March 27, 2011 | 9:00 pm

Theological Exclusivism: Is Heaven Only for Mormons?

Posted by Mark Paredes

Follow me on

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus [Outside the Church there is no salvation] . – St. Cyprian
——-
In the Jewish community, people who come up with good answers are widely admired, while those who ask good questions are even more respected. In my experience, those leaders who can do both are usually called rabbis. Last week I was asked a series of probing questions by a Conservative rabbi. Like most of the good questions that rabbis have posed to me over the years, they centered on LDS beliefs concerning the afterlife. Most rabbis, like most Jews, don’t care a great deal about what Christians believe about the olam ha-ba. However, those who do almost always want an answer to the question of theological exclusivism: Can Jews achieve salvation on their own, or do they need to convert to Christianity?

For Mormons, this query needs to be broken down into two separate questions: “Will heaven be populated only by people who lived their earthly lives as Mormons?” and “Will everyone in heaven ultimately have to accept LDS beliefs and ordinances?” Our responses are no and yes, respectively. In order to understand why we believe this, it is necessary to review two important principles:

1) It is an axiom of our faith that the principles of God’s religion are eternal: they were taught to us before we came to earth, and they will continue to be taught in the next life. In LDS theology, the first “Mormon” on earth was Adam, not Joseph Smith. Our scriptures teach that basic Christian beliefs and ordinances like baptism were taught and practiced by Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Moses, all of whom held God’s priesthood. The Judaism of the Hebrew Bible, with its temples, prophets, and priesthood, was the earthly embodiment of the gospel from Moses until the death of Jesus Christ, when Rabbinic Judaism began to develop.

2) Mormons believe in a three-tiered heaven (1 Cor. 15:40-41), with the highest level of the highest heaven corresponding to what most Jews would consider “salvation”: there the righteous will live in God’s presence and enjoy every blessing that He can give them. Moreover, our prophets have taught that almost everyone who has ever lived will be given some degree of glory in the next life. Only a relatively small group of souls who openly rebel against God will be condemned to suffer with the devil and his angels for eternity. In the eternal battle for the souls of men, God wins by a landslide.

The LDS Church believes that portions of God’s truth have been given to the great religious teachers of the world (Confucius, Mohammed, the Protestant Reformers); wonderful, moral people of all faiths (and none) continue to walk the earth. To reach the highest heaven, we believe that one must first of all live a righteous life according to the moral principles she has been taught. One does not have to be a Mormon to be righteous, and being a Mormon is certainly no guarantee of righteousness.

In addition, we believe that those who reach the highest heaven will need to accept God’s eternal truths and participate in ordinances (e.g., baptism, eternal marriage), either in person or by proxy, that He requires in order to achieve salvation. In contrast to other Christian faiths, we believe that the dead also have a chance to accept God’s teachings and ordinances (1 Cor. 15:29). Those souls who have lived righteous lives and accept God’s truths, whether in this life or the next, will ultimately achieve salvation by God’s grace. There is no doubt in my mind that most people in heaven will not have lived as Mormons on earth, and many earthly Mormons won’t make the celestial cut. However, everyone who lives in God’s presence will ultimately share the same faith and accept the same truths.   

The rabbi responded that with all due respect, this belief sounded “exclusivistic,” even “arrogant,” since an infinite God was certainly capable of establishing more than one path to salvation. My response was twofold. First of all, the ancient Israelites – with their temples, prophets, and priesthood—were most likely exclusivistic as well (he readily agreed, with the caveat that Judaism had evolved since then through rabbinic interpretation).  Secondly, everyone I have met (including Jews) who believes that we will continue to live as individual entities in the next life also believes that we will possess far greater knowledge than we have in this one. All of us will have to discard beliefs and ideas that turn out to be erroneous. We will discover earthly “parents” who are not our blood relatives, “friends” who secretly betrayed us, “enemies” who tried to help us, and deeply-held religious “truths” that turn out to be false. Heck, we may even discover that O.J. wasn’t guilty. Mormons believe that lovers of truth from all faiths, including ours, will cleave to truth when it is presented to them in this life and the next.

