did also see two personages, in the form of men, in his vision.
So, I ask, why do those who claim that nothing else but the Bible can teach us about God are ignoring such evidences (Stephen) and “adding” to the Bible (Greek philosophy)?
Do they really believe in the Bible?
Before My Testimony: My Search for the Truth
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Mormon Church, Mormon Missionaries
I think that it is time for me to write my testimony of the Gospel in this blog. Everybody who reads the pages of my blog can easily realize that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) but I have never explicitly written about my testimony.
Members of the Mormon Church know very well what a testimony is, but others may not. In a few words a testimony of the gospel or of the Church is an expression of the members’ knowledge and feelings about the gospel and the Church. Usually this testimony is received through prayer and personal revelation. In this blog, I will divide my testimony into two parts. First, I will write about the experiences that prepared me to obtain a testimony or, in other words, what happened in my life that opened my heart to accept the gospel and gain a personal testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, in the next blog, I will write about how I obtained a specific testimony of the Church.
I was not born and raised in Utah, among the Mormons, but I was raised a Catholic in Italy. When I was 10 years old, my father died because of lung cancer (he used to smoke) at age 47. His death changed everything in my life. I was then the only child of a widowed young mother (33 years old). In spite of all the efforts made by my mother to help me cope with the situation, very soon I realized that something had changed not only in my outward normal life, but also inside me. I wasn’t anymore like many other children who could go about being just children without many problems and especially without many questions about life or sudden sadness.
Because of the death of my father, I noticed that some people started to treat me differently and, over time, I had to face some hard questions about the purpose of our existence here on the earth. I didn’t realize how important what was happening inside me was until I was 13 or 14. However by the age of 14, I was beginning to be highly unsatisfied with the world around me and with the answers that my teachers, family, or religious ministers gave me to the important questions of life. I was beginning to realize that perhaps something was missing in the worldview and beliefs of most people around me, but I was not sure what.
It is important to stress that the presence of the Catholic Church were so strong in my environment that I can still remember a time, when I was about 9 or 10 years old, in which during a lesson at school about people with other beliefs, I asked myself: “How can people not to be Catholic? Do they know that they will all go to live forever in… (a very bad place)? Why they don’t change religion and become all Catholics?” Such was the power of tradition in my environment.
The death of my father, however, started to change my situation. The Lord sometimes works in mysterious ways to bring about His purposes. In fact, after the death of my father, my mother reduced her involvement with the Catholic Church. She was still a Catholic, but, perhaps because she didn’t find the help she was looking for in that organization to cope with her loss, she started looking elsewhere.
She started reading books about oriental religions and philosophies such as yoga, Zen, and Buddhism; in particular, she started reading about and practicing yoga. Her exploration opened up a new world to me. Suddenly, I was learning about other religions and philosophies and I was discovering that there were a lot of good things to be learned. I began to realize that perhaps the Catholic Church didn’t have the best answers to the questions of life. Moreover, and especially, I began to be familiarized with the concepts of spiritual progression and the idea of spiritual self-improvement. Not that these concepts are completely absent from the Catholic tradition, but in the daily life of a Catholic they are almost absent, since they are usually stressed only for those who abandon the “normal” life and became “full-time, forever single, priests or nuns.” My favorite Catholic “hero” was Saint Francis of Assis, but I didn’t like the idea that a religious man or woman should give up marriage to pursue a religious life at its best.
I had a dear friend, Stefano, who was a member of a small Protestant group. I had always been fascinated by the fact that this and other Protestant groups rejected the principle of celibacy in their church. When people like me are immersed in a strong Catholic culture, even these little examples or ideas can make a big difference over time and give us the courage to pursue something different in spite of the strong pressure of the tradition.
When I was 15, I had another key experience. The setting was a trip to Rome. The purpose of the trip was to take the Catholic youth from all Europe to meet with the Pope. At that time I was involved with the Catholic youth of my parish, even if I was beginning to question some of our beliefs. During that trip, something special happened.
On the specific day, thousands of youth were ready to meet the Pope in the Saint Peter’s Basilica. We had been preparing for months for this special meeting. Youth from all over Europe had traveled to get there. Obviously, the Pope was not present when we arrived and so we all sat on the floor of the church and started singing. I really didn’t sing, but I listened for at least an hour to those Gregorian lyrics but I started feeling bad. I had great expectations about that special meeting with the Pope, but after a while I began to think: “What am I doing here?”; “Why I am here after all? Just because others told me that it would be special?” I struggled for a while, but then I decided to stand up and leave. I had a feeling of relief when I left that strange atmosphere in the Saint Peter’s Basilica. I had an uncle in Rome and I decided to visit him and spend some time with his family instead than meeting the Pope: not a big deal anyway, I thought.
