Religion v. Spirituality

           A couple of Sundays ago we talked about the Jews in the time of Christ. As far as they were concerned they were doing exactly what God told them to in living the law of Moses, and in the letter-of-the-law kind of way they were. However by focusing so much on the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law, they completely missed the birth and ministry of their Savior while he was among them. They were so caught up in doing what they believed was right that they missed the opportunity to learn and grow from our Savior’s teachings. Sometimes, as an LDS culture, I believe that we sometimes miss the mark and focus so much on doing what we need to (what I like to call the mormon check-list) that we miss the whole purpose of this life, which is growth.    This life provides us with the unique experience of being in a world full of trouble, and away from our Heavenly Father that forces us to grow in ways that without this situation would be impossible. Sometimes we, like the jews, get too caught up in our religion to remember to grow spiritually.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of spirituality versus religiosity. In one of my classes, a very astute professor asked us how we could measure the level of spirituality in the LDS religion. Immediately hands shot up with suggestions like measuring temple attendance, Sabbath day observance, etc., but I could not quite come to terms with it and decided that you cannot measure a person’s spirituality, which my professor agreed with me, but that outward behavior could only measure religiosity and that, in fact, a person could be extremely religious but not spiritual at all. Outside of Utah people call these people “Utah mormons” and they are people who only go to church for show but do not put much thought into what they were doing. This clashed a little bit with the idea of blind, childlike obedience that is always getting taught to us in lessons. However, I do not believe that God intends for us to follow Him blindly, yes we need to be obedient, but questioning and understanding WHY God tells us to do what he does will help us grow and understand Him and His reasons better than simply doing so without question.

                This got me thinking about what it means to be spiritual and after some pondering I decided that spirituality is the relationship one has with God and one's desire to grow and become like Him. After all, the more meaning anybody assigns to something the greater impact it will be in their lives.  Therefore, if I take the sacrament without thinking much about it, I will not get the whole experience. By realizing, pondering, and fully comprehending what the atonement is and how much it impacts my life, the sacrament can go from being a routine thing to being a ritual that has a significant impact on my entire week and how I view everything.

                This conference has been one of particular significance to me as it addressed many of the things I have been pondering, on this subject the talk given by Elder Hallstrom was awesome. He talked about when he was a child church and church activities consumed his life, and as he grew he realized that there was more than just doing the right things and going to church, the gospel is about pondering and growing and one does not simply do that by just completing the mormon check list.

“Some have come to think of activity in the Church as the ultimate goal. Therein lies a danger. It is possible to be active in the Church and less active in the gospel. Let me stress: activity in the Church is a highly desirable goal; however, it is insufficient. Activity in the Church is an outward indication of our spiritual desire. If we attend our meetings, hold and fulfill Church responsibilities, and serve others, it is publicly observed.

By contrast, the things of the gospel are usually less visible and more difficult to measure, but they are of greater eternal importance. For example, how much faith do we really have? How repentant are we? How meaningful are the ordinances in our lives? How focused are we on our covenants?

I repeat: we need the gospel and the Church. In fact, the purpose of the Church is to help us live the gospel. We often wonder: How can someone be fully active in the Church as a youth and then not be when they are older? How can an adult who has regularly attended and served stop coming? How can a person who was disappointed by a leader or another member allow that to end their Church participation? Perhaps the reason is they were not sufficiently converted to the gospel—the things of eternity.” Elder Hallstrom, General Conference April 2012.

I really like how he said church AND the gospel because they really are two separate things. The church is an amazing tool given to us to help us grow and learn and give us a means of social support as we strive to become more like God as well as give us opportunity to receive vital endowments, however it is not the gospel and is not the plan of salvation and simple church attendance does not make us active in the gospel.

In addition, even though the Church is the true church on earth and a wonderful blessing for me in my life, I do not believe God intended for everybody to be a Mormon. Just think about if Ghandi or Mother Theresa had been LDS, they would have been amazing in the LDS church but would they have had the impact on the world that they had? Being in certain situations forces people to grow in ways that others do not, and maybe some people need to grow in ways they could not as an latter day saint. In the end, after this life and period of growth is done, I believe that people like Ghandi and Mother Theresa will embrace the gospel and Christ's church and receive the full blessings they would have had they been LDS while living on this earth, but that they needed to be kept ignorant of the gospel while they lived upon this earth. 

                These have been my thoughts, please tell me what you think!