The rabbi insisted: what about his righteous great-great grandfather, who lived and died a Jew in a shtetl without ever hearing a word about Jesus? I answered that he is in a place now where he is free from mortal limits on knowledge, and has more of a divine perspective on truth. I have no doubt that his righteous ancestor has retained all of the truths that he brought from mortality and continues to add to them in the olam ha-ba. If Jesus turns out to be the Messiah, I’m sure that pious shtetl-dwellers will accept this belief in the eternities. Well, asked the rabbi, what if the Jews turn out to be right? What if Jesus was not the Messiah? What if Joseph Smith was not a prophet? Could I accept this? I certainly could. My goal for the next life is to learn what God wants me to believe and do, not to carry my limited mortal knowledge, biases, and prejudices into the eternities. I can’t express this concept better than the Apostle Paul, who used a memorable metaphor to contrast our earthly and heavenly lives: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:11-12).

Our conversation was both earnest and cordial, and we parted with a greater understanding of our respective views on the afterlife, a subject that has touched my life in an unforgettable way. After a profound spiritual experience in Petra, Jordan, I can honestly say I know – as surely as I know that I am typing these words – that we live after we die and that our departed relatives remain nearer to us than we can imagine. To this day I cannot remain in a room where someone publicly denies the reality of an afterlife, and I have walked out on panel discussions when participants have made such baseless statements. I understand and accept that people can hold personal views on the afterlife that are skeptical, even doubtful, but public denial of an afterlife can only be made by people who have no idea what they are talking about. 

I have enormous respect for people who share my interest in the olam ha-ba, regardless of how they perceive it. Of one thing I am certain: lovers of truth who follow the moral precepts that they have been taught in this life will have little to fear in the next. In the case of this rabbi, my goal is to end up where he does in heaven’s hierarchy.
   
——-

I will make a presentation on LDS-Jewish relations at Harvard University on April 8.

Rabbi Barry Block and I will engage in dialogue during the San Antonio (TX) West Stake’s Education Weekend on April 15, and I will make a separate presentation on April 16 entitled “Mormons and Jews in the Latter Days: A Zion Relationship.”

My podcast interview on LDS-Jewish relations is available on the LDS Church’s official radio station: http://feeds.lds.org/WhyIBelieve

The Mormon Times recently profiled two LDS bloggers for Jewish newspapers:
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/19849/Bloggers-trumpet-bond-between-Mormons-and-Jews?s_cid=search_queue&utm_source=search_queue

---

Mark Paredes has worked in Los Angeles for the Consulate General of Israel, American Jewish Congress and ZOA. You can contact Mark at deverareligione@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @jewsandmormons.

March 13, 2011 | 9:44 pm

Reconstructionists and Mormons Dialogue in Irvine

Posted by Mark Paredes

As the saying goes, well begun is half done. Last Friday night Rabbi Arnold Rachlis of University Synagogue dialogued with two LDS leaders during an informative presentation of Mormon beliefs at a shabbat service. The several hundred attendees, including many Mormon guests, were treated to the beautiful voices of Cantor Ruti Braier and the synagogue’s choir prior to the dialogue, and every effort was made to help the the non-Jewish audience members to follow the service. For me, the highlight of the evening was Rabbi Rachlis’s invitation to all first-time visitors to the synagogue, including non-Jews, to step up to the bimah (stage) and open the Torah ark. His graciousness was very much appreciated.

The dialogue itself was well-organized and well-paced. Dr. Armand Mauss, a retired sociology professor, and UC Irvine Institute (LDS Hillel) Director Brett Holbrook both made brief opening statements, followed by a dialogue with the rabbi. As advertised, the questions were probing ones: Why do Mormons oppose gay marriage?  What about proxy ordinances in LDS temples? Why do Mormons claim to have an Israelite identity? Armand and Brett handled the questions very well, and the rabbi created a warm, open atmosphere conducive to sharing.

The synagogue’s graciousness extended to the post-dialogue oneg (reception), where grateful Mormon guests found plenty of chocolate and a “non-caffeinated” table with soft drinks. An old friend happens to be the LDS bishop for that part of Irvine, and he was beaming when I left the event. I later found out that he gave a Jewish couple’s car a jump in the parking lot, but not before jokingly asking them whether this might be God’s way of reminding them not to drive on the Sabbath. Their response? This was a Reconstructionist synagogue, so He approved.

I am always moved by the sight of Mormons and Jews getting together and sharing, and Friday’s event had me smiling all the way home. I’m optimistic that the event will lead to the establishment of an ongoing dialogue with members of the synagogue. It would be wonderful to have similar dialogues in every city with congregations of Mormons and Jews. As luck would have it, an LDS leader from another large city attended the event with his wife and promised to do what he could to start a dialogue there. Here’s to hoping that the University Synagogue dialogue will be a catalyst for increased Jewish-LDS cooperation in Orange County and beyond.

——-

Thousand Oaks Stake Director of Public Affairs Larry Bagby and I will be making a presentation on LDS beliefs at Adat Elohim on March 16 @ 7:30 p.m.

I will make a presentation on LDS-Jewish relations at Harvard University on April 8.

Rabbi Barry Block and I will engage in dialogue during the San Antonio (TX) West Stake’s Education Weekend on April 15, and I will make a separate presentation on April 16 entitled “Mormons and Jews in the Latter Days: A Zion Relationship.”

My podcast interview on LDS-Jewish relations is available on the LDS Church’s official radio station: http://feeds.lds.org/WhyIBelieve

 

 

1 Comments — Leave your comment

March 9, 2011 | 12:58 am

Intolerance in the Holy Land: No Kids, Pets or Gentiles

Posted by Mark Paredes

“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.” – Deuteronomy 7:1-2

——-

Unfortunately, it looks like I may have to eliminate one of the leading items on my bucket list: to live in the Holy Land once again. I was shocked and profoundly disappointed to read today that the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is owned and operated by the Israeli government, is actively trying to evict an Evangelical Christian who is renting an apartment in the Jewish Quarter from the mother-in-law of the Mayor of Jerusalem. The man is working to forge alliances between Evangelicals and Israeli organizations. His offense? His religion. It’s sad but true: an Israel-loving, law-abiding man may be kicked out of his Jerusalem apartment because he’s not Jewish. Given other recent manifestations of intolerance in Israel, I’m beginning to wonder whether an active campaign has begun in certain circles to make non-Jews feel unwelcome in the Holy Land. If so, this effort must be opposed by decent people of all faiths.

What is just as shocking as the attempt itself is the company’s brazenness. Last September it sent the mayor’s mother-in-law a letter stating: “The company has been informed that you are renting a property on 4 Gilad Street to a person who does not match the company’s population criteria and in complete contradiction to the character of the Jewish Quarter… You are requested to evacuate the property and ensure it is only populated by persons matching the company’s population criteria.” When the bewildered woman’s lawyers asked the company to identify these criteria, the company’s director, Shlomo Atias, was happy to do so: “having an Israeli ID and being Jewish, not a gentile.” “A Christian can live in the Christian Quarter,” Mr. Atias went on to tell the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Like many supporters of Israel, I am always happy to speak out against the ridiculous charge that it is an apartheid state. However, government officials like Mr. Atias make our job much harder.

If this were an isolated case, it could be resolved by firing the company’s director and apologizing to the Evangelical tenant. However, this is but the latest incident of anti-Gentile bigotry in Israel. Last fall Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the religious head of the Sephardic Orthodox religious party Shas (with which Mr. Atias is also affiliated), declared in a sermon that “Goyim [Gentiles] were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel…Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created.” If I am permitted to live in Israel again, it looks like I won’t be invited to Rabbi Yosef’s house for dinner – unless I agree to cook the meal and clean up afterwards. As they say in Hebrew, “ain milim” (“I have no words for this”).

The good rabbi’s sermon was followed a few weeks later by a rabbinic petition calling on Jews not to rent or sell homes to Gentiles, with certain punishments proposed for those who do. Dozens of municipal rabbis signed it, including Rabbi Yosef’s son. The reasons cited included the danger of intermarriage and Deuteronomy 7:2, which warned the ancient Israelites not to have dealings with heathen nations.  Needless to say, the petition ignited a storm of controversy in Israel and abroad. From a religious standpoint, I must admit to being somewhat perplexed by the rabbis’ reasoning. I have been told by Orthodox rabbis that if Israel were governed by Jewish law (which it is not), Jews could rent to non-Jews who were Noahides (i.e., righteous Gentiles). I guess there must be some disagreement in the Orthodox world on this point. From a historical standpoint, I am grateful that the Arabs and Brits in Palestine didn’t adopt a similar policy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Jewish immigrants settled in homes they bought or rented from mostly non-Jewish owners.  Had those Gentiles refused to rent to them or sell them land, it’s unlikely that the foundation for a future Jewish state could have been laid so quickly.

