Search This Blog

2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

2024 Challenge Sign-Up Post

January Reviews Link-Up

February Reviews Link-Up

March Reviews Link-Up

April Reviews Link-Up

May Reviews Link-Up

June Reviews Link-Up

July Reviews Link-Up

August Reviews Link-Up

September Reviews Link-Up

October Reviews Link-Up

November Reviews Link-Up

December Reviews Link-Up

My Progress:


9 / 30 books. 30% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


12 / 51 states. 24% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 50 words. 20% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


15 / 50 books. 30% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


32 / 50 books. 64% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 52 books. 52% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 40 books. 53% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


13 / 40 books. 33% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


5 / 25 books. 20% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles. 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


15 / 100 books. 15% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 104 books. 33% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


31 / 52 books. 60% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


32 / 165 books. 19% done!
Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Mormon Mentions: Tom Perrotta


If you aren't familiar with "Mormon Mentions," a special feature here at BBB, let me explain: My name is Susan. I'm a book blogger. And I'm a Mormon. (You've all seen/heard these ads, right? I love them.) As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church), I'm naturally concerned about how my religion is portrayed in the media. Since this is a book blog, I like to highlight passages about my church that I find in the books I read. I also like to give my opinion (surprised, aren't you?) about those passages - correcting misconceptions, explaining confusing/controversial doctrine, and laughing at the sometimes crazy Mormon culture of which I am apart. It's fun for me, but if it's not your kind of thing, feel free to skip these posts.

Okay, here we go.

Considering that Tom Perrotta's new novel, The Leftovers, talks a lot about faith and religion, I wasn't surprised to find a couple of references to the church in it. Right at the beginning of the book, are these:

"People disappeared, millions of them at the same time, all over the world. This wasn't some ancient rumor - a dead man coming back to life during the Roman Empire - or a dusty homegrown legend, Joseph Smith unearthing golden tablets in upstate New York, conversing with an angel. This was real" (2).

"Interestingly, some of the loudest voices making this argument belonged to Christians themselves, who couldn't help noticing that many of the people who'd disappeared on October 14 - Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and atheists and animists and homosexuals and Eskimos and Mormons and Zoroastrians, whatever the heck they were - hadn't accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. It was a random harvest, and the one thing the Rapture couldn't be was random" (3).

Both of these selections are narrated by 46-year-old Laurie Garvey, an agnostic who's trying to make sense of the Rapture-like event that has recently snatched up millions of people from off the face of the Earth. Naturally, she's skeptical of all religion, including one that embraces the idea of an uneducated American farm boy as a prophet of God. As unlikely as it may sound, members of the LDS Church really do believe that, as a young man, Joseph Smith did, in fact, see an angel, as well as Jesus Christ and God the Father. We believe the angel gave Smith golden plates containing ancient scripture, which he then translated and published as The Book of Mormon. It sounds crazy, I know, but so does feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fishes. I believe it, nonetheless. (To read Joseph Smith's story, in his own words, click here.)

The second passage is interesting because Mormons don't get "saved" or "born again" in the traditional sense. We're taught from birth that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. It's something that's acknowledged and accepted right from the start. Getting baptized is a way to make our commitment to Him public, but even LDS children who are under 8 (the age at which kids born into the LDS Church are baptized) know who Jesus is and what He's done for them. It's just part of being Mormon. For a much more eloquent explanation, click here.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Dictionary.com defines Zoroastrianism as "an Iranian religion, founded c600 b.c. by Zoroaster, the principal beliefs of which are in the existence of a supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, and in a cosmic struggle between a spirit of good, Spenta Mainyu, and a spirit of evil, Angra Mainyu." Who knew?

1 comment:

  1. Zoroastrians are fascinating. Many biblical scholars believe that the wise men who visited baby Jesus were probably Zoroastrians. Along with Judaism, they were one of the few ancient religions that was monotheistic.

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.

P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
End of Story by A.J. Finn

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
My Contrary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows



Followin' with Bloglovin'

Follow

Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive



2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Susan has read 0 books toward her goal of 200 books.
hide

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2023 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2022 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction