Basic Mormonism in a Nutshell -- Seeking Input

[NutshellHi, I'm new.]

Hello. New here. But we've been lurking for awhile and thought we'd give this a try.

WE'RE SEEKING INPUT

We have attached a document (this is essentially a rough draft, and we still need to fill-in the definitions for all the common Mormon terms and jargon) that we hope people will look at and talk to us about. If you have input either as to substantive content, or especially what to do with this, and have ideas about how to make it available (much like the inquiry in Dr. Jones' thread about the new energy device), we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

And maybe this additional background will help explain what we're trying to do.

The challenge . . . and what we have tried to do about it

Recently, we’ve been looking for a basic nutshell summary of what Mormons believe – or basic Mormonism in a nutshell. From time to time we have friends and acquaintances who ask us for a simple summary of our beliefs. Then one of our teenage daughters developed some acquaintances that were interested in learning more about the basic nuts and bolts of what Mormons believe. Although it is fairly common to refer such inquiries to the missionaries, based on our experience, that isn’t necessarily the best approach in every single situation. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, it makes sense to simply accommodate such requests, without getting too pushing, while continuing to fellowship and develop solid rapport. We have also learned that in some cases, people prefer to look at something on their own, and at their own pace, and engage in a certain degree of basic self-education before inquiring further. Thinking that our daughter’s new acquaintances fit into this category we started looking, attempting to find a short book that accurately summarizing basic Mormon beliefs in a nutshell, that she might give them. The first place we looked was Deseret Book. Unfortunately, everything we found was much bigger, longer, and “heavier” than what we were looking for in terms of introductory information.

So then, we looked Online. The sad part about doing that is that one can find all sorts of distorted and misguided information propounded by those who have bones to pick with the Mormon Church, its members, and their beliefs. Among other things, however, our search yielded Mormonism for Dummies (which does a pretty darn good job, but likewise takes 350 pages to do it, and is still much more information than we were looking for); we were looking for something considerably shorter still. In a way Wikipedia came closer (especially in terms of brevity), but while its treatment is somewhat balanced, it is also very academic, and lacks both depth and familiarity (among other things, it feels like it was written by someone who doesn’t really “know” the subject matter, or care deeply about it) – hardly something we would refer anyone to as a “good” nutshell version of what Mormons believe.

It also occurred to us that especially this year, 2012, with Mitt Romney as the probable Republican nominee in the U.S. Presidential Race (not to mention BYU’s Jimmer Fredette as the leading scorer in NCAA basketball in 2011) there seems to be an increased interest in Mormonism and what Mormons believe. In the end, however, we found it to be very challenging to find what we were looking for. So we decided to simply bite the bullet ourselves and attempt to write the kind of nutshell summary that we have been seeking, but have not able to find. For that reason, we have attempted to employ the bikini principle (covering the bare essentials, without covering too much) to keep this summary as reasonably short and sweet as possible. Obviously, there’s a lot more to the full scope of Mormon Doctrine, and multiple volumes have been written about that, but in terms of a true nutshell version, our best attempt is the only one we know of.

[coachmarcMy own worst enemy]

I skimmed over your file. Lots of good info. If I may, while I was a missionary in Germany, we presented our message in basic lessons, which built one on top of the other beginning with our most basic understanding and belief in God.

1. Our belief in God, His Son Jesus Christ and Holy Ghost
2. Joseph Smith (who he was, his first vision and the restoration of the gospel after the great apostacy)
3. The Book of Mormon (Christ's visit to the Nephites, His purpose)
4. How we pray (address Father in heaven, thank, ask, end)
5. principles and ordinances of gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of Holy Ghost)
6. Law of sacrifice (tithing, fasting/offerings, word of wisdom)
7. Plan of Salvation (Pre-mortal existence, mortal life, spirit world, judgment, degrees of glory)
8. Enduring to the end (law of chastity, obeying commandments, etc)


These are the basics and how I would present it in roughly that order. They can be simply explained or expounded deeply. Hope this helps. The reason for #4 is it is how we began our lessons and how we encouraged investigators to pray on their own while we gave them reading assignments from the Book of Mormon, particularly 3 Nephi 11.

[NutshellHi, I'm new.]

Thanks so much for the input.

It sounds like you're suggesting that it be organized differently, much like the lessons in Preach My Gospel, or missionary discussions in the past?

Our thought has not been to simply duplicate a missionary type approach, but more for someone who simply wanted to get a nutshell view of what Mormons believe, possibly just for informational purposes or curiosity, or to decide if they want to learn more, and then give the missionaries an opportunity to approach it more in a building block format.

[coachmarcMy own worst enemy]

I served way back in '89 to '91 so those are the discussions I'm familiar with, yes. The missionary discussions. I'll see if I can find them. They're in a box somewhere around here. They were very well done. I think there were about 7 discussion booklets, each a different pastel color.

[junipercaptain of 10]

This has been done. It's called the Articles of Faith. Done by Joseph Smith.

[NutshellHi, I'm new.]

This has been done. It's called the Articles of Faith. Done by Joseph Smith.

Couldn't agree more. That's why we've included the Articles of Faith right in the nutshell, and seriously thought about just using the Articles of Faith as an outline for the basic organizational structure.

But for a lot of people, maybe the Articles of Faith are a little bit too much of a nutshell. So, they are looking for something beyond the Articles of Faith, but not quite ready for the whole enchilada.

And, just out of curiosity, was your post intended to be critical, or suggesting that there is no need for something like this?

