I noticed the above video in which Mitz Nelson, a former LDS convert to Evangelical Christianity, describes her conversation experience. I am going to comment briefly on what she says towards the end of the video. At about 44:21 minutes into the video, in connection with her childhood experience, having been born into an LDS family, she says:
“I was told what I believed, and then I was supposed to believe what they told me I believed, and I did to a point.”
Well, that doesn’t apply to everyone. It doesn’t apply to me! I am a convert to the Church; and nobody told me what to believe, and what not to believe. I read the Book of Mormon for myself, and gained a divine witness of its truth by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that is what led me to the LDS Church. Then she continues:
“I did the rhetoric; I was able to regurgitate the rhetoric; but within hindsight, I didn’t believe anything I was saying, because it didn’t stand on anything. It was on fallow ground, because it didn’t stand on the rock. There was no cornerstone. There was no truth in it.”
Well, I cannot speak for her experience, because she was born into the Church, and I am a convert. But from my point of view, in either case, whether you are born in the Church or a later convert, no one can remain faithful to the Church in the long run, without gaining a divine witness of its truth by personal revelation, by the power of the Holy Ghost—which is primarily obtained through a prayerful reading of the Book of Mormon. That is the primary reason why it was given, to stand as a divine witness to the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and the restoration of the gospel, the restoration of God’s true Church, by revelation through him. Whether one is born into the Church, or is a later convert, one cannot remain faithful to the Church without obtaining that divine witness, that divine testimony, for oneself. Then she continues:
“And so that was another thing; he [her husband] picked apart my testimony, bit by bit. He said, ‘Okay, you know this church is true; how do you know? You know Joseph Smith was a prophet; how do you know? Do you know, or do you think you know?’”
Good question. The same question can be asked about her religious convictions. How does she know that Jesus Chrust was the Savior and Redeemer of the world? How does she know that he atoned for the sins of the world through the shedding of his own blood? Just because it says so in the Bible, it doesn’t prove that it must be. There are millions of people in the world who do not believe that. The answer is, by the witness of the Spirit; and that is equally true of the restoration of the gospel, the restoration of God’s true Church, through the prophet Joseph Smith. That witness is obtained through the prayerful reading of the Book of Mormon. Then she continues:
“And the difference in what was given to me as a testimony, and my testimony now, is not even the same thing.”
If her testimony of the LDS Church, of the restored gospel, was “given” to her by someone else, by her parents presumably, then it was not a genuine testimony—until she had obtained one by revelation to herself. A true testimony of the restored Church, the restored gospel, can only be obtained by a personal revelation from God, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, to oneself. Then she continues:
“And that is why if you get a chance to share your testimony, so that they can see that your testimony is not about a corporation. You are not your testimony, you are not testifying about a building, or an ordinance, or a feeling.”
That is amusing. The LDS “testimony” is not about a “building”, or a “corporation”, or a “feeling”. It is about the witness of the Spirit, the testimony of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet; that he established by revelation God’s true Church; that the Book of Mormon is the divinely inspired word of God, a book of ancient scripture like the Bible; which in turn confirms that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and he established by revelation God’s true Church. And finally she says:
“You are testifying about the blood of Jesus, and what you know that he did for you, and that is huge, and they need to hear that.”
Two issues with that statement. Firstly, how does she know, is assured, convinced, of the efficacy of the sacrificial death, Atonement, Redemption, and blood of Jesus Christ? The answer is, by the witness of the Spirit, by faith. There is no other way. And that is equally true of the testimony of the restoration of the gospel, the restoration of God’s true Church in the last days by Jesus Christ, by revelation through his chosen prophet, Joseph Smith.
Secondly the LDS Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has no issue whatsoever with the sacrificial death, Atonement, Redemption, and shedding of blood of Jesus Christ. That is more strongly affirmed in modern LDS scripture, notably in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, than it is in the Bible.
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