I know that most Israelis and Jews do not share these bigoted views. Nevertheless, it is sad to see this kind of intolerance on display in the Jewish state. Of all countries, the one founded by descendants of people who were strangers in many strange lands should be a light to the word for tolerance and acceptance. I’m keeping Jerusalem on my bucket list for now, but my real estate agent in Rio remains on speed dial just in case.   

——-

My podcast interview on LDS-Jewish relations is available on the LDS Church’s official radio station: http://feeds.lds.org/WhyIBelieve

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, Dr. Armand Mauss, and Brett Holbrooke will conduct an LDS-Jewish dialogue at University Synagogue in Irvine, CA on Friday, March 11 @ 8:00 p.m.

Thousand Oaks Stake Director of Public Affairs Larry Bagby and I will be making a presentation on LDS beliefs at Adat Elohim on March 16 @ 7:30 p.m.

I will be speaking at the San Antonio (TX) West Stake’s Education Weekend on April 15 and 16

 
 

3 Comments — Leave your comment

March 3, 2011 | 8:17 pm

Greek Orthodoxy, Anti-Semitism, and Religious Intolerance

Posted by Mark Paredes

ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους· καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους. ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις.
[A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another] – John 13:34-35

“Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism and was financed from the renowned Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing the Jews to leave the shores of Europe and go to Israel to establish the new Empire.” – Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, Greek TV interview, December 2010

——-

Recent weeks have reminded me of why I love Jews so much: they’re supermen (and women). Numbering only 14 million worldwide, they really get around. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has detected a “Jewish conspiracy” to discredit him and his organization, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has discovered that Jews and Zionists are trying to push the U.S. to go to war with his good buddy Moammar Gaddafi (“my brother and my friend”), and Yemen’s president has revealed that Israel is behind that country’s unrest. That there are Jew-haters in the public square is undeniably true. What is also undeniably true is that if any of these leaders had made similar statements in Athens, they would have been greeted with indifference (at best) and perhaps faint applause. Greece now has a reputation as the most anti-Semitic country in Europe. It is also somewhat hostile to minority faiths, including the LDS Church. Given that 95% of the country’s population claims to be Greek Orthodox, it is past time for that church to invoke its considerable moral authority to preach tolerance and respect to its members, including government officials.

This is a painful essay for me to write. I grew up attending the Greek festival at St. Demetrios Church in Michigan, and still attend the LA Greek Fest at St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles and the Valley Greek festival at St. Nicholas Church in Northridge. I took a class in Russian iconography and have visited Orthodox churches in Greece, Russia, Romania, Moldova, Israel, Egypt and Italy. One of the first things I see every morning is a Mother of God Bulgarian icon from the Rila Monastery, a treasured gift from a friend who knows of my love of icons. The Orthodox Easter service is one of my favorite religious experiences, and a Bulgarian Orthodox priest in Los Angeles invited me to join him at the altar behind the iconostasis (a rare privilege) after seeing how moved I was by the icons in the church. In short, I have a deep appreciation for Orthodox liturgy and symbolism, and believe that they are capable of teaching and inspiring people in a profound way.

These teachings are sorely needed in a country where a neo-Nazi (Nikolaos Michaloliakos)was elected to the Athens city council last fall, where a prominent composer (Mikis Theodorakis) exclaimed “We’re in danger! Zionism and its leaders are here, meeting in our country!” in a television interview while a delegation of Jewish leaders was visiting the country, where the Supreme Court acquitted a Holocaust denier (Kostas Plevris) of inciting racial hatred last year because his book only detailed the Jews’ “conspiratorial pursuit of global domination,” and where an Orthodox Metropolitan (Seraphim) declared on national television last month that “world Zionism” was conspiring to destroy Greece and the Orthodox Church. [In a “statement of clarification,” the Metropolitan added, “My public vehement opposition against International Zionism refers to the organ that is the successor of the ‘Sanhedrin’ which altered the faith of the Patriarchs, the Prophets and the Righteous of the Jewish nation through the Talmud, the Rabbinical writings and the Kabbalah into Satanism, and always strives vigorously towards an economic empire set up throughout the world with headquarters in the great land beyond the Atlantic for the prevalence of world government and pan-religion.”]

