Episode 118: Stumbling Blocks and The Book of Mormon with Paul Toscano--Part IV

Join Valerie and special guest Paul Toscano in this part four (last in this series) focused on untangling some of the complexities of The Book of Mormon.

In this episode Val questions Paul on a variety of topics involving The Book of Mormon, including its connection with Joseph Smith Jr., her own wrestles with the fraught relationship between leadership & followership;  the roles, expectations, and hopes of a spiritual leader, and so much more.

Here are a few highlights of Paul’s thoughts from their conversation:

All mystical texts, trancelike experiences, and visionary accounts are strange, uncomfortable, and often implausible—including the very birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God has shown humans mysteries through a variety of “weird” manifestations with large numbers of eye witnesses throughout time.  Such anomalous events might be less jarring to those who have a broader world view and higher respect for the idea that God has revealed Truth in “strange” ways throughout time and place and to many people throughout history.

Placing the Book of Mormon within the context of the countless interactions between God and humans throughout time would help LDS people make sense of both its significance and yet that it is simply just one of countless anomalies in the grand scheme of God’s workings.

It is especially challenging to conceptualize this Book as part of a self-insulating faith tradition that insists that they have little to learn from other traditions and eras.

Regarding disappointment with leadership past and present, we are all desperate for “strong men” save us from the trouble of the wrestle that comes with faith journey.  We naturally want to lean on those who preferably make it unnecessary for us to do the work of going directly to God about what is truth, wisdom, and loving.

One of the greatest tests of true discipleship is to learn to forgive God…for the pain of our suffering…for Their not preventing harm to those we love at the hands of those in power; for allowing good people to do bad things and bad people to do for things… This kind of discipleship forces us to learn how to hold the tension of opposites and demands that (if willing) we be stretched beyond our known capabilities. This process makes us holy.

Finally, Paul shares these views: Salvation is not a community experience.  Salvation is an individual experience and it happens in the act of saving wounded things.  The individual saves the church, not the other way around. The individual saves the family, not the other way around.  

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