On the way back to my city in northern Italy, while still on the train, I had the opportunity to tell what I had done to our main guide, a very outgoing and friendly priest. I told him about my feelings, my doubts, and the fact that I had left the meeting. I began to ask questions about Catholic beliefs. After listening and discussin with me for some time he finally said: “If you believe these things, then you are not a Catholic”. That was really a strong and challenging statement, a call back to orthodoxy. I was a little perplexed, but I replied: “Then, I am probably not a Catholic!”
I suppose that the Spirit of the Lord was present that day to support me and open my mind, because I felt relieved when I said what I was really thinking, and I was not afraid of the priest’s reaction. After that episode, my search for answers was directed mainly outside the Catholic Church, since even that apparently open-minded priest had failed to help me to understand. When confronted with hard questions, he couldn’t find anything better than suggesting that I rely on blind faith or consider myself a heretic!
Several years passed after that episode and I continued to meet with my Catholic friends, but I was now always more involved in reading books about other religions. Books were my main font of information about religion. One author that really had a strong influence on me for a period, for example, was Sri Aurobindo. I can’t remember the details of what I read at that time, but Sri Aurobindo, in his books, suggests that humankind can evolve spiritually beyond its current limitations and reach a future state of “supramental” existence. This would be like an “evolutionary” step for humankind that should lead to a divine life on Earth. (This make me thing of the Millennium now, even if according the Bible this “almost divine life” will not the product of “evolution”; but at that time it was an interesting concept that gave me some hope and meaning for the future).
Based on my current knowledge and testimony of the teaching of the Mormon Church, I can’t avoid thinking that by reading his writings I was moving a step forward in the direction of understanding key Mormon concepts, some of which are not clear or even accepted by many traditional Christians. I believe that the Spirit of the Lord teaches people according to their language and understanding, and moves forward the true seekers one step at a time until they are ready for the fullness of the Gospel.
My search for the truth continued to intensify until it reached its climax when I was 19 years old. One day, I was in Torino, where I was supposed to be moving forward with my studies in physics. I had chosen to study physics not because I wanted to become a new Einstein, but because of books such as The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, books that discuss the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism. It is probably unnecessary to say that since my interest for physics was nothing more than another step in my search for the truth, I was very disappointed with my undergraduate program at the University of Torino. Therefore, as in many other occasions, on that particular day I was not studying physics but I was reading a book about the history of Indian philosophy.
At a certain point, that day, I decided to go for a walk to relax and think about life. While I was walking downtown someone stopped me and asked me if I wanted to do a psychological test. I didn’t mention it before, but I had also been interested in psychoanalysis and psychology, and I especially liked books such as Eric Fromm’s The Art of Loving or To Have or to Be? and so on Therefore, I was somewhat curious about this test.
That test was the beginning of my last step in my search for the truth. After that, I had lost my fear of disconnecting from the Catholic tradition, and I was almost incomprehensible to my family and Catholic friends. I can say now that I was ready to meet the Mormon missionaries, and especially to understand and accept their message, less than a year later, because of all those experiences.
But who was behind that psychological test? The people of Dianetics and Scientology. Their focus on personal improvement and their blending of scientific, religious, and psychological knowledge attracted me for a short period, even if I never became really involved with them, because after the initial interested, I realized that they didn’t have the answers I was looking for. However, even this relatively negative experience had at least one important positive outcome. Scientology completely severed my last psychological (and some doctrinal) connections with the Catholic Church. I freed myself even more from the weight of tradition and I grew stronger in the belief that there was something out there, in some place, in some organization, or in some book, that could help me answer my questions about the purpose of life.
It may seem of little importance to some, but to have the courage to be unorthodox, to challenge at least in our own mind the tradition is an important step before we can be ready to receive a testimony and to accept the restored gospel. This was especially true for me, since I didn’t accept to be baptized in the Mormon Church for social reasons or out of a temporary interest, but only because I was touched by the Spirit, after contemplating the simple but powerful architecture and logic of Mormon doctrine. The concept of obtaining a testimony of the truth by the Spirit of God implies that to rely on tradition to believe is not enough, even when the tradition is true.
I can testify with all my conviction that the scripture that read “seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9) is true, because the Lord guided me by the hand through many different experiences until I found what I was really looking for, the true Church of Jesus Christ once again established on the earth.
The Dark Ages of my life were dispelled when I finally met the missionaries and I can only be thankful that I was born in a time when the true Church is present in the face of the earth. I can’t imagine the hardship imposed on those people who tried to find the Church when it wasn’t on the earth.
I need to recognize that I owe to the Catholic Church my first limited understanding of and belief in Jesus Christ, belief that never left me even when I was focusing on other religions. However, I owe to these other religions and philosophies a better understanding of many true principles and a more opened mind that helped me not to be afraid when I finally found the true Church of Jesus Christ.
Next time, I will write about what happened just before meeting the Mormon missionaries and what happened at the time of my conversion to Mormonism, but I believe that this first part shows that I had been prepared, over the years, by a loving Heavenly Father, to understand what the missionaries had to say.