Mormonism: My First Impressions

In the same way as I prayed about whether or not I should read the Qur’an, and God told me that I should, a few months ago I prayed about whether or not I should read the Book of Mormon, and God told me that I should. Those who are new to the Mormon faith are encouraged to pray to God to ask whether He would confirm that the revelation is true, so I did this, and experienced the confirmation that it is, both in the voice of God talking to me in affirmative language, and a feeling of love (the ‘burning in the bosom’ that Mormons describe).

On Sunday (Easter Sunday 2025) I visited the local Mormon church and attended their Easter service. It was a short service, one hour long in contrast with the usual two hours, I think because there was another service (for a Spanish congregation) to follow. The service was comparable to other Christian services in many ways, including the singing of hymns, the sacrament, a choir, a bishop and such.

Before the service began I had a warm conversation with a Mormon elder, who ushered me to a seat and invited me to have a conversation with him after the service. After the service, I sat in a teaching room with this elder and another, and they graciously gave me opportunity to speak for a while about what had led me to church that day. I explained that I had read the first quarter or so of the Book of Mormon, and had been struck by and become deeply interested in the Scripture.

The story behind the Book of Mormon is complicated, in so much as I haven’t yet been able to fully understand and grasp it. It involves plates that were written by Jews who had fled from Jerusalem before the time of Christ, and had received prophecy about Christ, and about spiritual matters. I won’t share more about the story of the faith at this stage, for fear of misrepresenting it, should I have misunderstood its complexities. But the teaching of those whose writings are contained in the Book of Mormon are very similar to – perhaps the same as – the Bible, it seems to me.

The two Mormon elders I spoke with on Sunday had a peace in them that I associate with those who have experienced true baptism. I mentioned this to them, and asked about what seems to me to be a kind of seal that people receive when they are baptised in the proper way. It is the case that when I was baptised (in a Baptist church) I experienced nothing extraordinary, and this has sometimes led me to question whether it was a true baptism, even though I was baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that with true baptism there is a shift in the spiritual dimension, which I fear I may not have experienced during my baptism.

I am planning to meet with one of the elders again this week to discuss matters further, and to delve a little deeper into some of the questions that have come to mind as I have been reading the Book of Mormon.

I hope you all had a good Easter.

With love,

Steven x