I am certainly not claiming that there is an anti-Semite behind every Athenian corner or that anti-Semitism is widespread in Greece. Rather, I tend to agree with writer Andrew Apostolou that the Greeks’ sins are indifference and apathy. In the Wall Street Journal, Apostolou wrote: “The fundamental problem with Greek anti-Semitism is not that it is rampant. It is that in a country of 11 million with just 5,000 Jews, few Greeks care to resist it. Greece suffers from a lack of moral, religious and social leadership denouncing the embarrassment of anti-Semitism.” Anti-Semitism is not just a character defect, it is evil. History has shown that societies that tolerate virulent anti-Semitism have serious underlying problems. Greece’s recent financial meltdown, corruption scandals and civil unrest show that it is no exception.

Unfortunately, Mark’s First Principle of Persecution is also evident in Greece:  those who dislike Jews almost always dislike Mormons as well. The country’s constitution and laws prohibit proselytizing, though they are often ignored. In response to concern expressed by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance that proselytizing in Greece was a criminal offense, the Greek government claimed that those laws had “long since fallen into disuse” and that only coercive or disruptive missionary efforts would be punished. Nevertheless, according to the U.S. State Department, at least 8 LDS missionaries have been arrested in the last 3 years. Six were released within two hours, and two missionaries spent two days in jail before being tried and acquitted of all charges. Former missionaries in Greece whom I contacted expressed their love for the Greek people and culture before sharing stories of police harassment and hostility towards church members and missionaries stoked by local Orthodox bishops and priests.

Unfortunately, I have experienced this hostility from Orthodox clerics firsthand. While serving as a missionary in southern Italy, local Mormons directed me to a Russian Orthodox church whose priest was encouraging the whole neighborhood to shun Mormons and persecute their missionaries. After a lengthy discussion in Russian, the priest agreed not to harass Mormons and apologized for any resentment he had created. As far as I know, he kept his word. No apologies, however, have been forthcoming from other Orthodox clergy in the region. Romanian Mormons have told me of an Orthodox priest who ripped up a Book of Mormon in public, and anti-Mormon sentiment in the Russian Orthodox Church is well-known. It’s a shame that Mormons in those countries can’t be shown the same level of respect and courtesy that is extended to members of Orthodox churches in Utah.

The Orthodox Church is the only institution in Greece that has the respect and moral authority to promote tolerance towards other faiths and to combat anti-Semitism. I am disappointed that it has so far chosen not to make this a priority. If the church is indeed preaching tolerance, then it clearly needs to do more. I expect exemplary moral leadership from a state church that is subsidized by a modern EU-member country. As my thoughtful LDS friend Sheryl likes to say, if the Orthodox Church truly believes that it represents the continuation of Christ’s church and his teachings, and claims the apostolic line of authority through the bishops, then it should not feel threatened by yarmulke-wearing non-Christians or by a few missionaries. Until I see more rejection of religious bigotry by Greeks and their church, I’m afraid I won’t be traveling to their beautiful country. However, my lovely Orthodox icon will stay right where it is. 

——-

My podcast interview on LDS-Jewish relations is available on the LDS Church’s official radio station: http://feeds.lds.org/WhyIBelieve

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, Dr. Armand Mauss, and Brett Holbrooke will conduct an LDS-Jewish dialogue at University Synagogue in Irvine, CA on Friday, March 11 @ 8:00 p.m.

Thousand Oaks Stake Director of Public Affairs Larry Bagby and I will be making a presentation on LDS beliefs at Adat Elohim on March 16 @ 7:30 p.m.

I will be speaking at the San Antonio (TX) West Stake’s Education Weekend on April 15 and 16

9 Comments — Leave your comment