Don't Throw it Away!!

A few months ago Joey came home with a little book some people passed to him as he was strolling downtown Stuttgart. As he walked in the door he headed straight for the trash. But as he approached the trash he froze and looked at me. “I just can’t do it” he said. “Do what?” I replied. “Throw this away.” “What is it?” I asked. “It’s a book some JW’s gave me while I was downtown. I tried to tell them I couldn’t read it because I only spoke English so they pulled out one in English.”


I couldn’t help but laugh. Sounds like Mormon Missionaries to me! I told him to give it to me because I’d like to read it. This very moment made me reflect on our own faith. How many Book of Mormons have our missionaries generously given out only to be tossed in the trash? A beautiful collection of the words of our miraculous God just thrown to the wayside and destroyed. We as members of the church are animate in sharing our beliefs with others not of our faith but we are always hesitant to learn of another’s faith. How many books and pamphlets have we thrown in the trash without even taking a glance at them simply because they were not of LDS content? I am ashamed to say that I am guilty of this.

President Hinckley once said “I say this to other people: you develop all the good you can. We have no animosity toward any other church. We do not oppose other churches. We never speak negatively of other churches. We say to people: you bring all the good that you have, and let us see if we can add to it.”

We as Latter-day Saints are quick to block out the words of another faith and reject it against our own. But is this following the words of our prophets? We must be open to the goodness of other Christian faiths. Welcome their thoughts and beliefs into our own personal lives and “add to it” with ours. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a book or a pamphlet of another faith sitting in our library. There is nothing wrong with having a different translation of the bible other than the standard works sitting in our library. There is nothing wrong with having the Koran sitting in our library. They all preach of God and his works. They all bring a different perspective and expand our knowledge and strengthen our testimonies and relationship with him.

We Mormon’s are all too often misunderstood. We are viewed as different and not always a “good” different. We often have difficulty understanding how so many can reject such a beautiful message. But the answer is simple. We don’t understand them as they don’t understand us. If we want others to be receptive to our message we MUST be receptive of theirs. We must be willing to listen and study their message if we expect them to listen and study ours. And the more homework we do on our own, the more prepared we are when we are given the opportunity to share our message. Not only does learning of another faith widen our perspective and allow us to better understand anothers hesitation to learn of ours, but it also enables us to be more effective missionaries in Christ through increasing our knowledge of him. We are all God’s children and we all deserve to be understood. My children will be raised as faithful Latter-day Saints, but I will not hesitate to teach of the goodness of other faiths. They will know and understand and even visit other congregations. They will be efficient in knowledge when they are presented with opportunities to share this wonderful message of the Book of Mormon. And I will enrich my library with works of all faiths and doctrines to enhance my home to be a home of great faith through God and Christ. Anything preaching of God or Christ is welcome in my home. I am proud of my LDS-Christian heritage and I’m forever grateful to two amazing parents that instilled in me the truths of the gospel.