[tmaccaptain of 1,000]

Looks interesting. I actually think the idea of a simple dictionary/glossary with common/unique Mormon terms and jargon is a good idea. I don't know if you're looking at doing some kind of hardcopy format, or more of an e-book. But if you set it up so that each of those words in the text was linked to the definitions, so that they could simply click on the word and go straight to definitions, etc., that could be interesting. Obviously, there are probably plenty of additional words that could be added, but it looks like you've got a good start. How do you intend to disseminate what you're doing, and make it available?

[NutshellHi, I'm new.]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas.

How do you intend to disseminate what you're doing, and make it available?

We're looking for input. We don't really know that much about how to distribute or make it available. Is there an organization or someone we could simply donate this material to, who could make it readily available to those who are looking? Is there a good website that could put it to good use for the intended purpose? Does anyone know much about SEO, and what might be involved in making it so that if someone were, for example just doing a Google search of Mormonism and what Mormons believe, that something like this could compete with all the Anti-Mormon stuff that seems to pop up so fast, and seems to be so easy to find? Any ideas along those lines would be much appreciated.

[coachmarcMy own worst enemy]

Then there's always http://mormon.org/ where everything in a nutshell is laid out already and approved by our leaders.

[tmaccaptain of 1,000]

I think mormon.org is a great resource too. This reminds me of an experience I had though. I was talking to a good, non-member friend of mine about politics and all sorts of things. He comes from New England and claims to be agnostic, but has read the Book of Mormon, studied, asked a lot of questions, and knows quite a bit about the Church. We were talking about the concept of Liberty -- Freedom of Choice -- and he asked about the basis for my own views. So I started telling him about the Plan of Salvation. I told him about the Pre-Existence and the plans that were presented by Jesus Christ and Lucifer, and the War in Heaven -- all fought over the concept of Liberty. I explained that consequently, my own view of liberty is based on the gospel, and God's plan to give us agency and free will, together with accountability and personal responsibility. He listened very intently to all of it, and then said "are you sure this is what your church believes, because I have studied the Mormon Church quite a bit, I have read the Book of Mormon, and asked a lot of questions, and I've never heard this before. No one has ever told me this. To me it makes a lot of sense, and helps me better understand where you are coming from. But why doesn't the Mormon Church just come out and talk about it like you have done?"

So that raises an interesting question about Mormon.org. Where can you find that information there (i.e., the war in Heaven, etc.)? Is it not what we believe? If so, why would our leaders not approve of sharing the truth about what we believe? There have been quite a few discussions on this forum about what even many in the highest levels of leadership in the Church (GAs) have started to refer to as a crisis of faith among general church membership, and apostasy, that seems to be increasingly occurring not from some people wild personal revelation they receive, but more often than not when they finally learn some things about what the Church actually believes, compared to the version that has been "approved" for general dissemination.

As I have perused this "nutshell" information, I don't get any feeling or sense that it is coming from any kind of Anti-Mormon perspective, but appears to be a good faith attempt to both provide a balanced nutshell summary that does not feel as inclined to "cherry-pick" the information. If I were some journalist, for example, and because of Mitt Romney's political candidacy I was curious and wanted to learn more about what Mormons believe, I think I might actually appreciate (and trust) an approach like this as much as something was was put out by the Church.

[junipercaptain of 10]

I wasn't trying to be critical. Just wanted to point out that Joseph the prophet had made an article about Mormons beliefs.

[Randcaptain of 1,000]

I just scanned it over, and think you did a nice job. I would share one observation, and it is just a personal experience. You said, "Although it is fairly common to refer such inquiries to the missionaries, based on our experience, that isn’t necessarily the best approach in every single situation. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, it makes sense to simply accommodate such requests, without getting too pushing, while continuing to fellowship and develop solid rapport."
I would suggest not to try to satisfy peoples curiosity. Get them to the missionaries and the spirit as soon as you can. You don't need to them to be your friends later, but you do need to dispel your obligation to share and invite all to come unto Christ. I have seen so much more success by inviting than I have to fellowshipping. I think fellowshipping is about as effective as tracting. Inviting is usually about one in seven come along and join.

[NutshellHi, I'm new.]

Rand, thanks for your comments and perspective. It sounds like you must have had some great success with missionary work. Can you share some of your experiences?

[Randcaptain of 1,000]

Rand, thanks for your comments and perspective. It sounds like you must have had some great success with missionary work. Can you share some of your experiences?

I will share the things I have learned, if that is okay. Telling stories sounds too chest puffing. I have been incredibly blessed in sharing the Gospel.

I have found that missionary experiences and pass along cards are a great way to assuage our guilt, but really don't do much good. We are commanded to "Invite all to come unto Christ". I think the best way to do that is to invite to meet with the missionaries. I have referred members to absolutely horrible missionaries and watched them fail completely to inspire, or even coherently teach the gospel. But I did my part. The rest is beyond my stewardship. My job is to invite, and even that doesn't have to be successful. The only way we can fail is by failing to invite.

I talked to one guy who had read the Book of Mormon 17 years earlier, to to effect or benefit. Then, 17 years later the missionaries taught him, and he was converted. He needed the messenger, as well as the message.

I try to get people to think and to ask questions. If someone has questions, I work on them. Questioners, seekers, they are the ones to share the gospel with. I will share one story, if I get permission from the writer to share it. I just reread it and it was so good, it needs to be shared. I will post it if and when I get permission, but thanks so much for caring. Missionary work is one way a man can build his kingdom. He cannot control how many children he has, but he can control how many are in his kingdom through missionary work. Blessings

[NutshellHi, I'm new.]

Thanks Rand for sharing. It sounds like you're a great missionary. I look forward to hearing the story you hope to share.